MRI study of medial meniscus degeneration of osteoarthritic knees with or without posterior root tear.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the medial meniscus (MM) degeneration, meniscus extrusion, and tibial joint inclination by using MRI to consider the pathogenesis of posterior root tear (PRT) in medial-type knee osteoarthritis (KOA) both with and without medial meniscus posterior root tear (MMPRT).

Methods: This study used open MRI with flexion sagittal view and included 324 medial-type osteoarthritic knees with a Kellegren-Lawrence grade of 2 or less. Following the exclusion process, 151 knees were selected for MRI analysis.

The Forced Magnetostrictions and Magnetic Properties of NiMnX (X = In, Sn) Ferromagnetic Heusler Alloys.

Experimental studies into the forced magnetostriction, magnetization, and temperature dependence of permeability in NiMnIn and NiMnSn ferromagnetic Heusler alloys were performed according to the spin fluctuation theory of itinerant ferromagnetism proposed by Takahashi. We investigated the magnetic field () dependence of magnetization () at the Curie temperature , and at = 4.2 K, which concerns the ground state of the ferromagnetic state.

[Cancer of the Ascending Colon Diagnosed at the Same Time as Breast Cancer Following Leukemia Treatment for Which Laparoscopic Surgery Was Performed-A Case Report].

An 83-year-old woman received 8 courses of chemotherapy(mogamulizumab)for adult T cell leukemia in the hematolo- gy department of our hospital, after which she achieved complete remission and was followed up with chemotherapy(VP/ MST: sobuzoxane/etoposide)as an outpatient. Later, diarrheal symptoms appeared, and detailed examinations led to a diagnosis of cancer of the ascending colon. Although no distal metastasis was found, breast cancer was also revealed in the C area of the right breast.

Responses of the photosynthetic apparatus to winter conditions in broadleaved evergreen trees growing in warm temperate regions of Japan.

Photosynthetic characteristics of two broadleaved evergreen trees, Quercus myrsinaefolia and Machilus thunbergii, were compared in autumn and winter. The irradiance was similar in both seasons, but the air temperature was lower in winter. Under the winter conditions, net photosynthesis under natural sunlight (Anet) in both species dropped to 4 μmol CO2 m(-2) s(-1), and the quantum yield of photosystem II (PSII) photochemistry in dark-adapted leaves (Fv/Fm) also dropped to 0.

Analysis of a severe head injury in World Cup alpine skiing.

Unlabelled: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death in alpine skiing. It has been found that helmet use can reduce the incidence of head injuries between 15% and 60%. However, knowledge on optimal helmet performance criteria in World Cup alpine skiing is currently limited owing to the lack of biomechanical data from real crash situations.

Photoprotection of evergreen and drought-deciduous tree leaves to overcome the dry season in monsoonal tropical dry forests in Thailand.

In tropical dry forests, uppermost-canopy leaves of evergreen trees possess the ability to use water more conservatively compared with drought-deciduous trees, which may result from significant differences in the photoprotective mechanisms between functional types. We examined the seasonal variations in leaf gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence and the amounts of photosynthetic pigments within lamina of the uppermost-canopy leaves of three drought-deciduous trees (Vitex peduncularis Wall., Xylia xylocarpa (Roxb.

A modified quadrant method for describing the femoral tunnel aperture positions in ACL reconstruction using two-view plain radiographs.

Purpose: A modified quadrant method was developed for description of femoral tunnel aperture positions on the sagittal plane after double-bundle anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, which can be measured by using two-view radiographs. The purpose of the study is to provide a new measurement method and to evaluate the reproducibility and accuracy of the method.

Methods: Forty-one patients who had undergone a double-bundle ACL reconstruction were investigated.

The kinematic analysis of female subjects after double-bundle anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction during single-leg squatting.

Background: The kinematic characteristics of female anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)-injured subjects were recognized in our previous study using an electromagnetic device comparing both female control groups and male ACL-injured subjects during single-leg squatting.

Objective: To assess the kinematic characteristics of female subjects after double-bundle ACL reconstruction during single-leg squatting.

Methods: Three-dimensional motion analysis was performed for single-leg squatting in female subjects after ACL reconstruction.

