Proteolytic stability and aggregation in a key metabolic enzyme of bacteria.

Proteins that are kinetically stable are thought to be less prone to both aggregation and proteolysis. We demonstrate that the classical system of can be leveraged as a model system to study this relation. β-galactosidase (LacZ) plays a critical role in lactose metabolism and is an extremely stable protein that can persist in growing cells for multiple generations after expression has stopped.

A unified framework for measuring selection on cellular lineages and traits.

Intracellular states probed by gene expression profiles and metabolic activities are intrinsically noisy, causing phenotypic variations among cellular lineages. Understanding the adaptive and evolutionary roles of such variations requires clarifying their linkage to population growth rates. Extending a cell lineage statistics framework, here we show that a population's growth rate can be expanded by the cumulants of a fitness landscape that characterize how fitness distributes in a population.

Surgical Treatment Using Artificial Dermis for Women with Locally Advanced Breast Cancer.

Physicians occasionally come across with patients with locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) bringing about distress, due to tumor growth, invasion to the skin, bleeding or an ill smell. Physicians often experience much difficulty in selecting and administering therapeutic option. The clinical courses of patient who had been treated with total resection of LABC and an attachment of artificial dermis (TERUDERMIS) were mentioned.

Cell Cycle Heritability and Localization Phase Transition in Growing Populations.

The cell cycle duration is a variable cellular phenotype that underlies long-term population growth and age structures. By analyzing the stationary solutions of a branching process with heritable cell division times, we demonstrate the existence of a phase transition, which can be continuous or first order, by which a nonzero fraction of the population becomes localized at a minimal division time. Just below the transition, we demonstrate the coexistence of localized and delocalized age-structure phases and the power law decay of correlation functions.

Spindle cell carcinoma of the breast - A case report.

Spindle cell carcinoma (SpCC) of the breast is quite a rare modality classified to the metaplastic carcinoma of the breast. Regarding its biological behavior and the prognosis of the patients with this rare tumor, it has been remaining controversial. We herein report an 88 year-old woman who had a huge bleeding tumor on the right breast.

Spontaneous pneumothorax associated with cavitating pulmonary metastasis from breast cancer: a case report and literature review.

We report a 69-year-old woman with spontaneous pneumothorax associated with cavitating pulmonary metastasis from breast cancer. She was treated for right breast cancer (invasive ductal carcinoma, ypT4bN1M0, stage IIIB) 2 years earlier, and was admitted for right pneumothorax and chest computed tomography, which showed multiple small cavitating lesions in bilateral lungs. The pneumothorax was treated conservatively with chest drainage, but subsequently recurred ipsilaterally.

New scoring system to create a prognostic criteria in colorectal carcinoma based on serum elevation of C-reactive protein and decrease in lymphocyte in peripheral blood.

Background: Both serum elevation of C-reactive protein (CRP) and reduction of lymphocyte in the peripheral blood has been known as indicator for malignant potential of human tumors.

Methods: Whether newly devised CLS (CRP/Lymphocyte Score), based on combined data of serum elevation of CRP and of lymphocyte percentage in the peripheral blood can be an indicator for progressive potential in colorectal carcinoma was examined in 280 cases who had been surgically treated.

Results: Significant difference in survival was observed both between CLS 0 and 1 and between CLS 1 and 2, in both cases when analyzed among whole patients and patient who had been treated with curative resection.

A case of adenoid cystic carcinoma of the breast.

An 85-year old woman who had a large tumor in the left breast came to our out-patient clinic. Computed tomography showed multiple lung tumors in addition to a huge tumor in the left breast. A needle biopsy brought about a histological diagnosis of ductal carcinoma.

Definition of Prognosis Based on Lymph Node Metastasis and Elevation of Serum C-Reactive Protein for Patients with Gastric Carcinoma Treated with Curative Resection.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to develop prognostic criteria based on the combination of nodal metastasis and preoperative elevation of serum C-reactive protein (CRP) for patients with gastric carcinoma that have been treated with curative resection.

