Diverticular Pouch of the Buccal Mucosa: A Rare Case Report.

Diverticular pouch in the oral cavity is a rare disease, and its etiology is unclear. The authors present a rare case of diverticular pouch in the buccal mucosa. A 79-year-old man visited our hospital with a chief complaint of food impaction in the right buccal mucosa.

Correction to: Postmortem computed tomographic features in the diagnosis of drowning: a comparison of fresh water and salt water drowning cases.

Whereas in FWDCs, a significantly larger volume and lower density of fluid in the paranasal sinuses (P = 0.0195 and P = 0.0104, respectively), lower density of fluid in the central airways (P = 0.

Postmortem computed tomographic features in the diagnosis of drowning: a comparison of fresh water and salt water drowning cases.

Purpose: To investigate the effectiveness of postmortem computed tomography in the diagnosis of drowning, focusing on the comparison of fresh water and salt water cases using three-dimensionally (3D) reconstructed data.

Materials And Methods: We examined features of drowning in 25 fresh water drowning cases (FWDCs; 13 men, 12 women; mean age 73.1 years; range 43-95 years), and compared these with 12 salt water drowning cases (SWDCs; 5 men, 7 women; mean age 66.

The Importance of cGMP Signaling in Sensory Cilia for Body Size Regulation in Caenorhabditis elegans.

The body size of Caenorhabditis elegans is thought to be controlled by sensory inputs because many mutants with sensory cilium structure defects exhibit small body size. The EGL-4 cGMP-dependent protein kinase acts in sensory neurons to reduce body size when animals fail to perceive sensory signals. In addition to body size control, EGL-4 regulates various other behavioral and developmental pathways, including those involved in the regulation of egg laying and chemotaxis behavior.

Spinal hyperostosis as an important sign indicating spine injuries on postmortem computed tomography.

Although spine injuries are not always detectable on postmortem computed tomography (PMCT), spinal hyperostosis, an important risk factor for spine injury, is relatively easily detectable on PMCT. We therefore examined the utility of the detection of spinal hyperostosis on PMCT as an indicator of spine injury. Full-body PMCT images of 88 autopsy cases with a bruise on the face or forehead but no identifiable skull fracture were reviewed prior to autopsy for the identification and classification of spinal hyperostosis.

Outcomes of patients with stage IVA esophageal cancer (Japanese classification) treated with definitive chemoradiotherapy.

Purpose: To evaluate treatment outcomes of chemoradiotherapy for patients with stage IVA esophageal cancer and to estimate prognostic factors.

Materials And Methods: Patients with stage IVA esophageal cancer treated with chemoradiotherapy between April 2003 and March 2009 were evaluated. Patients received concurrent chemoradiotherapy comprising cisplatin plus 5-fluorouracil and 61.

[Clinical analyses of oral squamous cell carcinoma patients showing a complete response to chemotherapy with S-1 alone].

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness and safety of palliative chemotherapy using S-1 alone. We clinically analyzed 8 oral squamous cell carcinoma patients showing a complete response(CR)to chemotherapy with S-1 alone. These patients received chemotherapy consisting of 2 weeks' administration, including 5-days' administration and 2- days' termination, following a 1-week rest.

Correlation between severity of carotid stenosis and vascular reserve measured by acetazolamide brain perfusion single photon emission computed tomography.

Few studies have investigated the relationship between the degree of stenosis of the internal carotid artery (ICA) and cerebrovascular reserve (CVR). This study examined that relationship. A total of 56 ICAs in 43 patients were included.

[A case of breast cancer with extensive osteonecrosis of maxilla induced by a bisphosphonate].

Here, we report a case of extensive osteonecrosis of the maxilla associated with a history of bisphosphonate (BP) therapy for management of bone metastases from breast cancer. A 66-year-old woman was referred to our hospital because of a fistulation on the right side of the maxilla in May 2005 by her dentist. The patient had a medical history of breast cancer with bone metastasis that was treated by chemotherapy with 45 mg pamidronate in 2 weekly courses for 16 months.

Evaluation of postoperative status after clipping surgery in patients with cerebral aneurysm on 3-dimensional-CT angiography with elimination of clips.

Background And Purpose: the use of 3-dimensional computed tomography angiography (3D-CTA) for clipped aneurysms is limited. Usefulness of 3D-CTA with elimination of bone and clips was evaluated in patients with clipped cerebral aneurysms.

Methods: forty-three clipped cerebral aneurysms were included.

Clinical relevance of thymidylate synthase (TS) activity for S-1-based chemotherapy in squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity.

S-1 is a newly developed oral fluoropyrimidine derivative that is now widely used as a chemotherapeutic agent in the treatment of oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Thymidylate synthase (TS) is the rate-limiting enzyme in the de novo DNA biosynthetic pathway, and improves clinical response to chemotherapy with fluoropyrimidines. We have retrospectively evaluated the predictive value of thymidylate synthase activity in 75 patients with oral SCC with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

[Clinical evaluation of palliative chemotherapy with S-1 for oral cancer patients].

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness and safety of palliative chemotherapy using S-1. We treated 19 advanced oral SCC patients including 8 men and 11 women with S-1. Of the 19 patients studied, two patients were classified as UICC Stage II, two patients as Stage III, 14 patients as Stage IV A, and one patient was classified as StageIV C.

CT features of pancreatic fistula after pancreaticoduodenectomy.

Objective: Our objective was to establish the CT features that are indicative of pancreatic fistula after pancreaticoduodenectomy.

Conclusion: A fluid collection seen on CT around the pancreaticojejunostomy site and in the pancreatic bed may be caused by pancreatic fistula in patients who have undergone pancreaticoduodenectomy. CT depiction of air bubbles in the fluid at these sites may strongly suggest the diagnosis of pancreatic fistula.