[A case of breast cancer with large cancer ulcer and multiple bone and liver metastasis responding to combination therapy of radiation and chemotherapy].

We report a case of breast cancer in a 58-year-old female patient. In 2005, she was hospitalized for therapy of left breast cancer. The tumor observed was accompanied by invasion of the skin and ribs.

High-flex posterior cruciate-retaining vs posterior cruciate-substituting designs in simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty: a prospective, randomized study.

The superiority between the posterior cruciate-retaining and the posterior cruciate-substituting designs still remains controversial. We performed a prospective, randomized control study for evaluation of the superiority of these designs. This study investigated 58 knees in 29 patients with simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty, in which the high-flex CR design was randomly implanted in one knee and the high-flex PS design was implanted in the other knee.

Seasonal changes in the excess energy dissipation from Photosystem II antennae in overwintering evergreen broad-leaved trees Quercus myrsinaefolia and Machilus thunbergii.

We monitored chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence, pigment concentration and the de-epoxidation state of the xanthophyll cycle (DPS(1)) in two warm temperate broad-leaved evergreen species (Quercus myrsinaefolia and Machilus thunbergii). Reduction of the maximal quantum yield of Photosystem II (PSII) (calculated from Fv/Fm, variable to maximal Chl a fluorescence) and retention of a high DPS were observed in both species in the winter, and can be interpreted as acclimation to winter. In particular, the acclimation of PSII in these species can be chiefly attributed to thermal dissipation, which is correlated with the retention of high zeaxanthin.

Hip acetabular dysplasia and joint laxity of female anterior cruciate ligament-injured patients.

Background: It has been noted that some female anterior cruciate ligament-injured patients have complaints of both coxalgia and joint laxity.

Hypothesis: Female anterior cruciate ligament-injured patients tend to have both acetabular dysplasia and generalized joint laxity.

Study Design: Cohort study (prevalence); Level of evidence, 2.

Radiographic description of femoral tunnel placement expressed as intercondylar clock time in double-bundle anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to propose an objective description of femoral tunnel position expressed as time of the intercondylar clock in ACL reconstruction using a simple radiograph for the sake of objective discussion and technical improvement. The reproducibility of the method was evaluated in double-bundle (DB) reconstructions.

Methods: The first series of 54 knees in 54 patients who underwent primary "isometric" DB ACL reconstructions from 1995 to 2002 were randomly picked up.

Is light quality involved in the regulation of the photosynthetic apparatus in attached rice leaves?

The regulatory effect of light quality on the photosynthetic apparatus in attached leaves of rice plants was investigated by keeping rice plants under natural light, in complete darkness, or under illumination with light of different colors. When leaves were left in darkness and far-red (FR)-light conditions for 6 days at 30 degrees C, there was an initial lag in chlorophyll (Chl) content, Chl a/b ratio, and maximum photosystem (PS) II photochemistry that lasted until the second day; these then rapidly decreased on the fourth day. In contrast, ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) rapidly disappeared with no lag under low or zero light conditions.

Ketoprofen absorption by muscle and tendon after topical or oral administration in patients undergoing anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

Topical ketoprofen patches are widely used in the treatment of musculoskeletal pain, but the pharmacokinetics of ketoprofen following topical application remain unclear. This open-label, single-dose pharmacokinetic study was designed to determine the concentrations of ketoprofen in the semitendinosus muscle/tendon and plasma after topical application or oral administration to patients scheduled for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Two ketoprofen patches (20 mg each) were applied over the semitendinosus muscle/tendon for 1, 6, 14, or 20 h before surgery in 21 patients, while one sustained-release 150 mg ketoprofen capsule was administered to six patients 14 h before surgery.

Laparoscope-assisted superlow anterior resection combined with inter sphincteric rectal dissection for very low advanced rectal cancers combined with preoperative chemotherapy.

Transanal intersphincteric resection (ISR) has been increasingly used as a surgical treatment for extremely low rectal cancer. We hypothesized that high quality less invasive surgery could be achieved if ISR and laparoscopic surgery were combined. The patient was a 46-year-old male with advanced rectal cancer on the lower rectum adjacent to the dentate line.