Methods: Three hundred and twenty patients with gastric carcinoma who had been treated with curative resection were enrolled. One point was provided for each incidence of nodal metastasis and preoperative elevation of serum CRP and we examined whether this cumulative score system could provide a strict stratification of survival.

Recent advances in treatment for colorectal liver metastasis.

A major challenge for the management of colorectal liver metastasis (CRLM) is the multidisciplinary approach including surgery. Resection is the most important treatment strategy to prolong the survival of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Even when resection is not possible as a primary treatment, it may still be carried out for curative intent after effective chemotherapy.

Superficial temporal artery aneurysm associated with immunoglobulin G4-related disease.

A 68-year-old man was admitted because of a pulsatile mass and pain in the left temporal region, and computed tomography demonstrated the superficial temporal artery aneurysm. He underwent aneurysmectomy, and pathologic investigation revealed marked thickness of the adventitia with substantial plasmacyte infiltration. On immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4) immunohistochemistry, IgG4-positive lymphocytes were scattered in the adventitia, and biochemical tests revealed elevation of IgG4 (200 mg/dL).

Further evidence to demonstrate the significance of serum appearance of anti-p53 antibody as a marker for progressive potential in invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast.

Background: Serum appearance of anti-p53 antibody (p53Ab) has been reported as an indicator for progressive potential of human tumor tumors including breast cancer. But its significance in breast cancer has not been discussed fully.

Methods: Relationship between serum appearance of p53Abs and representative data accounting for progressive potential in breast cancer, nuclear grade (NG), triple negative cancer, and the cumulative score based on these two data (TGS) was investigated among 129 women with invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) of the breast, who had been treated with surgical resection.

Inferring fitness landscapes and selection on phenotypic states from single-cell genealogical data.

Recent advances in single-cell time-lapse microscopy have revealed non-genetic heterogeneity and temporal fluctuations of cellular phenotypes. While different phenotypic traits such as abundance of growth-related proteins in single cells may have differential effects on the reproductive success of cells, rigorous experimental quantification of this process has remained elusive due to the complexity of single cell physiology within the context of a proliferating population. We introduce and apply a practical empirical method to quantify the fitness landscapes of arbitrary phenotypic traits, using genealogical data in the form of population lineage trees which can include phenotypic data of various kinds.

Noise-driven growth rate gain in clonal cellular populations.

Cellular populations in both nature and the laboratory are composed of phenotypically heterogeneous individuals that compete with each other resulting in complex population dynamics. Predicting population growth characteristics based on knowledge of heterogeneous single-cell dynamics remains challenging. By observing groups of cells for hundreds of generations at single-cell resolution, we reveal that growth noise causes clonal populations of Escherichia coli to double faster than the mean doubling time of their constituent single cells across a broad set of balanced-growth conditions.

Rerupture of nonparasitic liver cyst treated with cyst fenestration: a case report.

We herein describe a case involving spontaneous rerupture of a nonparasitic liver cyst successfully treated with cyst fenestration and an omental flap. A 59-year-old Japanese woman was transferred to our hospital for evaluation of acute abdominal pain. She had a history of conservative treatment with antibiotics for spontaneous rupture of a liver cyst 1 month previously.

In vitro detection of small molecule metabolites excreted from cancer cells using a Tenax TA thin-film microextraction device.

We developed a new device for the in vitro extraction of small molecule metabolites excreted from cancer cells. The extraction device, which was biocompatible and incubated with cancer cells, consists of a thin Tenax TA film deposited on the surface of a cylindrical aluminum rod. The Tenax TA solid phase was utilized for the direct extraction and preconcentration of the small molecule metabolites from a cell culture sample.

Electrically stimulated ventilation feedback improves the ventilation pattern in patients with COPD.

[Purpose] We aimed to determine the effects of ventilation feedback using electrical stimulation on ventilation pattern during exercise in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and develop new rehabilitation methods. [Subjects] This randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial included 24 patients with COPD. [Methods] Phasic electrical stimulation during expiration (PESE) or a placebo was given to all the cases.

