Field-Cooling Effect in the Amorphous Magnetic Oxide

Amorphous magnetic oxides of BaO-Mn_2O_3-B_2O_3 system are prepared by a rapid quenching technique. Magnetic measurements down to 4.2 K reveal weak ferromagnetic components with T_c～50 K. The origin of the ferromagnetism is suggested to be due to manganese-rich clusters arising from concentration fluctuations in the glass. The field-cooling effect in this system is compared with that in the amorphous BaO-Fe_2O_3-B_2O_3 system

Pregnancy outcomes of women who received conservative therapy for endometrial carcinoma or atypical endometrial hyperplasia

Case: Approximately 3%‐25% of cases of endometrial carcinoma (EC) or atypical endometrial hyperplasia (AH) occur in women aged <40 years and conservative treatment with high‐dose medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) is administered to women who wish to preserve their fertility. Here is reported the pregnancy outcomes of patients with EC or AH who received MPA therapy at Tokushima University Hospital, Tokushima, Japan. The frequency of pregnancy and live births among the patients with EC or AH who received conservative treatment, followed by fertility treatment, were analyzed retrospectively. Outcome: Twelve patients underwent fertility examinations and received fertility treatment immediately after the completion of conservative treatment for EC or AH. One patient had the complication of severe diabetes and total embryo cryopreservation was performed before her diabetes was treated. Among the other 11 patients, 8 (72.7%) became pregnant at least once and 6 (54.5%) experienced at least 1 live birth. Three patients (25.0%) suffered disease recurrence during or after the infertility treatment and all of the recurrences occurred in the EC cohort. Conclusion: When patients with EC or AH wish to preserve their fertility, it is recommended that prompt and effective fertility treatment, including assisted reproductive technology, should be initiated just after conservative treatment because EC and AH exhibit relatively high recurrence rates among conservatively treated patients

Development of primary central nervous system post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder immediately after cytomegalovirus viremia in an MDS patient who received cord blood transplantation

　Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) plays a central role in the pathogenesis of posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD), and EBV reactivation after allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is highly correlated with cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation, which might be a risk factor for PTLD. We encountered a myelodysplastic syndrome patient with PTLD in the central nervous system who experienced sequential CMV and EBV reactivation immediately after allo-HSCT. Previous studies have suggested relationships between CMV and EBV reactivation and between CMV reactivation and PTLD. Our case suggests the importance of CMV monitoring in patients after allo-HSCT to preventPTLD

生後早期の心理的ストレスが雌雄ラットの性成熟、性行動に与える影響

Purpose: We studied the influence of psychological stress during the early neonatal period on sexual maturation and sexual behavior in rats. Methods: Neonatal male and female rats were divided into control (C) and maternal separation (MS) groups (n = 20‐24 per group). The pups in the MS groups were placed in isolation cages for 240 minutes/d from postnatal days 2‐11. Vaginal opening (VO) in females and preputial separation (PS) in males (indicators of sexual maturation) were monitored, as was the estrous cycle in females. Thereafter, sexual behavior was monitored twice at 13 and 15 weeks of age. Results: As for sexual maturation, the onset of PS occurred significantly earlier in the MS group than in the C group, whereas the onset of VO did not differ between the groups. The length of the estrous cycle did not differ between the groups. The frequencies of sexual behaviors did not differ between the groups in either sex. Conclusions: In conclusion, early‐life psychological stress induced by MS advanced sexual maturation in male rats, whereas it did not affect sexual maturation in female rats. On the other hand, early‐life psychological stress might not affect sexual behavior in adulthood in either sex

A Novel Screening System for Claudin Binder Using Baculoviral Display

Recent progress in cell biology has provided new insight into the claudin (CL) family of integral membrane proteins, which contains more than 20 members, as a target for pharmaceutical therapy. Few ligands for CL have been identified because it is difficult to prepare CL in an intact form. In the present study, we developed a method to screen for CL binders by using the budded baculovirus (BV) display system. CL4-displaying BV interacted with a CL4 binder, the C-terminal fragment of Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin (C-CPE), but it did not interact with C-CPE that was mutated in its CL4-binding region. C-CPE did not interact with BV and CL1-displaying BV. We used CL4-displaying BV to select CL4-binding phage in a mixture of a scFv-phage and C-CPE-phage. The percentage of C-CPE-phage in the phage mixture increased from 16.7% before selection to 92% after selection, indicating that CL-displaying BV may be useful for the selection of CL binders. We prepared a C-CPE phage library by mutating the functional amino acids. We screened the library for CL4 binders by affinity to CL4-displaying BV, and we found that the novel CL4 binders modulated the tight-junction barrier. These findings indicate that the CL-displaying BV system may be a promising method to produce a novel CL binder and modulator

Second nationwide surveillance of bacterial pathogens in patients with acute uncomplicated cystitis conducted by Japanese Surveillance Committee from 2015 to 2016: antimicrobial susceptibility of Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Staphylococcus saprophyticus

The Japanese Surveillance Committee conducted a second nationwide surveillance of antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of uropathogens responsible for acute uncomplicated cystitis (AUC) in premenopausal patients aged 16–40 years old at 31 hospitals throughout Japan from March 2015 to February 2016. In this study, the susceptibility of causative bacteria (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus saprophyticus) for various antimicrobial agents was investigated by isolation and culturing of organisms obtained from urine samples. In total, 324 strains were isolated from 361 patients, including E. coli (n = 220, 67.9%), S. saprophyticus (n = 36, 11.1%), and K. pneumoniae (n = 7, 2.2%). The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 20 antibacterial agents for these strains were determined according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) manual. At least 93% of the E. coli isolates showed susceptibility to fluoroquinolones and cephalosporins, whereas 100% of the S. saprophyticus isolates showed susceptibility to fluoroquinolones and aminoglycosides. The proportions of fluoroquinolone-resistant and extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing E. coli strains were 6.4% (13/220) and 4.1% (9/220), respectively. The antimicrobial susceptibility of K. pneumoniae was retained during the surveillance period, while no multidrug-resistant strains were identified. In summary, antimicrobial susceptibility results of our second nationwide surveillance did not differ significantly from those of the first surveillance. Especially the numbers of fluoroquinolone-resistant and ESBL-producing E. coli strains were not increased in premenopausal patients with AUC in Japan