Vegetation development on the glacier moraines in Oobloyah Valley, Ellesmere Island high arctic Canada

The process of the vegetation development on glacier moraines was surveyed in the lower stream area of Oobloyah Valley (80°50\u27N, 82°45\u27W), Ellesmere Island, high arctic Canada. Four glacier moraines, and an outwash plane with different establishment periods in the proglacial field of Arklio Glacier, were surveyed .The oldest moraine was estimated to have been established during the Full Glacial, ca. 25000-35000 years ago, and the youngest one during the Little Ice Age, ca. 250 years ago. The vegetation properties such as number of species per study plot, cover of vegetation, lichens and bryophytes showed constant increase the moraine age, suggesting directional vegetation development. Changes in the species composition were such that new species successively appeared during the establishment of the moraines without obvious replacement of the species. It was concluded that the manner of the vegetation development was directional-nonreplacement succession even under extreme high arctic environment, differing from the generally accepted view that under an extreme high arctic environment nondirectional-nonreplacement succession prevails. Vegetation physiognomy approached Cassiope tetragona-dominated dwarf shrub heath, which generally prevails in more southern regions than Ellesmere Island. The period required for the vegetation development in the study area was assumed to be quite long, probably at least ca. 20000 years

血清TARC/CCL17値は薬剤性過敏症症候群(DIHS) の早期診断および病勢の指標となりうる。

BACKGROUND:Drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome (DIHS)/drug rash with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) is a serious acute drug reaction with fever, cutaneous eruption, lymphadenopathy, and several visceral dysfunctions. Eosinophilia is a common hematological abnormality in DIHS/DRESS suggesting that the Th2-type immune response is involved. Thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC/CCL17) is a family of CC chemokines known to play an important role in Th2-mediated immune-inflammatory processes. OBJECTIVE:We investigated the pathogenic role of TARC in patients with DIHS. METHODS:Sera were obtained from 8 patients with DIHS, 7 patients with Stevens-Johnson syndrome/Toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS/TEN), and 14 patients with drug-induced maculopapular exanthema (MPE). Serum TARC levels were measured by ELISA. TARC levels were then compared with clinical symptoms and various hematological parameters. In addition, a biopsy was taken from the lesional skin of patients with DIHS and stained with anti-TARC Ab and anti-CD11c Ab. RESULTS:Serum TARC levels in patients with DIHS were significantly higher than those in patients with SJS/TEN and MPE during the acute phase. Serum TARC levels in DIHS patients correlated with skin eruptions, serum sIL-2R levels, eosinophil counts, and serum IL-5 levels. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that TARC was mainly expressed on CD11c+ dermal dendritic cells in patients with DIHS. CONCLUSION:Serum TARC levels may be associated with the initial presentation of DIHS as well as disease activity during the course. Thus, they could be useful as an indicator for early diagnosis and assessment of disease activity in DIHS. CD11c+ dendritic cells may be the main source of TARC in patients with DIHS.博士（医学）・甲第597号・平成25年3月15日Copyright © 2012 Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

Non-missense variants of KCNH2 show better outcomes in type 2 long QT syndrome

AIMS: More than one-third of type 2 long QT syndrome (LQT2) patients carry KCNH2 non-missense variants that can result in haploinsufficiency (HI), leading to mechanistic loss-of-function. However, their clinical phenotypes have not been fully investigated. The remaining two-thirds of patients harbour missense variants, and past studies uncovered that most of these variants cause trafficking deficiency, resulting in different functional changes: either HI or dominant-negative (DN) effects. In this study, we examined the impact of altered molecular mechanisms on clinical outcomes in LQT2 patients. METHODS AND RESULTS: We included 429 LQT2 patients (234 probands) carrying a rare KCNH2 variant from our patient cohort undergoing genetic testing. Non-missense variants showed shorter corrected QT (QTc) and less arrhythmic events (AEs) than missense variants. We found that 40% of missense variants in this study were previously reported as HI or DN. Non-missense and HI-groups had similar phenotypes, while both exhibited shorter QTc and less AEs than the DN-group. Based on previous work, we predicted the functional change of the unreported variants-whether they cause HI or DN via altered functional domains-and stratified them as predicted HI (pHI)- or pDN-group. The pHI-group including non-missense variants exhibited milder phenotypes compared to the pDN-group. Multivariable Cox model showed that the functional change was an independent risk of AEs (P = 0.005). CONCLUSION: Stratification based on molecular biological studies enables us to better predict clinical outcomes in the patients with LQT2

Carbon ion radiotherapy for basal cell adenocarcinoma of the head and neck: preliminary report of six cases and review of the literature

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Basal cell adenocarcinoma accounts for approximately 1.6% of all salivary gland neoplasms. In this report, we describe our experiences of treatment for BCAC with carbon ion radiotherapy in our institution.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Case records of 6 patients with diagnosis of basal cell adenocarcinoma of the head and neck, who were treated by carbon ion radiotherapy with 64.0 GyE/16 fractions in our institution, were retrospectively reviewed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In a mean follow-up period of 32.1 months (14.0-51.3 months), overall survival and local control rates of 100% were achieved. Only one grade 4 (CTCAE v3.0) late complication occurred. There was no other grade 3 or higher toxicity.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Carbon ion radiotherapy should be considered as an appropriate curative approach for treatment of basal cell adenocarcinoma in certain cases, particularly in cases of unresectable disease and postoperative gross residual or recurrent disease.</p

KUS121, a VCP modulator, has an ameliorating effect on acute and chronic heart failure without calcium loading via maintenance of intracellular ATP levels

KUS121は新規の心不全治療薬となる --Ca2+負荷なしに血行動態を改善--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2023-12-15.[Aims] As heart failure (HF) progresses, ATP levels in myocardial cells decrease, and myocardial contractility also decreases. Inotropic drugs improve myocardial contractility but increase ATP consumption, leading to poor prognosis. Kyoto University Substance 121 (KUS121) is known to selectively inhibit the ATPase activity of valosin-containing protein, maintain cellular ATP levels, and manifest cytoprotective effects in several pathological conditions. The aim of this study is to determine the therapeutic effect of KUS121 on HF models. [Methods and results] Cultured cell, mouse, and canine models of HF were used to examine the therapeutic effects of KUS121. The mechanism of action of KUS121 was also examined. Administration of KUS121 to a transverse aortic constriction (TAC)-induced mouse model of HF rapidly improved the left ventricular ejection fraction and improved the creatine phosphate/ATP ratio. In a canine model of high frequency-paced HF, administration of KUS121 also improved left ventricular contractility and decreased left ventricular end-diastolic pressure without increasing the heart rate. Long-term administration of KUS121 to a TAC-induced mouse model of HF suppressed cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis. In H9C2 cells, KUS121 reduced ER stress. Finally, in experiments using primary cultured cardiomyocytes, KUS121 improved contractility and diastolic capacity without changing peak Ca²⁺ levels or contraction time. These effects were not accompanied by an increase in cyclic adenosine monophosphate or phosphorylation of phospholamban and ryanodine receptors. [Conclusions] KUS121 ameliorated HF by a mechanism totally different from that of conventional catecholamines. We propose that KUS121 is a promising new option for the treatment of HF

Outcom of visual acuity in carbon ion radiotherapy-Analysis of the DVHs and prognostic factor-

PURPOSE: To analyze the prognostic factor in late morbidity of visual acuity in carbon ion radiotherapy for head and neck cancer. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Between June 1994 to March 2000, 163 patients with head and neck tumor were treated with carbon ions. Selected for this study were 30 patients (54 optic nerves (ONs) ), whose ONs with the primary tumor were included in high dose area, who had no evidence of visual impairment before radiotherapy, and who had follow up period more than 2 years. The median age of 30 patients was 57.2 years with 14 males and 16 females. Median prescribed total dose was 56.0 gray equivalent (GyE) (range, 48-64 GyE). Age, gender, KI, anemia, blood pressure and dose of ONs were listed as prognostic factors. The dose of ONs was delivered from DVHs calculated from planning CT. All patients were informed the possibility of visual impairment before treatment. RESULTS: Eleven ONs showed decrease of visual acuity at an average of 19.6-month and eventually progressed to visual loss at 25.6-month after irradiation. All of them, the ONs were involved within tumor. Thereby, it was unavoidable to exclude a part of or all ON from the PTV. Median maximum dose of the ON was 49.6GyE. Thirty-four ONs irradiated by less than 56 GyE (maximum-dose) resulted in no visual impairment. On the other hand, in 20 ONs irradiated by more than 56 GyE, a decrease of visual acuity was observed in 11 ONs (55%). Multivariate analysis revealed anemia and D0.30 as unfavorable prognostic factors.CONCLUSION: None of the unexpected morbidity had been observed in this treatment. The dose-complication probability of visual acuity in carbon ion radiotherapy was confirmed in this study. The data suggested that D0.30 was a good predictor for the tolerance dose.International Stereotactic Radiosurgery Society Congres

Linear analysis of cross-field dynamics with feedback instability on detached divertor plasmas

A theoretical model of feedback instability is proposed to explain the mechanism of correlation between the detachment and the cross-field plasma transport. It is shown that the feedback instability on the detached divertor plasma can be induced in a certain condition in which the volume recombination frequency is larger than the ion cyclotron frequency in the recombination region. Further, the density gradient and the electric field in the direction perpendicular to the magnetic flux surface are not zero in the condition. The feedback instability can provide the cross-field plasma transport in the boundary layer of magnetic fusion torus devices. Furthermore, the properties of the radial transport observed in the NAGDIS-II linear device experiment are compared with the estimation by the feedback instability model. The dependence of the feedback instability mode on the total collision frequency and the recombination coefficient and the density gradient has been also investigated. Although the dependency on the total collision frequency and the recombination coefficient for the typical fusion torus device case is opposite to that for the NAGDIS-II case, the represented dependencies show the reasonable tendency in each case