カコ 5ネンカン ニオケル トクシマケンカ デ ハッケン サレタ ミモト フメイ シタイ ノ シンタイ トクチョウ ニツイテ : トウナンカイ ナンカイ ジシン ニ ソナエテ

There is a high probability of Tounankai-Nankai earthquake in the first half of this century,with tremendous damage including many victims. The personal identification of them seems to be difficult. Then, we investigated the main useful ground to identify the unknown cadavers（259 cases）in Tokushima during the past 5 years, from 2002 to 2006. Ninety percent of them were identified : by the fingerprint ; 35%, the dental chart ; 24%, DNA-typing ; 17%, the feature ; 15%, the feature of body ; 9%, respectively. If houses of many victims are broken on the earthquakes, it is difficult to get ante-mortem material for the fingerprint or DNA-typing. So, records kept in the medical institution and feature of body are very important information. The scars, injuries, the Xray images, and the medical equipment inside the body were useful for the actual identification.To observe and record these findings will be the first step for the personal identification. It is important that we cooperate and make the system to get these medical records and images.Doctors, dentists, and police should combine together against the earthquake

Carbon monoxide: impact on remethylation/transsulfuration metabolism and its pathophysiologic implications

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a gaseous product generated by heme oxygenase (HO), which oxidatively degrades heme. While the stress-inducible HO-1 has well been recognized as an anti-oxidative defense mechanism under stress conditions, recent studies suggest that cancer cells utilize the reaction for their survival. HO-2, the constitutive isozyme, also plays protective roles as a tonic regulator for neurovascular function. Although protective roles of the enzyme reaction and CO have extensively been studied, little information is available on the molecular mechanisms by which the gas exerts its biological actions. Recent studies using metabolomics revealed that CO inhibits cystathionine β-synthase (CBS), which generates H2S, another gaseous mediator. The CO-dependent CBS inhibition may impact on the remethylation cycle and related metabolic pathways including the methionine salvage pathway and polyamine synthesis. This review focuses on the gas-responsive regulation of metabolic systems, particularly the remethylation and transsulfuration pathways, and their putative implications for cancer and ischemic diseases

Glucan dendrimer for carbohydrate drugs

Dendrimers are highly branched and star-shaped polymers with nanometer-scale dimensions. The nanostructured macromolecules are known for their defined structures, versatility in drug delivery, and high functional properties similar to biomoleclules. We developed a new way to synthesize glucan dendrimer like glycogen by using branching enzyme (EC 2.4.1.18) and glucan phosphorylase (EC 2.4.1.1) by using glucose-1-phosphate as a substrate. This way enables us to produce glucan dendrimers with strictly controlled molecular size and branching structure. In this context, we developed specific glycosylation technology to substitute glucose residues at non-reducing ends with galactose, mannose, glucosamine, glucuronic acid, or N-acetylglucosamine residues. Glucose dendrimers having glucosamine and/or glucuronic acid residues are successfully used for conjugation of other functional molecules. The nano-particle conjugated glucan dendrimers with peptide antigen and nucleotide adjuvant is a potential platform for vaccine. We investigated the glucan dendrimers function as a drug carrier. The uptake of several glucose dendrimers into antigen-presenting cells (APCs), such as dendritic cell and macrophage, were examined. Glucose dendrimers were incorporated into APCs, and introducing various sugar moieties into glucan dendrimers enhance the uptake them by APCs. When glucan dendrimer-peptide conjugates were added to the cultured APCs, the peptides were effectively presented on the surface of APCs. FITC-labeled glucan dendrimers injected subcutaneously in mice accumulated into inguinal lymph nodes, which play important role to introduce acquired immune respons

Fatal accidental asphyxia

Accidental death from postural or positional asphyxia can occur when an individual’s body compromises their respiration. The diagnosis of positional asphyxia is usually based on circumstantial evidence supported by the absence of other significant underlying causes of death. A female in her twenties was found dead in the so-called bridge position on a chair with wheels. Her jacket had rolled under one of the chair’s wheels. She was 159 cm in height and weighed 28.8 kg. Her body mass index was 11.4 (she was severely emaciated), and her muscles, including the rectus abdominis muscle, were thin. Her head, face, and neck were markedly congested. Her lungs, especially the upper lobes, were also congested. A small quantity of left cardiac blood was detected, which was slightly coagulated. The right cardiac blood was liquid (21 ml), and the right ventricle was slightly enlarged. It was suggested that the circulation from the lungs to the heart had been restricted. Toxicological tests detected psychoactive agents in the deceased’s blood and urine. The concentration of one of them, tofisopam, was slightly higher than normal. It was suggested that the effects of tofisopam and the deceased’s poor physical condition had impaired her motility, trapping her in an abnormal body position, ‘the reverse jack-knife position’. Therefore, her manner of death was considered to be accidental positional asphyxia. We should be aware that chairs with wheels can occasionally cause such accidents

