Aminergic modulation of the myogenic heart in the branchiopod crustacean Triops longicaudatus.

Although crustaceans typically have a neurogenic heart, the primitive crustacean Triops longicaudatus has a myogenic heart with the heartbeat arising from the endogenous rhythmic activity of the myocardium. In the present investigation, the effects of six biogenic amines, epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine, octopamine, serotonin and histamine, on the myogenic heart of T. longicaudatus were examined.

Physiologic assessment of left anterior descending coronary artery stenosis by quantitative intravenous myocardial contrast echocardiography in humans: comparison with exercise single-photon emission computed tomography.

Objective: To clarify the potential of quantitative intravenous myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) for physiologic assessment of the left anterior descending artery (LAD) stenosis.

Methods: We studied 38 patients with suspected coronary artery disease. MCE was performed by continuous infusion of Levovist and intermittent ultrasonic exposure.

Predictors of postoperative diffuse intrahepatic recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background/aims: Diffuse intrahepatic recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma in the liver remnant carries an extremely poor prognosis compared with other recurrence patterns. We studied the predictors of this type of recurrence.

Methodology: We determined the risk factors for recurrence and predictors of long-term post-recurrence survival using the Cox's proportional hazard model.

Identification of cardiac sarcoidosis with (13)N-NH(3)/(18)F-FDG PET.

Unlabelled: To our knowledge, no study investigating the usefulness of cardiac PET for detection of myocardial involvement of sarcoidosis is available. We investigated whether (13)N-NH(3)/(18)F-FDG PET could identify cardiac involvement in patients with sarcoidosis.

Methods: Seventeen patients with cardiac sarcoidosis underwent cardiac (13)N-NH(3)/(18)F-FDG PET under fasting condition.

Hepatectomy with chemoembolization for treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background/aims: Details of patient survival after resection of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma following preoperative transcatheter arterial chemoembolization are unknown.

Methodology: One hundred and forty-eight patients with solitary hepatocellular carcinomas who had undergone curative hepatic resection were divided into transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (+) and (-) groups. We estimated the risk factors of survival and disease-free survival using 148 cases and determined the risk factors that were reduced by preoperative transcatheter arterial chemoembolization.

Somatic hybrids between Arabidopsis thaliana and cytoplasmic male-sterile radish (Raphanus sativus).

Somatic hybrids were produced by protoplast fusion between Arabidopsis thaliana ecotype Columbia and a male-sterile radish line MS-Gensuke ( Raphanus sativus) with the Ogura cytoplasm. Forty-one shoots were differentiated from the regenerated calli and established as shoot cultures in vitro. About 20 of these shoots were judged to be hybrids based on growth characteristics and morphology.

Local administration of methotrexate bound to activated carbon particles (MTX-CH) for treating cancers in mice.

Purpose: A new dosage formulation of methotrexate (MTX-CH) was developed to control cancer growth by local administration.

Materials And Methods: BALB/c mice received a subcutaneous inoculation with transplantable Colon 26 cancer cells on the back. When cancerous tumor became 7 mm in diameter, MTX-CH or MTX aqueous solution (MTX-sol) was injected into the tumor.

Development of built-in type and noninvasive sensor systems for smart artificial heart.

It is very important to grasp the artificial heart condition and the physiologic conditions for the implantable artificial heart. In our laboratory, a smart artificial heart (SAH) has been proposed and developed. An SAH is an artificial heart with a noninvasive sensor; it is a sensorized and intelligent artificial heart for safe and effective treatment.

Mutations in exon 11 of the c-kit gene in a myogenic tumor and a neurogenic tumor as well as in gastrointestinal stromal tumors. Utility of c-kit mutation as a prognostic biomarker for gastrointestinal mesenchymal tumor.

Background/aims: Gain-of-function mutations in exons 9, 11 and 13 of the c-kit gene in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) have been identified, and it has been reported that the prognosis is worse for patients with mutation-positive GISTs than for those with mutation-negative GISTs. We studied c-kit mutations in gastrointestinal mesenchymal tumors. By chance, the c-kit mutation in exon 11 was found in myogenic and neurogenic tumors as well as in GISTs.

Effects of idiotypic human anti-mouse antibody against in vitro binding and antitumor activity of a monoclonal antibody-drug conjugate.

Background/aims: Because the HAMA (human anti-mouse antibody) response following administration of murine monoclonal antibodies represents mainly isotypic HAMA production, idiotypic HAMA responses have not been thoroughly analyzed.

Methodology: In the present study we examined the effect of idiotypic HAMA that arose in patients who had repeatedly received murine monoclonal antibody conjugated to an anticancer drug against in vitro binding and antitumor activity of the conjugate. HAMA that had developed after administration of tumor-specific murine monoclonal antibody A7 conjugated with neocarzinostatin were measured in patient serum.

Cisplatin incorporated in microspheres: development and fundamental studies for its clinical application.

A new drug delivery formulation, biodegradable glycolic acid-lactic acid copolymer (PGLA) microspheres incorporating cisplatin (CDDP-MS) has been developed for the treatment of peritoneal carcinomatosis. Scanning electron microscopy showed that CDDP-MS has a smooth surface and few cisplatin crystals in the hollow. An electron probe micro analyzer revealed that cisplatin was located mainly in the matrix in the state of a molecule.

Oxygen-15 positron-emission tomography for predicting selective delivery of a chemotherapeutic agent to hepatic cancers during angiotensin II-induced hypertension.

Purpose: Selective drug delivery is important for successful chemotherapy. In patients with hepatic cancer, we used (15)O-carbon dioxide (steady-state) and (15)O-water (dynamic) positron emission tomography (PET) to evaluate changes in blood flow induced by angiotensin (AT) II in the liver parenchyma, hepatic tumors, and spleen.

