Characteristics and timing of recurrence during postoperative surveillance after curative resection for lung adenocarcinoma.

Purpose: To establish the most effective methods of postoperative surveillance to detect early recurrence of lung adenocarcinoma.

Methods: The subjects of this retrospective study were 485 patients with p-stage I-III lung adenocarcinoma, who underwent postoperative surveillance. We examined the sites and detection modes of recurrence and calculated the recurrence-free probabilities.

A case of biatrial multiple myxomas with glandular structure.

A 45-year-old male, who had been indicated by brain magnetic resonance imaging to have cerebral infarctions, was found by echocardiography to have a tumor in the left atrium. He had experienced several of the constitutional disturbances associated with myxoma. At the ages of 19 and 35 he had had two episodes associated with embolisms, and at the later one he was diagnosed as having multiple cerebral aneurysms.

Hydrodynamics-based delivery of plasmid DNA encoding CTLA4-Ig prolonged cardiac allograft survival in rats.

Background: Although gene therapy using plasmid vectors is thought to be safer compared with viral vectors, poor efficacy of gene transfer is the obstacle preventing wide application of plasmid vectors. However, high levels of foreign gene expression have been achieved by rapid tail vein injection of a large volume of a plasmid DNA solution into rats. Using this technique, we examined the effect of rat CTLA4-Ig gene transfer on prevention of cardiac allograft rejection in this animal model.

Ultrafiltration attenuates cardiopulmonary bypass-induced acute lung injury in a canine model of single-lung transplantation.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of cardiopulmonary bypass and ultrafiltration on graft function in a canine single-lung transplantation model.

Methods: Fifteen left single-lung transplantations were done in weight-mismatched canine pairs. The animals were divided into 3 groups: group 1, in which transplantation was done without cardiopulmonary bypass; group 2, in which transplantation was done with cardiopulmonary bypass and in which the cardiopulmonary bypass flow was decreased slowly with controlled pulmonary artery pressure; and group 3, in which transplantation was done with cardiopulmonary bypass and ultrafiltration.

Activation of protein kinase A alters subnuclear distribution pattern of human steroidogenic factor 1 in living cells.

Background: The aim of this study was to identify the subnuclear distribution pattern of human orphan nuclear receptor steroidogenic factor 1 (SF-1) in living cells with and without the activation of protein kinase A (PKA) signal pathway, and thus try to explain the unknown mechanism by which PKA potentiates SF-1 transactivation.

Methods: Full-length cDNAs of wild type and a naturally occurring mutant (G35E) human SF-1 were cloned and fused with green fluorescent protein (GFP). Subcellular distribution pattern of human SF-1 in living cells, whose PKA signaling was either activated or not, was studied by laser confocal microscopy after the validity of the gene sequence was confirmed.

Correlation of oxidative stress with activity of matrix metalloproteinase in patients with coronary artery disease. Possible role for left ventricular remodelling.

Aims: Oxidative stress is implicated in the progression of heart failure, and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity is increased in patients with congestive heart failure. We examined the role of oxidative stress on MMP activity in humans.

Methods And Results: We measured the MMP activity and the level of 8-iso-prostagandin F2alpha (8-iso-PGF2alpha), a specific and quantitative maker of oxidant stress, in the pericardial fluid (PF) in 47 consecutive patients with coronary artery disease who underwent coronary artery bypass surgery.

Plasma concentration of coupling factor 6 and cardiovascular events in patients with end-stage renal disease.

Background: Plasma asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), an endogenous inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase (NOS), is an independent predictor of overall mortality and cardiovascular outcome in hemodialysis patients. However, not only ADMA but also traditional risk factors account for only part of the high cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in these patients. We investigated cross-sectionally the association between coupling factor 6 (CF6), an endogenous inhibitor of prostacyclin synthesis, and cardiovascular events in 95 hemodialysis patients.

Effect of shear stress on asymmetric dimethylarginine release from vascular endothelial cells.