The relationship between standard uptake value (SUV) and Hounsfield Unit (HU) of oral contrast agent for FDG-PET/CT study

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between CT density (Hounsfield Unit, HU) and the degree of fluoro-deoxyglucose (FDG) uptake, demonstrated as standard uptake value (SUV). Twenty contiguous patients (9 males, 11 females, age range of 29-79) were performed FDG-PET/CT scan with 750ml of 5% iodine-based oral contrast agent. A region of interest (ROI)was placed manually on oral contrast in the lumen of stomach, small bowel and ascending colon, avoiding contamination of other structures, and the average SUV and average HU were determined. R square and p value were applied to evaluate the correlation. The correlation between SUV and HU in each separate location is not significant. When all regions are combined, p value is significant (＜0.05), but R square is not significant. Oral contrast can be one factor that influences measured FDG, and it is possible it acts as an irritant that increases metabolism in the bowel wall, resulting in increased FDG uptake

Clinical utility of FDG PET

The aim of this article is to introduce the clinical utility of FDG PET as oncologic imaging. PET (positron emission tomography) is a newly developed imaging tool, and it has increased the accuracy of metabolic mapping of numerous malignancies, with significant impact on the management of cancer patients for initial staging, restaging and therapy monitoring. PET can provide functional information in addition tomorphology from conventional imaging modalities. 18F-labeled 2-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG) is the most commonly used PET tracer and FDG PET can demonstrate the activity of glucose metabolism throughout the entire body in a single session. We describe the clinical utility of FDG in PET and display images of normal distribution and of patients with head and neck and lung cancer

HFIGMI–VMAT for brain metastases

Volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) can be used to design hypofractionated radiotherapy treatment plans for multiple brain metastases. The purpose of this study was to evaluate treatment outcomes of hypofractionated image-guided multifocal irradiation using VMAT (HFIGMI–VMAT) for brain metastases. From July 2012 to December 2016, 67 consecutive patients with 601 brain metastases were treated with HFIGMI–VMAT at our institution. The prescribed dose was 50 Gy to a 95% volume of the planning target volume in 10 fractions. Fifty-five of the 67 patients had non-small-cell lung cancer, and the remaining 12 had other types of cancer. The median number of brain metastases was five, and the median maximum diameter was 1.2 cm. The median duration of follow-up was 12.0 months (range, 1.9–44.8 months), and the median survival time 18.7 months. Four patients with six lesions had local recurrences. The local control rate in the 64 assessed patients was 98.4% and 95.3% at 6 and 12 months, respectively (three died before assessment). The local control rate for the 572 assessed lesions was 99.8% and 99.3% at 6 and 12 months, respectively. Thirty-nine patients developed distant brain metastases, the distant brain control rate being 59.7% and 40.5% at 6 and 12 months, respectively. Acute toxicities were generally mild (Grade 1–2). Three patients (4.5%) developed radiation necrosis requiring corticosteroid therapy. The HFIGMI–VMAT technique with flat dose delivery was well tolerated and achieved excellent local control. This technique is a promising treatment option for patients with multiple and large brain metastases

Postmortem Diagnosis of Anorexia Nervosa : An Endocrinological and Immunohistochemical Approach

A female in her 30s was found dead after a fire. She was severely emaciated and had been diagnosed with anorexia nervosa (AN) about 5 years ago, but had not been treated recently. Therefore, we investigated not only her cause of death but also her condition of AN. Some of her organs weighed less than normal although no clear lesions were observed. In the pituitary gland, the number of follicle-stimulating hormone-immunopositive cells was markedly decreased although a normal number of thyroid-stimulating hormone-positive cells were detected. A histological examination of the ovary suggested that she had been suffering from amenorrhea. The thyroid gland was atrophic, and marked variations in follicle size were observed. Because we could not obtain enough volume of her blood for endocrinological examinations, we tried to investigate her endocrinological condition by immunohistochemistry. Immunohistochemical staining detected decreased triiodothyronine immunoreactivity and normal thyroxine immunoreactivity. The adrenal glands were also atrophic. Based on these findings, it was considered that she had been suffering from AN at the time of her death. The autopsy and other findings revealed that she had died of burning with carbon monoxide intoxication