Effect of nitrate on the determination of iron concentration in phytoplankton culture medium by liquid scintillation counting (LSC) method using 55Fe as radioisotope tracer

Liquid scintillation counting (LSC) method using a radioisotope tracer has several advantages such as simple procedure, high sensitivity and low detection limit, and has been used for the determination Fe concentrations in water samples. Several factors such as nitrate concentration, pH, chelating ligand affect the efficiency of this method in the determination of iron (Fe) in waters. In this study, the effect of nitrate in phytoplankton culture medium on the determination of Fe concentration by LSC method using 55Fe radioisotope tracer was evaluated. The measured Fe concentrations in the medium were lower than its added concentration (1.5 μM) when liquid samples contain nitrate. Fe concentrations decreased exponentially as nitrate concentrations increased up to 2.64 mM, reaching a constant value of 1.31 μM Fe at nitrate concentrations higher than 2.64 mM. A correction factor (f = 1.14) was calculated from the decrease rate of Fe concentrations at different nitrate concentrations in the phytoplankton culture medium. This correction factor can be used to correct the measurement values of Fe concentrations in phytoplankton culture medium obtained from LSC method. Our results showed that up to 94 % of the added Fe can be determined by LSC using 55Fe radioisotope tracer. The remaining 6 % was probably bound to the walls of the culturing vessel. This method is also applicable for the measurement of Fe size-fractionation in phytoplankton culture medium. © 2012 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary

Stromal micropapillary component as a novel unfavorable prognostic factor of lung adenocarcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pulmonary adenocarcinomas with a micropapillary component having small papillary tufts and lacking a central fibrovascular core are thought to result in poor prognosis. However, the component consists of tumor cells often floating within alveolar spaces (aerogenous micropapillary component [AMPC]) rather than invading fibrotic stroma observed in other organs like breast (stromal invasive micropapillary component [SMPC]). We previously observed cases of lung adenocarcinoma with predominant SMPC that was associated with micropapillary growth of tumors in fibrotic stroma observed in other organs. We evaluated the incidence and clinicopathological characteristics of SMPC in lung adenocarcinoma cases.</p> <p>Patients and Methods</p> <p>We investigated the clinicopathological characteristics and prognostic significance of SMPC in lung adenocarcinoma cases by reviewing 559 patients who had undergone surgical resection. We examined the SMPC by performing immunohistochemical analysis with 17 antibodies and by genetic analysis with epidermal growth factor receptor (<it>EGFR</it>) and <it>KRAS </it>mutations.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>SMPC-positive (SMPC(+)) tumors were observed in 19 cases (3.4%). The presence of SMPC was significantly associated with tumor size, advanced-stage disease, lymph node metastasis, pleural invasion, lymphatic invasion, and vascular invasion. Patients with SMPC(+) tumors had significantly poorer outcomes than those with SMPC-negative tumors. Multivariate analysis revealed that SMPC was a significant independent prognostic factor of lung adenocarcinoma, especially for disease-free survival of pathological stage I patients (<it>p </it>= 0.035). SMPC showed significantly higher expression of E-cadherin and lower expression of CD44 than the corresponding expression levels shown by AMPC and showed lower surfactant apoprotein A and phospho-c-Met expression level than corresponding expression levels shown by tumor cell components without a micropapillary component. Fourteen cases with SMPC(+) tumors (74%) showed <it>EGFR </it>mutations, and none of them showed <it>KRAS </it>mutations.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>SMPC(+) tumors are rare, but they may be associated with a poor prognosis and have different phenotypic and genotypic characteristics from those of AMPC(+) tumors.</p> <p>Virtual Slides</p> <p>The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: <url>http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/9433341526290040</url>.</p

γ-Tocopherol Accelerated Sodium Excretion in a Dose-Dependent Manner in Rats with a High Sodium Intake

We have previously reported that γ-tocopherol (γ-Toc) displays a natriuretic potency in rats fed a NaCl diet and administered 20 mg γ-Toc. In this study, we investigated whether γ-Toc has natriuretic potency at a dose lower or higher than 20 mg in rats given a NaCl diet. Male rats were fed a control diet or a NaCl diet and administered either placebo or 10, 20 or 40 mg of γ-Toc. The rat urine was collected for 24 hours (divided into 6 hour periods) and the 2,7,8-trimethyl-2-(2'-carboxyethyl)-6-hydroxychroman (γ-CEHC) level, the sodium excretion content, and the urine volume were determined. The 24-hour γ-CEHC and sodium levels in the urine of the NaCl groups given 20 mg or 40 mg γ-Toc were significantly higher than those in the placebo group. The peak levels of urine sodium and γ-CEHC in the NaCl group given 40 mg γ-Toc appeared at 0–6 h, which was a more rapid increase than that seen in the group given 20 mg γ-Toc. The 24-hour urine volumes of the NaCl groups given 10 and 20 mg γ-Toc were significantly higher than the urine volume of the placebo group. Our findings suggested that γ-Toc increased sodium excretion in a dose-dependent manner in rats fed a NaCl diet. Moreover, a high dose of γ-Toc may accelerate its metabolism and cause an increase in the rate of sodium excretion

