Red tree corals (Primnoa pacifica), the largest structure-forming gorgonians in the North Pacific Ocean, form dense thickets in some areas. These thickets are a dominant benthic habitat feature in ...the Gulf of Alaska (GOA), yet little is known about the ecosystems they support. In 2005, we used a submersible to study the ecology of thickets inside or near five small areas of the eastern GOA later designated in 2006 as habitat areas of particular concern (HAPCs)-areas closed to all bottom contact fishing. We show that red tree corals are keystone species in habitats where they form thickets (mean density 0.52 corals m super(-2))-the densest and largest thickets documented anywhere. Measured sponge densities (2.51 sponges m super(-2)) were also among the highest documented anywhere. The corals and sponges in the study areas provide essential fish habitat for some fish species, and we show with logistic regression models modified with a scaled binomial variance that bedrock, while important habitat for some fish, is even more important when paired with corals and sponges. Red tree corals were not equally distributed with regard to habitat characteristics, and we show that their presence was correlated with bedrock substrate, moderate to high seabed roughness, and slope >10 degree . Most corals and sponges are vulnerable to disturbance from longlining, the principal bottom contact fishing in this region, but the larger corals and sponges are the most vulnerable. We observed evidence of infrequent recruitment events and a strong pulse of predation, apparently from fishing gear-induced trauma, that could exacerbate slow recovery of red tree corals from disturbance. Some red tree coral thickets are provided protection within designated HAPCs and some are not. Modifications to longline gear and an expanded network of HAPCs could help preserve these keystone species and the ecosystems they support.
Current techniques to treat venous ulcerations and patients with severe lipodermatosclerosis include the elimination of incompetent perforator veins by open surgical ligation and division or by ...subfascial endoscopic perforator surgery. An alternative and less invasive means to obliterate perforator veins is ultrasound-guided sclerotherapy (UGS). We hypothesize that UGS is a clinically effective means of eliminating perforator veins and results in improvement of the clinical state (scores) without the complications associated with other more invasive methods.
Between January 2000 and March 2004, UGS was used to treat chronic venous insufficiency in 80 limbs of 68 patients. This was a clinical series of patients who had perforator incompetence and no previous surgery for venous disease ≤2 years of their UGS procedure. Most had perforator disease without coexisting axial reflux of the saphenous or deep venous systems. Color flow duplex scanning was used to identify incompetent perforator veins in the calf, and duplex guidance was used to inject each perforator with the liquid sclerosant sodium morrhuate (5%). Patients were restudied by duplex scanning up to 5 years after treatment. Clinical results were determined by Venous Clinical Severity Score (VCSS) and Venous Disability Score (VDS) before and after treatment.
Of the 80 limbs treated with UGS, 98% of incompetent perforators were successfully obliterated at the time of treatment, and 75% of limbs showed persistent occlusion of perforators and remained clinically improved with a mean follow-up of 20.1 months. According to the CEAP classification, there were 46.2% with limb ulceration or C6, 1.2% C5, 28.7% C4, 17.5% C3, and 6.2% C2 with pain isolated to the site of the perforator(s). Of those who returned for follow-up, the VCSSs changed from a median of 8 before treatment (95% confidence interval CI, 3 to 15) to a median of 2 after treatment (95% CI, 0 to 7) (
P < .01). Likewise, VDSs dropped from a median of 4 before treatment (95% CI, 1 to 3) to 1 after treatment (95% CI, 0 to 2) (
P < .01). There were no cases of deep vein thrombosis involving the deep vein adjacent to the perforator injected. One patient had skin complications with skin necrosis. Perforator recurrence was found more frequently in those with ulcerations than those without.
UGS is an effective and durable method of eliminating incompetent perforator veins and results in significant reduction of symptoms and signs as determined by venous clinical scores. As an alternative to open interruption or subfascial endoscopic perforator surgery, UGS may lead to fewer skin and wound healing complications. Perforator recurrence occurs particularly in those with ulcerations, and therefore, surveillance duplex scanning after UGS and repeat injections may be needed.
Summary
What is known and objective
Furanocoumarins, such as bergamottin (BG) and 6′,7′‐dihydroxybergamottin (DHB), isolated from grapefruit juice are clinically active constituents capable of ...inhibiting cytochrome P450 3A4. Furanocoumarins are also found in hassaku, pummelo and daidai. Several types of hybrid citrus fruits have recently been developed, and these may also contain furanocoumarins because they were produced by cross‐breeding pummelo, daidai and other citrus fruits. In this study, we quantified BG and DHB levels in the flesh and peel of hybrid citrus fruits.
