With endoscopy, there is a high rate of interobserver variability in the identification of gastric intestinal metaplasia, and the endoscopic findings correlate poorly with the histological findings. ...Previous studies by our group investigating the use of a narrow-band imaging system with magnifying endoscopy (NBI-ME) in the gastric mucosa suggested that the appearance of a light blue crest (LBC) on the epithelial surface may be a distinctive endoscopic finding associated with the presence of intestinal metaplasia. The aim of the present study was to clarify the value of NBI-ME for diagnosing gastric intestinal metaplasia.
The LBC was defined as a fine, blue-white line on the crests of the epithelial surface/gyri. To investigate the histology underlying the appearance of LBC, 44 biopsy specimens were obtained from regions containing LBC and 44 from non-LBC mucosa in 34 patients with atrophic gastritis. Three endoscopists then carried out NBI-ME in 107 consecutive patients to validate the diagnostic accuracy of the novel endoscopic technique. The degree of correlation between the LBC grading and the histological parameters of intestinal metaplasia was then assessed.
The LBC grading correlated with cells that were positive for CD10 ( P = 0.0001) and Alcian blue ( P = 0.036). The appearance of LBC correlated with histological evidence of intestinal metaplasia with a sensitivity of 89 % (95 % CI, 83 - 96 %), a specificity of 93 % (95 % CI, 88 - 97 %), a positive predictive value of 91 % (95 % CI, 85 - 96 %), a negative predictive value of 92 % (95 % CI, 87 - 97 %), and an accuracy of 91 % (95 % CI, 88 - 95 %).
In narrow-band imaging with magnifying endoscopy, observation of a light blue crest on the epithelial surface in the gastric mucosa is a highly accurate sign of the presence of histological intestinal metaplasia.
The purpose of this study was to clarify the effects of a plasma blob on the impurity transport in the scrape‐off layer (SOL) and divertor region of fusion devices. As a first step, plasma blob ...formation and transport were simulated by a two‐dimensional interchange turbulence model. Its effects on impurity transport were studied by the impurity equations of motion in the trace impurity limit. The results show that a blob is produced by the interchange instability and transported radially towards the wall by the E × B drift due to the polarization electric field by the charge separation between ions and electrons inside the blob due to their magnetic drifts. The polarization electric field also induces the impurity radial E × B drift and the resultant impurity radial transport at least for impurities with a small Larmor radius in comparison with the blob size. These first results provide us with a robust basis for a more systematic study (e.g., dependence of impurity mass and charge state) and for a more quantitative evaluation of the effects of the blob on the impurity transport in the SOL and divertor region.
Chloroplasts relocate their positions in a cell in response to the intensity of incident light, moving to the side wall of the cell to avoid strong light, but gathering at the front face under weak ...light to maximize light interception. Here, Arabidopsis thaliana mutants defective in the avoidance response were isolated, and the mutated gene was identified as NPL1 (NPH-like 1), a homolog of NPH1 (nonphototropic hypocotyl 1), a blue light receptor used in phototropism. Hence, NPL1 is likely a blue light receptor regulating the avoidance response under strong light.
This research numerically studies the formation of a detached plasma and the energy loss processes during hydrogen (H) gas puffing by using the 1D-3 V Particle-In-Cell (PIC) code. In this study, the ...1D-3 V PIC with Monte Carlo Collision (MCC) and cumulative scattering angle Coulomb collision has been developed for investigating the kinetic behavior of the detached plasma. The plasma density increases near the target plate with increasing neutral pressure. The flow velocity, the ion temperature, and the electron temperature are reduced toward the target plate when gas puffing is performed by enhancing the charge-exchange (CX), the ionization, and the excitation loss. For the 15 mTorr neutral pressure case, all of the Te||, Te⊥, Ti||, and Ti⊥ reduce to less than 1 eV. The heat flux on the target plate reduces with the increment of neutral pressure. The heat flux is remarkably suppressed for the 15 mTorr neutral pressure. The sheath and the presheath potential drop on the target are affected with changing neutral pressure. The power loss terms are enhanced according to the increase of H neutral pressure. For all cases, the CX loss is shown to be higher than 70%. The excitation loss and ionization loss are shown to be nearly 15% and 6%, respectively. The recombination loss is found to be small, but it increases with increasing neutral pressure.
