A practical program for responding to epileptic seizures including buccal midazolam administration in schools: Effectiveness evaluation for Yogo teachers in Japan.

Early response to epileptic seizures is critical. In children, epileptic seizures can occur at school, and practical programs are required to enable teachers to respond. In Japan, schoolteachers may administer buccal midazolam orally under certain conditions; however, there are no established training programs for responding to epileptic seizures in schools.

National survey of de novo malignancy after solid organ transplantation in Japan.

Purpose: In Japan, there have been no national surveys on the incidence of de novo malignancy after solid organ transplantation, which is one of the leading causes of death in transplant recipients.

Methods: A questionnaire was distributed to institutions that perform solid organ transplantation in Japan, and clinical information was collected from patients who underwent transplantation between 2001 and 2010 and who exhibited de novo malignancies.

Results: Nine thousand two hundred ten solid organ transplants (kidney, 49.

A Report on the Positive Response to an Outdoor Nature Challenge of a Snow Camp for Young Liver Transplant Patients.

Objectives: More than two decades have passed since the first living donor liver transplantation was performed in Japan in 1989. There are many reports about problems in adherence to taking medication and medical follow-ups in children who received liver transplants, because there is no transition strategy for those children and parents or guardians. The objective of this study is to measure the effect of nature and outdoor activity to improve children's medical adherence.

Survey of Attitudes toward Uterus Transplantation among Japanese Women of Reproductive Age: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Objective: Uterus transplantation (UTx) is a potential option for women with uterine factor infertility to have a child, but there has been no large-scale survey of the views on UTx in women of reproductive age in Japan. The present study was aimed to clarify the views of Japanese women of reproductive age on UTx for uterine factor infertility.

Methods: A questionnaire on UTx was conducted by an Internet research company in December 2014 as a cross-sectional study in 3,892 randomly chosen women aged 25 to 39 years old.

A BAC-based contig map of the cynomolgus macaque (Macaca fascicularis) major histocompatibility complex genomic region.

The construction of a cynomolgus macaque (Macaca fascicularis, Mafa) BAC library for genomic comparison between rhesus and cynomolgus macaques is necessary to promote the cynomolgus macaque as one of the important experimental animals for future medical and biological research. In this paper, we constructed a cynomolgus macaque BAC library and a map of the MHC (Mafa) genomic region for comparison of the genomic organization and nucleotide similarities between the human, the chimpanzee, and the rhesus macaque. The BAC library consists of 221,184 clones with an average insert size of 83 kb, providing a sixfold coverage of the haploid genome.

Calmodulin mediates sulfur mustard toxicity in human keratinocytes.

Sulfur mustard (SM) causes blisters in the skin through a series of cellular changes that we are beginning to identify. We earlier demonstrated that SM toxicity is the result of induction of both death receptor and mitochondrial pathways of apoptosis in human keratinocytes (KC). Because of its importance in apoptosis in the skin, we tested whether calmodulin (CaM) mediates the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway induced by SM.

Repression of HPV16 early region transcription by the E2 protein.

HPV16 DNA is often integrated in cancers, disrupting the E1 or E2 genes. E2 can repress the E6/E7 promoter, but other models have been proposed to explain why integration promotes malignant progression. E1 and E2 are required for viral replication, and so genetic analysis of their role in transcriptional regulation is complex.

Id3 induces a caspase-3- and -9-dependent apoptosis and mediates UVB sensitization of HPV16 E6/7 immortalized human keratinocytes.

Inhibitor of differentiation/DNA binding (Id) proteins comprise a class of helix-loop-helix transcription factors involved in proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and carcinogenesis. We have shown that while Id2 is induced by UVB in primary keratinocytes, Id3 is upregulated only in immortalized cells. We have now determined that the consequences of ectopic expression of Id3 protein are strikingly different between immortalized and primary keratinocytes.

[A role of recipient coordinators in Japan].

Transplantation in Japan, as well as the environment in which nurses work, has been slowly changed. Consequently, those nurses started working as recipient coordinators to meet the needs of patients, physicians and nurses who work at the patients' bedside. In the future, recipient coordinators can be a valuable asset to each transplant program because of their education, commitment to personalized care to recipients and their families.

Construction of a dense comparative map between human chromosome 1p36-->p35 and swine chromosome 6 by using human sequence-tagged sites.

Construction of a comprehensive comparative map between swine and human chromosomes is a prerequisite, in order to select candidate swine genes for traits from the human genome database as well as to understand the evolutionary process of the two species. The present study attempted to use 910 sequence-tagged sites (STSs) localized in human chromosome (HSA) 1p36-->p35 (35 Mbp) for radiation hybrid (RH) mapping to swine chromosomes (SSCs). Out of the 910 STSs subjected to amplification of swine orthologues, primer pairs for 13 STSs were found to amplify the respective orthologues and the STSs were assigned to SSCs.

Genomic structure and mutational analysis of the human KIF1B gene which is homozygously deleted in neuroblastoma at chromosome 1p36.2.

In order to clone candidate tumor suppressor genes whose loss contributes to the pathogenesis of neuroblastoma (NB), we performed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) screening using a high-density sequence tagged site-content map within a commonly deleted region (chromosome band 1p36) in 24 NB cell lines. We found a approximately 480 kb homozygously deleted region at chromosome band 1p36.2 in one of the 24 NB cell lines, NB-1, and cloned the human homologue (KIF1B-beta) of the mouseKif1B-beta gene in this region.

