Median alveolar cleft and palatal mass without a median upper cleft lip

Median cleft is rare among facial clefts, including bilateral and unilateral clefts. Median upper cleft lip and median alveolar cleft correspond to Type 14 and Type 0, respectively, in Tessier's classification system. Some authors have reported surgical procedures for median cleft. In the case of median alveolar cleft, bone grafting to the cleft side and orthodontics are generally applied, similarly to bilateral or unilateral cleft. Median alveolar cleft is usually accompanied by median upper cleft lip, the degree of which differs in each case. The symptoms include, but are not limited to, median lip defect, wide philtrum, and vermilion notch. However, an isolated alveolar cleft is extremely rare. We encountered a patient with an isolated alveolar cleft who did not have a light median upper cleft lip, such as a wide philtrum or vermilion notch. We herein report this case and describe its treatment

Accounting for the economic relationship between Japan and the Asian Tigers

This paper applies the business cycle accounting method of Chari, Kehoe and McGrattan (2007) to a two-country, two-good model based on Backus, Kehoe and Kydland (1994) to investigate the economic relationship between Japan and the Asian Tigers from 1980Q1 to 2008Q2. We find that the main driver of long-run shifts and short-run fluctuations in output in each economy is domestic production efficiency. Furthermore, the recent increase in the cross-country business cycle correlation between the two can be attributed to an increase in the cross-country correlation of production efficiencies

In vivo regeneration of rat laryngeal cartilage with mesenchymal stem cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells via neural crest cells

The laryngotracheal cartilage is a cardinal framework for the maintenance of the airway for breathing, which occasionally requires reconstruction. Because hyaline cartilage has a poor intrinsic regenerative ability, various regenerative approaches have been attempted to regenerate laryngotracheal cartilage. The use of autologous mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for cartilage regeneration has been widely investigated. However, long-term culture may limit proliferative capacity. Human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived MSCs (iMSCs) can circumvent this problem due to their unlimited proliferative capacity. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of iMSCs in the regeneration of thyroid cartilage in immunodeficient rats. Herein, we induced iMSCs through neural crest cell intermediates. For the relevance to prospective future clinical application, induction was conducted under xeno-free/serum-free conditions. Then, clumps fabricated from an iMSC/extracellular matrix complex (C-iMSC) were transplanted into thyroid cartilage defects in immunodeficient rats. Histological examinations revealed cartilage-like regenerated tissue and human nuclear antigen (HNA)-positive surviving transplanted cells in the regenerated lesion. HNA-positive cells co-expressed SOX9, and type II collagen was identified around HNA-positive cells. These results indicated that the transplanted C-iMSCs promoted thyroid cartilage regeneration and some of the iMSCs differentiated into chondrogenic lineage cells. Induced MSCs may be a promising candidate cell therapy for human laryngotracheal reconstruction

Laryngeal Cartilage Regeneration of Nude Rats by Transplantation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells Derived from Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Previous studies transplanted human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs)-derived mesenchymal stem cells (iMSCs) into thyroid cartilage defect of X-liked severe combined immunodeficiency (X-SCID) rats and confirmed transplanted cell survival and cartilage regeneration. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the contribution of iMSC transplantation to thyroid cartilage regeneration of nude rats. iMSCs were induced from hiPSCs via a neural crest cell lineage. Then, clumps formed from an iMSC/extracellular matrix complex were transplanted into thyroid cartilage defects in nude rats. The larynx was removed and histological and immunohistochemical analyses were performed 4 or 8 weeks after the transplantation. Human nuclear antigen (HNA)-positive cells were observed in 11 of 12 (91.7%) rats, which indicated that transplanted iMSCs survived in thyroid cartilage defects in nude rats. HNA-positive cells co-expressed SOX9, and type II collagen was identified around HNA-positive cells in 8 of 12 rats (66.7%), which indicated cartilage-like regeneration. Cartilage-like regeneration in nude rats in this study was comparable to the previous report on X-SCID rats (HNA-positive cells were observed in all 14 rats and cartilage-like regeneration was observed in 10 of 14 rats). This result suggests that nude rats could be an alternative to X-SCID rats in thyroid cartilage regeneration experiments using iMSCs, and this nude rat cartilage transplantation model may develop cartilage regeneration research concerning fewer problems such as infection due to immunosuppression

『札幌ITカロッツェリア』におけるユーザビリティソリューションプロジェクトから見る産官学連携プロジェクトの可能性と課題

論

Multimodality imaging to identify lipid-rich coronary plaques and predict periprocedural myocardial injury: Association between near-infrared spectroscopy and coronary computed tomography angiography

BackgroundThis study compares the efficacy of coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) and near-infrared spectroscopy intravascular ultrasound (NIRS–IVUS) in patients with significant coronary stenosis for predicting periprocedural myocardial injury during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).MethodsWe prospectively enrolled 107 patients who underwent CCTA before PCI and performed NIRS–IVUS during PCI. Based on the maximal lipid core burden index for any 4-mm longitudinal segments (maxLCBI4mm) in the culprit lesion, we divided the patients into two groups: lipid-rich plaque (LRP) group (maxLCBI4mm ≥ 400; n = 48) and no-LRP group (maxLCBI4mm < 400; n = 59). Periprocedural myocardial injury was a postprocedural cardiac troponin T (cTnT) elevation of ≥5 times the upper limit of normal.ResultsThe LRP group had a significantly higher cTnT (p = 0.026), lower CT density (p < 0.001), larger percentage atheroma volume (PAV) by NIRS–IVUS (p = 0.036), and larger remodeling index measured by both CCTA (p = 0.020) and NIRS–IVUS (p < 0.001). A significant negative linear correlation was found between maxLCBI4mm and CT density (rho = −0.552, p < 0.001). Multivariable logistic regression analysis identified maxLCBI4mm [odds ratio (OR): 1.006, p = 0.003] and PAV (OR: 1.125, p = 0.014) as independent predictors of periprocedural myocardial injury, while CT density was not an independent predictor (OR: 0.991, p = 0.22).ConclusionCCTA and NIRS–IVUS correlated well to identify LRP in culprit lesions. However, NIRS–IVUS was more competent in predicting the risk of periprocedural myocardial injury