Methods: The study group comprised 13 patients, 6 with hepatic metastasis and 7 with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Regeneration of hypogastric nerve using a polyglycolic acid (PGA)-collagen nerve conduit filled with collagen sponge proved electrophysiologically in a canine model.

The hypogastric nerve (HGN) is a sympathetic nerve in the peritoneal cavity and controls urinary and seminal functions. In this study, the regeneration of HGN was determined by using a new type of an artificial nerve conduit, polyglycolic acid (PGA)-collagen nerve conduit filled with collagen sponge in two dogs. A PGA-collagen nerve conduit (diameter=2 mm) was interposed in a 10 mm gap of the right HGN.

Octaploid Meth-A cells are established from a highly polyploidized cell population.

Tetraploid Meth-A cells were polyploidized by demecolcin, an inhibitor of spindle fibre formation in M phase, and then released from the drug 1, 2, 3 and 4 days after the addition. Octaploid cells were successfully established from cell populations including hexadecaploid cells produced by 2, 3 and 4 days of exposure to demecolcin. One-day-treated cells were polyploidized octaploid cells, but they returned to tetraploid cells.

Multiple origins of cultivated radishes as evidenced by a comparison of the structural variations in mitochondrial DNA of Raphanus.

Configurations of mitochondrial coxI and orfB gene regions were analysed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in three wild and one cultivated species of Raphanus. A total of 207 individual plants from 60 accessions were used. PCR with five combinations of primers identified five different amplification patterns both in wild and cultivated radishes.

Streptococcal preparation OK432 promotes functional maturation of human monocyte-derived dendritic cells.

Streptococcal preparation OK432 is an immunomodulatory agent extensively used as adjuvant therapy for gastric cancer in Japan. OK432 augments the cytotoxic activity of various effector cells such as lymphocytes, macrophages and (natural killer) NK cells and induces the production of multiple cytokines. Dendritic cells (DC) are professional antigen-presenting cells (APC) that can be used for cancer vaccine therapy.

Feasibility study using a new small electronic pancreatoscope: description of findings in chronic pancreatitis.

Background And Study Aims: Numerous images characteristic of chronic pancreatitis have been obtained with fiberoptic peroral pancreatoscopy systems. However, the resolution of these images is inferior to that obtained with peroral electronic pancreatoscopy (PEPS). Clearer images of the pancreatic duct with chronic pancreatitis have now been documented, in some cases using PEPS alone.

Prognostic value of lymph node staging in gastric cancer.

Background/aims: The latest TNM classification (5th edition) changed the definition of nodal staging from the anatomical localization to the total number of metastatic lymph nodes. This study was designed to evaluate and compare the prognostic significance of nodal staging between the two widely known staging systems, the TNM classification (TNM) and Japanese Classification for Gastric Cancer (JCGC).

Methodology: A total of 582 patients who underwent curative gastrectomy with extended lymphadenectomy for gastric cancer were reviewed retrospectively from hospital records.

Resection of a pelvic schwannoma with partial removal of the sacral nerve root.

Because the symptoms do not appear in most cases until the tumor has grown quite large, schwannomas are often detected incidentally during work-up for some other condition. Benign schwannomas generally do not invade adjacent structures but making the diagnosis preoperatively can be difficult when the tumor is large. We report the case of a benign schwannoma which was diagnosed preoperatively by needle core biopsy under computed tomography guidance.

Decreased production of anti-mouse antibody after administration of human/mouse chimeric monoclonal antibody-neocarzinostatin conjugate to human.

Background/aims: One problem that has been encountered with the use of murine Mabs is the development of a human anti-mouse antibody (HAMA) which lead to serious problems such as anaphylaxis. In order to evaluate the decreased HAMA production after administration of Fab fragments of chimeric monoclonal antibody, Fab fragments of chimeric Mab A7 (chA7Fab) was administered as neocarzinostatin (NCS) conjugate to seven patients with colonic cancer.

Methodology: The in vivo pharmacokinetics of chA7Fab and HAMA production was examined.

Successful treatment of intractable esophagothoracic fistula using covered self-expandable stent.

This report concerns the successful treatment with a covered self-expandable stent of an intractable thoracoesophageal fistula after total esophagectomy for esophageal cancer. Total esophagectomy was performed on a 68-year-old man who presented with a huge esophageal cancer in the lower esophagus. Massive leakage was observed on the 5th day postoperatively.

Functional attenuation of UFD1l, a 22q11.2 deletion syndrome candidate gene, leads to cardiac outflow septation defects in chicken embryos.

Microdeletion of chromosome 22q11.2 is commonly associated with congenital cardiovascular defects that involve development of cranial neural crest cells (NCC) that emigrate through the pharyngeal arches. UFD1l is one of several candidate genes for 22q11.

Promoter methylations of p16INK4a and p14ARF genes in early and advanced gastric cancer. Correlations of the modes of their occurrence with histologic type.

The INK4a/ARF locus encodes two cell cycle-regulatory proteins, p16INK4a and p14ARF. These share an exon using different reading frames, and act through Rb and p53 pathways. Recently, it has been found that silencing of p16INK4a and p14ARF expressions by aberrant methylation of the CpG islands in the promoter regions is an alternative mechanism that inactivates possible tumor suppressor functions in various tumors.

A novel ERK-dependent signaling process that regulates interleukin-2 expression in a late phase of T cell activation.

Engagement of the T cell antigen receptor (TCR) rapidly induces multiple signal transduction pathways, including ERK activation. Here, we report a critical role for ERK at a late stage of T cell activation. Inhibition of the ERK pathway 2-6 h after the start of TCR stimulation significantly impaired interleukin-2 (IL-2) production, whereas the same treatment during the first 2 h had no effect.