Summary
Background : Most array analyses of ulcerative colitis have focused on identifying susceptibility genes for ulcerative colitis.
Aim : To clarify the changes in gene expression during ...inflammation in ulcerative colitis colon mucosa using cDNA macroarray.
Methods : From 23 ulcerative colitis patients, 16 each of inflamed and non‐inflamed specimens (total 32 samples for individual analysis) were obtained by colonoscopic biopsy. Eighteen of the 32 samples, used for pairwise analysis, consisted of nine sample pairs, each pair being from the same patient. We examined expression profiles of approximately 1300 genes with cDNA macroarray. Comparisons were made using two kinds of statistics, t‐test and significance analysis of microarray in both analyses. The reproducibility of significant genes from the macroarray analysis was confirmed by real‐time ploymerase chain reaction.
Results : We detected five upregulated genes, categorized into proinflammatory genes (MRP14, GROγ and SAA1) and anti‐inflammatory genes (TIMP1 and Elafin) in inflamed mucosa, and one upregulated gene (L‐FABP) in non‐inflamed mucosa.
Conclusions : As the cDNA macroarray analysis in this study exactly reflects the total profile of gene expression in the clinical setting of ulcerative colitis, the genes identified will be directly applicable to diagnostics or as novel therapeutic targets in active ulcerative colitis.
Abstract Background Living donor liver transplantation is widely performed in adult patients. One of the problems in this setting is a small-for-size graft, which results in dysfunction and poor ...prognosis of a transplantation. A right liver graft was devised to overcome this problem; furthermore, inclusion of the middle hepatic vein (MHV) has been suggested to greatly improve recipient outcomes. However, extended right hepatectomy involves a surgical risk for the living donor in terms of congestion of the left paramedian sector. The volume of the venoocclusive region of a living donor liver possibly varies depending on the collateral patterns of veins draining the cranial part of segment 4 (S4). Patients and Methods We were analyzed the normal livers of 50 patients who underwent triphasic contrast-enhanced multidetector row computed tomography during preoperative and postoperative examinations. The patient pathologies consisted of gastric cancer (n = 25), colon cancer (n = 1), or renal cancer (n = 24). We calculated the volume of the entire liver as well as those of the right graft and left remnant lobes for comparison with the drainage volume of each hepatic vein and its branches. Results On the basis of the anatomic venous drainage of the cranial part of S4 (V4sup), we classified hepatic veins as group A (n = 31), the V4sup joined the left hepatic vein or the MHV distal to the vein draining S8 area (MV8), or group B (n = 19), V4sup joined the MHV proximal to MV8. The mean volume of the congested area was 6.9% in group A and 15.9% in group B. The venoocclusive areas in the remnant livers were estimated to be larger in group B ( P < .001). Conclusion The collateral pattern of V4sup and MV8 as well as preoperative volumetric analysis are important for graft selection to decide the line of transection.
Medical records, for 2000 and 2001, of symptomatic amoebic patients who were treated at our hospitals in Tokyo, Yokohama and Osaka were studied retrospectively for the purpose of gathering ...epidemiological data on symptomatic Entamoeba histolytica infection. A total of 58 patients were treated. Fifty-five of them were male, and 96% of the male patients were Japanese. The mean age of patients was 44·9 years old, and 91% of patients contracted the disease in Japan. Fifty-six per cent of the male patients indicated that they were practising homosexuals, and 44% of the male patients denied these practices or left the question unanswered. The serum Treponema pallidum haemagglutination test was positive in 45% of the patients, and antibody to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was positive in 45%. Our study revealed that recent symptomatic E. histolytica infection almost exclusively afflicted middle-aged males in the big cities of Japan, that a majority of the patients were probably exposed to the causative organism during homosexual activity, and that an increasing number of patients will be co-infected with HIV.
Recent case–series studies indicated that a medication used to treat Parkinson’s disease (PD), in particular Pramipexole, is associated with gambling. A case–series study cannot test this hypothesis; ...therefore, we need to design a case–control or cohort study to test the aforementioned hypothesis. Typical of a case–control design, we sampled on the dependent variable, which we defined as incident gambling in PD. A research neurologist, who was kept uninformed of the case–control status, retrospectively measured the exposure of interest (i.e. medications used to treat PD) by using the medical database system of Mayo Clinic Jacksonville. Eleven patients with PD without history of gambling, but had newly developed gambling, were matched by age and sex to the control group of 37 PD patients without gambling at a ratio of one case to at least three controls. Disease duration, age, and sex did not differ between cases and controls. Combined therapy with Pramipexole and levodopa did not increase the risk of gambling as compared to monotherapy with Pramipexole (OR, 0.15; 95% CI, 0.01–1.26). Treatment with Pramipexole was associated with increased risk of gambling and this association approached significance (OR, 3.6; 95% CI, 0.9–14.9). Patients with PD who newly developed gambling behavior were more likely to have been taking Pramipexole than other anti‐PD medication. However, the association between Pramipexole and gambling behavior is not necessarily etiologic.
