Association between epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cancer stemness and their effect on the prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma.

The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cancer stemness (CS) are reported to be pivotal phenomena involved in metastasis, recurrence, and drug-resistance in lung cancer; however, their effects on tumor malignancy in clinical settings are not completely understood. The mutual association between these factors also remains elusive and are worthy of investigation. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the association between EMT and CS, and their effect on the prognosis of patients with lung adenocarcinoma.

Chiral conglomerates observed for a binary mixture of a nematic liquid crystal trimer and 6OCB.

Dark conglomerates of domains with opposite handedness, which are designated as dark conglomerate phases (DC phases), have attracted much attention. After designing an achiral liquid crystal trimer, 4,4′-bis{7-[4-(5-octyloxypyrimidin-2-yl)phenyloxy]heptyloxy}biphenyl (1), which exhibits only a nematic phase, we prepared binary mixtures with some typical rod-like nematic liquid crystals, i.e.

Long-term efficacy of hepatitis B vaccination as post-transplant prophylaxis in hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive recipients and HBsAg negative recipients of anti-hepatitis B core positive grafts.

Aim: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation after liver transplantation in HBV patients, or in HBV negative recipients of anti-hepatitis B core (HBc) positive grafts, has been prevented by prophylactic use of hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) and/or nucleoside/nucleotide analogs (NA). Vaccination against HBV is an alternative that may provide a chance to discontinue prophylaxis by producing anti-hepatitis B surface (HBs) antibodies.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 40 HBV positive recipients (HBV+ group) and 27 HBV negative recipients of anti-HBc positive grafts (HBV-/anti-HBc+ graft group), who were administrated double-dose hepatitis B vaccination.

Long-Term Outcome of Percutaneous Biliary Interventions for Biliary Anastomotic Stricture in Pediatric Patients after Living Donor Liver Transplantation with Roux-en-Y Hepaticojejunostomy.

Purpose: To retrospectively evaluate long-term outcomes of percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) followed by balloon dilation and placement of an internal drainage tube for anastomotic stricture in pediatric patients who underwent living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) with Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy (RYHJ).

Materials And Methods: Fifty-two patients (23 male, 29 female; median age, 5 y) with anastomotic biliary stricture were treated with PTBD followed by balloon catheter dilation and long-term placement of an internal drainage tube, which was removed upon cholangiographic confirmation of free flow of bile into the small bowel. Clinical success, tube independence rate, risk factors of recurrent biliary stricture, and patency rates were evaluated.

Prevalence of chronic kidney diseases in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: assessment based on glomerular filtration rate estimated from creatinine and cystatin C levels.

Background: Cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, and depression are identified comorbidities of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but there have been few reports of chronic kidney disease (CKD) as a comorbidity of COPD. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of CKD in COPD patients using estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) based on creatinine (Cr) and cystatin C (Cys) levels.

Methods: The prevalence of CKD and the values of various CKD-related parameters were compared between 108 stable COPD outpatients (COPD group) and a non-COPD control group consisting of 73 patients aged 60 years or more without a history of COPD or kidney disease.

Screening of BCOR-CCNB3 sarcoma using immunohistochemistry for CCNB3: A clinicopathological report of three pediatric cases.

BCOR-CCNB3 sarcoma is a recently recognized tumor morphologically and clinically simulating Ewing sarcoma. We herein retrospectively collected clinicopathologic data on BCOR-CCNB3 sarcoma in the Kyoto University Hospital over the last 10 years. Three (20%) bone sarcomas were revealed to be diffusely positive for CCNB3 immunohistochemistry among 15 pediatric cases of undifferentiated sarcoma morphologically similar to Ewing sarcoma, while the other cases showed completely negative staining.

Multicenter investigation of lifestyle-related diseases and visceral disorders in thalidomide embryopathy at around 50 years of age.

Background: In utero exposure to thalidomide causes a wide range of birth defects, including phocomelia, hearing loss and visceral disorders, known as thalidomide embryopathy (TE). Fifty years after the first report of TE, we conducted the first cross-sectional multicenter study to investigate the development of lifestyle-related diseases and identify risk factors for visceral disorders in subjects with TE.

Methods: Seventy-six cases with TE (31 men, 45 women) underwent medical examinations between 2011 and 2014 to determine the types of TE-related anomalies (limbs, auditory organs, or visceral organs) and lifestyle-related diseases present.

Identification of human basic fetoprotein as glucose-6-phosphate isomerase by using N- and C-terminal sequence tags and terminal tag database.

Human basic fetoprotein (BFP), found in fetal serum and tissue extracts as well as in extracts of various cancer tissues, has long been known as a marker protein for cancers; however, the primary sequence has not yet been reported. This paper describes the identification of BFP using the N- and C-terminal amino acid sequence tags (Ac-AALTRDPQFQ and QQREARVQ, respectively) clarified by mass spectrometry-based methods, and a terminal tag database (ProteinCarta). In this study, BFP was identified as glucose-6-phosphate isomerase (G6PI_HUMAN).

A Case of Vulval Extramammary Paget Disease With Dermal Invasion Showing Mucinous Carcinoma.

We report a case of vulval extramammary Paget disease (EMPD) with dermal invasion showing mucinous carcinoma (MC). An 80-year-old woman presented with vulvar itching and pain. A physical examination showed a pigmented vulvar, perianal erythematous plague, and a subcutaneous nodule in the left major labia.

Supermolecular bent configuration composed of achiral flexible liquid crystal trimers exhibiting chiral domains with opposite handedness.

