Discovery of long-chain polyamines embedded in the biosilica on the Bacillus cereus spore coat.

Biosilicification is the process by which organisms incorporate soluble, monomeric silicic acid, Si(OH), in the form of polymerized insoluble silica, SiO. Although the mechanisms underlying eukaryotic biosilicification have been intensively investigated, prokaryotic biosilicification has only recently begun to be studied. We previously reported that biosilicification occurs in the gram-positive, spore-forming bacterium Bacillus cereus, and that silica is intracellularly deposited on the spore coat as a protective coating against acids, although the underlying mechanism is not yet fully understood.

Usefulness of Five-Parameter System Reconfirmed for Cytopathology of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma regardless of Differentiation Degree.

Background: We previously introduced the Five-Parameter System (FPS), which exclusively evaluates keratinized cellular findings, for use in cytology examinations of oral well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and carcinoma in situ (CIS) specimens, as they occasionally lack nuclear atypia and can be challenging for categorization by The Bethesda System (TBS). This study was conducted to determine whether FPS parameters are detectable even in oral SCC/CIS specimens with apparent nuclear atypia.

Summary: Oral cytology specimens were obtained together with biopsy tissue samples.

Differential diagnosis of well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma from non-neoplastic oral mucosal lesions: New cytopathologic evaluation method dependent on keratinization-related parameters but not nuclear atypism.

Background: The cytology of oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is challenging because oral SCC cells tend to be well differentiated and lack nuclear atypia, often resulting in a false negative diagnosis. The purpose of this study was to establish practical cytological parameters specific to oral SCCs.

Methods: We reviewed 123 cases of malignancy and 53 of non-neoplastic lesions of the oral mucosa, which had been diagnosed using both cytology and histopathology specimens.

Properties of Zip4 accumulation during zinc deficiency and its usefulness to evaluate zinc status: a study of the effects of zinc deficiency during lactation.

Systemic and cellular zinc homeostasis is elaborately controlled by ZIP and ZnT zinc transporters. Therefore, detailed characterization of their expression properties is of importance. Of these transporter proteins, Zip4 functions as the primarily important transporter to control systemic zinc homeostasis because of its indispensable function of zinc absorption in the small intestine.

Cytological features of atypical carcinoid combined with adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix.

Neuroendocrine tumors of the uterine cervix (UC) are rare, and atypical carcinoid (AC) combined with adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix (ACAUC) is particularly rare. Only the histopathology has been investigated in the English literature. A 49-year-old female with a polypoid lesion of the UC visited Yamanashi Prefectural Central Hospital.

Adequate design of customized cDNA macroarray for convenient multiple gene expression analysis.

To establish a convenient, cost-effective, and reasonably reliable method for monitoring multiple gene expression using customized membrane-based macroarray, we constructed a cDNA macroarray with multiple probes for 13 human vascular endothelial genes and assessed the accuracy of the macroarray measurements. For each gene, two cDNA probes (450-550 bp) were designed from different regions (coding region and 3'-untranslated region [3'-UTR], respectively) on the basis of simple criteria concerning length and sequence specificity and spotted on the macroarray. In addition, unmodified oligonucleotide probes (80 mer) targeted to a unique sequence from the coding region of each gene were spotted on the same macroarray.

Prenatal diagnosis of trisomy 9.

Fetal trisomy 9, especially its nonmosaic form, is a rare chromosomal abnormality and there are only 8 cases reported to have been sonographically detected in the prenatal period. We report a case of nonmosaic fetal trisomy 9, mimicking trisomy 13 on sonographic findings at 32 weeks' gestation. Although the incidence of trisomy 9 is rare, diagnosing trisomy 9 is important because the sonographic features are similar to those of trisomies 13 and 18, and cannot to be identified by routine fluorescencein situ hybridization.

Amplification of the synovial inflammatory response through activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases and nuclear factor kappaB using ligation of CD40 on CD14+ synovial cells from patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: To determine the signal transduction pathways in CD14+ synovial cells from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) after CD40 ligation, and to examine their role in amplifying synovial inflammation in affected joints.

Methods: Expression of messenger RNA was analyzed using quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Cytokines and chemokines were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.