Background and aims: The pathogenesis of Crohn’s disease (CD), a chronic inflammatory bowel disease characterised by a Th1 immune response, remains unclear. Osteopontin (OPN) is a phosphoprotein ...known as an adhesive bone matrix protein. Recent studies have shown that OPN plays an important role in lymphocyte migration, granuloma formation, and interleukin 12 (IL-12) production. The present study investigated expression and the pathophysiological role of OPN in CD. Methods: Plasma OPN concentration was measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Expression of OPN in human intestinal mucosa was determined using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and western blot, and localisation of OPN was examined by immunohistochemistry. Expression of integrin β3, an OPN receptor, on lamina propria mononuclear cells (LPMC) was assessed by flow cytometry. Functional activation of OPN in LPMC was investigated by measuring the production of cytokines. Results: Plasma OPN concentration was significantly higher in patients with CD compared with normal controls or patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). OPN was upregulated in intestinal mucosa from UC and CD patients. OPN producing cells were epithelial or IgG producing plasma cells, or partial macrophages. OPN was detected in areas surrounding granuloma from mucosa in CD. Integrin β3 expressing macrophages infiltrated inflamed mucosa in UC and CD; in contrast, there was no expression of integrin β3 on intestinal macrophages in normal mucosa. OPN induced production of IL-12 from LPMC in CD but not in normal controls or UC. Conclusions: Increased OPN expression facilitates cytokine production and is closely involved in the Th1 immune response associated with CD.
Ice‐penetrating radar profiles across the grounding line of a small ice‐rise promontory located within the Roi Baudouin Ice Shelf in the Dronning Maud Land sector of East Antarctica show downward ...dipping englacial radar‐detected reflectors. Model results indicate that this reflector pattern is best fit by including basal melting of at least 15 cm a−1. This rate of melting is low compared with rates observed on larger ice shelves in both West and East Antarctica. Ice cores extracted from a rift system close to the ice‐rise promontory show several meters of marine ice accreted beneath the shelf. These observations of low rates of basal melting, and limited distribution of accreted marine ice suggest that either Antarctic surface water may reach the ice shelf base or that circulation beneath the shelf is likely dominated by the production of high salinity shelf water rather than the incursion of circumpolar deep water, implying a weak sub‐shelf circulation system here. Many of the ice shelves located along the coast of Dronning Maud Land are, like Roi Baudouin Ice Shelf, characterized by frequent ice rises and promontories. Therefore, it is highly likely that these are also of shallow bathymetry and are subject to similarly weak side‐shelf basal melting and refreezing.
Key Points
Multisciplinary approach to understanding ice/ocean interaction
Evidence for sub‐shelf melting at the grounding line
Evidence of marine ice accretion in adjacent areas
The observation of neutrino-less double beta decay (0vßß) would be the most practical way to prove the Majorana nature of the neutrino and lepton number violation. CANDLES studies 48Ca double beta ...decay using CaF2 scintillator. The main advantage of 48Ca is that it has the highest Q-value (4.27 MeV) among all the isotope candidates for 0vßß. The CANDLES III detector is currently operating with 300kg CaF2 crystals in the Kamioka underground observatory, Japan. In 2014, a detector cooling system and a magnetic cancellation coil was installed with the aim to increase light emission of CaF2 scintillator and photo-electron collection efficiency of the photo-multipliers. After this upgrade, light yield was increased to 1000 p.e./MeV which is 1.6 times larger than before. According to data analysis and simulation, main background source in CANDLES is turned out to be high energy external gamma-ray originating neutron capture on the surrounding materials, so called (n,γ). Upgrading the detector by installing neutron and gamma-ray shield can reduce the remaining main backgrounds by two order magnitude. In this report, we discuss the detail of (n,γ) and background reduction by additional shielding.
It is unknown whether cerebral oxygenation in patients with carotid artery stenosis (CAS) undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) differs from that in patients without CAS. Thus, ...the effect of the presence of CAS ≥ 50 % on cerebral oxygenation during off-pump CABG in adult patients was evaluated retrospectively.
Eleven patients with CAS ≥ 50% and 14 patients without CAS ≥ 50% were enrolled. Regional cerebral tissue oxygen saturation (rSO2) was quantified using near-infrared spectroscopy. Mean arterial pressure, cardiac index, central venous pressure (CVP), and rSO2 at specific points were collected, and significant changes in each parameter were detected using repeated analysis of variance. Mean rSO2 and minimum rSO2 during anastomosis were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for cerebral desaturation (a decrease in rSO2 ≥ 10% from preoperative value).
Two patients with CAS ≥ 50% who received complete carotid artery stenting preoperatively were excluded from the analyses. In both patients with and without CAS, a decrease in rSO2 and cardiac index and an increase in CVP were observed during anastomosis. Mean (SD) maximum decrease in rSO2 from preoperative value was 9.2 (12.7) % on the left side and 8.1 (11.7) % on the right side in patients with CAS ≥ 50%, and 13.5 (11.3) % on the left side and 16.1 (9.8) % on the right side in patients without CAS ≥ 50% (p = 0.316). Neurological complications were not identified in both patients with and without CAS ≥ 50%. In multiple logistic regression analysis, CAS ≥ 50% was not associated with an increased risk of cerebral desaturation (OR 0.160, 95% CI 0.036-0.707, p = 0.016), and rSO2 decreased with decreasing cardiac index < 2.0 l/min/m(2) (OR 3.287, 95 % CI 2.218-5.076, p < 0.001).
CAS ≥ 50% was not an independent risk factor of cerebral desaturation during off-pump CABG. Our results suggest that maintaining cardiac output can prevent a decrease in cerebral oxygenation in both patients with and without CAS ≥ 50%.
We report an unusual case of massive macroglossia that developed very rapidly after neurosurgery in the park bench position with neck flexion. A few minutes after endotracheal extubation, massive ...macroglossia was noticed with marked protrusion of the tongue from the oral cavity. The patient's hospital stay was prolonged due to difficulty in speaking and eating. Macroglossia is a rare complication; however, it may cause life‐threatening airway obstruction. It is important to be prepared for managing post‐operative macroglossia and keep in mind that it may develop rapidly, especially after prolonged surgery performed with sustained neck flexion. The patient should be informed of the risk of macroglossia and the associated problems prior to the operation.
We have studied the neutrino-less double beta decay(0νββ) of 48Ca by using CaF2(pure) scintillators. Analysis for rejection of backgrounds(212Bi→ 212Po events and 208Tl events) was effective to ...reduce backgrounds in Qββ-value region. No events are observed in the Qββ-value region for the data of 131 days × 86 kg. It gives a lower limit (90% confidence level) of (math) > 6.2 × 1022 year (preliminary) for the half-life of 0νββ of 48Ca.
Hydrogen wall pumping is studied in steady state tokamak operation (SSTO) of QUEST with all metal plasma facing materials PFMs at 100°C. The duration of SSTO is up to 820s in fully non-inductive ...plasma. Global gas balance analysis shows that wall pumping at the apparent (retention–release) rate of 1–6×1018H/s is dominant and 70–80% of injected H2 can be retained in PFMs. However, immediately after plasma termination the H2 release rate enhances to ∼1019H/s. In order to understand a true retention process the direct measurement of retention flux has been carried out by permeation probes. The comparison between the evaluated wall retention and results from global analysis is discussed.
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