Angiogenin-induced Osteoclastogenesis Mediates Bone Destruction in Oral Squamous Carcinoma.

Background/aim: Bone destruction caused by oral cancer severely impacts patient quality of life. This study aimed to clarify the role of angiogenin (ANG) in osteoclastogenesis and oral cancer-induced bone destruction.

Materials And Methods: Recombinant ANG was used to assess its effects on osteoclast formation and bone resorption activity in bone marrow cultures.

PTPA localized in the Golgi apparatus plays an important role in osteoblast differentiation.

Regulatory subunits of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) define the substrate and functional specificity of the PP2A holoenzyme within specific organelles. While PP2A regulates osteoblast differentiation, the roles and localization of its regulatory subunits in osteoblasts remain unclear. Here, we identified PTPA, a PP2A regulatory protein, predominantly localized to the Golgi apparatus, closely overlapping with the Golgi marker Giantin.

A Case of Aortic Strain due to Spring Back Force by Stent Graft 3 Years after Thoracic Endovascular Aortic Repair.

A 79-year-old man underwent 1-debranched thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) for a saccular aneurysm of the distal arch of the aorta. Computed tomography performed 3 years after surgery revealed a significant displacement of the distal side of the stent graft and severe deformity due to displacement of the aorta. There were no obvious findings after aortic dissection.

[Giant Left Ventricular Aneurysm After Double Patch Closure of Ventricular Septal Perforation Through Right Ventriculotomy].

A 66-year-old man. He had myocardial infarction due to occlusion of the left anterior descending branch, which was subsequently complicated by ventricular septal perforation. Ventricular septal perforation was repaired through right ventricle incision, applying double patches for closure, and injecting glue between the patches.

K604, a specific acyl‑CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase 1 inhibitor, suppresses proliferation of U251‑MG glioblastoma cells.

Glioblastoma is the most aggressive type of brain tumor and has a poor prognosis. Increased levels of cholesteryl ester and simultaneous expression of acyl‑CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase 1 (ACAT1) in tumor cells indicated that cholesterol esterification is critical to tumor growth. The present study confirmed that human glioblastoma tissues as well as the glioblastoma cell line U251‑MG showed significant expression of ACAT1.

CD44-expressing undifferentiated carcinoma with rhabdoid features of the pancreas: molecular analysis of aggressive invasion and metastasis.

Carcinoma with rhabdoid features is a rare malignant tumor with a poor prognosis whose molecular mechanism for aggressive behavior is unclear. We describe an undifferentiated pancreatic carcinoma with rhabdoid features that demonstrated extensive invasion and metastasis. Examination of a 63-year-old man with back pain disclosed a retroperitoneal tumor with multiple metastases.

NTA-mediated protein capturing strategy in screening experiments for small organic molecules by surface plasmon resonance.

Nitrilotriacetate (NTA)-mediated capture of a histidine-tagged protein is widely used as an easy and simple method to reversibly immobilize the protein onto a sensor chip for surface plasmon resonance (SPR). However, in spite of its advantages, the NTA-capturing strategy is rarely employed for ligand screening experiments using SPR, because it was thought to cause substantial errors in binding responses, due to the inevitable protein dissociation during the monitoring period. In this study, as demonstrated in a ligand screening for the histidine-tagged SH3 domain of the human phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase p85alpha subunit, false responses after adhesion of undesirable compounds to a target protein could be minimized with the NTA strategy, while binding responses of a positive control peptide still stayed within a 1%-deviation against the theoretical binding capacity.

A structure-based strategy for discovery of small ligands binding to functionally unknown proteins: combination of in silico screening and surface plasmon resonance measurements.

In the postgenomic era, many researchers and organizations have been engaged in structural and functional analyses of proteins. As a part of these efforts, searching for small organic compounds that bind specifically to target proteins is quite important. In this study, we have developed a rational strategy for ligand discovery based on the three-dimensional structures of target proteins, which were elucidated by X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Cataract in atomic bomb survivors.

Purpose: Ophthalmologic examinations were conducted on atomic bomb (A-bomb) survivors 55 years after exposure.

Materials And Methods: A-bomb survivors who had been exposed before 13 years of age at the time of the bombings in 1945 or who had been examined in a previous study between 1978 and 1980. The examinations, conducted between June 2000 and September 2002, included slit-lamp examination, digital photography and a cataract grading system for three parts of the lens (nucleus, cortex and posterior subcapsule) as an outcome variable.

Detection of carbohydrate recognition molecules on the plasma membrane of boar sperm by dextran-based multivalent oligosaccharide probes.

Two kinds of molecules, one recognizing the sialo-/asialo-N-acetyllactosamine structures and the other recognizing the Lewis X structure in a divalent cation-independent manner, were detected on the head of boar sperm prepared from cauda epididymis by fluorescence-labeled or biotinylated dextran-based multivalent oligosaccharide probes. The N-acetyllactosamine recognition molecule(s) is weakly detected on uncapacitated sperm and becomes strongly detectable on capacitated sperm. On the other hand, the Lewis X recognition molecule is detected at a moderate level before capacitation and at a high level after capacitation.

Calcium ion-independent recognition of sialyl and nonsialyl N-acetyllactosamine and Le(x) structures by boar sperm.

Recognition of defined carbohydrate structures by boar sperm was studied on the basis of oligosaccharide structures of porcine zona pellucida glycoproteins so far elucidated. Boar sperm abundantly adhered to fetuin-Sepharose beads, moderately to asialofetuin-Sepharose beads, but not at all to galactosidase (beta1-4-linkage-specific)-digested asialofetuin-Sepharose beads. The sperm also adhered to Le(x) oligosaccharide probe-coupled avidin-Sepharose beads.

Microscale synthesis of dextran-based multivalent N-linked oligosaccharide probes.

We developed a convenient method for the synthesis of dextran-based multivalent probes containing N-linked oligosaccharides which is efficient even in a small scale. Oligosaccharides were derivatized with succinic dihydrazide and dimethylamine borane under a mild acidic condition. The derivatized oligosaccharides were then conjugated in a good yield to periodate-oxidized dextran (500 kDa).

A study on the irregularity of the sequence of R-R intervals in chronic atrial fibrillation in man based on the time series analysis and the information theory.

The mechanism of the irregularity of R-R intervals and especially the genesis of the long R-R intervals in atrial fibrillation were clarified. From the point of view of the present study, the sequence of successive R-R intervals can be regarded as a stochastic process, and consequently mathematical analyses can be applied, and the following conclusion could be obtained: the stability of the data, mathematically called stationarity, is present in the sequence of R-R intervals, and these intervals are independently and identically distributed. The probability density function is an Erlangian distribution with phase k of 20 to 26.