Critical role of neuropeptides B/W receptor 1 signaling in social behavior and fear memory.

Neuropeptide B/W receptor 1 (NPBWR1) is a G-protein coupled receptor, which was initially reported as an orphan receptor, and whose ligands were identified by this and other groups in 2002 and 2003. To examine the physiological roles of NPBWR1, we examined phenotype of Npbwr1⁻/⁻ mice. When presented with an intruder mouse, Npbwr1⁻/⁻ mice showed impulsive contact with the strange mice, produced more intense approaches toward them, and had longer contact and chasing time along with greater and sustained elevation of heart rate and blood pressure compared to wild type mice.

Overexpression of miR-200c induces chemoresistance in esophageal cancers mediated through activation of the Akt signaling pathway.

Purpose: To determine the relationship between resistance to chemotherapy and microRNA (miRNA) expression in esophageal cancer, we focused on miRNAs known to be associated with maintenance of stem cell function.

Experimental Design: Using 98 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples obtained from patients with esophageal cancer who had received preoperative chemotherapy followed by surgery, we measured expression levels of several miRNAs that are considered to be involved in the regulation of stem cell function (e.g.

Age estimation using cytochrome c oxidase activity analysis.

Recently, in the field of forensic medicine the number of unidentified cadavers has increased due to mass disasters and international terrorism. In addition to the conventional anthropological methods, a simple and precise method to estimate the age of these unidentified cadavers to assist in the personal identification is necessary. On the other hand, many researchers have reported that mitochondrial respiratory activity decreases with aging because of the production of reactive oxidative species in the process of ATP generation.

The effect of oxygen on chemical dechlorination of dieldrin using iron sulphides.

The degradation of dieldrin by ferric sulphide (FeS(2)) in aqueous solution was investigated when shielded against sunlight. An oxidative dechlorination process was observed under aerobic and anaerobic conditions; oxygen volume changed the degradation rate of dieldrin and the generation rate of reaction products. The dechlorination rate under microaerophilic conditions was fastest among the anaerobic to air oxygen concentrations.

Postmortem serotonin levels in cerebrospinal and pericardial fluids with regard to the cause of death in medicolegal autopsy.

Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) is a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system (CNS) and a smooth muscle regulator in the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal systems. The present study investigated postmortem 5-HT levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and pericardial fluid (PCF) with regard to the cause of death in serial medicolegal autopsy cases within 48 h postmortem (n=351, >20 years of age). CSF and PCF 5-HT slightly increased during the postmortem period (r=0.

[Successful treatment of duodenal Crohn disease with infliximab: report of 3 cases].

We present 3 patients with Crohn disease (CD) of the duodenum with progressive symptoms. A 31-year-old man with Crohn ileocolitis presented epigastralgia. A 32-year-old man with Crohn ileocolitis presented upper GI bleeding.

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation against recurrent rhabdomyosarcoma.

The prognosis of high-risk rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) with metastatic or recurrent disease remains poor. We report a 6-year-old girl who successfully underwent allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation against recurrent metastatic alveolar RMS. The disease recurred at distant lymph node metastasis with bone marrow involvement.

Ectopic overexpression of orexin alters sleep/wakefulness states and muscle tone regulation during REM sleep in mice.

Orexins (also called hypocretins), which are neuropeptides exclusively expressed by a population of neurons specifically localized in the lateral hypothalamic area, are critically implicated in the regulation of sleep/wake states. Orexin deficiency results in narcoleptic phenotype in rodents, dogs, and humans, suggesting that orexins are important for maintaining consolidated wakefulness states. However, the physiological effect of constitutive increased orexinergic transmission tone, which might be important for understanding the effects of orexin agonists that are promising candidates for therapeutic agents of narcolepsy, has not been fully characterized.

[End of life care in children with cancer and problems--pediatric palliative care at hospital and home].

We cared 28 life limiting children with cancer in the past five years. Two patients died at home and the rest of them died at hospitals. Most children older than 11 years understood their disease.

[Effectiveness of remission induction with high-dose cytarabine for relapsed or refractory pediatric acute leukemia].

We conducted a multicenter postmarketing study to investigate the efficacy and safety of reinduction therapy with a high-dose cytarabine-containing regimen for pediatric patients with relapsed or refractory acute leukemia. Seven of 13 patients (53.8%) with ALL achieved complete or partial remission, and only 1 of 6 patients (16.

Osteogenesis by gradually expanding the interface between bone surface and periosteum enhanced by bone marrow stem cell administration in rabbits.

Objective: We investigated whether administration of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) promotes bone formation at the gap created by periosteal distraction.

Study Design: A mesh plate was placed subperiosteally in rabbit parietal bones. Following elevation of the mesh plate, rabbit MSCs were administered into the gap.

Medulloblastoma in young children.

In early childhood medulloblastoma, three distinct treatment strategies are currently used by different national groups to improve survival rates and to delay or avoid craniospinal radiotherapy: (1) systemic chemotherapy and high-dose chemotherapy, followed by radiotherapy at relapse; (2) systemic and intraventricular chemotherapy; (3) systemic chemotherapy and local conformal radiotherapy. A role for high-dose chemotherapy to delay or avoid craniospinal radiotherapy as a part of multimodal treatment strategies, especially in young children with metastatic or postoperative residual disease, has been recognized by different co-operative groups. Clinical and histological factors such as nodular-desmoplastic variants are considered as important prognostic factors for risk-adapted treatment recommendations.

Pediatric myeloid/NK cell precursor lymphoma/leukemia expressing T/NK immunophenotype markers.