Lysophosphatidic acid and thrombin receptors require both G alpha12 and G alpha13 to regulate axonal morphology in hippocampal neurons.

The G alpha subunits of the G(12) family of heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide-binding proteins (G proteins), defined by G alpha(12) and G alpha(13), have many cellular functions in common, including stimulation of stress fiber formation and focal adhesion assembly via the small GTPase RhoA activation. We and others previously showed that G alpha(12) and G alpha(13) mediate neurite retraction in neuronal cell lines, but their roles in primary cultured neurons have not been adequately understood. Here, we found that expression of constitutively active mutants of G alpha(12) or G alpha(13) caused growth cone collapse dependent on Rho-kinase activity in hippocampal neurons.

Pacific Ocean and Japan Sea ecotypes of Japanese beech (Fagus crenata) differ in photosystem responses to continuous high light.

Two ecotypes of Japanese beech (Fagus crenata Blume), the Pacific Ocean type (PAO) and the Japan Sea type (JAS), show different responses to high solar irradiance. When PAO and JAS saplings were grown in continuous high-light (H), leaves of JAS became pale green. To elucidate this phenomenon, we investigated in vivo photochemistry based on pigment concentrations of Photosystem (PS) I and PS II and Western blot analysis.

[Partial response of liver metastasis from colon cancer following intermittent oral administration of TS-1 after intra-hepatic arterial single injection of CDDP, doxorubicin and 5-FU].

An intrahepatic arterial injection of CDDP, doxorubicin and 5-FU, followed by 17 courses of oral TS-1 administration (80 mg/day x 14 days, q=28 days), induced a partial response for 9 months after 18 months of stable disease in a 76-year-old male with asynchronous liver metastasis due to ascending colon cancer. TS-1 showed an excellent anticancer effect against colorectal metastatic liver cancers for a long time without loss of QOL or safety.

Characterization of chlorophyll-protein complexes isolated from two marine green algae, Bryopsis maxima and Ulva pertusa, growing in the intertidal zone.

Three Chl-protein complexes were isolated from thylakoid membranes of Bryopsis maxima and Ulva pertusa, marine green algae that inhabit the intertidal zone of the Pacific Ocean off the eastern coast of Japan by dodecyl-beta-D-maltoside polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The slowest-moving fractions showed low Chl a/b and Chl/P-700 ratios, indicating that this fraction corresponds to complexes in PS I, which is large in both algae. The intermediate and fastest-moving fractions showed the traits of PS II complexes, with some associated Chl a/b-protein complexes and LHC II, respectively.

Two G12 family G proteins, G alpha12 and G alpha13, show different subcellular localization.

The G alpha subunits of the G12 family of heterotrimeric G proteins, G alpha12 and G alpha13, are closely related in sequences and some effectors, but they often act through different pathways or bind to different proteins. We have examined subcellular distribution of these two G proteins and found that endogenous G alpha12 and G alpha13 localize in membrane and cytoplasmic fractions, respectively. Exogenously expressed G alpha12 and G alpha13 also localize in membrane and cytoplasmic fractions, respectively, in COS-7 cells.

The stoichiometry and antenna size of the two photosystems in marine green algae, Bryopsis maxima and Ulva pertusa, in relation to the light environment of their natural habitat.

The stoichiometry and antenna sizes of the two photosystems in two marine green algae, Bryopsis maxima and Ulva pertusa, were investigated to examine whether the photosynthetic apparatus of the algae can be related to the light environment of their natural habitat. Bryopsis maxima and Ulva pertusa had chlorophyll (Chl) a/b ratios of 1.5 and 1.

Management of postoperative follow-up and surgical treatment for Krukenberg tumor from colorectal cancers.

Background/aims: The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate the clinical presentation as well as surgical intervention for ovarian metastasis from colorectal cancers identified during postoperative follow-up.

Methodology: Nine cases of ovarian metastasis were observed among 452 female patients with colon cancers between 1990 and 2000. Initial symptoms were pain (67%), pelvic mass (50%), vaginal bleeding (33%), and uterine bleeding (17%).