We demonstrated recently that plasma concentrations of asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), an endogenous inhibitor of nitric oxide (NO) synthase, are increased by high salt intake concomitantly with a decrease in plasma levels of NO in human hypertension. We investigated the effect of shear stress on ADMA release in 2 types of cells: transformed human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs; cell line ECV-304) and HUVECs. Exposure of ECV-304 cells and HUVECs to shear stress with the use of a cone-plate viscometer enhanced gene expression of protein arginine methyltransferase (PRMT-1), ADMA synthase.

Protein kinase A potentiates adrenal 4 binding protein/steroidogenic factor 1 transactivation by reintegrating the subcellular dynamic interactions of the nuclear receptor with its cofactors, general control nonderepressed-5/transformation/transcription domain-associated protein, and suppressor, dosage-sensitive sex reversal-1: a laser confocal imaging study in living KGN cells.

The mechanism through which protein kinase A (PKA) potentiates the transactivation ability of adrenal 4 binding protein/steroidogenic factor 1 (Ad4BP/SF-1) is currently unclear. In the present study, we investigated the mechanism by applying laser confocal microscopy and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching technique. In KGN cells, forskolin (a PKA stimulator) could reorganize wild-type Ad4BP/SF-1, but not mutant Ad4BP/SF-1 (G35E), from a diffuse distribution pattern to foci formation in the nucleus.

High plasma level of asymmetric dimethylarginine in patients with acutely exacerbated congestive heart failure: role in reduction of plasma nitric oxide level.

Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), an endogenous inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase, is elevated in congestive heart failure (CHF) concomitantly with the higher levels of nitric oxide (NO) and cytokines. We investigated the association among ADMA, NO, and cytokines in human CHF. Blood was collected from 25 patients with acutely exacerbated chronic CHF (acute CHF, mean age 61 +/- 3 years), 23 patients with chronic compensated CHF (chronic CHF, mean age 62 +/- 2 years), and 26 control subjects (mean age 51 +/- 1 years).

Relationship between salt intake, nitric oxide and asymmetric dimethylarginine and its relevance to patients with end-stage renal disease.

Patients with essential hypertension (n = 24) were administered a low-salt diet (2 g NaCl/day), a high-salt diet (20-23 g) and then a low-salt diet for 7 days, and plasma levels of nitrate and nitrite (NOx) and asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) were examined. There was a negative correlation between the percent changes in mean blood pressure and the plasma NOx concentration after salt loading and restriction. The percent change in plasma ADMA concentration was negatively correlated with that in the plasma NOx concentration after salt loading and restriction.

Activation function-1 domain of androgen receptor contributes to the interaction between subnuclear splicing factor compartment and nuclear receptor compartment. Identification of the p102 U5 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle-binding protein as a coactivator for the receptor.

In the androgen receptor (AR), most of its transactivation activity is mediated via the activation function-1 (AF-1). By employing yeast two-hybrid assay, we isolated a cDNA sequence encoding a protein binding to AR-AF-1. This protein, named ANT-1 (AR N-terminal domain transactivating protein-1), enhanced the ligand-independent autonomous AF-1 transactivation function of AR or glucocorticoid receptor but did not enhance that of estrogen receptor alpha.

The presence of both the amino- and carboxyl-terminal domains in the AR is essential for the completion of a transcriptionally active form with coactivators and intranuclear compartmentalization common to the steroid hormone receptors: a three-dimensional imaging study.

To clarify the physiological significance of the intranuclear speckled distribution, or foci formation, of liganded steroid receptors, the subnuclear distribution of green (GFP), yellow (YFP), and cyan (CFP) fluorescent protein-tagged receptors and coactivators was investigated. The foci formation of 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone (DHT)-bound AR-GFP in COS7 cells was abolished by the cotransfection of a CBP Delta (118-2393) fragment eliciting a dominant negative effect on the transactivation capacity of the AR. The N-terminal AR fragment (AR-AF-1-YFP), which has a strong constitutive transactivation function, formed foci without DHT, whereas the C-terminal AR fragment (AR-AF-2-CFP), which has a quite low transactivation function, was distributed homogeneously even in the presence of DHT.