Intravenous lipid emulsion for local anaesthetic systemic toxicity in pregnant women: a scoping review.

Background: Local anaesthetic systemic toxicity (LAST) is a rare but life-threatening complication that can occur after local anaesthetic administration. Various clinical guidelines recommend an intravenous lipid emulsion as a treatment for local anaesthetic-induced cardiac arrest. However, its therapeutic application in pregnant patients has not yet been established.

A resected case of neuroendocrine carcinoma of the stomach with unusual lymph node metastasis.

Gastric endocrine cell carcinoma is a relatively rare tumor. We experienced a case of early gastric cancer in which an endocrine cell carcinoma was identified within a differentiated adenocarcinoma, and a component of this endocrine cell carcinoma had metastasized to lymph nodes of the stomach. In its 2010 revision regarding digestive system tumors, WHO classified cancer cells with characteristics of both glandular system cells and neuroendocrine cells as mixed adeno neuroendocrine carcinoma (MANEC) under the neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC) category.

Branched-Chain Amino Acid-Rich Supplements Containing Microelements Have Antioxidant Effects on Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis in Mice.

Background: The aim of the present study was to elucidate whether the administration of antioxidant-rich nutrients, including branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), microelements, and vitamins, both alone and in combination, has a positive impact on liver function in a nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) mouse model and identify the mechanisms underlying these effects.

Methods: Seven-week-old male KKAy mice fed a methionine- and choline-deficient diet (MCD) for 4 weeks were divided into 7 groups and fed the following planned diets for another 4 weeks: group A (normal diet), group B (MCD; control), group C (MCD with rich microelements), group D (MCD with rich BCAAs), group E (MCD with rich microelements and BCAAs), and group F (MCD with rich microelements, BCAAs, and vitamins). We then conducted biochemical assays, histological analyses, immunohistochemistry for 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) and 4-hydroxy-2'-nonenal (4-HNE), and Western blotting for insulin glucose signaling, lipid metabolism, and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-related signaling in liver specimens obtained from mice in each group.

Serial chest films are needed after a diagnosis of pneumopericardium because of risk of cardiac herniation.

A 76-year-old man was transferred to our institution with blunt chest trauma after falling off a roof. Chest computed tomography (CT) revealed left pneumothorax and pneumopericardium but no displacement of the heart into the hemithorax. These findings suggested traumatic pericardial rupture without cardiac herniation.

[A case of premenopausal metastatic breast cancer treated with goserelin plus aromatase inhibitor as second-line endocrine therapy].

A 44-year-old female with premenopausal advanced breast cancer had been treated with a combination of LH-RH analogue and tamoxifen as primary endocrine therapy following adjuvant chemotherapy. Forty-seven months after operation, because metastases of contralateral axillary lymph nodes were detected by computer tomography, she was treated with a combination of LH-RH analogue and aromatase inhibitor as second-line endocrine therapy. During the 16-month administration of LH-RH analogue and aromatase inhibitor, she was been well without new metastatic lesions and maintained a high quality of life.

[Prognostic study of preoperative serum levels of CEA and CA 19-9 in colorectal cancer].

Purpose: Carcinoembrionic Antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) are the most frequently used tumor markers in the clinical setting of colorectal cancer. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prognostic value of preoperative serum levels of CEA and CA 19-9 in colorectal cancer patients.

Methods: Serum levels of CEA and CA 19-9 were examined in 586 patients with colorectal cancer.

Endothelial progenitor cell transplantation improves the survival following liver injury in mice.

Background & Aims: Neovascularization, which is vital to the healing of injured tissues, recently has been found to include both angiogenesis, which involves in mature endothelial cells, and vasculogenesis, involving endothelial progenitor cells. The aim of this study was to clarify the possible roles of endothelial progenitor cells during postnatal liver regeneration.

Methods: To determine how endothelial progenitor cells participate in liver regeneration, human or mouse endothelial progenitor cells were transplanted into the mice with carbon tetrachloride-induced acute liver injury.

In vitro differentiation and maturation of mouse embryonic stem cells into hepatocytes.

It is difficult to induce the maturation of embryonic stem (ES) cells into hepatocytes in vitro. We previously reported that Thy1-positive mesenchymal cells derived from the mouse fetal liver promote the maturation of hepatic progenitor cells. Here, we isolated alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)-producing cells from mouse ES cells for subsequent differentiation into hepatocytes in vitro by coculture with Thy1-positive cells.

Keratin-containing inclusions affect cell morphology and distribution of cytosolic cellular components.

Many neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by the presence of protein aggregates bundled with intermediate filaments (IFs) and similar structures, known as Mallory bodies (MBs), are observed in various liver diseases. IFs are anchored at desmosomes and hemidesmosomes, however, interactions with other intercellular junctions have not been determined. We investigated the effect of IF inclusions on junction-associated and cytosolic proteins in various cultured cells.

The Wilson disease protein ATP7B resides in the late endosomes with Rab7 and the Niemann-Pick C1 protein.

Wilson disease is a genetic disorder characterized by the accumulation of copper in the body due to a defect of biliary copper excretion. Although the Wilson disease gene has been cloned, the cellular localization of the gene product (ATP7B) has not been fully clarified. Therefore, the precise physiological action of ATP7B is still unknown.

Hepatitis C virus down-regulates insulin receptor substrates 1 and 2 through up-regulation of suppressor of cytokine signaling 3.

The pathogenesis of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-associated insulin resistance remains unclear. Therefore, we investigated mechanisms for HCV-associated insulin resistance. Homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance was increased in patients with HCV infection.

Thy1-positive mesenchymal cells promote the maturation of CD49f-positive hepatic progenitor cells in the mouse fetal liver.

Previously, we reported a system to enrich mouse fetal hepatic progenitor cells (HPCs) by forming cell aggregates. In this study, we sorted two cell populations, CD49f(+)Thy1(-)CD45(-) cells (CD49f-positive cells) and CD49f(+/-)Thy1(+)CD45(-) cells (Thy1-positive cells), from the cell aggregates using a flow cytometer. CD49f-positive cells stained positive for endodermal specific markers such as alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), albumin (ALB), and cytokeratin 19 (CK19), and are thus thought to be HPCs.

Commitment of bone marrow cells to hepatic stellate cells in mouse.

Background/aims: Recently, several cells found within the liver have been reported to derive from bone marrow (BM). This study sought to examine the commitment of BM cells to hepatic stellate cell (HSC) lineage in mouse liver.

Methods: We transplanted BM cells from green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgenic mice into age-matched C57BL/J mice.

Expression of uncoupling protein-2 in biliary epithelial cells in primary biliary cirrhosis.

Background/aims: Uncoupling proteins are thought to protect cells from oxidative stresses. Because uncoupling protein-2 is expressed in liver and reactive oxygen species are involved in pathogenesis of various liver diseases, this protein may protect liver cells from disease-associated oxidative stress. However, uncoupling protein-2 expression in human liver has not been examined.