Ferrocenylnaphthalene Diimide-Based Electrochemical Detection of Aberrant Methylation in hTERT Gene

Since aberrant methylation at CpG sites is linked to the silencing of tumor suppressor genes, DNA methylation analysis is important for cancer diagnosis. We developed ferrocenylnaphthalene diimide (FND), which has two ferrocenyl moieties at the substituent termini, as an electrochemical indicator for hybridized DNA duplexes. In this study, we attempted to detect aberrant methylation of human telomerase reverse transcriptase gene (hTERT), an efficient cancer marker, using FND-based hybridization coupled with electrochemical detection via a multi-electrode chip

Screening for Oral Cancer Using Electrochemical Telomerase Assay

Electrochemical telomerase assay (ECTA) developed by our group was evaluated in an oral cancer screening using exfoliated oral cells and tissues obtained from patients of oral cancer, mucosa associated disease, or healthy volunteers. Telomerase activity from ECTA is correlated with hTERT mRNA expression level using a real‐time PCR and was increasing in the following order: healthy volunteer group<mucosa associated disease group<oral cancer group. Sensitivity and specificity of ECTA were 88% and 72%, respectively when used 17% of the threshold value based on the receiver operating characteristic curve in ECTA data

Electrochemical telomerase assay for screening for oral cancer

Telomerase has long been known to be a marker for cancer. We have developed a new method of detecting it: the electrochemical telomerase assay (ECTA). We have previously confirmed that the assay is easier to do and more precise than the conventional telomeric repeat amplification protocol, which is currently the most widely used. Here we describe a pilot study made to establish a screening system for oral cancer using ECTA. We evaluated three types of clinical samples obtained from 44 patients with oral cancer and 26 healthy volunteers: exfoliated cells from the whole oral cavity, exfoliated cells from local lesions, and tissue from the lesion itself. The current increase ratio (Δi) obtained by ECTA was significantly higher in the oral cancer group for each type of sampling used. The threshold value for Δi was 19% when calculated by analysis of receiver-operating characteristic curves. Sensitivity and specificity values were 86% and 85% for cells from the oral cavity, 82% and 85% in cells from local lesions, and 95% and 92% in cells from the tumour itself, respectively. There were also no significant differences in sensitivity and specificity associated with age, size of tumour, site of lesion, or degree of malignancy. ECTA therefore seems to be a promising assay for screening for oral cancer

Oral Cancer Screening Based on Methylation Frequency Detection in hTERT Gene Using Electrochemical Hybridization Assay via a Multi‐electrode Chip Coupled with Ferrocenylnaphthalene Diimide

Ferrocenylnaphthalene diimide‐based electrochemical hybridization assay via a multi‐electrode chip was applied to detect the methylation frequency in the promoter region of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) gene for clinical samples from tissues, local exfoliated oral cells from a lesion, or from entire oral cavity after their methylation specific PCRs. These methylation frequencies were increased with cancer progress as the following order: healthy volunteers, oral leukoplakia as precancerous lesion, and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Operating characteristic analysis of the obtained current data doesn\u27t only give excellent discrimination ability of OSCC, but also of oral leukoplakia from healthy volunteers for all samples. Sensitivity and specificity was 95% and 90%, respectively, which is a comparable with methods in practical use

Dancing Alien, Enemy and Ally: Yuriko Amemiya's Negotiations of Race, Gender and Citizenship

This dissertation examines Yuriko Amemiya’s navigation of shifting legislation regarding race, gender, and citizenship between the 1920s and 1950s. I argue that Amemiya’s training as a dancer allowed her to construct a versatile identity equipped to traverse discriminatory conditions and confront significant changes in the social location of Japanese Americans. I consider her dance training in pre-World War II Japan and analyze performances that took place in wartime and postwar America. This project reviews the social conditions of this period, including the interwar years, as second-generation Japanese Americans sought to establish a sense of belonging up-against the enforcement of anti-Asian laws, wartime incarceration, and the postwar period during which the Cold War and the enactment of new immigration policies drastically altered the demographic of Asians in the United States. Mindful of the tensions that erupted in these decades as U.S.-Japan relations vacillated, and as Americans faced job loss, war, racial segregation, and contested definitions of immigrant and citizen, I contend that dance allowed Amemiya the opportunity to re-choreograph her image away from harmful Orientalist representations. Yet, despite her increased social mobility, she continued to confront limitations as an artist and cultural critic working within the confines of American modern dance. This examination of Amemiya’s early life as a performer reveals a complicated narrative that demonstrates the compelling ways in which a dancer negotiated restrictions and opportunities during periods of profound legislative and social change

Dancing Alien, Enemy and Ally: Yuriko Amemiya's Negotiations of Race, Gender and Citizenship

This dissertation examines Yuriko Amemiya’s navigation of shifting legislation regarding race, gender, and citizenship between the 1920s and 1950s. I argue that Amemiya’s training as a dancer allowed her to construct a versatile identity equipped to traverse discriminatory conditions and confront significant changes in the social location of Japanese Americans. I consider her dance training in pre-World War II Japan and analyze performances that took place in wartime and postwar America. This project reviews the social conditions of this period, including the interwar years, as second-generation Japanese Americans sought to establish a sense of belonging up-against the enforcement of anti-Asian laws, wartime incarceration, and the postwar period during which the Cold War and the enactment of new immigration policies drastically altered the demographic of Asians in the United States. Mindful of the tensions that erupted in these decades as U.S.-Japan relations vacillated, and as Americans faced job loss, war, racial segregation, and contested definitions of immigrant and citizen, I contend that dance allowed Amemiya the opportunity to re-choreograph her image away from harmful Orientalist representations. Yet, despite her increased social mobility, she continued to confront limitations as an artist and cultural critic working within the confines of American modern dance. This examination of Amemiya’s early life as a performer reveals a complicated narrative that demonstrates the compelling ways in which a dancer negotiated restrictions and opportunities during periods of profound legislative and social change

A case of subacute combined degeneration of the spinal cord diagnosed with difficulty due to a history of treatment for pyogenic spondylitis

Abstract Early diagnosis of spinal cord subacute combined degeneration (SCD) is difficult, especially in pre‐existing lower extremity impairment cases. We report a case of progressive SCD diagnosed after severe anemia. The peripheral symptoms of SCD other than gait disturbance should also be well understood and given close attention

Isolation and structure determination of new linear azole-containing peptides spongiicolazolicins A and B from Streptomyces sp. CWH03

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