Previous studies have demonstrated that the appropriate production of serum anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2) neutralizing antibody (nAb) plays a critical role in the ...recovery from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); however, the role of nAb production in the recovery from a flare-up of chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) has been unknown. We here report the first retrospectively investigated case of serum anti-SARS-Cov-2 nAb production during chronic ITP flare-up triggered by COVID-19. A 79-year-old woman with a history of corticosteroid-refractory ITP visited our hospital complaining of fever, cough, and sore throat for 4 days. Although chronic ITP was controlled by 12.5 mg of eltrombopag (EPAG) every other day, laboratory tests showed a decreased peripheral blood platelet count of 15.0 × 10
/L, which indicated worsening thrombocytopenia. Meanwhile, PCR testing of a nasopharyngeal swab revealed that the patient was positive for SARS-Cov-2, and a computed tomography scan revealed bilateral pneumonia. On the basis of the flare-up of chronic ITP associated with COVID-19 pneumonia which was determined as a moderately severe status according to the WHO clinical progression scale, intravenous immunoglobulin therapy for 5 days (days 0-4) and antiviral therapy were added on top of EPAG, which only resulted in a transient increase in the platelet count for several days. After decreasing to 8.0 × 10
/L on day 13, the platelet count increased from day 16, coinciding with a positive detection for serum nAb against SARS-Cov-2. Although the increased dose up to 50 mg/day of EPAG was challenged during the clinical course, rapid dose reduction did not cause another relapse. In addition, no thrombotic or bleeding event was seen. These collectively suggest the vital role of the production of anti-SARS-Cov-2 nAb and improvement of clinical symptoms for recovery from a flare-up of chronic ITP in our case.
Yogurt is made by fermenting milk with 2 lactic acid bacteria, Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus (L. bulgaricus) and Streptococcus thermophilus (S. thermophilus). To comprehensively ...understand the protocooperation mechanism between S. thermophilus and L. bulgaricus in yogurt fermentation, we examined 24 combinations of cocultures comprising 7 fast- or slow- acidifying S. thermophilus strains with 6 fast- or slow- acidifying L. bulgaricus strains. Furthermore, 3 NADH oxidase deficient mutants (Δnox) and one pyruvate formate-lyase deficient mutant (ΔpflB) of S. thermophilus were used to evaluate the factor that determines the acidification rate of S. thermophilus. The results revealed that the acidification rate of S. thermophilus monoculture determined the yogurt fermentation rates, despite the co-existence of L. bulgaricus, whose acidification rate was either fast or slow. Significant correlation was found between the acidification rate of S. thermophilus monoculture and the amount of formate production. Result using ΔpflB showed that the formate was indispensable for the acidification of S. thermophilus. Moreover, results of the Δnox experiments revealed that formate production required Nox activity, which not only regulated dissolved oxygen (DO), but also the redox potential. NADH oxidase provided the large decrease in redox potential required by pyruvate formate lyase to produce formate. A highly significant correlation was found between formate accumulation and NADH oxidase activity in S. thermophilus. In conclusion, the formate production ability provided by the action of NADH oxidase activity determines the acidification rate of S. thermophilus, and consequently regulates yogurt coculture fermentation.
Hexagonal or tetragonal packing of columnar stacks in crystals and liquid crystals has been observed for a series of molecules possessing a fullerene apex and an aromatic cone that are connected with ...a Si−C connection. The columnar stacking of the new shuttlecock molecules is constitutionally stable but conformationally flexible due to the large cavity created on the top of the fullerene molecule.
A path-integral for the
t
–
J
model in two dimensions is constructed based on Dirac quantization, with an action found originally by Wiegmann P. Wiegmann, Phys. Rev. Lett. 60 (1988) 821; P. Wiegmann, ...Nucl. Phys. B 323 (1989) 311. Concentrating on the low doping limit, we assume short range antiferromagnetic order of the spin degrees of freedom. Going over to a local spin quantization axis of the dopant fermions, that follows the spin degree of freedom, staggered CP
1 fields result and the constraint against double occupancy can be resolved. The staggered CP
1 fields are split into slow and fast modes, such that after a gradient expansion, and after integrating out the fast modes and the dopant fermions, a CP
1 field-theory with a massive gauge field is obtained that describes generically incommensurate coplanar magnetic structures, as discussed previously in the context of frustrated quantum antiferromagnets. Hence, the possibility of deconfined spinons is opened by doping a colinear antiferromagnet.
Immunohistochemical localization of CEA, CA19‐9 and DU‐PAN‐2 in hepatitis C virus‐infected liver tissues
Aims: We investigated expression of CEA, CA19‐9 and DU‐PAN‐2 in liver tissues of chronic ...hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, measuring their serum value to clarify their clinical significance, and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) was assessed in serial sections to determine whether expression of these molecules in chronic liver disease was related to regeneration of biliary ducts.
