Objectives. Differentiating gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) from other submucosal tumors (SMTs) is important in diagnosing SMT. GIST is an immunohistological diagnosis that cannot be made from ...images alone. Tissue sampling of tumor sites is thus becoming increasingly important. In this study, the utility and associated complications of mucosal cutting biopsy (MCB) for gastric SMTs were investigated. Methods. This was a case series study. The subjects were patients aged ≥20 years old in whom an SMT was seen on esophagogastroduodenography and who underwent MCB between January 2012 and December 2016. Patient information, endoscopy findings, gastric SMT size, pathological diagnosis, and other information were gathered from medical records. The SMT size was the maximum diameter that could be visualized on EUS. The pathological diagnosis was made with hematoxylin-eosin staining, with immunostaining added to diagnose GIST. The endpoint was the histopathological diagnostic yield. Risk assessment using the Miettinen classification and modified Fletcher classification was also done for GISTs treated with surgery. Results. The mean tumor diameter was 15.4 mm. The tumor diameter was ≥20 mm in seven patients and <20 mm in 23 patients. The tissue-acquiring rate was 93.3%. A histological diagnosis could not be made in two patients. The only complication was that bleeding required endoscopic hemostasis during the procedure in one patient, but no subsequent bleeding or no postoperative bleeding was seen. Conclusions. MCB is an appropriate and safe procedure in the diagnosis of gastric SMTs. Many hospitals will be able to perform MCB if they have the environment, including skills and equipment, to perform endoscopic submucosal dissection.
Background/Aims. It is difficult to confirm the accurate cutoff value to diagnose Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection using commercial serology kits. It is reported that there were many cases with ...present/past infection that even the serum Hp-IgG antibody (HpAb) titers were below the cutoff value (e.g., 10 U/mL for E-Plate®), suggesting that we might overlook many gastric cancer (GC). We investigated an association between gastric cancer risk and serum Helicobacter pylori antibody titers. Methods. We conducted a primary screening between 2014 and 2015. We performed gastroendoscopy if HpAb titers were ≥3.0 U/mL (i.e., more than measurable limit, E-Plate). These patients were divided into two groups: HpAb = 3.0–9.9 U/mL (“negative-high” group) and HpAb ≥ 10 U/mL; cutoff value (“over-10 U/mL” group). Hp infection status was investigated, and the number of GC patients was counted. Results. Among the 3321 subjects in the primary screening, 56.9% (1891/3321) showed HpAb titers ≥3.0 U/mL; 1314 patients underwent gastroendoscopy. Ten were GC. 421 patients were “negative-high” group; two were GC. After evaluating 381 patients for Hp infection, 22.6%/60.6% was with present/past infection among the “negative-high” group. Conclusion. We also found a correlation between HpAb titers and Hp infection status. “Negative-high” group has a risk of GC.
A 32-year-old woman with epigastric pain, back pain, and hyperamylasemia (1,627 IU/L) was referred to our hospital. Computed tomography (CT) revealed a 43 × 37-mm hypovascular mass in the pancreas ...head, dilated tail of the main pancreatic duct, and enlarged mesenteric and paraaortic lymph nodes. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed a white, granular, small elevated lesion in the duodenum, which was thought to be duodenal follicular lymphoma. The patient also developed obstructive acute pancreatitis due to enlarged lymph nodes around the pancreas, which was treated with placement of a pancreatic duct stent. Positron emission tomography-CT showed abnormal uptake in the pancreatic mass, in a right axillary lymph node, and in bilateral inguinal and intraabdominal lymph nodes. The soluble interleukin (IL)-2 receptor level was also elevated. Transformation of follicular lymphoma which was diagnosed from the pathological findings of the right axillary lymph node, was treated with the R-CHOP regimen.