In the higher plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, histidineto-aspartate (His-to-Asp) phosphorelay signal transduction systems play crucial roles in propagation of environmental stimuli, including plant ...hormones. This plant has 11 sensor His-kinases, 5 histidine-containing phosphotransfer (HPt) factors (AHPs), and 20 response regulators (ARRs). To gain new insight into the functions of these phosphorelay components, their intracellular localization was examined with use of GFP-fusion proteins, constructed for certain representatives of HPt factors (AHP2) and type-A and type-B ARRs (ARR6/ ARR7 and ARR10, respectively). The results showed that AHP2 is mainly located in the cytoplasmic space, while both the types of ARRs have an ability to enter preferentially into the nuclei, if not exclusively. Together with the results from an in vitro phosphorelay assay with AHP2 and ARRs, these results are discussed, in terms of a geneal framework of the Arabidopsis Histo-Asp phosphorelay network.
Although 6-gala series glycosphingolipids possessing R-Gal (α/β) 1-6Galβ1-1′Cer have been found in some mollusks, pathogenic parasites, and fungi, their physiological functions and metabolic pathway ...are not fully understood. We described a novel method of detecting 6-gala series glyco- sphingolipids utilizing the specificity of endogalactosylceramidase (EGALC), which is capable of hydrolyzing 6-gala series glycosphingolipids to produce intact oligosaccharides and ceramides. EGALC catalyzes not only hydrolysis but also a transglycosylation reaction. In the latter reaction, EGALC transfers oligosaccharides from the glycosphingolipids to acceptors such as fluorescent 1-alkanols. Based on the transglycosylation reaction of EGALC, a specific, easy, fast, sensitive, and reproducible method of detecting 6-gala series glycosphingolipids was developed using NBD-pentanol as an acceptor. The fluorescent products, NBD-pentanol-conjugated 6-gala oligosaccharides, were separated and detected by TLC or HPLC with a fluorescent detector. Moreover, it was revealed that as well as glycosphingolipids, a glycoglycerolipid, digalactosyldiacylglycerol, was utilized by EGALC as a donor substrate. This method was successfully applied to detect 6-gala series glycosphingolipids in a fungus, Rhizopus oryzae, and a parasite, Taenia crassiceps. The method would be useful for studying glycosphingolipids and galactosyl glycerolipids which share the Gal (α/β) 1-6Gal structure.
The elongation finite-field (elongation-FF) method is applied to calculate static (hyper)polarizabilities of π-conjugated chains, with donor and/or acceptor substituents, as well as a heterol block ...copolymer. Substituent effects on the linear polarizability (α) and second hyperpolarizability (γ) are modest, but a large first hyperpolarizability (β) can be induced. The dependence of β on chain length is rationalized on the basis of quasi-symmetry and donor/acceptor strength. Our copolymer consists of alternating blocks containing pyrrole rings and silole rings, which generates a quantum well. Copolymerization induces a fairly small β that oscillates in sign from block to block. The effect on α and γ is to enhance the contribution of the pyrrole blocks and diminish, by a larger amount, the contribution of the silole blocks.
Summary Objective The objective of this study is to evaluate the safety of two ear drops, Ofloxacin (OFLX: Taribid Otic Solution® , Daiichi Seiyaku) and Fosfomycin sodium (FOM: Fosmicin S® , Meiji ...Seiyaku). Methods Albino guinea pigs were used as experimental animals, and the ototoxicity was evaluated by means of threshold changes in the compound action potentials (CAP), when topically applied to the middle ear cavity of the guinea pig. The sound stimuli applied were; click sound, with tone bursts of 8 kHz, 4 kHz, and 2 kHz. In one group of animals, after one application of the ear drops in the right middle ear cavity, the change in CAP was compared with a contralateral saline control at 24 h, one week, and four weeks. In other group of animals, the ear drops were applied into the middle ear cavity for seven consecutive days and the CAP was measured at 24 h. Results At 24 h the CAP threshold for click, 8 and 4 kHz elevated significantly for both the saline and ear drop treatment, but the threshold returned to normal when measured at 7 days and 28 days. Seven consecutive days of ear drops administration resulted in no reduction in the CAP for either ear drops. Conclusions Based on the lack of changes in the CAP, these two ear drops studied did not show any significant ototoxicities.
We have succeeded in growing single-crystalline samples of the filled-skutterudite heavy-fermion superconductor PrxOs4Sb12 having different Pr occupancy x by controlling the maximum temperature in ...Sb-flux sample growing process. From systematic measurements of the superconducting and normal state properties, it has been found that the superconducting transition temperature Tc and the energy splitting Δ between the singlet and triplet crystalline-electric-field (CEF) levels decrease significantly with decreasing x, much faster than the case for the La ion substitution in (PrxLa1−x)Os4Sb12. The observed correlation between Tc and Δ supports the idea that the CEF excitations of Pr 4f-electrons play a major role for the realization of the superconducting state in PrOs4Sb12.
A novel finite-field approach for calculating electric (hyper)polarizabilities based on the elongation method is developed. The method was tested at the semi-empirical PM3 level by using three model ...systems: the hydrogen chain, the water chain and polyacetylene. The results satisfactorily reproduce the 'exact' MOPAC values. The most important advantage of this approach is the large saving of computer time since the dimension of the SCF equation remains the same regardless of the number of atoms in the system. Thus, it is a very useful tool to treat large systems. The method can also be applied to building up a chain containing an arbitrary sequence of monomers.
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