Pilot study on novel blood containers with alternative plasticizers for red cell concentrate storage.

Di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), a typical plasticizer used for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) blood containers, is eluted from the blood containers and exerts protective effects on red blood cells. However, a concern for detrimental effects of DEHP on human health has led to the development of potential DEHP substitutes. Here, we compared the red blood cell preservation ability of two types of non-DEHP blood containers with safe alternative plasticizers to that of DEHP blood containers.

Alternative plasticizer, 4-cyclohexene-1,2-dicarboxylic acid dinonyl ester, for blood containers with protective effects on red blood cells and improved cold resistance.

Di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), a typical plasticizer used for polyvinyl chloride (PVC), is eluted from PVC-made blood containers and protects against red blood cell (RBC) hemolysis. However, concerns have arisen regarding the reproductive and developmental risks of DEHP in humans, and the use of alternative plasticizers for medical devices has been recommended worldwide. In this study, we propose that the use of a novel plasticizer, 4-cyclohexene-1,2-dicarboxylic acid dinonyl ester (DL9TH), could help produce more useful and safe blood containers.

Prevalence of absolute pitch: a comparison between Japanese and Polish music students.

Comparable large-scale surveys including an on-site pitch-naming test were conducted with music students in Japan and Poland to obtain more convincing estimates of the prevalence of absolute pitch (AP) and examine how musical experience relates to AP. Participants with accurate AP (95% correct identification) accounted for 30% of the Japanese music students, but only 7% of the Polish music students. This difference in the performance of pitch naming was related to the difference in musical experience.

Suppression of injury-induced conjunctiva scarring by peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma gene transfer in mice.

Purpose: To examine the effects of introduction of the adenoviral peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-gamma gene on postinjury conjunctival scarring in mice. Its effects on fibrogenic reaction of cultured human subconjunctival fibroblasts (hSCFs) were also evaluated.

Methods: The effects of PPARgamma gene introduction on expression of type I collagen, fibronectin, and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in hSCFs were examined.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition as a therapeutic target for prevention of ocular tissue fibrosis.

Fibrotic diseases are characterized by the appearance of myofibroblasts, the key cell type involved in the fibrogenic reaction, and by excess accumulation of extracellular matrix with resultant tissue contraction and impaired function. Myofiborblasts are generated by fibroblast-myofibrobalst conversion, and in certain tissues through epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process through which an epithelial cell changes its phenotype to become more like a mesenchymal cell. Although inflammatory/fibrogenic growth factors/cytokines produced by injured tissues orchestrate the process of EMT, transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta) is believed to play a central role in the process.

Corneal wound healing in an osteopontin-deficient mouse.

Purpose: To investigate the effects of loss of osteopontin (OPN) in the healing of the injured cornea in mice. Cell culture study was also conducted to clarify the effects of OPN in fibroblast behaviors.

Methods: Ocular fibroblasts from wild-type (WT) and OPN-null (KO) mice were used to study the role of OPN on cell behavior.

Connective tissue growth factor modulates extracellular matrix production in human subconjunctival fibroblasts and their proliferation and migration in vitro.

Purpose: We examined the role of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in transforming growth factor beta1 (TGFbeta1)-related behavior in cultured human subconjunctival fibroblasts (SCFs), protein production, mRNA expression of CTGF and type I collagen alpha1 chain (colIA1), and cell proliferation and migration. TGFbeta1 is the major factor involved in bleb scarring following filtration surgery.

Methods: An antisense deoxynucleotide (antisense) (5 microM) for CTGF mRNA was used to block endogenous CTGF expression.

Fibrotic disorders in the eye: targets of gene therapy.

Fibrotic diseases, e.g., cutaneous and corneal scarring, keloids, and liver and lung fibrosis, etc.

Loss of osteopontin perturbs the epithelial-mesenchymal transition in an injured mouse lens epithelium.

We previously reported that osteopontin (OPN), a matrix structural glycophosphoprotein, is upregulated in the injured mouse lens prior to the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Here, we investigated the role of this protein in EMT of the lens epithelium during wound healing. The crystalline lens was injured by needle puncture in OPN-null (KO, n=40) and wild-type (WT, n=40) mice.

Gene transfer of Smad7 modulates injury-induced conjunctival wound healing in mice.

Purpose: Smad7 is a molecule that blocks the Smad2/3 signal. Herein, we examined the effects of Smad7 gene introduction on post-injury conjunctival wound healing in mice. Its effects on the cultured human subconjunctival fibroblasts (SCFs) were also investigated.

Treatment of eyelid epithelial neoplasm by targeting sonic hedgehog signaling: an experimental study.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of cyclopamine, an inhibitor of the Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signal, on the growth of an epithelial neoplasm.

Methods: Chemically induced eyelid tumors in XPC-null mice (n=40) were treated daily with a subcutaneous injection of cyclopamine (1 mg/animal) for 7 days. The animals were killed after bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) labeling, and the tumors were histologically examined.

Interleukin-7 modulates extracellular matrix production and TGF-beta signaling in cultured human subconjunctival fibroblasts.

Purpose: We examined the role of interleukin-7 (IL-7) in modulation of production of extracellular matrix (ECM), immunolocalization of Smads, and cell migration and expressions of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) in cultured human subconjunctival fibroblasts. IL-7 is capable of inducing Smad7, an inhibitory Smad that interferes with TGF-beta/Smad signal.

Methods: The effects of IL-7 on ECM production, immunolocalization of Smads, type I collagen, fibronectin, alpha -smooth muscle actin (alpha -SMA), and cell migration were examined in human subconjunctival fibroblast culture with or without TGF-beta1.

Electrophysiological correlates of absolute pitch and relative pitch.

The temporal and spatial characteristics of the cortical processes responsible for absolute pitch (AP) and relative pitch (RP) were investigated by multi-channel event-related potentials (ERPs). Compared to listening, pitch-naming of tones in non-possessors of AP elicited three ERP components (P3b, parietal positive slow wave, frontal negative slow wave) over parietal and frontal scalp between 300 and 900 ms in latency, representing the cortical processes for RP. Possessors of AP elicited a unique left posterior-temporal negativity ('AP negativity') at 150 ms in both listening and pitch-naming conditions, representing the cortical processes for AP that were triggered by pitch input irrespective of the task the subjects were asked to perform.

Ear advantage and consonance of dichotic pitch intervals in absolute-pitch possessors.

Left-right asymmetry in the central processing of musical consonance was investigated by dichotic listening tasks. Two piano tones paired at various pitch intervals (1-11 semitones) were presented one note in each ear to twenty absolute-pitch possessors. As a result, a weak overall trend for left ear advantage (LEA) was found, as is characteristic of trained musicians.