To process the large number of circadian rhythmic bioluminescence data that we generated with specially developed, high-throughput monitoring apparatuses, we developed an integrated rhythm-analyzing ...program (RAP) with a user-friendly graphical interface. RAP does all of the following in real time: (i) displays the bioluminescence time course, (ii) records time-series data, (iii) analyzes the data, (iv) displays the analyzed results, (v) statistically evaluates the analyzed results, and (vi) provides printouts. Because RAP can import files, it can analyze not only bioluminescence data but also other data such as those obtained by DNA array experiments and by Northern and Western blot analyses. The program is a powerful tool for large-scale investigations of biological rhythmic phenomena in general.
Using a high-throughput real-time bioluminescence monitoring system, we screened large numbers of Arabidopsis thaliana mutants for extensively altered circadian rhythms. We constructed reporter genes ...by fusing a promoter of an Arabidopsis flowering-time gene - either GIGANTEA (GI) or FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) - to a modified firefly luciferase gene (LUC+), and we transferred the fusion gene (PGI::LUC+ or PFT::LUC+) into the Arabidopsis genome. After mutagenesis with ethyl methanesulfonate, 50 000 M2 seedlings carrying the PGI::LUC+ and 50 000 carrying PFT::LUC+ were screened their bioluminescence rhythms. We isolated six arrhythmic (AR) mutants and 29 other mutants that showed more than 3 h difference in the period length or phase of rhythms compared with the wild-type strains. The shortest period length was 16 h, the longest 27 h. Five of the six AR mutants carrying PGI::LUC+ showed arrhythmia in bioluminescence rhythms in both constant light and constant dark. These five AR mutants also showed arrhythmia in leaf movement rhythms in constant light. Genetic analysis revealed that each of the five AR mutants carried a recessive mutation in a nuclear gene and the mutations belonged to three complementation groups, and at least one of which was mapped on a novel locus. Our results suggest that the three loci identified here may contain central clock or clock-related genes, at least one of which may be a novel.
Circadian rhythms are self-sustaining oscillations whose period length under constant conditions is about 24 h. Circadian rhythms are widespread and involve functions as diverse as human sleep-wake ...cycles and cyanobacterial nitrogen fixation. In spite of a long research history, knowledge about clock-controlled genes is limited in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Using a cDNA macroarray containing 10 368 nuclear-encoded genes, we examined global circadian regulation of transcription in Chlamydomonas. We identified 269 candidates for circadianly expressed gene. Northern blot analysis confirmed reproducible and sustainable rhythmicity for 12 genes. Most genes exhibited peak expression at the transition point between day and night. One hundred and eighteen genes were assigned predicted annotations. The functions of the cycling genes were diverse and included photosynthesis, respiration, cellular structure, and various metabolic pathways. Surprisingly, 18 genes encoding chloroplast ribosomal proteins showed a coordinated circadian pattern of expression and peaked just at the beginning of subjective day. The co-regulation of genes bearing a similar function was also observed in genes involved in cellular structure. They peaked at the end of the subjective night, which is when the regeneration of cell walls and flagella in daughter cells occurs. Expression of the chlamyopsin gene, which encodes an opsin-type photoreceptor, also exhibited circadian rhythm.
ABSTRACT
Real‐time monitoring of gene expression by a bioluminescence reporter gene is a powerful method for large‐scale, detailed analysis of gene expression in living cells and large‐scale ...screening of mutants. We have developed a portable, compact, integrated automatic bioluminescence‐monitoring apparatus that can continuously monitor 960 individual plant seedlings or micro‐organism colonies under uniform light conditions at temperatures up to 50 °C. The apparatus gave reproducible and reliable results for both bioluminescence photon counts and period length of bioluminescence rhythms of Arabidopsis reporter strain. Using the apparatus, we measured bioluminescence rhythms in the thermophilic cyanobacterium Thermosynechococcus at temperature up to 43 °C. We also monitored the expression of the flowering regulator gene CONSTANS in Arabidopsis as bioluminescence in high time resolution under different photoperiodic conditions. The high‐throughput bioluminescence‐monitoring apparatus developed here is a powerful tool for real‐time monitoring of gene expression and gene function.
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