Combined lie's type D and type A agenesis of the left internal carotid artery diagnosed by magnetic resonance angiography.

Purpose: To report an unusual case of combined Lie's types A and D of internal carotid artery (ICA) agenesis, diagnosed by magnetic resonance angiography (MRA).

Methods: A 60-year-old woman with dizziness underwent cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and MRA of the intracranial region for the evaluation of brain and vascular lesions. The magnetic resonance machine was a 3.

Visualization of the Internal Thoracic Arteries in Giant Cell Arteritis on 18 F-FDG Semiconductor PET/CT.

A 72-year-old woman presented with the fever and the pain of skull and face for 2 weeks. 18 F-FDG PET/CT equipped with semiconductor detectors revealed strong uptake not only in the temporal, cervical, subclavian arteries, and aorta, but also in the bilateral internal thoracic arteries. The diagnosis of giant cell arteritis was made.

State of the science in reconciling top-down and bottom-up approaches for terrestrial CO budget.

Robust estimates of CO budget, CO exchanged between the atmosphere and terrestrial biosphere, are necessary to better understand the role of the terrestrial biosphere in mitigating anthropogenic CO emissions. Over the past decade, this field of research has advanced through understanding of the differences and similarities of two fundamentally different approaches: "top-down" atmospheric inversions and "bottom-up" biosphere models. Since the first studies were undertaken, these approaches have shown an increasing level of agreement, but disagreements in some regions still persist, in part because they do not estimate the same quantity of atmosphere-biosphere CO exchange.

Erythema Nodosum Masking Kawasaki Disease with an Initial Manifestation of Skin Lesions.

We report the first case demonstrating an association between Kawasaki disease (KD) and erythema nodosum (EN). A 3-year-old girl presented with EN as an initial manifestation of KD. At the initial visit, she showed high fever of 40°C, injection of the oropharynx, cervical lymphadenopathy, and red-purple cutaneous nodules, particularly on the lower limbs.

Prediction of health effects of cross-border atmospheric pollutants using an aerosol forecast model.

Health effects of cross-border air pollutants and Asian dust are of significant concern in Japan. Currently, models predicting the arrival of aerosols have not investigated the association between arrival predictions and health effects. We investigated the association between subjective health symptoms and unreleased aerosol data from the Model of Aerosol Species in the Global Atmosphere (MASINGAR) acquired from the Japan Meteorological Agency, with the objective of ascertaining if these data could be applied to predicting health effects.

Land use change and El Niño-Southern Oscillation drive decadal carbon balance shifts in Southeast Asia.

An integrated understanding of the biogeochemical consequences of climate extremes and land use changes is needed to constrain land-surface feedbacks to atmospheric CO from associated climate change. Past assessments of the global carbon balance have shown particularly high uncertainty in Southeast Asia. Here, we use a combination of model ensembles to show that intensified land use change made Southeast Asia a strong source of CO from the 1980s to 1990s, whereas the region was close to carbon neutral in the 2000s due to an enhanced CO fertilization effect and absence of moderate-to-strong El Niño events.

SV40 infection associated with rituximab treatment after kidney transplantation in nonhuman primates.

Background: A regimen consisting of polyclonal anti-T-cell antibody, sirolimus (SRL), and donor bone marrow (DBM) infusion induces robust transplantation tolerance to skin allografts in mice. We investigated the effect of a similar regimen in a nonhuman primate (NHP) model.

Methods: Cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis) were transplanted with mismatched kidney allografts.

OX40 controls functionally different T cell subsets and their resistance to depletion therapy.

T cell depletion is a widely used approach in clinical transplantation. However, not all T cells are equally sensitive to depletion therapies and a significant fraction of T cells persists even after aggressive treatment. The functional attributes of such T cells and the mechanisms responsible for their resistance to depletion are poorly studied.

Role of stromal-derived factor-1alpha in the induction of circulating CD34+CXCR4+ progenitor cells after cardiac surgery.

Background: Cardioplegia and cardiopulmonary bypass (CP/CPB) leads to an increase in circulating progenitor cells. The role of stromal-derived factor-1alpha (SDF-1alpha), a key regulator of progenitor cell mobilization, and other cytokines in this process is not clear.

Methods And Results: Peripheral blood (n=24), atrial and skeletal tissue (n=6) samples were taken from patients undergoing CP/CPB before (pre-CP/CPB), 4 hours (post-CP/CPB), and 4 days (POD4) after CP/CPB.

Short administration of polyclonal anti-T cell antibody (ALS) in NOD mice with extensive insulitis prevents subsequent development of autoimmune diabetes.