Myeloid/NK cell precursor lymphoma/leukemia has been suggested to be of precursor NK origin. We report a 1-year-old boy with myeloid/NK cell precursor lymphoma/leukemia who presented with a skin nodule. Biopsy of the skin nodule specimen revealed CD45(+), CD56(+), myeloid antigen(+), CD7(-), CD3(-), CD19(-), CD34(-), CD4(-) by flow cytometry and myeloperoxidase (MPO)(+), TdT(+), cytoplasmic CD3(+) by immunohistochemistry.

Bronchodilator effect of deep inspiration and bronchoconstriction-triggered cough.

Background: Cough in the patients with cough variant asthma is triggered by bronchoconstriction, which responds to bronchodilator therapy. Following airway narrowing induced by inhaled methacholine, deep inspiration (DI) causes dilation of the airways in both asthmatic and non-asthmatic subjects. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between bronchodilator effect of DI and bronchoconstriction-triggered cough.

Outcome of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia with induction failure treated by the Japan Association of Childhood Leukemia study (JACLS) ALL F-protocol.

Background: Children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who fail to achieve complete remission (CR) after induction therapy (induction failure: IF) have a poor prognosis; however, there have been few prospective studies in patients with IF.

Patients And Methods: Between April 1997 and March 2005, 27 of 1,237 leukemic patients (2.2%) failed to achieve CR after four- or five-drug induction therapy.

Forced expression of suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 in T cells protects the development of concanavalin A-induced hepatitis in mice.

T cells play central roles in liver diseases, but the regulatory mechanism by cytokine signaling is not well understood. In the present study, we explored the role of SOCS3 in T cells in concanavalin A (ConA)-induced hepatitis. Mice with T-cell-specific overexpression of SOCS3 (SOCS3-cTg) showed reduced hepatic damage and improved mice survival relative to the control, an event that was associated with decreased apoptotic signals Fas and pStat1.

Development and validation of the Memory Performance Index: reducing measurement error in recall tests.

Background: The Memory Performance Index (MPI) quantifies the pattern of recalled and nonrecalled words of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease Wordlist (CWL) onto a 0 to 100 scale and distinguishes normal from mild cognitive impairment with 96% to 97% accuracy.

Methods: In group A, 121,481 independently living individuals, 18 to 106 years old, were assessed with the CWL and classified as cognitively impaired (N = 5,971) or normal (N = 115,510). The MPI and CWL immediate free recall (IFR), delayed free recall (DFR), and total free recall (TFR) scores (the outcome measures) were each regressed against predictors of age, gender, race, education, test administration method (in-person or telephone), and wordlist used.

Bronchoconstriction-triggered cough in conscious guinea pigs.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the relation between bronchoconstriction and cough induced by methacholine (Mch) inhalation and to elucidate the role of C-fibers and rapidly adapting irritant receptors (RARs) in these reactions in conscious guinea pigs. The authors measured enhanced pause (Penh) as an index of bronchoconstriction and also measured the number of coughs induced by Mch inhalation in conscious guinea pigs. The authors also examined the effects of pretreatment with procaterol, capsaicin desensitization and moguisteine on these responses.

Partial gastrectomy using natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) for gastric submucosal tumors: early experience in humans.

Background: Transvaginal endoscopic gastric surgery is one of the cutting edge procedures in the field of natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES). Its feasibility has been shown sporadically in bariatric cases but not in oncologic conditions. The authors report their early experience with hybrid transvaginal NOTES gastrectomy for gastric submucosal tumors (SMTs).

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone increases behavioral arousal through modulation of hypocretin/orexin neurons.

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) has previously been shown to promote wakefulness and to induce arousal from hibernation. Expression of TRH-R1 (TRH receptor 1) is enriched in the tuberal and lateral hypothalamic area (LHA), brain regions in which the hypocretin/orexin (Hcrt) cells are located. Because the Hcrt system is implicated in sleep/wake control, we hypothesized that TRH provides modulatory input to the Hcrt cells.

FBXW7 and NOTCH1 mutations in childhood T cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and T cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Mutation analysis of FBXW7 and NOTCH1 genes was performed in 55 T cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL) and 14 T cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (T-NHL) patients who were treated on the Japan Association of Childhood Leukaemia Study (JACLS) protocols ALL-97 and NHL-98. FBXW7 and/or NOTCH1 mutations were found in 22 (40.0%) of 55 T-ALL and 7 (50.

Omental therapy for primary progressive aphasia with tau negative histopathology: 3 year study.

Objective: Omentum transposition surgery (OT) applied to various neurodegenerative disorders has produced clinically significant improvement, which may be due to omentally-derived factors. To evaluate the clinical effect of left hemisphere OT in a primary progressive aphasia (PPA) patient, 3 year follow-up data were analysed.

Methods: Left hemisphere OT was performed on a 68-year-old male with PPA, characterized by moderate dementia and severe expressive aphasia with relatively preserved comprehension, object recognition and visual-spatial abilities.

Trends of centralization of childhood cancer treatment between 1975 and 2002 in Osaka, Japan.

Objective: To analyze the tendency to centralize childhood cancer treatment among cancer treatment hospitals in Osaka, Japan over a 28-year period.

Methods: The subjects were patients under the age of 15, newly diagnosed with cancer in Osaka between 1975 and 2002 (n = 4738). They were categorized into three groups by the time diagnosed (1975-84, 1985-93 and 1994-2002).

Trichloroethylene transformation by natural mineral pyrite: the deciding role of oxygen.

The transformation of trichloroethylene (TCE) in natural mineral iron disulfide (pyrite) aqueous suspension under different oxygen conditions was investigated in laboratory batch experiments. TCE transformation was pursued by monitoring its disappearance and products released with time. The effect of oxygen was studied by varying the initial dissolved oxygen concentration (DO(i)) inside each reactor.