531 research outputs found
Pulmonary and Other Non-Neurological Vascular Malformations: Diagnosis and Endovascular Treatment
LINE-1 hypomethylation in gastric cancer, detected by bisulfite pyrosequencing, is associated with poor prognosis
BACKGROUND: Genome-wide DNA hypomethylation plays an important role in genomic instability and carcinogenesis. DNA methylation in the long interspersed nucleotide element-1, L1 (LINE-1) repetitive element is a good indicator of the global DNA methylation level. In some types of human neoplasms, LINE-1 methylation level is attracting interest as a predictive marker for patient prognosis. However, the prognostic significance of LINE-1 hypomethylation in gastric cancer remains unclear. METHODS: Using 203 resected gastric cancer specimens, we quantified LINE-1 methylation using bisulfite-pyrosequencing technology. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to calculate the hazard ratio (HR), adjusted for the clinical and pathological variables. RESULTS: Gastric cancers showed significantly lower LINE-1 methylation levels compared to matched normal gastric mucosa (p < 0.0001; n = 74). Tumoral LINE-1 methylation range was 11.6–97.5 on a 0–100 scale (n = 203; mean 71.4, median 74.4, standard deviation 12.9). LINE-1 hypomethylation was significantly associated with shorter overall survival [log-rank p = 0.029; univariate HR 2.01, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.09–3.99, p = 0.023; stage-matched HR 1.88, 95 % CI 1.02–3.74, p = 0.041; multivariate HR 1.98, 95 % CI 1.04–4.04, p = 0.036]. No significant effect modification was observed by any of the covariates in survival analysis (all p interaction >0.25). CONCLUSIONS: LINE-1 hypomethylation in gastric cancer is associated with shorter survival, suggesting that it has potential for use as a prognostic biomarker
Successful esophageal bypass surgery in a patient with a large tracheoesophageal fistula following endotracheal stenting and chemoradiotherapy for advanced esophageal cancer: case report
A 63-year-old man with esophageal achalasia for more than 20 years complained of respiratory distress. He was admitted as an emergency to the referral hospital three months previously. Computed tomography revealed tracheobronchial stenosis due to advanced esophageal cancer with tracheal invasion. He underwent tracheobronchial stenting and chemoradiotherapy. A large tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF) developed after irradiation (18 Gy) and chemotherapy, and he was unable to eat. Thereafter, he was referred to our hospital, where we performed esophageal bypass surgery using a gastric conduit. A percutaneous cardiopulmonary support system was prepared due to the risk of airway obstruction during anesthesia. A small-diameter tracheal tube inserted into the stent achieved ordinary respiratory management. No anesthesia-related problems were encountered. Oral intake commenced on postoperative day 9. He was discharged on postoperative day 23 and was able to take in sustenance orally right up to the last moment of his life. Esophageal bypass under general anesthesia can be performed in patients with large TEF with sufficient preparation for anesthetic management
Endoscopic Nd:YAG Laser Treatment in the Perioperative Management of Tracheobronchoplasty
The objective of this study was to determine the role of endoscopic Nd:YAG laser treatment
in the preoperative or postoperative management of tracheobronchoplasty.
Eighteen patients with severe stenotic lesions of the trachea or bronchus underwent
Nd:YAG laser treatment. Nd:YAG laser treatment was performed in the preoperative
period in 14 patients and in the postoperative period in 4 patients. The indications for
Nd:YAG laser treatment included emergency airway dilatation, confirmation of the distal
margin of tumor, and safe tracheal intubation in patients with severe tracheal stenosis.