Methods and results: Liver tissues were biopsied under peritoneoscopy or echo‐guidance and resected surgically among 63 patients with anti‐hepatitis C virus‐positive sera. There were 26 cases of chronic hepatitis, 21 cases of liver cirrhosis and 16 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (four cases of mixed type). They were simultaneously used for immunocytochemistry for CEA, CA19‐9 and DU‐PAN‐2, and PCNA was demonstrated in serial liver tissues by immunohistochemistry. Serum CEA, CA19‐9 and DU‐PAN‐2 were measured by radioimmunoassay or enzyme immunoassay. In chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis CEA immunoreactivity was seen on membranes facing bile canaliculi and in bile ductules. Both CA19‐9 and DU‐PAN‐2 immunoreactivity were observed in bile ductules in chronic hepatitis liver cirrhosis and non‐neoplastic areas surrounding hepatocellular carcinoma, and CA19‐9 was also present in interlobular bile ducts. PCNA immunoreactivity was not detected in marker‐positive bile ductules or interlobular bile ducts. In hepatocellular carcinoma CEA immunoreactivity was seen on membrane facing dilated bile canaliculi in glandular structures, and CEA, CA19‐9 and DU‐PAN‐2 immunoreactivity was observed in cholangiolar areas in mixed type of hepatocellular carcinoma.
Conclusions: CEA in chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis is expressed not only in bile ductules but also on membrane facing bile canaliculi, and both CA19‐9 and DU‐PAN‐2 were seen in different levels of biliary ducts. These molecules were expressed in bile ductules in surrounding non‐neoplastic areas of hepatocellular carcinoma, and their expression was not associated with regeneration of biliary ducts. CEA expression was present in the trabecular type of hepatocellular carcinoma, and CA19‐9 and DU‐PAN‐2 were observed in cholangiolar areas in mixed type of hepatocellular carcinoma.
We investigated the relationship between the diversity of Helicobacter pylori CagA protein and clinical outcome. The cagA gene was sequenced in 115 clinical isolates. The binding affinity of CagA to ...Src homology 2 domain-containing tyrosine phosphatase (SHP-2) was examined by in vitro infection. Two major CagA subtypes were observed—the East Asian and the Western type. The grades of inflammation, activity of gastritis, and atrophy were significantly higher in patients with gastritis infected with the East Asian CagA-positive strain than in patients with gastritis infected with cagA-negative or Western CagA-positive strains. All strains isolated from patients with gastric cancer were East Asian CagA positive. East Asian CagA exhibited stronger SHP-2-binding activity than did Western CagA. These findings suggest that infection with East Asian CagA-positive H. pylori is associated with atrophic gastritis and gastric cancer and that persistent active inflammation induced by the East Asian CagA-positive strain may play a role in the pathogenesis of disease.
Background and aim.
Helicobacter pylori infection is associated with gastric adenocarcinoma, however, the odds ratio is relatively low. The aim of the present study was to investigate host genetic ...factors that increase the risk of gastric adenocarcinoma among
H. pylori-infected individuals.
Methods. A total of 70 patients with early gastric adenocarcinoma and 121 unrelated healthy controls were examined for
H. pylori infection and HLA-DRB1 genotyping. The frequencies of HLA-DRB1 alleles were compared among groups.
Results. The allele frequency of DRB1*04051 was significantly higher in patients with gastric adenocarcinoma (17.9%) than in controls (7.9%) (
p
correct=0.045). The odds ratio of gastric adenocarcinoma associated with the presence of the HLA-DRB1*04051 allele compared with its absence was 2.55 (95% confidence limits, 1.35–4.83). This genetic risk was not associated with
H. pylori infection. There was no significant difference in the HLA-DRB1 allele frequency between
H. pylori-positive and
H. pylori-negative controls. The frequency of genotypes that possessed the DRB1*04051 allele in gastric adenocarcinoma patients (34.3%) was significantly higher than that in
H. pylori-negative controls (11.9%) (
p=0.0089) and
H. pylori-positive controls (15.2%) (
p=0.0066).
Conclusion. These findings suggest that immunogenetic factors for susceptibility to gastric adenocarcinoma are present in the host, the HLA-DRB1*04051 allele is a host genetic risk factor for gastric adenocarcinoma, and that this genetic risk is independent of
H. pylori infection.
A field theory describing the low-energy, long-wavelength sector of an incommensurate, spiral magnetic phase is derived from a spin-fermion model that is commonly used as a microscopic model for ...high-temperature superconductors. After integrating out the fermions in a path-integral representation, a gradient expansion of the fermionic determinant is performed. This leads to an O(3)⊗O(2)-symmetric quantum nonlinear σ model, where the doping dependence is explicitly given by generalized fermionic susceptibilities which enter into the coupling constants of the σ model and contain the fermionic band-structure that results from the spiral background. A stability condition of the field theory self-consistently determines the spiral wavevector as a function of the doping concentration. Furthermore, terms of topological nature like the θ-vacuum term in (1+1)-dimensional nonlinear σ models are obtained for the plane of the spiral.
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