Disease-Free Interval Length Correlates to Prognosis of Patients Who Underwent Metastasectomy for Esophageal Lung Metastases

BackgroundPulmonary metastasectomy is a standard method for treatment of selected pulmonary metastases cases. Nevertheless, because prognosis for patients with lung metastases from esophageal cancer who have undergone pulmonary metastasectomy is poor, candidates for this method of treatment are rare. Therefore, the efficacy of surgical treatment for pulmonary metastatic lesions from esophageal cancer has not been thoroughly examined.MethodsBetween March 1984 and May 2006, 57 patients underwent resection of pulmonary metastases from primary esophageal cancer. These cases were registered in the database developed by the Metastatic Lung Tumor Study Group of Japan and were retrospectively reviewed from the registry. After excluding eight cases because of missing information, we reviewed the remaining 49 cases and examined the prognostic factors for pulmonary metastasectomy for metastases from esophageal cancer.ResultsThere were no perioperative deaths. After pulmonary metastasectomy, disease recurred in 16 (33%) of the 49 patients. The overall 5-year survival was 29.6%. Median survival time was 18 months. The survival of patients with a disease-free interval (DFI) less than 12 months was significantly lower than patients with a DFI greater than 12 months. Through multivariate analysis, we identified DFI as a clinical factor significantly related to overall survival (p = 0.04).ConclusionsWe identified that patients with a DFI less than 12 months who underwent pulmonary metastasectomy for metastases from esophageal cancer had a worse prognosis. Pulmonary metastasectomy for esophageal cancer should be considered for selected patients with a DFI ≥12 months

Exhaust of turbulence cloud at the tongue shaped deformation event

Exhaust of turbulence cloud at the tongue-shaped deformation which triggers MHD bursts is observed in the Large Helical Device in the low density plasma with significant contribution of trapped particles injected by perpendicular neutral beam injection. The exhaust of turbulence cloud is characterized by the abrupt large increase of turbulence amplitude in the frequency range of 150–500 kHz measured with Doppler reflectometer at the edge region of the plasma (). The increase of turbulence amplitude is significantly large and is by one order of magnitude. This abrupt increase of turbulence level is transient and disappears within one milli-second (typically  ~600 μs). In contrast, the turbulence level slightly inside the plasma edge () decreases by a factor of 2 after the MHD bursts

Imaging of radiation during impurity gas puffing in LHD

In LHD, several methods of detachment have been attempted, including impurity gaspuffing [1], and the application of an m/n=1/1 magnetic perturbation [2]. LHD is equipped with an imaging bolometer (IRVB) [3] that views the plasma from an upper port. Two scenarios are shown and compared, Ne puffing and N2 puffing. In the case of Ne puffing, radiation becomes more intense near the helical divertor X-point as the radiation increases. In the case of N2 puffing, a double stripe pattern evolves around the upper helical divertor X-point, which appears to be localized near the gas puff inlet. In addition, probe data also indicates that the drop in divertor flux with N2 is localized, while uniform with Ne

Experimental observations and modelling of radiation asymmetries during N2 seeding in LHD

N2 gas has been seeded in the Large Helical Device (LHD) to reduce the divertor heat load through enhanced radiation. Radiation is observed by two imaging bolometers, viewing the same poloidal cross-section from top and bottom ports, at a location which is 36° toroidally removed from the N2 gas puff nozzle located at the bottom of the machine. During N2 seeding, these measurements both confirm that additional radiation from the outboard side is coming exclusively from the top of the cross-section, indicating up/down asymmetry, which is also reproduced by modelling with EMC3-EIRENE using a half torus model. In addition, a toroidally localized, magnetic field direction-dependent radiation enhancement is observed with N2 seeding, but is not reproducible by the model

Development of impurity seeding and radiation enhancement in the helical divertor of LHD

Impurity seeding to reduce the divertor heat load was conducted in the large helical device (LHD) using neon (Ne) and krypton (Kr) puffing. Radiation enhancement and reduction of the divertor heat load were observed. In the LHD, the ratio between the total radiated power and the heating power, f rad = Prad/Pheating, is limited up to around 30% in hydrogen plasmas even for high density plasma just below the radiative collapse (ne, bar  >  1   ×   1020 m−3), where ne, bar is the line averaged density. With Ne seeding, the ratio could be raised to 52% at ne, bar ~ 1.3   ×   1019 m−3, albeit with a slight reduction in confinement. f rad ~ 30% could be sustained for 3.4 s using multi-pulse Ne seeding at ne, bar ~ 4   ×   1019 m−3. The localized supplemental radiation was observed along the helical divertor X-points (HDXs) which is similar to the estimated structure by the EMC3-EIRENE code. Kr seeding was also conducted at ne, bar ~ 3.1   ×   1019 m−3. f rad ~ 25% was obtained without a significant change in stored energy. The radiation enhancement had a slower time constant. The supplemental radiation area of the Kr seeded plasma moved from the HDXs to the core plasma. Highly charged states of Kr ions are considered to be the dominant radiators from the plasma core region

