Successful Treatment of Caesarean Scar Pregnancies by Local Treatment Only

Background. Caesarean scar pregnancy (CSP) is a rare ectopic pregnancy associated with life-threatening complications. To date, no therapeutic protocols have been established. Sono-guided local methotrexate (MTX) injection is a relatively easy and low-invasive treatment. Additional systemic MTX is sometimes needed for CSP cases, especially when β-subunit human chorionic gonadotropin (β-hCG) levels are >20,000 mIU/ml at diagnosis. We report on six cases of CSP treated with local MTX injection, five of which received combined local treatment. Methods. Under intravenous anesthesia, six CSPs including a case with β-hCG levels >20,000 mIU/ml received MTX injection to the gestational sac. Five cases received gestational sac aspiration. Three cases had additional local potassium chloride injection and one case had a saline injection aiming at the fetal heart beat concurrent with MTX injection. MTX was administered weekly if β-hCG levels stayed beyond the expected values. Outcomes. All cases achieved β-hCG normalization without additional systemic MTX, with one case having a successful pregnancy after treatment. Conclusion. Sono-guided local MTX injection with concurrent local treatment might be a potentially effective approach for CSP cases. The accumulation of further cases is necessary to confirm this

The Development and Assessment on the Social Studies Handbook for Supporting Teacher’s Lesson Planning and Improvement : A Content Structure of Handbook which can be Applied to Pre-service and In-service Teacher Education

The purposes of this paper are to develop the draft of handbook for planning, teaching and accessing the class of social studies and evaluate effects of the handbook for teacher training and their professional development. The structure of the first draft was designed based on Kolb’s learning theory. The present results suggested that the usefulness of the contents structure was perceived by (1) pre-service teachers and (2) in-service teachers, and the possibility for application was also recognized by the teacher educator as (3) university professor who teach methods courses, (4) senior supervisor who is in charge of designing the professional development programs and (5) younger supervisor who is in charge of tutoring the novice teacher, but they illustrated their different types of the significances, limits and utilization according to their purposes and as well as their responsibility. The authors implicated the alterative design of the handbook based on Korthagen’s reflective learning model for meeting their purposes and solving the structural problems inherit in the handbook

Isolation and characterization of neural crest progenitors from adult dorsal root ganglia

After peripheral nerve injury, the number of sensory neurons in the adult dorsal root ganglia (DRG) is initially reduced but recovers to a normal level several months later. The mechanisms underlying the neuronal recovery after injury are not clear. Here, we showed that in the DRG explant culture, a subpopulation of cells that emigrated out from adult rat DRG expressed nestin and p75 neurotrophin receptor and formed clusters and spheres. They differentiated into neurons, glia, and smooth muscle cells in the presence or absence of serum and formed secondary and tertiary neurospheres in cloning assays. Molecular expression analysis demonstrated the characteristics of neural crest progenitors and their potential for neuronal differentiation by expressing a set of well-defined genes related to adult stem cells niches and neuronal fate decision. Under the influence of neurotrophic factors, some of these progenitors gave rise to neuropeptide-expressing cells and protein zero-expressing Schwann cells. In a 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine chasing study, we showed that these progenitors likely originate from satellite glial cells. Our study suggests that a subpopulation of glia in adult DRG is likely to be progenitors for neurons and glia and may play a role in neurogenesis after nerve injury. ©AlphaMed Press

Pseudouridine at position 55 in tRNA controls the contents of other modified nucleotides for low-temperature adaptation in the extreme-thermophilic eubacterium Thermus thermophilus

Pseudouridine at position 55 (Ψ55) in eubacterial tRNA is produced by TruB. To clarify the role of the Ψ55 modification, we constructed a truB gene disruptant (ΔtruB) strain of Thermus thermophilus which is an extreme-thermophilic eubacterium. Unexpectedly, the ΔtruB strain exhibited severe growth retardation at 50°C. We assumed that these phenomena might be caused by lack of RNA chaperone activity of TruB, which was previously hypothetically proposed by others. To confirm this idea, we replaced the truB gene in the genome with mutant genes, which express TruB proteins with very weak or no enzymatic activity. However the growth retardation at 50°C was not rescued by these mutant proteins. Nucleoside analysis revealed that Gm18, m5s2U54 and m1A58 in tRNA from the ΔtruB strain were abnormally increased. An in vitro assay using purified tRNA modification enzymes demonstrated that the Ψ55 modification has a negative effect on Gm18 formation by TrmH. These experimental results show that the Ψ55 modification is required for low-temperature adaptation to control other modified. 35S-Met incorporation analysis showed that the protein synthesis activity of the ΔtruB strain was inferior to that of the wild-type strain and that the cold-shock proteins were absence in the ΔtruB cells at 50°C

Simultaneous self‐monitoring comparison of a supine algorithm‐equipped wrist nocturnal home blood pressure monitoring device with an upper arm device

Abstract A nocturnal home blood pressure (BP) monitoring device that measures nighttime BP levels accurately with less sleep disturbance is needed for the 24‐h management of hypertension. Here we conducted the first comparison study of simultaneous self‐monitoring by both a supine position algorithm‐equipped wrist nocturnal home BP monitoring device, the HEM‐9601T (NightView; Omron Healthcare) with a similar upper arm device, the HEM‐9700T (Omron Healthcare) in 50 hypertensive patients (mean age 68.9 ± 11.3 years). Both devices were worn on the same non‐dominant arm during sleep over two nights. The patients self‐measured their nighttime BP by starting nocturnal measurement mode just before going to bed. In total, 694 paired measurements were obtained during two nights (7.2 ± 1.5 measurements per night), and the mean differences (±SD) in systolic BP between the devices was 0.2 ± 10.2 mmHg (p = .563), with good agreement. In the comparison of nighttime BP indices, the difference in average SBP at 2:00, 3:00, and 4:00 AM and the average SBP of 1‐h interval measurements was −0.5 ± 5.5 mmHg (p = .337), with good agreement. The HEM‐9601T substantially reduced sleep disturbance compared to the upper arm‐type device. The newly developed HEM‐9601T (NightView) can thus accurately measure BP during sleep without reducing the wearer's sleep quality

Effect of unsaturated alkyl chains on transfection activity of poly(amidoamine)dendron-bearing lipids

Journal of Controlled Release. 2012, 160 (3), P.552-56

Size Distribution of Curcumin/Liposome.

<p>Representative data on the size of curcumin/liposome are shown here. The vertical axis shows the relative intensity of light scattering and the horizontal axis shows the size of liposomes on log scale.</p

Dose-Response Curves of Curcumin/Liposome in Inhibition of Cell Proliferation.

<p>THP-1 (panel A) or RAW264.7 (panel B) cells were cultured for 3 days in the presence of curcumin/liposome (●), curcumin (▲), and control liposomes (○), respectively. After culturing, they were incubated with WST-8 for 3 h to assess viable cells in the culture. Resultant coloring reaction by WST-8 was measured with a plate-reader at the absorbance of 450 nm. In the vertical axis, the absorbance of only the medium was defined as 0%. Symbols in the Figure represent the percentage of absorbance with curucmin or liposomes to that without the test samples. Data represent mean values ± range (bars) in duplicate assays.</p

Effect of In Vivo Administration of Curcumin/Liposome on IL-6 Production from Mouse Peritoneal Cells.

<p>Balb/c mice were injected with thioglycollate 3 days before harvesting peritoneal cells. Curcumin/liposome (filled bars) or control liposomes (gray bars) were injected into the mice 4 or 24 h before harvesting the cells. The harvested cells were cultured for 24 h in the absence (panel A) or presence (panel B) of LPS as described in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0137207#pone.0137207.g004" target="_blank">Fig 4</a>. Blank columns represent IL-6 production in the culture of the peritoneal cells from mice without receiving the injection of liposomes. IL-6 in the culture supernatants were quantified in triplicate assays. Data represent mean values ± standard deviation (bars) in triplicate assays. **indicate that P<0.01 compared to mice injected with control liposomes.</p

Effect of Curcumin/Liposome on IL-6 Production from Mouse Peritoneal Cells in In Vitro Culture.

<p>Peritoneal cells harvested from Balb/c mice injected with thioglycollate 3 days before. Peritoneal cells were cultured for 24 h in the absence (panel A) or presence (panel B) of LPS at 0.5 μg/ml. Blank columns represent cultures absent of both curcumin/liposome and control liposome. Curcumin/liposome (filled bars) was added to the culture so that curcumin concentrations became as indicated in the Figures. Control liposomes (gray bars) were added to culture in the same manner as curcumin/liposome, and its lipid concentration was consistent with that of curcumin/liposome. Data represent mean values ± standard deviation (bars) in triplicate assays. The statistical analysis was carried out by the standard Student’s t-test. * and **indicate that P<0.05 and P<0.01 compared to control liposomes, respectively.</p