Microcatheter looping technique for catheterization of the proper hepatic artery through pancreaticoduodenal arcades and gastroduodenal artery in celiac axis occlusion

AbstractThe present report describes a case of successful embolization of the hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm in a 61-year-old female patient with celiac axis occlusion. Because of celiac artery occlusion, the hepatic artery had to be catheterized through the pancreaticoduodenal arcades and the gastroduodenal artery (GDA) from the superior mesenteric artery (SMA). Despite coaxial catheterization using a torque guide wire, the proper hepatic artery (PHA) could not be catheterized because of the acute angle between the GDA and the PHA. The use of the microcatheter looping technique facilitated catheterization of the PHA and subsequent embolization of the right hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm

Effect of 5-aminolevulinic acid-based photodynamic therapy via reactive oxygen species in human cholangiocarcinoma cells

Cancer cells have been reported to exhibit an enhanced capacity for protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) synthesis facilitated by the administration of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA). We investigated the effect of ALA-based photodynamic therapy (PDT) on human cholangiocarcinoma cells (HuCC-T1). Since protoporphyrin IX (PpIX), a metabolite of ALA, can produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) under irradiation and then induce phototoxicity, ALA-based PDT is a promising candidate for the treatment of cholangiocarcinoma. When various concentrations of ALA (0.05–2 mM) were used to treat HuCC-T1 cells for 6 or 24 hours, the intracellular PpIX level increased according to the ALA concentration and treatment time. Furthermore, an increased amount of PpIX in HuCC-T1 cells induced increased production of ROS by irradiation, resulting in increased phototoxicity

On the root cause of the host `mass-step' in the Hubble residuals of type Ia supernovae

It is well established that the Hubble residuals of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) show the luminosity step with respect to their host galaxy stellar masses. This `mass-step' is taken as an additional correction factor for the SN Ia luminosity standardization. Here we investigate the root cause of the mass-step and propose that the bimodal nature of the host $age$ distribution is responsible for the step. In particular, by using the empirical $nonlinear$ mass-to-age relation of local galaxies, we convert the mass function of SN Ia hosts to their age distribution. We find that the age distribution shows clear bimodality: a younger ($<$ 6 Gyr) group with lower mass ($\sim 10^{9.5}{\rm M}_{\rm sun}$) and an older ($>$ 6 Gyr) group with higher mass ($\sim 10^{10.5}{\rm M}_{\rm sun}$). On the Hubble residual versus host mass plane, the two groups create the mass-step at $\sim 10^{10}{\rm M}_{\rm sun}$. This leads us to conclude that the host galaxy mass-step can be attributed to the bimodal age distribution in relation to a nonlinear relation between galaxy mass and age. We suggest that the mass-step is another manifestation of the old `red sequence' and the young `blue cloud' observed in the galactic color--magnitude diagram.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 10 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl