Basophil-derived mouse mast cell protease 11 induces microvascular leakage and tissue edema in a mast cell-independent manner.

Mouse mast cell protease 11 (mMCP-11) is the most recently identified member of the mouse mast cell tryptase family. This tryptase is preferentially produced by basophils in contrast to other members that are expressed by mast cells but not basophils. Although blood-circulating basophils have long been considered as minor and redundant relatives of tissue-resident mast cells, recent studies illustrated that basophils and mast cells play distinct roles in vivo.

The impact of cardiac surgery in patients with trisomy 18 and trisomy 13 in Japan.

Congenital heart defects (CHD) are very common in patients with trisomy 18 (T18) and trisomy 13 (T13). The surgical indication of CHD remains controversial since the natural history of these trisomies is documented to be poor. To investigate the outcome of CHD in patients with T18 and T13, we collected and evaluated clinical data from 134 patients with T18 and 27 patients with T13 through nationwide network of Japanese Society of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery.

Prevalence of Corynebacterium ulcerans in dogs in Osaka, Japan.

Diphtheria-like human illness caused by Corynebacterium ulcerans is an emerging threat in developed countries, with incidence sometimes higher than that of diphtheria caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae. Companion animals are considered a potential source of human infections. In order to determine the prevalence of C.

A decade of advances in the molecular embryology and genetics underlying congenital heart defects.

Congenital heart defects (CHD) are the most common type of human birth defect and result in significant mortality worldwide. Despite numerous epidemiologic studies in the past decades, few genetic causes have been identified until recently. CHD result from abnormal morphogenesis of the systematic cardiovascular construction during development.

Prevalence and correlates of physiological valvular regurgitation in healthy subjects.

Background: Although echo Doppler machines have consistently advanced within a quarter of a century, age related prevalence of valvular regurgitation detected by currently available echo machines remains uncertain. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and correlates of valvular regurgitation in healthy individuals.

Methods And Results: A total of 1,333 apparently healthy individuals were enrolled in this study.

Detection of prolonged regional myocardial systolic dysfunction after exercise-induced myocardial ischemia by strain echocardiography with high frame rate tissue Doppler echocardiography.

Background: Strain echocardiography has enabled quantification of regional myocardial systolic function objectively and is less influenced by tethering effects and cardiac translational artifact than Doppler tissue imaging. Although strain echocardiography has been applied for the detection of inducible ischemia during dobutamine stress, it has not been fully applied to exercise stress echocardiography (ESE) because of technical difficulties. Prolonged myocardial systolic dysfunction after exercise-induced ischemia has been shown previously.

Ectopic gastric mucosa and pancreatic ducts in the rectum.

A 68-year-old woman with fecal occult blood was referred to Dokkyo Medical School Hospital. Colonoscopy demonstrated a flat lesion in the rectum, and endoscopic mucosal resection of the lesion was performed. Histologic examination revealed that it contained ectopic gastric mucosa, which had a gastric foveolar and glandular mucinous phenotype, as demonstrated by immunohistochemistry.

Haploid unit-ploidy transition of tetraploid and octaploid H1 (ES) cells in long-term culturing.

Haploid unit-ploidy transition in tetraploid and octaploid mouse H1 (ES) cells (4H1 and 8H1 cells, respectively) during long-term culturing was observed using flow cytometry. The DNA content of 4H1 cells was elevated from 3.5C to 4.

Hexaploid H1 (ES) cells established from octaploid H1 cells are as DNA stable as pentaploid H1 cells.

Hexaploid H1 (ES) cells (6H1 cells) were established from octaploid H1 cells (8H1 cells), as were pentaploid H1 cells (5H1 cells). 6H1 cells were compared with 5H1 cells. The number of chromosomes of 6H1 cells was 115, 20 more than the 95 of 5H1 cells.

DNA-unstable decaploid mouse H1 (ES) cells established from DNA-stable pentaploid H1 (ES) cells polyploidized using demecolcine.

Objectives: DNA content of diploid H1 (ES) cells (2H1 cells) has been shown to be stable in long-term culture; however, tetraploid and octaploid H1 (ES) cells (4H1 and 8H1 cells, respectively) were DNA-unstable. Pentaploid H1 (ES) cells (5H1 cells) established recently have been found to be DNA-stable; how, then is cell DNA stability determined? To discuss ploidy stability, decaploid H1 (ES) cells (10H1 cells) were established from 5H1 cells and examined for DNA stability.

Materials And Methods: 5H1 cells were polyploidized using demecolcine (DC) and 10H1 cells were obtained by one-cell cloning.

Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors are essential for the development of the second heart field.

Congenital heart defects (CHDs) occur in 0.5-1% of live births, yet the underlying genetic etiology remains mostly unknown. Recently, a new source of myocardial cells, namely the second heart field (SHF), was discovered in the splanchnic mesoderm.

The antiproliferative action of progesterone in uterine epithelium is mediated by Hand2.

During pregnancy, progesterone inhibits the growth-promoting actions of estrogen in the uterus. However, the mechanism for this is not clear. The attenuation of estrogen-mediated proliferation of the uterine epithelium by progesterone is a prerequisite for successful implantation.

Regeneration and functional recovery of intrapelvic nerves removed during extensive surgery by a new artificial nerve conduit: a breakthrough to radical operation for locally advanced and recurrent rectal cancers.

Purpose: In the current strategy against locally advanced and recurrent rectal cancers possibly involving intrapelvic nerves, there has been a serious dilemma between extensive surgery and limited surgery. The former can attain high tumor curability by sacrificing the nerve functions while the latter prioritizes the patient quality of life by preserving the nerve functions but with a compromised curability. Here we present a new surgical strategy for locally advanced and recurrent rectal cancers, which realize both high tumor curability and good quality of life.

Immunohistochemical analysis of REG Iα expression in ulcerative colitis-associated neoplastic lesions.

Background And Aims: The regenerating gene (REG)Iα has been identified by microarray analysis as a gene that is distinctly overexpressed in ulcerative colitis (UC), and its protein product is suggested to play a pivotal role in the development of UC-associated carcinoma. In the present study, we investigated the significance of REG Iα expression as a diagnostic marker of UC-associated neoplasia.

Methods: Tissue samples were obtained from colectomy specimens from 31 patients with long-standing UC (mean disease duration 17.

Hand2 function in second heart field progenitors is essential for cardiogenesis.

Cardiogenesis involves the contributions of multiple progenitor pools, including mesoderm-derived cardiac progenitors known as the first and second heart fields. Disruption of genetic pathways regulating individual subsets of cardiac progenitors likely underlies many forms of human cardiac malformations. Hand2 is a member of the basic helix loop helix (bHLH) family of transcription factors and is expressed in numerous cell lineages that contribute to the developing heart.

Different responses between diploid and tetraploid H1 embryonic stem cells appeared during long-term culturing in L15F10 medium without leukemia inhibitory factor.

To examine the alteration in cellular characteristics of polyploid embryonic stem (ES) cells during long-term culturing without leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), mouse diploid and tetraploid H-1 (ES) cells (2H1 and 4H1 cells, respectively) were cultured without LIF for approximately 5 months. 2H1 and 4H1 cells were adapted to the medium without LIF by decreasing the concentration for several passages, and they were denoted as 2H1(⁻) and 4H1(⁻) cells, respectively. DNA content of 4H1(⁻) cells decreased gradually in the early stage, increased abruptly in the second stage, and then was maintained for a long time.

Surgical treatment of HCC in a patient with lamivudine-resistant hepatitis B cirrhosis with adefovir dipivoxil.

We describe a 77-year-old woman with chronic hepatitis B who became resistant to lamivudine. She was started on adefovir (10 mg daily) while still continuing lamivudine therapy. Four mo later her liver function improved and serum Hepatitis B virus (HBV)-DNA level became undetectable.

GROα promotes invasion of colorectal cancer cells.

Growth-regulated oncogene α (GROα) is a chemokine that plays a role not only in inflammation, but also in tumorigenesis. Accumulating data suggest that GROα is involved in tumor development and invasion in various malignancies, such as melanoma and bladder cancer. However, the pathophysiological role of GROα in human colorectal cancers (CRCs) is still unknown.

[Development of the method for the similarity detection of descriptions in radiology reports using structuring technology].

Radiologists often spend much time for re-reading some of the past free-text radiology reports and determining interval changes in the physical findings when creating a report for long term cases. The aim of this study was to propose the method to detect semantic similar descriptions in the free-text reports using the structuring method based on text-mining technology. In a previous study, we had developed the structuring method that can semantically analyze the free-text reports and convert them into the description unit consisting of five items: finding/diagnosis, modifier, region, regional modifier, and confidence.

Role of bottom-fermenting brewer's yeast KEX2 in high temperature resistance and poor proliferation at low temperatures.

Variants of bottom-fermenting brewer's yeast that grew at high temperatures and showed poor proliferation and fermentation at low temperatures were isolated. Similar variants of laboratory yeast were also isolated and found to be incapable of mating. The KEX2 gene was cloned by complementation.

Gene knock-outs of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors types 1 and 2 result in perturbation of cardiogenesis.

Background: Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors (IP3R1, 2, and 3) are intracellular Ca2+ release channels that regulate various vital processes. Although the ryanodine receptor type 2, another type of intracellular Ca2+ release channel, has been shown to play a role in embryonic cardiomyocytes, the functions of the IP3Rs in cardiogenesis remain unclear.

Methodology/principal Findings: We found that IP3R1(-/-)-IP3R2(-/-) double-mutant mice died in utero with developmental defects of the ventricular myocardium and atrioventricular (AV) canal of the heart by embryonic day (E) 11.

Multicenter phase II study of weekly paclitaxel plus S-1 combination chemotherapy in patients with advanced gastric cancer.

Background: A multicenter phase II study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a combination regimen of weekly paclitaxel plus S-1 in patients with advanced gastric cancer.

Methods: Patients with previously untreated metastatic or recurrent gastric cancer received intravenous paclitaxel 50 mg/m(2) on days 1, 8, and 15, plus oral S-1 40 mg/m(2) b.i.

Mechanisms underlying early development of pulmonary vascular obstructive disease in Down syndrome: An imbalance in biosynthesis of thromboxane A2 and prostacyclin.

Patients with Down syndrome (DS) and a left-to-right shunt often develop early severe pulmonary hypertension (PH) and pulmonary vascular obstructive disease (PVOD); the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the development of these complications are yet to be determined. To investigate the mechanisms, we evaluated the biosynthesis of thromboxane (TX) A(2) and prostacyclin (PGI(2)) in four groups of infants, cross-classified as shown below, by measuring the urinary excretion levels of 11-dehydro-TXB(2) and 2,3-dinor-6-keto-PGF(1alpha): DS infants with a left-to-right shunt and PH (D-PH, n = 18), DS infants without congenital heart defect (D-C, n = 8), non-DS infants with a left-to-right shunt and PH (ND-PH, n = 12), and non-DS infants without congenital heart defect (ND-C, n = 22). The urinary excretion ratios of 11-dehydro-TXB(2) to 2,3-dinor-6-keto-PGF(1alpha) in the D-PH, D-C, ND-PH, and ND-C groups were 7.