Diffusion-weighted imaging of surgically resected hepatocellular carcinoma: imaging characteristics and relationship among signal intensity, apparent diffusion coefficient, and histopathologic grade.

Objective: The objective of our study was to determine the relationship between the signal intensity of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) assessed with diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and T2-weighted imaging and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) with the histopathologic grade of each nodule.

Materials And Methods: MR examinations including DWI and T2-weighted imaging of 125 surgically resected hypervascular HCCs in 99 patients were retrospectively reviewed. Pathologic examinations revealed 25 well-, 61 moderately, and 39 poorly differentiated HCCs.

Preoperative diagnosis of the axillary arch with multidetector row computed tomography and the axillary arch in association with anatomical problems of sentinel lymph node biopsy.

Background: The purpose of this study was to describe the preoperative diagnosis of the axillary arch with multidetector row computed tomography (MDCT) in patients who underwent sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy. In addition, we investigated anatomical problems of SLN biopsy in the cases that diagnosed this anomaly.

Methods: From 2003 to 2008, combined procedures with blue dye SLN biopsy and MDCT-assisted axillary node sampling were performed in 550 clinically axilla-negative patients with primary operable breast cancer.

Anionic pulmonary surfactant phospholipids inhibit inflammatory responses from alveolar macrophages and U937 cells by binding the lipopolysaccharide-interacting proteins CD14 and MD-2.

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), derived from Gram-negative bacteria, is a major cause of acute lung injury and respiratory distress syndrome. Pulmonary surfactant is secreted as a complex mixture of lipids and proteins onto the alveolar surface of the lung. Surfactant phospholipids are essential in reducing surface tension at the air-liquid interface and preventing alveolar collapse at the end of the respiratory cycle.

Analyses of non-leucine-rich repeat (non-LRR) regions intervening between LRRs in proteins.

Background: Many proteins have LRR (leucine-rich repeat) units interrupted by non-LRRs which we call IR (non-LRR island region).

Methods: We identified proteins containing LRR@IRs (LRRs having IR) by using a new method and then analyzed their natures and distributions.

Results: LRR@IR proteins were found in over two hundred proteins from prokaryotes and from eukaryotes.

Mutational analysis of Cys(88) of Toll-like receptor 4 highlights the critical role of MD-2 in cell surface receptor expression.

The role of MD-2 in cell surface expression of Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 has been controversial. The purposes of this study were to characterize the N-glycan of TLR4 and to investigate the roles of MD-2 in N-linked glycosylation and cell surface expression of TLR4. Lectin blot and cell surface biotinylation revealed that TLR4 exhibited the 110 kDa protein with high mannose type N-glycans and the 130 kDa protein with complex type N-glycans and that only the 130 kDa TLR4 with complex type N-glycans was expressed on the cell surface.

Core fucose and bisecting GlcNAc, the direct modifiers of the N-glycan core: their functions and target proteins.

Among the various posttranslational modification reactions, glycosylation is the most common, and nearly 50% of all known proteins are thought to be glycosylated. In particular, most of the molecules involved in cell-cell communication are glycosylated, and glycosylation is thus implicated in many physiological and pathological events, including cell growth, cell-cell adhesion, and tumor metastasis. As many of the glycosyltransferases are cloned, it is becoming possible to alter the oligosaccharide structures artificially and examine the effects.

Comparison of diffusion-weighted images using short inversion time inversion recovery or chemical shift selective pulse as fat suppression in patients with breast cancer.

Purpose: Fat suppression is essential for diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in the body. However, the chemical shift selective (CHESS) pulse often fails to suppress fat signals in the breast. The purpose of this study was to compare DWI using CHESS and DWI using short inversion time inversion recovery (STIR) in terms of fat suppression and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value.

Feasibility of diffusion-weighted imaging under split breath-hold acquisition and postprocessing (DWI-SBAP): an attempt to suppress hepatic pseudo-anisotropy.

Purpose: To suppress hepatic pseudo-anisotropy, which is a specific artifact in diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) of the liver obtained under respiratory triggering, the authors developed a novel acquisition technique for DWI that we termed "diffusion-weighted imaging under split breath-hold acquisition and postprocessing" (DWI-SBAP). We evaluated its feasibility in this study.

Materials And Methods: Of 113 patients whose hepatic DWI under respiratory triggering (RT-DWI) showed prominent hepatic pseudo-anisotropy, 35 were included in the study.

Core fucosylation of E-cadherin enhances cell-cell adhesion in human colon carcinoma WiDr cells.

