Mogrol stimulates G-protein-coupled bile acid receptor 1 (GPBAR1/TGR5) and insulin secretion from pancreatic β-cells and alleviates hyperglycemia in mice.

Target identification is a crucial step in elucidating the mechanisms by which functional food components exert their functions. Here, we identified the G-protein-coupled bile acid receptor 1 (GPBAR1, also known as TGR5) as a target of the triterpenoid mogrol, a class of aglycone mogroside derivative from Siraitia grosvenorii. Mogrol, but not mogrosides, activated cAMP-response element-mediated transcription in a TGR5-dependent manner.

Selective boron delivery by intra-arterial injection of BSH-WOW emulsion in hepatic cancer model for neutron capture therapy.

Objective: Boron neutron-capture therapy (BNCT) has been used to inhibit the growth of various types of cancers. In this study, we developed a BSH-entrapped water-in-oil-in-water (WOW) emulsion, evaluated it as a selective boron carrier for the possible application of BNCT in hepatocellular carcinoma treatment.

Methods: We prepared the BSH-entrapped WOW emulsion using double emulsification technique and then evaluated the delivery efficacy by performing biodistribution experiment on VX-2 rabbit hepatic tumour model with comparison to iodized poppy-seed oil mix conventional emulsion.

Placental mesenchymal dysplasia differentially diagnosed from molar pregnancy by 3-D inversion mode rendering: a case report.

Placental mesenchymal dysplasia (PMD) is a rare placental vascular anomaly which resembles partial molar pregnancy by 2-D ultrasonography. It is challenging but clinically important to distinguish between them in order to avoid unnecessary termination of pregnancy. A patient was referred to our centre at 13 weeks of gestation and 2-D ultrasound of the placenta showed a widespread vesicular pattern mixed with normal appearing placenta.

Grave outcome of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor-producing endometrial cancer: a case report and literature review.

Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF)-producing nonhematopoietic malignancies have been reported in various organs, and most of them have been associated with poor clinical outcome. However, because of the rarity of reported cases, information regarding G-CSF-producing gynecological malignancies, especially uterine corpus cancer, is limited. We report a case of G-CSF-producing endometrial cancer, which exhibited a grave clinical outcome.

Japanese guidelines for the management of intussusception in children, 2011.

Background: The Japanese Society of Emergency Pediatrics has formulated evidence-based guidelines for the management of intussusception in children in order to diagnose intussusceptions promptly, to initiate appropriate treatment as early as possible, and to protect intussuscepted children from death.

Methods: Literature was collected systematically via the Internet using the key words "intussusception" and "children." The evidence level of each paper was rated in accordance with the levels of evidence of the Oxford Center for Evidence-based Medicine.

Characteristics of neuropsychological functions in inpatients with poorly-controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Unlabelled: Aims/Introduction:  It has been suggested that type 2 diabetes is associated with cognitive impairment. We investigated the neuropsychological profile of inpatients with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes and assessed the effects of clinical factors on neuropsychological functions.

Materials And Methods:   Forty-two patients with type 2 diabetes and 32 non diabetic control subjects were matched for age, sex ratio, and level of education.

A genome-wide association study identifies three new risk loci for Kawasaki disease.

We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of Kawasaki disease in Japanese subjects using data from 428 individuals with Kawasaki disease (cases) and 3,379 controls genotyped at 473,803 SNPs. We validated the association results in two independent replication panels totaling 754 cases and 947 controls. We observed significant associations in the FAM167A-BLK region at 8p22-23 (rs2254546, P = 8.

Human C-reactive protein enhances vulnerability of immature rats to hypoxic-ischemic brain damage: a preliminary study.

In utero exposure to infection or inflammation is a strong and independent predictor of cerebral palsy. Using a rat model of neonatal hypoxic-ischemic (HI) encephalopathy, we investigated the hypothesis that C-reactive protein (CRP), which is not specific for infection, aggravates vulnerability of the immature brain to HI. Seven-day-old rats were divided into human CRP treated and control groups.

Digestion and absorption of Siraitia grosvenori triterpenoids in the rat.

When administered to rats, mogroside V (a pentaglucose-conjugated mogroside), the main sweetening component of Siraitia grosvenori, was mostly degraded by digestive enzymes and intestinal microflora, and was excreted in the feces as mogrol (aglycone) and its mono- and diglucosides. However, trace amounts of mogrol and its monoglucoside were found in the portal blood as sulfates and/or glucuronide conjugates.

[18F]Fluorodeoxyglucose-PET/CT differentiation between physiological and pathological accumulations in head and neck.

Objectives: The purposes of this study were to evaluate various physiological fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) accumulations in the head and neck and to compare those with tumor (pathological) FDG accumulation.

Methods: One hundred and twelve patients with head and neck carcinomas were studied. PET/computed tomography examinations were performed 1 h after intravenous injection of fluorine-18-labeled FDG.

Suppressive effect of Siraitia grosvenorii extract on dicyclanil-promoted hepatocellular proliferative lesions in male mice.

Dicyclanil (DC) generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) due to Cyp1a1 induction, and DNA damage caused by oxidative stress is probably involved in hepatocarcinogenesis in mice. To clarify the modifying effect of the Siraitia grosvenorii extract (SGE), which has antioxidative properties, we employed a 2-stage liver carcinogenesis model in partially hepatectomized male ICR mice. Mice maintained on diet containing DC at a concentration of 1,500 ppm for 9 weeks after a single intraperitoneal injection of diethylnitrosamine (DEN) at a dose of 30 mg/kg and they were given water containing 2,500 ppm of SGE for 11 weeks including 2 weeks as pre-administration on DC.

