PCR in the diagnosis of cutaneous tuberculosis

Seeking to improve the laboratory diagnosis of Cutaneous Tuberculosis, a study was carried out on the application of PCR technique in macerated, decontaminated (with 4% H2SO4 for elimination of normal microbiot), neutralized (with 4% NaOH) biopsies tissues samples stored at -20°C. Of the 37 samples submitted for study, 16.22% were positive by microscopy for acid-fast bacilli (concentrated method) and in 43.24% the Mycobacterium tuberculosis was isolated in Löwenstein-Jensen medium. Using a M. tuberculosis complex specific primer set (gene sequence for 16S rDNA), the mycobacterial DNA was detected in 24.32% of the biopsies. The sensitivity and specificity of PCR were 43.7% and 90.4%, respectively. Due to low sensitivity and discrepant results between bacteriological techniques and PCR methodology, the samples were repeated in a new PCR with primers for the IS6110 target. The sensitivity and specificity of PCR for the IS6110 target obtained 100% in comparison with the culture method. The results confirm the effectiveness of PCR methodology using primers for the IS6110 gene sequence and permit the PCR method to be applied to frozen cutaneous biopsies sent by services that do not identify the M. tuberculosis by the biology molecular method

Annual report by The Japanese Association for Thoracic Surgery

All data regarding cardiovascular surgery and thoracic surgery were obtained from NCD, whereas data regarding esophageal surgery were collected from survey questionnaire by The Japanese Association for Thoracic Surgery forms because NCD of esophageal surgery does not include non-surgical cases (i.e., patients with adjuvant chemotherapy or radiation alone). Based on the change in data aggregation, there are several differences between this 2015 annual report and previous annual reports: the number of institutions decreased in each category from 578 (2014) to 568 (2015) in cardiovascular, from 762 to 714 in general thoracic and from 626 to 571 in esophageal surgery. Because more than two departments in the same institute registered their data to NCD individually, we cannot calculate correct number of institutes in this survey. Then, the response rate is not indicated in the category of cardiovascular surgery (Table 1), and the number of institutions classified by the operation number is also not calculated in the category of cardiovascular surgery (Table 2)

Identification of a novel uterine leiomyoma GWAS locus in a Japanese population

Uterine leiomyoma is one of the most common gynaecologic benign tumours, but its genetic basis remains largely unknown. Six previous GWAS identified 33 genetic factors in total. Here, we performed a two-staged GWAS using 13,746 cases and 70,316 controls from the Japanese population, followed by a replication analysis using 3,483 cases and 4,795 controls. The analysis identified 9 significant loci, including a novel locus on 12q23.2 (rs17033114, P = 6.12 × 10−25 with an OR of 1.177 (1.141-1.213), LINC00485). Subgroup analysis indicated that 5 loci (3q26.2, 5p15.33, 10q24.33, 11p15.5, 13q14.11) exhibited a statistically significant effect among multiple leiomyomas, and 2 loci (3q26.2, 10q24.33) exhibited a significant effect among submucous leiomyomas. Pleiotropic analysis indicated that all 9 loci were associated with at least one proliferative disease, suggesting the role of these loci in the common neoplastic pathway. Furthermore, the risk T allele of rs2251795 (3q26.2) was associated with longer telomere length in both normal and tumour tissues. Our findings elucidated the significance of genetic factors in the pathogenesis of leiomyoma