Alpha1,6-fucosyltransferase (Fut8), an enzyme that catalyzes the introduction of alpha1,6 core fucose to the innermost N-acetylglucosamine residue of the N-glycan, has been implicated in the development, immune system, and tumorigenesis. We found that alpha1,6-fucosyltransferase and E-cadherin expression levels are significantly elevated in primary colorectal cancer samples. Interestingly, low molecular weight population of E-cadherin appeared as well as normal sized E-cadherin in cancer samples.

Pulmonary surfactant protein D binds MD-2 through the carbohydrate recognition domain.

Pulmonary surfactant protein D (SP-D) is a member of the collectin family and plays crucial roles in the innate immunity of the lung. We have previously shown that surfactant protein A (SP-A), a homologous collectin, interacts with MD-2 and alters lipopolysaccharide signaling. In this study, we examined and characterized the binding of SP-D to MD-2 using a soluble form of recombinant MD-2 (sMD-2).

Pulmonary surfactant protein D inhibits lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory cell responses by altering LPS binding to its receptors.

Pulmonary surfactant protein D (SP-D) is a member of the collectin family that plays an important role in regulating innate immunity of the lung. We examined the mechanisms by which SP-D modulates lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-elicited inflammatory cell responses. SP-D bound to a complex of recombinant soluble forms of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and MD-2 with high affinity and down-regulated tumor necrosis factor-alpha secretion and NF-kappaB activation elicited by rough and smooth LPS, in alveolar macrophages and TLR4/MD-2-transfected HEK293 cells.

A single base mutation in the PRAT4A gene reveals differential interaction of PRAT4A with Toll-like receptors.

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play an essential role in defense responses. Immune cells express multiple TLRs which are simultaneously activated by microbial pathogens. PRotein Associated with Tlr4 A (PRAT4A) is a chaperone-like endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-resident protein required for the proper subcellular distribution of multiple TLRs.

Suppression of surfactant protein A by an epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor exacerbates lung inflammation.

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is reported as a serious adverse event in lung cancer patients treated with gefitinib, an epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI). However, the mechanisms of ILD associated with gefitinib remain unknown. To address the molecular mechanisms of ILD-associated gefitinib, we determined the effect of gefitinib treatment on surfactant protein expression in vitro and in vivo.

Tumor staging of advanced esophageal cancer: combination of double-contrast esophagography and contrast-enhanced CT.

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of tumor staging in patients with advanced esophageal cancer based on contrast-enhanced CT findings alone with that based on a combination of CT and double-contrast esophagography and to evaluate the relevance of tumor stage to survival rate.

Materials And Methods: In 94 patients who underwent surgery as the primary treatment for esophageal cancer and had a diagnosis of postoperative T stage 3 (pT3) or pT4 disease based on pathologic examination, T stage was evaluated using CT alone and using a combination of CT and double-contrast esophagography. The diagnostic criterion for T4 disease using CT alone was tumor strongly displacing or deforming adjacent organs.

Predicting the success of endoscopic transpapillary gallbladder drainage for patients with acute cholecystitis during pretreatment evaluation.

Introduction: Although endoscopic transpapillary gallbladder drainage (ETGBD) has been reported to be an effective treatment for acute cholecystitis, technical difficulties have precluded more widespread use of this technique. Case evaluations that can predict the occurrence of such difficulties should increase the acceptance of ETGBD for acute cholecystitis treatment.

Objective: To establish a pretreatment evaluation protocol for patients with acute cholecystitis.

BAC library construction and BAC end sequencing of five Drosophila species: the comparative map with the D. melanogaster genome.

We constructed and characterized arrayed bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) libraries of five Drosophila species (D. melanogaster, D. simulans, D.

Severity of measles among patients with incidental postexposure vaccination.

It has not been well elucidated whether patients with measles who have undergone postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) exhibit milder clinical symptoms than would be expected in the absence of PEP. In the present study, we compared the severity of measles of patients who had undergone incidental PEP to those of patients who had not received such prophylaxis. An outbreak of measles occurred among the personnel of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF) between 7 May and 14 June 2007 at 3 camps in or near Sendai City.

Measurement of B(Ds{+}-->mu+nu(mu)).

We present a measurement of the branching fraction B(D{s}{+}-->mu{+}nu{mu}) using a 548 fb{-1} data sample collected by the Belle experiment at the KEKB e{+}e{-} collider. The D{s} momentum is determined by reconstruction of the system recoiling against DKgammaX in events of the type e{+}e{-}-->D{s}{*}DKX, D{s}{*}-->D{s}gamma, where X represents additional pions or photons from fragmentation. This full-reconstruction method provides high resolution in the neutrino momentum and thus good background separation, equivalent to that achieved by experiments at the tau-charm factories.