Laser-induced reversion of photodarkening in CdS-doped glass

The effect of laser irradiation on photodarkened CdS-doped glass has been investigated as a function of the wavelength of laser light, using electron spin resonance (ESR) and time-resolved luminescence. When the wavelength of laser light is tuned to 500 nm, the intensity of the ESR signal associated with photodarkening decreases, as does the decay rate of luminescence. This indicates laser-induced reversion of photodarkening

Biopsy of cervical lymph node

Abstract Objective: This report examines 60 non-cancer patients who underwent a cervical lymph node biopsy, and discusses the value of the cervical lymph node biopsy as a diagnostic tool. Methods: Sixty patients with cervical lymph node enlargement who had lymph node biopsies at the Juntendo University between 2004 and 2007 were examined. The clinical parameters including age, size of the lymph node, white blood cell (WBC), C reactive protein (CRP), lactate dehydrase (LDH), soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2r) were measured at initial examination. Fine needle aspiration cytology was carried out in all patients. The patients were divided into 2 groups, including the malignant lymphoma (ML) group and the benign disease group. These groups were compared based on the patient's clinical parameters. Results: Serum levels of LDH, sIL-2r, age and lymph node size in the ML group were significantly higher than in the benign group. WBC and CRP showed no significant differences. Simple regression analysis showed that there are correlation between the size of enlargement lymph node and serum levels of LDH and sIL-2r in ML group. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that a biopsy should be considered early to patients with an advanced age, large swollen lymph nodes or high levels of serum sIL-2r or LDH.

Physical properties of the Dome Fuji deep ice core (review)

Recent results of physical analyses of the Dome Fuji ice core are summarized with special attention to new methods introduced in the present studies. Microphysical processes which affect the ice core records are reviewed to better understand the paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental signals stored

Myelodysplastic Syndrome-Associated SRSF2 Mutations Cause Splicing Changes by Altering Binding Motif Sequences

Serine/arginine-rich splicing factor 2 (SRSF2) is a member of the SR protein family that is involved in both constitutive and alternative mRNA splicing. Mutations in SRSF2 gene are frequently reported in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). It is imperative to understand how these mutations affect SRSF2-mediated splicing and cause MDS. In this study, we characterized MDS-associated SRSF2 mutants (P95H, P95L, and P95R). We found that those mutants and wild-type SRSF2 proteins showed nuclear localization in HeLa cells. In vitro splicing reaction also revealed that mutant proteins associated with both precursor and spliced mRNAs, suggesting that the mutants directly participate in splicing. We established the human myeloid leukemia K562 cell lines that stably expressed myc-tagged wild-type or mutant SRSF2 proteins, and then performed RNA-sequence to analyze the splicing pattern of each cell line. The results revealed that both wild-type and mutants affected splicing of approximately 3,000 genes. Although splice site sequences adjacent to the affected exons showed no significant difference compared to the total exons, exonic motif analyses with both inclusion- and exclusion-enhanced exons demonstrated that wild-type and mutants have different binding sequences in exons. These results indicate that mutations of SRSF2 in MDS change binding properties of SRSF2 to exonic motifs and this causes aberrant splicing

Rosmarinic acid is a novel inhibitor for Hepatitis B virus replication targeting viral epsilon RNA-polymerase interaction

Current therapeutics for hepatitis B virus (HBV) patients such as nucleoside analogs (NAs) are effective; however, new antiviral drugs against HBV are still desired. Since the interaction between the epsilon (c) sequence of HBV pregenomic RNA and viral polymerase (Pot) is a key step in the HBV replication cycle, we aimed to identify small compounds for its inhibition, and established a pull-down assay system for the detection of c-RNA-binding-Pol. Screening showed that 5 out of 3,965 compounds inhibited c-Pol binding, and we identified rosmarinic acid, which exhibited specificity, as a potential antiviral agent. In order to examine the anti-HBV effects of rosmarinic acid, HBV-infected primary human hepatocytes from a humanized mouse liver were treated with rosmarinic acid. The rosmarinic acid treatment decreased HBV components including the amounts of extracellular HBV DNA with negligible cytotoxicity. We also investigated the combined effects of rosmarinic acid and the NA, lamivudine. rosmarinic acid slightly enhanced the anti-HBV activity of lamivudine, suggesting that the HBV replication step targeted by rosmarinic acid is distinct from that of NA. We analyzed an additional 25 rosmarinic acid derivatives, and found that 5 also inhibited c-Pol. Structural comparisons between these derivatives implied that the "two phenolic hydroxyl groups at both ends" and the "caffeic acid-like structure" of rosmarinic acid are critical for the inhibition of c-Pol binding. Collectively, our results demonstrate that rosmarinic acid inhibits HBV replication in HBV-infected cells by specifically targeting c-Pol binding

Associations between the orexin (hypocretin) receptor 2 gene polymorphism Val308Ile and nicotine dependence in genome-wide and subsequent association studies

Impact of the HCRTR2 gene risk variant on schizotypal personality traits (mean ± SD). (DOC 54 kb