Methods
Extracts from flesh and peel were diluted with acetonitrile and analysed using high‐performance liquid chromatography.
Results and discussion
For flesh extracts, lime juice (24.13 μg/mL) contained a greater amount of BG than grapefruit juice (13.61 μg/mL). Lime (13.21 μg/mL) and sour orange (8.08 μg/mL) juices also contained greater amounts of DHB than grapefruit juice (7.54 μg/mL). For peel extracts, lime (1749.15 μg/g), Citrus kawachibankan (308.13 μg/g), lemon (203.44 μg/g) and sour orange (161.95 μg/g) contained greater amounts of BG than grapefruit (white) (78.80 μg/g). The hybrid sweetie (Citrus maxima × Citrus paradise; 173.32 μg/g) contained a greater amount of DHB than grapefruit (white) (85.27 μg/g).
What is new and conclusion
The lime flesh and the sweetie peel contained the greatest amounts of furanocoumarins. Thus, caution is required during the simultaneous use of drugs metabolized by cytochrome P450 3A4 and consumption of these citrus fruits.
This study clarified bergamottin and 6’,7’‐dihydroxybergamottin levels in the flesh and peel of hybrid citrus fruits. Several citrus have the potential to inhibit CYP3A4 based on the results of our study.
The 80% ethanol extracts of 5 purple-fleshed sweet potato cultivars were separated into 2 fractions, anthocyanins- and phenolic compounds-rich fractions, to clarify the contribution of these ...constituents to the radical-scavenging activity. The separation was accomplished with an ethyl acetate liquid/liquid extraction. 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging activity in each fraction and the contributors varied according to the cultivars. The dominant DPPH radical-scavengers in “Ayamurasaki” and “Kyushu-132” were anthocyanins rather than phenolic compounds, while those in “Miyanou-36” and “Bise” were phenolic compounds, such as chlorogenic acid. Furthermore, the high-performance liquid chromatography analysis of anthocyanins showed that “Ayamurasaki” and “Kyushu-132” were rich in anthocyanins with peonidin aglycon, whereas “Miyanou-36,”“Bise,” and “Tanegashimamurasaki” contained cyanidin aglycon.
The antitumor effects of the green tea compound epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) have not been studied in detail previously
in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cells. Overexpression of ...the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) occurs
frequently in HNSCC, which is an adverse prognostic factor. Therefore, we examined in detail the molecular effects of EGCG
on two human HNSCC cell lines, YCU-N861 and YCU-H891, focusing on the EGFR signaling pathway. The 70% lethal dose (IC 70 ) of EGCG for both cell lines was 10 μg/ml. Treatment with EGCG increased the proportion of cells in the G 1 phase of the cell cycle and induced apoptosis. In cells treated with EGCG, there was a decrease in the cyclin D1 protein,
an increase in the p21 Cip1 and p27 Kip1 proteins, and a reduction in the hyperphosphorylated form of pRB, changes that may account for the arrest in G 1 . EGCG also caused a decrease in the Bcl-2 and Bcl-X L proteins, an increase in the Bax protein, and activation of caspase 9, suggesting that EGCG induces apoptosis via a mitochondrial
pathway. Treatment with EGCG inhibited phosphorylation of the EGFR, signal transducer and activator of transcription3 (Stat3),
and extracellular regulated kinase (ERK) proteins and also inhibited basal and transforming growth factor-α-stimulated c- fos and cyclin D1 promoter activity. EGCG at 0.1 μg/ml (a concentration found in serum after oral administration) markedly enhanced the growth-inhibitory
effects of 5-fluorouracil. Taken together, these findings provide insights into molecular mechanisms of growth inhibition
by EGCG and suggest that this naturally occurring compound may be useful, when used alone or in combination with other agents,
in the chemoprevention and/or treatment of HNSCC.
The effects of spinning conditions on fiber properties are not well explained by the fiber structures because the birefringence, crystallinity, and SAXS patterns are often similar. In this study, the ...effects on the fiber structure development of polyethylene terephthalate after necking was analyzed by simultaneous WAXD/SAXS measurements. An X-shaped SAXS pattern was observed for all fibers drawn at the minimum draw ratio. In contrast, by drawing under a drawing stress of 100 MPa, the strong diffraction of the smectic phase and an obviously larger long period less than 1 ms after necking were observed for fibers spun at 500–1500 m/min, while almost no smectic phase was observed for fibers spun at 2000 m/min. A higher crystallization rate and clear draw ratio dependence of crystallization rate were also observed for the fiber spun at 2000 m/min. The clear differences in structure development can explain their differences in tensile strength and thermal shrinkage.