The pollen coat is a surface component of pollen grains required for fertilization. To study how the pollen coat is produced, we identified and characterized a recessive and conditional male-sterile ...Arabidopsis mutant, flaky pollen1-1 (fkp1-1), whose pollen grains lack functional pollen coats. FKP1 is a single-copy gene in the Arabidopsis genome and encodes 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A synthase (HMG-CoA synthase), an enzyme of the mevalonate (MVA) pathway involved in biosynthesis of isoprenoids such as sterols. We found that fkp1-1 possesses a T-DNA insertion 550 bp upstream of the initiation codon. RT-PCR and promoter analyses revealed that fkp1-1 results in knockdown of FKP1 predominantly in tapetum. Electron microscopy showed that the mutation affected the development of tapetum-specific lipid-containing organelles (elaioplast and tapetosome), causing the deficient formation of fkp1-1 pollen coats. These results suggest that both elaioplasts, which accumulate vast amount of sterol esters, and tapetosomes, which are unique oil-accumulating structures, require the MVA pathway for development. Null alleles of fkp1 were male-gametophyte lethal upon pollen tube elongation, whereas female gametophytes were normal. These results show that the MVA pathway is essential, at least in tapetal cells and pollen grains, for the development of tapetum-specific organelles and the fertility of pollen grains.
The Arabidopsis shepherd (shd) mutant shows expanded shoot apical meristems (SAM) and floral meristems (FM), disorganized root apical meristems, and defects in pollen tube elongation. We have ...discovered that SHD encodes an ortholog of GRP94, an ER‐resident HSP90‐like protein. Since the shd phenotypes in SAM and FM are similar to those of the clavata (clv) mutants, we have explored the possibility that CLV complex members could be SHD targets. The SAM and FM morphology of shd clv double mutants are indistinguishable from those of clv single mutants, and the wuschel (wus) mutation is completely epistatic to the shd mutation, indicating that SHD and CLV act in the same genetic pathway to suppress WUS function. Moreover, the effects of CLV3 overexpression that result in the elimination of SAM activity were abolished in the shd mutant, indicating that CLV function is dependent on SHD function. Therefore, we conclude that the SHD protein is required for the correct folding and/or complex formation of CLV proteins.
The Large Helical Device (LHD) successfully started the deuterium experiment in March 2017, in which further plasma performance improvement is envisaged to provide a firm basis for the helical ...reactor design. Some major upgrades of facilities have been made for safe and productive deuterium experiments. For radiation safety, the tritium removal system, the integrated radiation monitoring system, and the access control system have been newly installed. Each system has new interlock signals that will prevent any unsafe plasma operation or plant condition. Major interlock extensions have been implemented as a part of the integrated radiation monitoring system, which also has an inter-connection to the LHD central operation and control system. The radiation monitoring system RMSAFE (Radiation Monitoring System Applicable to Fusion Experiments) is already operating for monitoring γ(X)-rays in LHD. Some neutron measurements have been additionally applied for the deuterium experiments. The LHD data acquisition system LABCOM can acquire and process 24 h every day continuous data streams. Since γ(X)-ray and neutron measurements require higher availability, the sensors, controllers, data acquisition computers, network connections, and visualization servers have been designed to be duplicated or multiplexed for redundancy. The radiation monitoring displays in the LHD control room have been carefully designed to have excellent visual recognition, and to make users immediately aware of several alerts regarding the dose limits. The radiation safety web pages have been also upgraded to always show both dose rates of γ(X)-rays and neutrons in real time.
This study evaluated the effects of the CYP2D6*10 genotype on steady-state plasma concentrations of enantiomeric mirtazapine (MIR) and N-desmethylmirtazapine (DMIR) in Japanese patients.
Subjects ...were 77 Japanese patients treated with racemic MIR. Steady-state plasma concentrations of MIR and DMIR enantiomers were measured using stereoselective liquid chromatography. Polymerase chain reaction was used to determine the CYP2D6 genotypes.
After correcting for dose and body weight, smokers (n=15) had significantly lower S-(+)-MIR than nonsmokers (n=55) (15.1±17.8 vs. 23.9±17.8 ng/mL/mg/kg, Kruskal-Wallis test, p=0.034). One-way analysis of variance revealed that CYP2D6*10 homozygotes had significantly higher corrected plasma concentrations of S-(+)-MIR than the no-variant allele group (p=0.034). Multiple regression analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between the number of CYP2D6*10 alleles and corrected plasma concentrations of S-(+)-MIR. These results yielded the following final model: corrected plasma concentration of S-(+)-MIR=15.9+7.30×(number of CYP2D6*10 alleles) (R=0.279, p=0.023, coefficient of determination (R(2))=0.078).
Homozygous CYP2D6*10 alleles and smoking have a significant impact on the metabolism of S-(+)-MIR in Japanese patients.
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