Quantitative analyses of sonographic images of the parotid gland in patients with Sjögren's syndrome.

The first purpose of this study was to quantify the sonographic images of the salivary gland to differentiate the Sjögren syndrome (SS) group from the non-SS group. We included 132 patients in this study who had been referred to our department because of a suspicion of SS. A total of 91 patients fulfilled the criteria for SS, whereas the remaining 41 patients did not.

Osteochondroma in the mandibular condyle that caused facial asymmetry: a case report.

Osteochondroma is the most common benign tumor of the axial skeleton, though it is rarely found in the oral and maxillofacial regions. Reported is a case of osteochondroma affecting the mandibular condyle of a 22-year-old Japanese woman. The patient visited the hospital with the chief complaint of facial asymmetry.

SRC-1, a non-receptor type of protein tyrosine kinase, controls the direction of cell and growth cone migration in C. elegans.

Src family tyrosine kinase (SFK) has been implicated in the regulation of cell adhesion and migration during animal development. We show that SRC-1, an ortholog of SFK, plays an essential role in directing cell migration in Caenorhabditis elegans. The mutation in the src-1 gene results in defective distal tip cell (DTC)-directed gonad morphogenesis in an activity-dependent and DTC cell-autonomous manners.

The dyf-3 gene encodes a novel protein required for sensory cilium formation in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Ciliated neurons in animals are important for the reception of environmental stimuli. To understand the mechanism of cilium morphogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans, we analyzed dyf-3 mutants that are defective in uptake of a fluorescent dye and abnormal in sensory cilium structure. Expression of green fluorescent protein in sensory neurons of a dyf-3 mutant revealed that the mutant has stunted cilia and abnormal posterior projections in some sensory neurons.

Ran, a small GTPase gene, encodes cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes capable of inducing HLA-A33-restricted and tumor-reactive CTLs in cancer patients.

Purpose: The purpose is to identify a gene coding for tumor-associated antigen and peptide capable of inducing CTLs reactive to tumor cells with a HLA-A33-restricted fashion to provide scientific basis for specific immunotherapy to HLA-A33+ cancer patients.

Experimental Design: An expression gene-cloning method was used to identify the tumor-associated antigen gene. Northern blot analysis and immunohistochemistry were used to examine the mRNA and protein expression levels in various cells and tissues, respectively.

Expression of epithelial cancer-related antigens in hematologic malignancies applicable for peptide-based immunotherapy.

Recent advances in tumor immunology have resulted in identification of many epithelial cancer-related antigens and peptides applicable to specific immunotherapy. The authors investigated whether these peptides, which are being studied clinically, could be appropriate target molecules for treatment of patients with hematologic malignancies. The majority of hematologic malignant cells studied expressed five different epithelial cancer-related antigens.

The C. elegans ceh-36 gene encodes a putative homemodomain transcription factor involved in chemosensory functions of ASE and AWC neurons.

Chemotaxis to water-soluble chemicals such as sodium ion is an important behavior of Caenorhabditis elegans for seeking food, and ASE chemosensory neurons have a major role in this behavior. We isolated mutants defective in chemotaxis to sodium acetate. We show here that among them ks86 had a mutation in the ceh-36 gene.

Immediate early response gene X-1, a stress-inducible antiapoptotic gene, encodes cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes capable of inducing human leukocyte antigen-A33-restricted and tumor-reactive CTLs in gastric cancer patients.

Peptide-based vaccine therapy, which is designed to elicit T-cell immunity against tumors, is an attractive approach for the treatment of cancer patients. To provide a scientific basis for peptide therapy, an increasing number of CTL-directed peptides have been identified, and some of them have been tried as antigen-specific immunotherapy in the past decade. Only a few studies, however, have been performed on such peptides restricted with alleles other than HLA-A2 and -A24.

Identification of a CTL-directed epitope encoded by an intron of the putative tumor suppressor gene Testin of the common fragile site 7G region: a peptide vaccine candidate for HLA-B52+ and HLA-62+ cancer patients.

Although cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL)-directed epitopes binding to human histocompatibility leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A molecules have been well characterized, those binding to HLA-B molecules have not, largely due to their large diversity. In this study we report a unique cancer antigen gene, tentatively named Testin-related gene (TRG), which encodes CTL-directed epitopes on the HLA-B52 molecules most frequently expressed in Asians. TRG is located in an intron of the putative tumor suppressor gene Testin in the common fragile site 7G region at 7q31.

Gene and peptide analyses of newly defined lung cancer antigens recognized by HLA-A2402-restricted tumor-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes.

We investigated tumor antigens recognized by HLA-A2402-restricted CTLs established from T cells infiltrating into lung adenocarcinoma. We report here three newly identified tumor antigen genes, including one unreported gene, temporarily referred to as clone 83, and two known genes, BTB domain containing 2 (BTBD2) and hairpin-binding protein. These genes were preferentially expressed in most of the cell lines of lung cancer and also of ovarian cancer and renal cell carcinoma at the mRNA level.

Spontaneous regression of extranodal malignant lymphoma occurred in the gingiva.

The spontaneous regression of malignant neoplasm is an extremely rare event. Here we report a case of extranodal malignant lymphoma occurring in the upper gingiva, which regressed spontaneously. A 78-year-old female had noticed a diffuse bucco-lingual swelling of the left maxillary gingiva in the incisor regions for a month, and she visited our department on 20 January 1999.

The C. elegans che-1 gene encodes a zinc finger transcription factor required for specification of the ASE chemosensory neurons.

Chemotaxis to water-soluble chemicals such as NaCl is an important behavior of C. elegans when seeking food. ASE chemosensory neurons have a major role in this behavior.