Display omitted
•Fiber structure development of PET fibers spun at 500–2000 m/min was analyzed.•X-shaped SAXS patterns were observed for fibers drawn at the minimum stable ratio.•Smectic phase was formed by the high-ratio drawing of fibers spun at low speed.•SAXS patterns less than 1 ms after necking showed spinning condition dependence.•Structure development differences reflect the property variations of drawn fibers.
Background
T1 gastric cancer can be diagnosed only by endoscopy and is almost curable by local treatment. It has been unclear how a multidetector-row computed tomography (CT) evaluation is valuable ...for clinical T1 patients.
Methods
Patients with clinical T1 disease, as diagnosed by endoscopy and treated with endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) or surgery between October 2000 and October 2007, were examined. The efficacy of CT was evaluated by the reversal rate of endoscopic T1 by CT, the incidence of clinical M1 disease, and the accuracy of diagnosing pathological N+ disease in patients who received surgery. To confirm metachronous distant and nodal metastases, the disease-free survival (DFS) also was evaluated.
Results
A total of 761 patients, 236 treated by ESD and 525 treated with surgery, were examined. None of the patients had an endoscopic diagnosis of clinical T1 reversed by CT. No clinical M1 disease was found. Among the 525 patients who underwent surgery, 8 showed clinical N+ disease (1.5 %), while 47 demonstrated pathological N+ disease (8.9 %). The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive values were 90.3, 4.3, 98.7, 25, and 91.3 %, respectively. The 5-year DFS rate was 93.6 % (95 % confidence interval 91.4–95.8 %).
Conclusions
The present study suggests that diagnostic value of CT is limited for staging of clinical T1 gastric cancer patients, because the reversal rate of endoscopic T1 by CT was very low, clinical M1 disease was rare, the diagnosis of N+ status was unreliable, and metachronous M1 and N+ findings were rare.
Ganglioside epitopes on Campylobacter jejuni are hypothesized as the key to the development and characterization of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), but a comprehensive theory has yet to be ...established. A C jejuni gene, cst-II, involved in the biosynthesis of ganglioside-like lipo-oligosaccharide, shows a polymorphism (Asn/Thr51) that affects ganglioside epitopes.
To examine the hypothesis that this polymorphism determines autoantibody reactivity, and thereby neurologic presentations in GBS.
C jejuni isolates were collected from 105 GBS (including its variants) and 65 uncomplicated enteritis patients. The authors examined the frequency of cst-II and polymorphism (Asn/Thr51) in connection with the bacterial ganglioside epitopes, autoantibody reactivities against GM1, GD1a, and GQ1b, and patients' neurologic findings.
Neuropathic strains more frequently had cst-II, in particular cst-II (Thr51), than did enteritic ones (85% vs 52%; p < 0.001). Strains with cst-II (Asn51) regularly expressed the GQ1b epitope (83%), whereas those with cst-II (Thr51) had the GM1 (92%) and GD1a (91%) epitopes. The presence of these bacterial epitopes in neuropathy patients corresponded to autoantibody reactivity. Patients infected with C jejuni (Asn51) more often were positive for anti-GQ1b IgG (56% vs 8%; p < 0.001) and had ophthalmoparesis (64% vs 13%; p < 0.001) and ataxia (42% vs 11%; p = 0.001). Patients who had C jejuni (Thr51) more frequently were positive for anti-GM1 (88% vs 35%; p < 0.001) and anti-GD1a IgG (52% vs 24%; p = 0.006) and had limb weakness (98% vs 71%; p < 0.001).
The genetic polymorphism of C jejuni determines autoantibody reactivity as well as the clinical presentation of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), possibly through modification of the host-mimicking molecule. The GBS paradigm is the first to explain the detailed pathogenesis of a postinfectious, autoimmune-mediated, molecular mimicry-triggering disorder.
We show that a femtosecond laser enables us to produce true three-dimensional (3-D) microstructures embedded in a photosensitive glass, which has superior properties of transparency, hardness and ...chemical and thermal resistances. The photosensitivity arises from the cerium in the glass. After exposure to a focused laser beam, latent images are written. Modified regions are developed by a post-baking process and then preferentially etched away in a 10% dilute solution of hydrofluoric acid at room temperature. We have measured the critical dose for modification of the photosensitive glass, and fabricated 3-D microstructures with microcells and hollow microchannels embedded in the glass based on the critical dose.
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