The indications for Nd:YAG laser treatment in patients with severe stenosis of the
mainstem bronchus were confirmation of the distal margin of tumor and recovery of
lung ventilation during the preoperative period and reopening of the bronchial lumen to
prevent obstructive pneumonia in the postoperative period. Among patients treated with
Nd:YAG laser preoperatively, the indications were completely achieved in all 14
patients, except for 1 patient with adenoid cystic carcinoma who underwent treatment of
the right mainstem bronchus. Among patients treated with Nd:YAG laser postoperatively
the indications also were achieved in all 4 patients with severe granulomatous
stenosis of the bronchial end-to-end anastomosis following sleeve lobectomy. In conclusion,
endoscopic Nd:YAG laser treatment played an important role in the perioperative
management of patients undergoing tracheobronchoplasty
Spiral Structure in WZ Sagittae around the 2001 Outburst Maximum
Intermediate resolution phase-resolved spectra of WZ Sge were obtained on
five consecutive nights (July 23 -- 27) covering the initial stage of the 2001
superoutburst. Double-peaked emission lines of He\textsc{II} at 4686 \AA, which
were absent on July 23, emerged on July 24 together with emission lines of
C\textsc{III} / N\textsc{III} Bowen blend. Analyses of the He\textsc{II}
emission lines using the Doppler tomography revealed an asymmetric spiral
structure on the accretion disk. This finding demonstrates that spiral shocks
with a very short orbital period can arise during the initial stage of an
outburst and may be present in all SU UMa stars.Comment: 5 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in PAS
Fetal-type Glycogen Phosphorylase (FGP)Expression in Intestinal Metaplasia as a High Risk Factor of the Development of Gastric Carcinoma
Experimental renal and hepatic artery embolization with a new embolic agent, atelocollagen, in a porcine model
PURPOSEWe aimed to investigate the potentiality of atelocollagen, a new embolic agent which is collagen type I in a porcine experimental model. MATERIALS AND METHODSThree pigs underwent transcatheter embolization of lower interlobular arteries of the renal artery (n=6) and one branch of the hepatic artery (n=3) with collagen type I. Angiography was performed prearterial, during, and postarterial embolization. After the procedure, samples from the embolized organs were evaluated by histological analysis. RESULTSSix lower interlobular renal arteries and three hepatic arteries were successfully embolized by administration of 0.8±0.3 mL and 2.9±1.2 mL, respectively, of the collagen type I. Histological findings of the embolized kidney specimens showed that the collagenous materials filled the arterial lumen, whose size ranged from 2.02 to 839.82 μm and reached the level of afferent arteries of glomerular tufts. Although the area of occluded arteries of the liver was smaller than the kidney, histological findings of the liver specimens showed that the collagenous materials filled small arterial lumens from 2.81 to 187.86 μm in diameter. CONCLUSIONAtelocollagen, a collagen type I, has the potential to be used to embolize the distal vessels of both renal and hepatic arteries
First-principles study on the energetics and vibrational properties of the S2 - impurity in alkali-halide crystals
金沢大学大学院自然科学研究科計算科学金沢大学理学部We have performed first-principles electronic structure calculations for the S2 and S2- molecules in the vacuum and found that the calculated equilibrium bond lengths and vibrational spectroscopic constants are in good agreement with the experiments as well as the previous calculations. Based on this conformation we extended these calculations to the substitutional S2- molecule in the alkali halides, such as NaCl, NaBr, NaI, KCI, KBr, KI, RbCl, RbBr, and RbI. It is found from these calculations that the S2- center aligned to [110] direction is generally favorable over those with the [100] and [111] orientations, in agreement with the experiments. We also found that the vibrational frequencies of the S2- anion in the alkali halides shift to higher energies with decreasing lattice parameters. These results suggest that the change in the bond length of the S2- anion in the matrices depends on the species of halogen atom, while the frequencies are influenced by the species of alkali atom
A Case of Asymptomatic Left Ventricular Dysfunction during the Treatment of Metastatic Breast Cancer with Trastuzumab
We report a case of 29-year-old Japanese female with a history of resection of primary carcinoma of the right breast. After a partial response by chemotherapy with pirarubicin and docetaxel for lung metastasis, the patient developed multiple brain and bone metastases. As the degree of overexpression of human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) was (2+), trastuzumab was administered in combination with paclitaxel. Asymptomatic left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction evaluated by echocardiography was observed ten weeks after the beginning of the treatment. After two weeks of discontinuation of the therapy, however, LV function showed rapid recovery and the resumed use of trastuzumab did not cause further cardiac deterioration. The patient died of sudden respiratory failure due to cerebral herniation and not to heart failure
Supranormal orientation selectivity of visual neurons in orientation-restricted animals
Altered sensory experience in early life often leads to remarkable adaptations so that humans and animals can make the best use of the available information in a particular environment. By restricting visual input to a limited range of orientations in young animals, this investigation shows that stimulus selectivity, e.g., the sharpness of tuning of single neurons in the primary visual cortex, is modified to match a particular environment. Specifically, neurons tuned to an experienced orientation in orientation-restricted animals show sharper orientation tuning than neurons in normal animals, whereas the opposite was true for neurons tuned to non-experienced orientations. This sharpened tuning appears to be due to elongated receptive fields. Our results demonstrate that restricted sensory experiences can sculpt the supranormal functions of single neurons tailored for a particular environment. The above findings, in addition to the minimal population response to orientations close to the experienced one, agree with the predictions of a sparse coding hypothesis in which information is represented efficiently by a small number of activated neurons. This suggests that early brain areas adopt an efficient strategy for coding information even when animals are raised in a severely limited visual environment where sensory inputs have an unnatural statistical structure
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