Usefulness of PET/CT for detecting a second primary cancer after treatment for squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Purpose: Patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck have been reported to have a high rate of second primary cancer of the upper aerodigestive tract. This study was performed to determine whether positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) is useful for detecting a second primary cancer after treatment for squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Methods And Materials: The PET/CT findings in 279 consecutive patients (211 men, 68 women; mean age 62 years) who had been treated for squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck were examined and compared with the findings obtained by other imaging modalities, the biopsy results, and the clinical data.

A case of disseminated peritoneal leiomyomatosis developing after laparoscope-assisted myomectomy.

A 36-year-old nulliparous woman developed multiple extra-uterine fibroids in the pelvic cavity years after laparoscopic myomectomy. Molecular genetic analysis by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSPCR) of the human X-linked androgen receptor gene and loss of heterozygosity (LOH) analysis at 5 microsatellite loci was performed on the tumors. All tumors showed an identical non-random X-chromosome inactivation pattern by MSPCR and an identical pattern of LOH was found in all the tumors by LOH analysis.

(18)F-FDG-PET/CT findings of granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF)-producing lung tumors.

Tumors producing granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), malignant lung tumors in most cases, are rare, and patients present with abnormal elevations of the white blood cell (WBC) count in the absence of any infectious disease. We present the (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography ((18)F-FDG-PET/CT) imaging findings of two cases of G-CSF-producing tumor. PET-CT showed abnormally high uptake of (18)F-FDG not only by the tumor itself but also diffusely throughout the bone marrow.

A1C but not serum glycated albumin is elevated in late pregnancy owing to iron deficiency.

Objective: A1C levels have been shown to be elevated in relation to glycemia in late pregnancy, although the precise mechanisms remain undetermined. We hypothesized that iron deficiency is involved in the A1C increase in late pregnancy.

Research Design And Methods: In study 1, A1C, serum glycated albumin, erythrocyte indexes, and iron metabolism indexes were determined in 47 nondiabetic pregnant women not receiving iron supplementation who were divided into four groups according to gestational period (group I, 21-24 weeks; group II, 25-28 weeks; group III, 29-32 weeks; and group IV, 33-36 weeks).

Modifying effect of Siraitia grosvenori extract on piperonyl butoxide-promoted hepatocarcinogenesis in rats.

To examine the possible modifying effect of the extract of Siraitia grosvenori (SGE), a naturally occurring antioxidative agent, on piperonyl butoxide (PBO)-promoted hepatocarcinogenesis, male F344 rats were administered a single intraperitoneal injection of N-diethylnitrosamine (DEN) as an initiator followed by administration of a diet containing 2% PBO for 7 weeks with or without SGE (1,000 ppm) in the drinking water. To enhance cellular proliferation, all animals underwent two-thirds partial hepatectomy 1 week after the commencement of PBO administration. Pretreatment with SGE was also applied to the PBO + SGE group for 2 weeks prior to DEN initiation.

PET/CT evaluation of the physiologic accumulation of 18F-FDG within the gallbladder vesicle.

The aim of this study was to investigate physiological fluorine 18-labeled fluourodeoxyglucose accumulation in the gallbladder (GB) during clinical positron emission tomography (PET) examinations. Three patient groups were included. In Group 1, nine patients with higher fluourodeoxyglucose (FDG) accumulation in the GB than in the liver were examined, followed up and finally diagnosed.

Involvement of RelA-associated inhibitor in regulation of trophoblast differentiation via interaction with transcriptional factor specificity protein-1.

Glucose transporter-1 (GLUT1), one of the key functional indicators of placental differentiation, has an important role in placental glucose transport. We previously showed that the protein levels of GLUT1 and nuclear transcription factor specificity protein-1 (Sp1) in rat choriocarcinoma cells (Rcho-1 cells) decreased during the differentiation of these cells to giant cells. We also showed that Sp1 was involved in the regulation of GLUT1 gene expression during this process.

Sonographic femur length to trunk cross area ratio: prediction of fetal outcome in 30 cases in which micromelia was suspected.

Aim: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the potential value of fetal routine sonographic biometry in evaluating micromelias.

Methods: Thirty fetuses had a presumptive diagnosis of micromelia from antepartum ultrasound examinations during the period between 1 April 1996 and 31 March 2005. The postnatal clinical features, final diagnoses and outcomes were examined to retrospectively compare these cases with biometric parameters obtained from routine antepartum ultrasound examinations.

Antidiabetic effect of long-term supplementation with Siraitia grosvenori on the spontaneously diabetic Goto-Kakizaki rat.

Siraitia grosvenori Swingle (SG) is a traditional Chinese fruit used as a folk medicine. Its extract (SG-ex) contains potent sweet elements with a sweetness several hundred times higher than table sugar. We investigated the antidiabetic effect of SG-ex in the type 2 diabetic Goto-Kakizaki (GK) rat.

Pregnancy and delivery with Kindler syndrome.

Background: Kindler syndrome is a rare, autosomal-recessive skin disease characterized by bullous poikiloderma. Mucosal manifestations are common that involve the oral cavity, esophagus, urethra and genital organs.

Case Report: A 37-year-old woman with Kindler syndrome received prenatal care at our hospital.