Stromal micropapillary pattern predominant lung adenocarcinoma - a report of two cases

Generally, adenocarcinomas with micropapillary pattern, featuring small papillary tufts lacking a central fibrovascular core, are thought to have poor prognosis. This pattern has been described in various organs. However, tumor cells with micropapillary pattern of lung adenocarcinoma are more often seen to float within alveolar spaces (aerogenous micropapillary pattern, AMP) than in fibrotic stroma like other organs (stromal micropapillary pattern, SMP) and SMP predominant lung adenocarcinoma (SMPPLA) has not been well described yet. We presented two cases of SMPPLA which were found in the last four years. Both the cases showed more than 50% of SMP in the tumor area. The majority of the stromal micropapillary clusters expressed MUC1 and epithelial membrane antigen along the outer surface of cell membrane. On the other hand, connective tissues surrounding stromal micropapillary clusters showed no reactivity for epithelial markers (thyroid transcription factor-1 and cytokeratin) or endothelial marker (D2-40 and CD34). It means clusters of SMP do not exist within air space or lymphatic or vessel lumens. The tumors with SMP often presented lymphatic permeation and vessel invasion, and intriguingly, one of the two cases showed metastasis to the mediastinal lymph node. Additionally, both the cases showed EGFR point mutations of exon 21. These results suggest that SMPPLA might be associated with poor prognosis and effective for EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors

Resting Heart Rate Variability Is Associated With Subsequent Orthostatic Hypotension: Comparison Between Healthy Older People and Patients With Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder.

Background:Orthostatic hypotension (OH) caused by autonomic dysfunction is a common symptom in older people and patients with idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (iRBD). The orthostatic challenge test is a standard autonomic function test that measures a decrease of blood pressure during a postural change from supine to standing positions. Although previous studies have reported that changes in heart rate variability (HRV) are associated with autonomic dysfunction, no study has investigated the relationship between HRV before standing and the occurrence of OH in an orthostatic challenge test. This study aims to examine the connection between HRV in the supine position and the occurrence of OH in an orthostatic challenge test.Methods:We measured the electrocardiograms of patients with iRBD and healthy older people during an orthostatic challenge test, in which the supine and standing positions were held for 15 min, respectively. The subjects were divided into three groups: healthy controls (HC), OH-negative iRBD [OH (–) iRBD], and OH-positive iRBD [OH (+) iRBD]. HRV measured in the supine position during the test were calculated by time-domain analysis and Poincaré plots to evaluate the autonomic dysfunction.Results:Forty-two HC, 12 OH (–) iRBD, and nine OH (+) iRBD subjects were included. HRV indices in the OH (–) and the OH (+) iRBD groups were significantly smaller than those in the HC group. The multivariate logistic regression analysis for OH identification for the iRBD groups showed the model whose inputs were the HRV indices, i.e., standard deviation 2 (SD2) and the percentage of adjacent intervals that varied by more than 50 ms (pNN50), had a receiver operating characteristic curve with area under the curve of 0.840, the sensitivity to OH (+) of 1.000, and the specificity to OH (–) of 0.583 (p = 0.023).Conclusions:This study showed the possibility that short-term HRV indices in the supine position would predict subsequent OH in iRBD patients. Our results are of clinical importance in terms of showing the possibility that OH can be predicted using only HRV in the supine position without an orthostatic challenge test, which would improve the efficiency and safety of testing

子育て支援に向けての保育者養成校と保育園の連携 一「きずなDAY」の事例より一

　2011年4月に設立された神女中山手保育園と保育士養成校である神戸女子短期大学幼児教育学科は，同保育園設立時より保育園の理念と養成校教育の改善に向けて連携を深めてきた。その一つに両組織が共同で行う「きずなDAY」という行事がある。この行事は，保育園設立の翌年(2012)より4年間に亘って毎年12月に行われた結果，保育現場と保育士養成の課題を連携しながら考えるための前提となるラポールの基盤が形成されてきた。本報告は，この基盤をもとに，より質の高い保育と子育て支援および保育士養成教育を展開するため，これまでの「きずなDAY」の内容やねらいを事例の資料とまとめ，この実践過程で見えてきた保育施設と保育士養成校の課題について述べたものである。なお今回の事例には，第4回目(2015年12月)については日程の関係で資料には含めていない