Treatment of overtly diabetic NOD mice with antilymphocyte serum (ALS), a polyclonal anti-T cell antibody, leads to cure of diabetes. Here, we investigated whether ALS-treatment of NOD mice after development of extensive insulitis prevents onset of diabetes. Female NOD mice were treated with two doses of ALS at 14, 19 or 23 weeks of age.

CD4+ regulatory T cells are spared from deletion by antilymphocyte serum, a polyclonal anti-T cell antibody.

Broad T cell depletion has been used as an integral part of treatment in transplantation and autoimmune diseases. Following depletion, residual T cells undergo homeostatic proliferation and convert to memory-like T cells. In this study, we investigated the effect of T cell depletion by antilymphocyte serum (ALS), a polyclonal anti-T cell Ab, on CD4(+) regulatory T cells.

Prevention and cure of autoimmune diabetes in nonobese diabetic mice by continuous administration of FTY720.

Background: Treatment of nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice with FTY720 before the development of insulitis prevents the onset of diabetes. In this study, the authors investigated whether FTY720 treatment of NOD mice with established insulitis prevents the development of diabetes.

Methods: FTY720 (1 mg/kg) was administered continuously to euglycemic NOD mice starting at 14 or 23 weeks of age.

Active role of chimerism in transplantation tolerance induced by antilymphocyte serum, sirolimus, and bone-marrow-cell infusion.

Background: A regimen consisting of antilymphocyte serum (ALS), sirolimus, and donor bone-marrow-cell (BMC) infusion induces indefinite skin allograft survival across fully mismatched mouse strain combinations. We investigated the role of chimerism in this transplantation tolerance model.

Materials: B10.

Penasulfate A, a new alpha-glucosidase inhibitor from a marine sponge Penares sp.

A new alpha-glucosidase inhibitor, penasulfate A, has been isolated from a marine sponge Penares sp.(1) Its structure was elucidated by spectral and chemical methods to be a scalemic mixture of methyl pipecolates acylated with a novel sulfated fatty acid.

Cure of overt diabetes in NOD mice by transient treatment with anti-lymphocyte serum and exendin-4.

Treatment of overtly diabetic NOD mice with anti-lymphocyte serum (ALS), a polyclonal anti-T-cell antibody, abrogates autoimmunity and achieves partial clinical remission. Here we investigated whether the addition of exendin-4, a hormone that stimulates insulin secretion and beta-cell replication and differentiation, improves induction of remission by ALS. Transient treatment of overtly diabetic NOD mice with ALS and exendin-4 achieved complete remission in 23 of 26 mice (88%) within 75 days, accompanied by progressive normalization of glucose tolerance, improved islet histology, increased insulin content in the pancreas, and insulin release in response to a glucose challenge.

Prevention of autoimmune diabetes by FTY720 in nonobese diabetic mice.

Background: FTY720 prevents allograft rejection with remarkable potency without inducing generalized immunosuppression. We determined the effect of FTY720 on development of autoimmune diabetes in nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice.

Methods: NOD mice were given FTY720 (0.

Immunologic mechanisms in tolerance produced in mice with nonradiation-based lymphoablation and donor-specific bone marrow.

Background: These experiments evaluate the mechanisms associated with tolerance in mice treated with sirolimus, antilymphocyte serum (ALS), and donor-specific bone marrow (BM).

Methods: Tolerance to fully MHC-incompatible skin allografts was induced as follows: C57Bl/10 (H2b) recipients received 0.5 mL of rabbit anti-mouse polyclonal ALS on days -1, +2, and +5 relative to B10.

Identification of de novo chromosome rearrangements: five cases analyzed with differential chromosome painting.

We report on five cases of de novo structural chromosome rearrangements that were difficult to identify by conventional G-banding analysis. In all five cases, differential chromosome painting (DCP) provided evidence for the presence of an additional segment and its origin. A combination of DCP with subsequent conventional fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis using adequate locus-specific probes and reexamination of G-banding patterns resulted in successful identification of the rearrangements.

Towards robust regional estimates of CO2 sources and sinks using atmospheric transport models.

Information about regional carbon sources and sinks can be derived from variations in observed atmospheric CO2 concentrations via inverse modelling with atmospheric tracer transport models. A consensus has not yet been reached regarding the size and distribution of regional carbon fluxes obtained using this approach, partly owing to the use of several different atmospheric transport models. Here we report estimates of surface-atmosphere CO2 fluxes from an intercomparison of atmospheric CO2 inversion models (the TransCom 3 project), which includes 16 transport models and model variants.