Surgical strategies for localized colorectal amyloidosis.

Background: Localized colorectal amyloidosis has a good prognosis, but cases involving bleeding or perforation may require surgery. However, there are few case reports discussing the differences in the surgical strategy between the segmental and pan-colon types.

Case Presentation: A 69-year-old woman with a history of abdominal pain and melena was diagnosed with amyloidosis localized in the sigmoid colon by colonoscopy.

Layer-Stacking Sequence Governs Ion-Storage in Layered Double Hydroxides.

In layered materials, the layer-stacking sequence allows the tuning of ion transport and storage properties by modulating the host-ion interactions. However, unlike in the case of cations, the relationship between the stacking sequence and anion transport and storage properties is less clearly understood. Herein, we demonstrate that the stacking sequence governs the nitrate-storage properties of layered double hydroxides (LDHs); the 2 polytype enhances the nitrate-storage capacity to 400% of that of the 3 polytype.

Critical role of water structure around interlayer ions for ion storage in layered double hydroxides.

Water-containing layered materials have found various applications such as water purification and energy storage. The highly structured water molecules around ions under the confinement between the layers determine the ion storage ability. Yet, the relationship between the configuration of interlayer ions and water structure in high ion storage layered materials is elusive.

Laparoscopic transabdominal preperitoneal repair for recurrent groin hernia after failed anterior-posterior repair.

Introduction: The International Guidelines for Groin Hernia Management recommends an anterior repair after a failed posterior repair, and laparoscopic repair after a failed anterior tissue repair or Lichtenstein repair. However, there are not enough studies to guide decision-making for patients with recurrent hernia patients after combined anterior-posterior repair. We investigate the safety and usefulness of transabdominal preperitoneal repair (TAPP) for recurrent hernia patients after failed anterior-posterior repair.

Clinical Implications of Pre- and Postoperative Circulating Tumor DNA in Patients with Resected Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma.

Background: The clinical implications of pre- and postoperative KRAS-mutated circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) present in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) have remained an unresolved issue. This study sought to investigate the clinical significance of pre- and postoperative ctDNA analyses and their impact on the prognosis of PDAC patients.

Methods: Digital droplet polymerase chain reaction detected ctDNA in pre- and postoperative plasma samples prospectively obtained from patients with resectable and borderline-resectable PDAC.

Tumor-like features of gene expression and metabolic profiles in enlarged pancreatic islets are associated with impaired incretin-induced insulin secretion in obese diabetes: A study of Zucker fatty diabetes mellitus rat.

Aims/introduction: Pancreatic islets are heterogenous. To clarify the relationship between islet heterogeneity and incretin action in the islets, we studied gene expression and metabolic profiles of non-large and enlarged islets of the Zucker fatty diabetes mellitus rat, an obese diabetes model, as well as incretin-induced insulin secretion (IIIS) in these islets.

Materials And Methods: Pancreatic islets of control (fa/+) and fatty (fa/fa) rats at 8 and 12 weeks-of-age were isolated.

Isolation of lactic acid bacteria capable of reducing environmental alkyl and fatty acid hydroperoxides, and the effect of their oral administration on oxidative-stressed nematodes and rats.

Reinforcement of the hydroperoxide-eliminating activity in the small and large intestines should prevent associated diseases. We previously isolated a lactic acid bacterium, Pediococcus pentosaceus Be1 that facilitates a 2-electron reduction of hydrogen peroxide to water. In this study, we successfully isolated an alternative lactic acid bacterium, Lactobacillus plantarum P1-2, that can efficiently reduce environmental alkyl hydroperoxides and fatty acid hydroperoxides to their corresponding hydroxyl derivatives through a 2-electron reduction.

Characteristics and components of poly-aluminum chloride coagulants that enhance arsenate removal by coagulation: Detailed analysis of aluminum species.

We evaluated 51 poly-aluminum chloride (PACl) coagulants to determine the coagulant characteristics that were responsible for effective arsenate removal from contaminated river water by means of experiments involving coagulation, settling, and microfiltration. Some of the high-basicity PACls exhibited high arsenate removal percentages, particularly under alkaline conditions, and we investigated various relevant properties and characteristics of these high-basicity PACls. Effective arsenate removal was correlated with the content of polymeric and colloidal aluminum species (Alb and Alc) in the PACls but was not well correlated with colloid charge or zeta potential.

Characterization of the Prediabetic State in a Novel Rat Model of Type 2 Diabetes, the ZFDM Rat.

We recently established a novel animal model of obese type 2 diabetes (T2D), the Zucker fatty diabetes mellitus (ZFDM) rat strain harboring the fatty mutation (fa) in the leptin receptor gene. Here we performed a phenotypic characterization of the strain, focusing mainly on the prediabetic state. At 6-8 weeks of age, fa/fa male rats exhibited mild glucose intolerance and severe insulin resistance.

Pyopneumothorax during bevacizumab-containing chemotherapy in a patient with metastatic breast cancer.

Pyopneumothorax is a rare but troubling complication of bevacizumab. We herein report a case of pyopneumothorax in a patient with metastatic breast cancer during bevacizumab treatment. A 60-year-old female who was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer (ER+ , PgR+ , HER2-, Ki67 <14 %, metastasized to lung, pleural, brain, subcutaneous tissue, and bone) was started on bevacizumab plus paclitaxel chemotherapy.

Successful treatment of conversion chemotherapy for initially unresectable synchronous colorectal liver metastasis.

A 72-year-old woman with a sigmoid colon cancer and a synchronous colorectal liver metastasis (CRLM), which involved the right hepatic vein (RHV) and the inferior vena cava (IVC), was referred to our hospital. The metastatic lesion was diagnosed as initially unresectable because of its invasion into the confluence of the RHV and IVC. After she had undergone laparoscopic sigmoidectomy for the original tumor, she consequently had 3 courses of modified 5-fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin (mFOLFOX6) plus cetuximab.

Increased expression of ganglioside GM1 in peripheral CD4+ T cells correlates soluble form of CD30 in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus patients.

Gangliosides GM1 is a good marker of membrane microdomains (lipid rafts) with important function in cellular activation processes. In this study we found that GM1 expression on CD4+ T cells and memory T cells (CD45RO/CD4) were dramatic increased after stimulation with phytohaemagglutinin in vitro. Next, we examined the GM1 expression on peripheral blood CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells from 44 patients with SLE and 28 healthy controls by flow cytometry.