Chirality's effects on physical properties of materials and how chirality arises have persisted as attractive issues in chemistry. We prepared a homologous series of achiral liquid crystal trimers in which three phenylpyrimidine units are connected via flexible heptamethylene spacers. An equimolecular mixture of a trimer with a nematic (N) phase and that with smectic A (SmA), smectic C (SmC), and smectic B phases was found to exhibit an N phase, a SmC phase, and a B4 phase composed of chiral domains with opposite handedness.

GlycanAnalysis Plug-in: a database search tool for N-glycan structures using mass spectrometry.

Unlabelled: Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS or MS(n)) is a potent technique for characterizing N-glycan structures. GlycanAnalysis searches a glycan database to support the identification of glycan structures from MS/MS spectra. It also calculates diagnostic ions of glycan structures registered in a glycan database (GlycomeDB or KEGG GLYCAN) and searches for MS/MS spectra of N-glycans that match diagnostic ions to determine the structures.

Features of acute liver congestion on gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MRI in a rat model: Role of organic anion-transporting polypeptide 1A1.

Purpose: To evaluate the features of hepatic congestion on gadoxetate disodium (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the mechanisms responsible for the radiological findings in a rat model of partial liver congestion.

Materials And Methods: A conventional T1 -weighted spin-echo sequence of the liver was performed using a 1.5T magnetic resonance imager with an 80-mm magnetic aperture for animal studies.

High prevalence of carbapenem resistance among plasmid-mediated AmpC β-lactamase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae during outbreaks in liver transplantation units.

During a prospective surveillance using PCR for the detection of plasmid-mediated AmpC β-lactamase (pAmpC)-producing Enterobacteriaceae, outbreaks due to pAmpC-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae (pAmpC-Kp) occurred in an adult liver transplantation unit (aLTU) and a paediatric liver transplantation unit (pLTU), with carbapenem-resistant (CR) variants. Between April 2010 and March 2012, a total of 32 patients infected with pAmpC-Kp were found by prospective surveillance using PCR detection at a Japanese university hospital. Multilocus sequence typing, analysis of outer membrane proteins, and detection of carbapenemases were performed.

A simple peak detection and label-free quantitation algorithm for chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Background: Label-free quantitation of mass spectrometric data is one of the simplest and least expensive methods for differential expression profiling of proteins and metabolites. The need for high accuracy and performance computational label-free quantitation methods is still high in the biomarker and drug discovery research field. However, recent most advanced types of LC-MS generate huge amounts of analytical data with high scan speed, high accuracy and resolution, which is often impossible to interpret manually.

Computational survey of sequence specificity for protein terminal tags covering nine organisms and its application to protein identification.

In 1998, Wilkins et al. (J. Mol.

Clinical outcome after endoscopic resection for superficial pharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma invading the subepithelial layer.

Background And Study Aims: The curability of endoscopic resection for superficial pharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SPSCC) has not been fully elucidated, particularly for lesions invading the subepithelial layer, which carry the risk of metastasis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the curative potential of endoscopic resection for SPSCC invading the subepithelial layer.

Patients And Methods: From June 2002 to July 2010, 198 SPSCCs in 176 consecutive patients were treated by endoscopic resection at two tertiary referral centers.

Stem-loop binding protein is required for retinal cell proliferation, neurogenesis, and intraretinal axon pathfinding in zebrafish.

In the developing retina, neurogenesis and cell differentiation are coupled with cell proliferation. However, molecular mechanisms that coordinate cell proliferation and differentiation are not fully understood. In this study, we found that retinal neurogenesis is severely delayed in the zebrafish stem-loop binding protein (slbp) mutant.

Late-onset rejection of a unilateral donor lung with vascular C4d deposition in bilateral living-donor lobar lung transplantation: an autopsy case report.

A 37-year-old woman had undergone bilateral living-donor lobar lung transplantation 11 years previously for idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension. Her father donated the right lobe and her brother donated the left lobe. She subsequently developed progressively worsening respiratory dysfunction due to pneumonia.

HER2 status in lung adenocarcinoma: a comparison of immunohistochemistry, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), dual-ISH, and gene mutations.

Objectives: While novel anti-human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) agents have recently been developed, no definite criteria have been proposed as indications for the use of these agents in patients with lung cancer. Here, we tested HER2 alterations by using four methods and explored the concordance of these methods to improve our understanding of the accuracy of HER2 testing methods.

Materials And Methods: We analyzed HER2 protein expression by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and HER2 amplification by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and dual in situ hybridization (DISH) by using a tissue microarray comprising lung adenocarcinoma specimens from 243 consecutive patients.

Mass++: A Visualization and Analysis Tool for Mass Spectrometry.

We have developed Mass++, a plug-in style visualization and analysis tool for mass spectrometry. Its plug-in style enables users to customize it and to develop original functions. Mass++ has several kinds of plug-ins, including rich viewers and analysis methods for proteomics and metabolomics.

Association of anti-human leukocyte antigen and anti-angiotensin II type 1 receptor antibodies with liver allograft fibrosis after immunosuppression withdrawal.

Background: Many pediatric patients who receive a living-donor liver transplant undergo withdrawal of immunosuppression (IS). For them, the high incidence of long-term progressive graft fibrosis is of particular concern.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study including 81 pediatric patients who underwent IS withdrawal after living-donor liver transplant at Kyoto University Hospital and whose serum samples and pathological data could be obtained during the analysis period.

Measurement of blood pressure in a thalidomide-impaired patient who required ovarian cystectomy: A case report.

Introduction: Thalidomide was available for use over-the-counter between 1958 and 1962, and more than 300 thalidomide-impaired people have been confirmed in Japan. Currently, thalidomide-impaired people are nearing the age of 50 years and sometimes require medical treatment or surgery. However, a sphygmomanometer cannot be used to measure the blood pressure in some thalidomide-impaired people because of upper-limb shortening or hypoplastic defects.