Homozygous deletion in a neuroblastoma cell line defined by a high-density STS map spanning human chromosome band 1p36.

Recent molecular studies have shown a relatively high rate of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in neuroblastoma (NB) as well as other types of tumors in human chromosome band 1p36. To identify candidate tumor suppressor genes in NB, we searched for homozygous deletions in NB cell lines with PCR according to a high-density sequence tagged site (STS)-content map spanning 1p35-36. Among 25 NB cell lines examined, only one cell line, NB-1, showed no signal with 27 STSs in a 480 kb region in 1p36.

DNA fragmentation factor 45 (DFF45) gene at 1p36.2 is homozygously deleted and encodes variant transcripts in neuroblastoma cell line.

Recently, loss of heterozygosity (LOH) studies suggest that more than two tumor suppressor genes lie on the short arm of chromosome 1 (1p) in neuroblastoma (NB). To identify candidate tumor suppressor genes in NB, we searched for homozygous deletions in 20 NB cell lines using a high-density STS map spanning chromosome 1p36, a common LOH region in NB. We found that the 45-kDa subunit of the DNA fragmentation factor (DFF45) gene was homozygously deleted in an NB cell line, NB-1.

A BAC-based STS-content map spanning a 35-Mb region of human chromosome 1p35-p36.

We have devised a mapping method for rapid assembly and ordering of bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clones on a radiation hybrid (RH) panel, using sequence-tagged sites (STSs) and PCR. The protocol consists of two rounds of two-dimensional screening from a limited number of BACs to correspond each to an STS. In the first round, STSs are assembled in the RH bins and ordered according to PCR signals derived from 384-well microtiter plates (MTPs) in which BAC clones have been arrayed.

Genomic anatomy of a premier major histocompatibility complex paralogous region on chromosome 1q21-q22.

Human chromosomes 1q21-q25, 6p21.3-22.2, 9q33-q34, and 19p13.

Identification of the homozygously deleted region at chromosome 1p36.2 in human neuroblastoma.

Background: We have identified for the first time a homozygously deleted region within the smallest region of overlap at 1p36.2-3 in two neuroblastoma cell lines.

Procedure: The 800-kb PAC contig covering the entire homozygously deleted region was made and sequenced.

Amplification and overexpression of TGIF2, a novel homeobox gene of the TALE superclass, in ovarian cancer cell lines.

Homeodomain transcription factors play important roles in directing cellular proliferation and differentiation. A TALE-superclass homeodomain protein, multifunctional repressor of TGFbeta-induced transcription. Here we report identification of TGIF2, a novel TALE-superclass homeodomain protein that shows distinct homology with TGIF, especially in its DNA-binding domain.

Identification and characterization of a 500-kb homozygously deleted region at 1p36.2-p36.3 in a neuroblastoma cell line.

Loss of heterozygosity of the distal region of chromosome 1p where tumor suppressor gene(s) might harbor is frequently observed in many human cancers including neuroblastoma (NBL) with MYCN amplification and poor prognosis. We have identified for the first time a homozygously deleted region at the marker D1S244 within the smallest region of overlap at 1p36.2-p36.

A sequence-ready BAC clone contig of human chromosome 10p15 spanning the loss of heterozygosity region in glioma.

Deletion of chromosome 10 is one of the most common chromosomal alterations in glioma. At 10p15, the telomeric region of the short arm of chromosome 10, loss of heterozygosity (LOH) has been frequently observed by microsatellite analysis, suggesting the presence of a tumor suppressor gene. We examined LOH in 34 gliomas on chromosome 10, and frequent LOH on 10p was detected on 10p15, in agreement with deletion mapping studies on chromosome 10.

Sustained ex vivo and in vivo transfer of a reporter gene using polyoma virus pseudocapsids.

Properties of a virus-like artificial gene delivery vehicle, synthesised from recombinant major coat protein of mouse polyoma virus, have been explored. The protein, VP1, self assembles into protein spheres, or 'pseudocapsids, which can bind and transfer DNA into cells in vitro and in vivo. Here, the ability of pseudocapsids to carry DNA into a complex cell system (ex vivo organ cultures of rabbit cornea) or whole animals (mice) has been assessed.

Construction of a physical and transcript map flanking the imprinted MEST/PEG1 region at 7q32.

MEST/PEG1, a gene expressed paternally in mesodermal derivatives in early embryonic stages, is the first imprinted gene mapped to chromosome 7q32. Since imprinted genes are clustered in general at a chromosomal region, we speculated that a similar imprinted-gene cluster may exist at chromosome region 7q32 and that the functions of some such genes may contribute to the phenotype of Silver-Russell syndrome including maternal uniparental disomy for chromosome 7 (maternal UPD7). As an initial step toward the isolation of imprinted genes at 7q32, we adopted an integrated approach involving the construction of a PAC contig and ESTs mapping in the vicinity of MEST.

The DNA sequence of human chromosome 21.

Chromosome 21 is the smallest human autosome. An extra copy of chromosome 21 causes Down syndrome, the most frequent genetic cause of significant mental retardation, which affects up to 1 in 700 live births. Several anonymous loci for monogenic disorders and predispositions for common complex disorders have also been mapped to this chromosome, and loss of heterozygosity has been observed in regions associated with solid tumours.