Prognostic significance of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression in non-small cell lung cancer.

Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections of resected tumors from 90 patients were immunohistochemically studied to assess the prognostic value of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression in non-small cell lung cancer. The individual tumors were classified into groups of high, moderate or low proliferative grade, and 38 (42.2%) patients had a high grade of proliferation. No statistically significant correlations were observed between PCNA grade and TNM status, pathological stage, resectability, histological type, degree of histological differentiation. Only vascular invasion significantly correlated with proliferative grade (p &#60; 0.05). Survival analysis showed that patients with low proliferative grade tumors survived significantly longer (a 5-year survival rate of 83.3%) than those with high proliferative grade tumors (39.4%, p &#60; 0.005). Cox's multivariate analysis revealed that PCNA grade was a significant prognostic determinant of survival. These results suggest that PCNA expression provides an independent prognostic variable for patients with non-small cell lung cancer and that it may be useful to consider this factor in treatment planning.</p

SiO Maser Survey of the Inner Bar of the Galactic Bulge

We surveyed 291 MSX/2MASS infrared objects in the 7 x 2 deg area of the galactic center in the 43 GHz SiO J=1--0 v=1 and 2 maser lines, obtaining accurate radial velocities of 163 detected objects. The surveyed area is the region where the IRAS catalog is incomplete due to contamination by high source density. The objects in the present MSX/2MASS sample were chosen to have similar infrared characteristics to those of the previous SiO-maser-survey samples based on the color selected IRAS sources. The sampling based on the 2MASS catalog causes a bias to the foreside objects of the bulge due to heavy obscuration by interstellar dust; the detections are considerably leaned on the V_{lsr}<0 side. The l--v diagram reveals two conspicuous features, which were not present or tenuous in the previous studies: one feature indicating a linear velocity increase with longitude with |l|<1.5 deg, which is likely associated with the inner bar, and the other feature having considerably eccentric velocities more than those of the normal x_1-orbit family feature. The extinction-corrected K magnitudes (if used as a distance modulus) tend to show a sequential deposition of these objects along the line of sight toward the Galactic center depending on their radial velocities. The tendency that appeared in the distance measures is consistent with the bulge-bar dynamical model utilizing the periodic orbit families in the bar potential.Comment: Full high resolution figures available as NRO report No.638 at http://www.nro.nao.ac.jp/library/report/list.html. PASJ 58, No. 3 (June 25 issue in press

A case of pulmonary arterial hypertension complicated by anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis and systemic sclerosis

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare complication of ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV). We report a 37-year-old man with PAH complicated by both AAV and SSc who presented with dyspnea, cardiac enlargement, positive myeloperoxidase (MPO)-ANCA, anti-centromere antibodies, proteinuria, and urinary casts. Elevated pulmonary arterial pressure (58/22/34 mmHg) and low PAWP (2 mmHg) were confirmed by right heart catheterization. Treatment with glucocorticoids (GC) decreased urinary protein and serum MPO-ANCA; however, PAH did not respond to GC. Therefore, a combination of beraprost, bosentan, and tadalafil was needed. The differences in responses to GC suggest that the pathophysiology of nephropathy is different from that of PAH. We considered that nephropathy was associated with AAV but that PAH was associated with SSc in the present case. We discuss the pathophysiology and treatment response of PAH complicated by AAV, referring to nine past cases

Thermal diffusivity of Mg_2SiO_4, Fe_2SiO_4, and NaCl at high pressures and temperatures

The pressure and temperature variations of thermal diffusivity of poly crystalline Mg_2SiO_4 have been measured for the range 24 to 50 kb and 400° to 1300°K. Effect of the olivine‐spinel phase transition on thermal diffusivity of Fe_2SiO_4 was studied at 48.5 kb for the temperature range 350° to 650°K. Synthetic samples with grain size 1 to 5 microns were used. For the pressure range studied, the reciprocal of thermal diffusivity 1/κ of Mg_2SiO_4 increases almost linearly with temperature up to about 1200°K, as expected from the theory of phonon conduction, but is nearly constant above that temperature. The 1/κ versus temperature curve of Fe_2SiO_4 (olivine) is nearly straight up to 700°K, where it becomes slightly convex. The thermal diffusivity of NaCl is measured under similar conditions for comparison with Bridgman's data. The agreement is reasonably good. The pressure derivative ∂κ/∂P, at P = 40 kb is 1.8 × 10^)−4) cm^2/sec kb (at 700°K) and 0.8 × 10^(−4) cm^2/sec kb (at 1100°K) for Mg_2SiO_4, and 4.7 × 10^(−4) cm^2/sec kb (at 700°K) for NaCl. This pressure dependence can be explained by the theory of phonon conduction. The thermal diffusivity of Fe_2SiO_4 (spinel) is about 1.5 times that of Fe_2SiO_4 (olivine) over the range 350° to 650°K. The effect of radiative heat transfer in Mg_2SiO_4 is discussed. The photon mean free path is estimated to be 0.3 mm at 1400°K

SiO Maser Forest at the Galactic Center

A moderately deep survey of stellar maser sources toward the Galactic center has been made in the SiO J=1-0 v=1 and v=2 transitions (~ 43 GHz) with the Nobeyama 45-m telescope of a beam size of about 40". At the Galactic center (Sgr A*), 7 (4 new) SiO maser sources were detected in one beam. In order to investigate the spatial distribution of SiO maser sources, we have also observed the offset positions by +- 40" in Galactic longitude from the Galactic center. In total, 7 (4 new) SiO maser sources were detected at the offset positions. Taking into account the shorter integration time at the offset positions, we find that the surface number density of SiO maser sources is nearly constant at the Galactic center. The number density of SiO maser sources is found to be an order of magnitude higher than the density of OH 1612 MHz objects. A radial-velocity gradient in Galactic longitude was not detected. These facts indicate that the SiO maser sources seen toward the Galactic center are mostly associated with the stellar population of a Galactic stellar nuclear disk of more than a few arc minute radius.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure, Astrophysical Journal (Letters) in pres

Methanol and Butanol Extracts of Paeonia lutea

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is one of the most common cancers of the head and neck region worldwide and is generally treated surgically in combination with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. However, anticancer agents have numerous serious side effects, and alternative, less toxic agents that are effective as chemotherapeutics for SCC are required. The Paeoniaceae family is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine. We examined methanol and butanol extracts of Paeonia lutea (P. lutea) leaves for their potential as an anticancer agent. Both extracts decreased the proliferation of SCC cells, induced apoptotic cell death, and modulated migration, adhesion, chemotaxis, and haptotaxis in an extracellular matrix- (ECM-) dependent manner due to altered expression of several integrin subunits. Subsequently, SCC cells were subcutaneously transplanted into athymic nude mice; the extracts reduced the metastasis of SCC cells but had little effect on the volume of the primary tumor or survival or body weight of the mice. The results suggest that the extracts may hold promise for preventing cancer metastasis