Divergence of evolutionary ways among common sym genes: CASTOR and CCaMK show functional conservation between two symbiosis systems and constitute the root of a common signaling pathway

In recent years a number of legume genes involved in root nodule (RN) symbiosis have been identified in the model legumes, Lotus japonicus (Lotus) and Medicago truncatula. Among them, a distinct set of genes has been categorized as a common symbiosis pathway (CSP), because they are also essential for another mutual interaction, the arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) symbiosis, which is evolutionarily older than the RN symbiosis and is widely distributed in the plant kingdom. Based on the concept that the legume RN symbiosis has evolved from the ancient AM symbiosis, one issue is whether the CSP is functionally conserved between non-nodulating plants, such as rice, and nodulating legumes. We identified three rice CSP gene orthologs, OsCASTOR, OsPOLLUX and OsCCaMK, and demonstrated the indispensable roles of OsPOLLUX and OsCCaMK in rice AM symbiosis. Interestingly, molecular transfection of either OsCASTOR or OsCCaMK could fully complement symbiosis defects in the corresponding Lotus mutant lines for both the AM and RN symbioses. Our results not only provide a conserved genetic basis for the AM symbiosis between rice and Lotus, but also indicate that the core of the CSP has been well conserved during the evolution of RN symbiosis. Through evolution, CASTOR and CCaMK have remained as the molecular basis for the maintenance of CSP functions in the two symbiosis systems

RiceFOX: A Database of Arabidopsis Mutant Lines Overexpressing Rice Full-Length cDNA that Contains a Wide Range of Trait Information to Facilitate Analysis of Gene Function

Identification of gene function is important not only for basic research but also for applied science, especially with regard to improvements in crop production. For rapid and efficient elucidation of useful traits, we developed a system named FOX hunting (Full-length cDNA Over-eXpressor gene hunting) using full-length cDNAs (fl-cDNAs). A heterologous expression approach provides a solution for the high-throughput characterization of gene functions in agricultural plant species. Since fl-cDNAs contain all the information of functional mRNAs and proteins, we introduced rice fl-cDNAs into Arabidopsis plants for systematic gain-of-function mutation. We generated >30,000 independent Arabidopsis transgenic lines expressing rice fl-cDNAs (rice FOX Arabidopsis mutant lines). These rice FOX Arabidopsis lines were screened systematically for various criteria such as morphology, photosynthesis, UV resistance, element composition, plant hormone profile, metabolite profile/fingerprinting, bacterial resistance, and heat and salt tolerance. The information obtained from these screenings was compiled into a database named ‘RiceFOX’. This database contains around 18,000 records of rice FOX Arabidopsis lines and allows users to search against all the observed results, ranging from morphological to invisible traits. The number of searchable items is approximately 100; moreover, the rice FOX Arabidopsis lines can be searched by rice and Arabidopsis gene/protein identifiers, sequence similarity to the introduced rice fl-cDNA and traits. The RiceFOX database is available at http://ricefox.psc.riken.jp/

Progress of long pulse discharges by ECH in LHD

Using ion cyclotron heating and electron cyclotron heating (ECH), or solo ECH, trials of steady state plasma sustainment have been conducted in the superconducting helical/stellarator, large helical device (LHD) (Ida K et al 2015 Nucl. Fusion 55 104018). In recent years, the ECH system has been upgraded by applying newly developed 77 and 154 GHz gyrotrons. A new gas fueling system applied to the steady state operations in the LHD realized precise feedback control of the line average electron density even when the wall condition varied during long pulse discharges. Owing to these improvements in the ECH and the gas fueling systems, a stable 39 min discharge with a line average electron density ne_ave of 1.1  ×  1019 m−3, a central electron temperature Te0 of over 2.5 keV, and a central ion temperature Ti0 of 1.0 keV was successfully performed with ~350 kW EC-waves. The parameters are much improved from the previous 65 min discharge with ne_ave of 0.15  ×  1019 m−3 and Te0 of 1.7 keV, and the 30 min discharge with ne_ave of 0.7  ×  1019 m−3 and Te0 of 1.7 keV

A case of primary solitary pulmonary plasmacytoma.

Most solitary extramedullary plasmacytomas are plasma cell tumors that tend to develop in mucosa-associated lymphoid tissues including the upper respiratory tract. We present a 43-year-old patient who was diagnosed with a solitary plasmacytoma in the lung. Primary plasmacytoma of the lung is exceedingly rare, and the treatment is surgical excision. This malignancy advances to multiple myeloma in a minority of patients. Multiple myeloma is a plasma cell malignancy that typically presents in the bone marrow