Nasal high-flow oxygen therapy system for improving sleep-related hypoventilation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a case report.

Introduction: Sleep-related hypoventilation should be considered in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, because appropriate respiratory management during sleep is important for preventing elevation of PaCO2 levels. A nasal high-flow oxygen therapy system using a special nasal cannula can deliver suitably heated and humidified oxygen at up to 60 L/min. Since the oxygen concentration remains a constant independent of minute ventilation, this system is particularly useful in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who have hypercapnia.

Glasgow Prognostic Score (GPS) can be a useful indicator to determine prognosis of patients with colorectal carcinoma.

The Glasgow Prognostic Score (GPS), an inflammation-based score, has been used to predict the biologic behavior of malignant tumors. The aim of the current study was to elucidate a further significance of GPS in colorectal carcinoma. Correlation of GPS and modified GPS (mGPS), which are composed of combined score provided for serum elevation of C-reactive protein and hypoalbuminemia examined before surgical treatment, with clinicopathologic features was investigated in 272 patients with colorectal carcinoma.

Impact of high preoperative steroid doses on postoperative complications among patients on prolonged preoperative steroid therapy.

Corticosteroids are essential to maintain the organic homeostasis. Steroid, glucocorticoid or its synthetic analog is widely used for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Prolonged steroid therapy is reported to cause the susceptibility to infection, impaired wound healing and psychoneurosis, however whether the quantity of taking the preoperative steroid is associated the postoperative complication is still unknown.

Prognostic criteria in colorectal carcinoma constructed by the combination of tumor-related and host-related factors.

Background: The significance of prognostic criteria based on a combination of tumor-related and host-related factors for patients with colorectal carcinoma has not been appreciated fully.

Methods: Correlation of tumor-related and host-related score (TRHRS), which are constructed by the combination of serum elevation of C-reactive protein and pathologic lymph node metastasis (scores ranging 0 to 2), with clinicopathologic features including prognosis was studied in 271 patients with colorectal carcinoma who had been treated with curative resection.

Results: Significant difference regarding survival was observed both between TRHRS 0 and 1 (P = .

New criteria to predict tumor recurrence in invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast.

Incidence of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), which is cancer without expression of ER, PgR, and HER2, and nuclear grade (NG) are closely correlated with malignant potential of breast cancer. However, criteria to determine aggressiveness of breast cancer based on these factors have not been elucidated. The aim of this study was to create criteria using these factors to predict tumor recurrence in invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) of the breast.

Elastic properties of collagen in bone determined by measuring the Debye-Waller factor.

Force constant values for thermal vibrational motion of a collagen molecule along the helix axis in tendon, completely demineralized bone (CDB), and partially demineralized bone (PDB) were estimated by determining the Debye-Waller factor (DW factor) for the diffracted X-ray intensity from these specimens. The DW factor for nominal value of 0.286nm meridional diffraction representing a period along the helical axis of a collagen molecule was measured.

[Combined therapy of lapatinib and capecitabine effective against local recurrence of breast cancer].

A 67-year-old woman after mastectomy was afflicted with local recurrence of left breast cancer during adjuvant trastuzumab therapy. Oral administration of lapatinib and capecitabine served to distinguish the recurrent tumor and also reduce the patient's distressing symptoms. This combined anti-cancer therapy may be available for patients with breast cancer for whom trastuzumab therapy was not adequately effective.

Five-point scoring system based on clinicopathological data: A convenient criterion to determine prognosis of patients with colorectal carcinoma.

The aim of this study was to elucidate the significance of a novel staging criterion, a five-point scoring system (FPSS), determined by five histopathological factors of colorectal carcinoma. These factors included depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, lymphatic invasion, venous invasion and histopathological tumor type. In total, 357 patients with colorectal carcinoma who had had been treated by surgical resection were investigated.