An ascovirus isolated from Spodoptera litura (Noctuidae: Lepidoptera) transmitted by the generalist endoparasitoid Meteorus pulchricornis (Braconidae: Hymenoptera).

The family Ascoviridae is a recently described virus family whose members are transmitted by parasitoids and cause chronic and lethal infections in lepidopteran insects. Little is known about the biology and ecology of ascoviruses, and few isolates have been found outside the United States. We report here the isolation of a new ascovirus variant from Spodoptera litura in Japan.

[Two Cases of Effective Hepatic Arterial Infusion Chemotherapy for Liver Metastases of Colon Cancer Resistant to Systemic Chemotherapy].

A 69-year-old man underwent right hemicolectomy for ascending colon cancer with liver metastases. Postoperative systemic chemotherapy did not reduce the metastases, and therefore, hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAI) was administered. The metastases decreased in size after 26 rounds of therapy, and the patient underwent resection.

A change in electrographic activity and blood flow during interictal and postictal psychotic states in a patient with epilepsy.

We report a patient with epilepsy who experienced interictal and postictal psychoses. Her psychiatric symptoms consisted of grandiose and fantastic delusions during both psychotic states. During remission, electroencephalography showed bitemporal epileptiform discharges that were predominant in the right temporal region.

Observational study of axilla treatment for breast cancer patients with 1-3 positive micrometastases or macrometastases in sentinel lymph nodes.

Sentinel node biopsy is a standard procedure in clinically node-negative breast cancer patients. It has eliminated unnecessary axillary lymph node dissection in more than half of the early breast cancers. However, one of the unresolved issues in sentinel node biopsy is how to manage axilla surgery for sentinel node-positive patients and clinically node-negative patients.

Indices of relative weight and obesity.

Analyses are reported on the correlation with height and with subcutaneous fat thickness of relative weight expressed as per cent of average weight at given height, and of the ratios weight/height, weight/height squared, and the ponderal index (cube root of weight divided by height) in 7424 ‘healthy’ men in 12 cohorts in five countries. Analyses are also reported on the relationship of those indicators of relative weight to body density in 180 young men and in 248 men aged 49–59. Judged by the criteria of correlation with height (lowest is best) and to measures of body fatness (highest is best), the ponderal index is the poorest of the relative weight indices studied.

Primary breast peripheral T-cell lymphoma not otherwise specified: report of a case.

Malignant lymphomas of the breast are rare and primary breast lymphoma comprises <0.5 % of breast malignancies, within which T-cell lymphomas are an even rarer subset. We report a case of primary breast peripheral T-cell lymphoma not otherwise specified (PTCL-NOS).

P-cadherin regulates human hair growth and cycling via canonical Wnt signaling and transforming growth factor-β2.

P-cadherin is a key component of epithelial adherens junctions, and it is prominently expressed in the hair follicle (HF) matrix. Loss-of-function mutations in CDH3, which encodes P-cadherin, result in hypotrichosis with juvenile macular dystrophy (HJMD), an autosomal recessive disorder featuring sparse and short hair. Here, we attempted to recapitulate some aspects of HJMD in vitro by transfecting normal, organ-cultured human scalp HFs with lipofectamine and CDH3-specific or scrambled control siRNAs.

The expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen, p53, p21, and apoptosis in primary gastric lymphoma.

Background: We have investigated the correlations among the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), p53, p21, and the prognosis of primary gastric lymphoma, and we have investigated apoptosis by using transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick-end labeling staining.

Methods: A retrospective study was performed on 33 cases of primary gastric lymphoma that were surgically resected. Histopathologic examination was undertaken according to the Working Formulation classification.

Apoptosis in the pancreas of genetically diabetic rats with a disrupted cholecystokinin (CCK-A) receptor gene.

In a previous study, we reported that the pancreatic wet weight in Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats, cholecystokinin-A (CCK-A) receptor-defective because of a congenital gene abnormality, was significantly lower than in control rats (Long-Evans Tokushima Otsuka; LETO) from 3 weeks of age. In this study we examined apoptosis of pancreatic acinar cells in OLETF rats at 5 to 6 weeks of age in comparison with that in LETO rats. We present here direct morphologic evidence of apoptosis in OLETF rats, using a 3'-OH nick end-labeling method for detecting cells with DNA strand breaks and electron microscopy.

FK506 and cyclosporin A inhibit growth factor-stimulated human keratinocyte proliferation by blocking cells in the G0/G1 phases of the cell cycle.

FK506, a new immunosuppressive agent, is effective in treating patients with psoriasis. A major feature of psoriasis vulgaris is the hyperproliferation of keratinocytes together with inflammation. To determine the effect of FK506 or cyclosporin A (CsA) on the keratinocyte cell cycle, flow cytometry and the growth factor free normal human keratinocyte-arrested system were used to assess keratinocyte proliferation.

[A case of intraosseous meningioma].

A case of intraosseous meningioma at the posterior fossa was reported. Intraosseous meningioma is very rate and only six cases have been reported in Japanese literature. A 64 year-old woman complained of progressive headache and was admitted to Ichinomiya Neurosurgical Hospital.