Clinical and histological observations of chorioepithelioma and hydatidiform mole

1. Clinical and histological evaluation of so-called chorioepithelioma malignum and hydatidiform mole has been made on the cases treated at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Okayama University Hospital during the 20year period friom 1939 to 1958. 2. CC has been confirmed to be a poor risk in the treatment than CA and SE. 3. The two-year cure rate and the five-year cure rate yield an approximate value in each of CC, CA and SE, so that the two-year survival would be an ideal index for determination of the prognosis. 4. It may be pointed out that CC would indicate a tendency of a higher gonadotropin content suggestive of the poor prognosis, provided the disease contain a greater number of La-cells comparing to Sy-cells. 5. Metastasis of CA is not so infrequent as has been formerly believed, and there were two cases, which proved to be a typical SE and had metastasis to the vaginal wall. 6. Concerning the last labor preceding the chorioepithelioma, it has been clarified that the disease occurs more frequently following spontaneous abortion rather than after artificial abortion. 7. It is noted that the mole showing a marked proliferation of the trophoblasts entailed CC. However, in order to evaluate a correlation of the histological findings of the mole with chance occurrence of the subsquent CC, further study on the cases is required.</p

Magnon scattering processes and low temperature resistivity in CMR manganites

Low temperature resistivity of CMR manganites is investigated. At the ground state, conduction electrons are perfectly spin polarized, which is called half-metallic. From one-magnon scattering processes, it is discussed that the resistivity of a half metal as a function of temperature scales as rho(T) - rho(0) propto T^3. We take (Nd,Tb,Sr)MnO_3 as an example to compare theory and experiments. The result is in a good agreement.Comment: To appear in Proc. ICM 200

Filling dependence of a new type of charge ordered liquid on a triangular lattice system

We study the recently reported characteristic gapless charge ordered state in a spinless fermion system on a triangular lattice under strong inter-site Coulomb interactions. In this state the charges are spontaneously divided into solid and liquid component, and the former solid part aligns in a Wigner crystal manner while the latter moves among them like a pinball. We show that such charge ordered liquid is stable over a wide range of filling, $1/3<n<2/3$, and examine its filling dependent nature.Comment: 3 pages 3 figure

Cytological analysis of glycogen-rich carcinoma of the breast : report of two cases

Background : Glycogen-rich carcinoma is a rare special histologic subtype of breast cancer and its incidence is estimated to be 1.4% in breast malignancies. However, its precise characteristics in cytological specimens have not yet been fully clarified. Case : Fifty-nine-year-old and 53-year-old women underwent fine-needle aspiration biopsy cytology (FNABC) of a breast tumor, confirming malignancy. A mastectomy with axillary dissection was performed. Cytologically, a moderate amount of eosinophilic, finely granular cytoplasm was seen in the majority of the tumor cells, however, foamy and vacuolated cytoplasm was noted in some tumor cells. Histologically, the tumor cells of both cases had clear and granular cytoplasm, which showed a positive reaction with periodic acid-Schiff, eliminated by diastase. Conclusion : While clear cytoplasm in the tumor cells in the FNABC seemed to be a pivotal cytological characteristic of glycogen-rich carcinoma, it may not be a major component of cytological specimens. Routine periodic acid-Schiff staining may be required to diagnose glycogen-rich carcinoma in cytological methods

Implication of Plaque Color Classification for Assessing Plaque Vulnerability A Coronary Angioscopy and Optical Coherence Tomography Investigation

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between plaque color evaluated by coronary angioscopy and fibrous cap thickness estimated by optical coherence tomography (OCT) in vivo.BackgroundYellow color intensity of coronary plaque evaluated by coronary angioscopy might be associated with plaque vulnerability.MethodsSeventy-seven coronary artery plaques in patients with acute coronary syndrome were observed by angioscopy and OCT. Plaque color was graded as white, light yellow, yellow, or intensive yellow.ResultsThere were significant differences among the groups classified by plaque color with respect to the fibrous cap thickness estimated by OCT: 389 ± 74 μm in white plaques, 228 ± 51 μm in light yellow plaques, 115 ± 28 μm in yellow plaques, and 59 ± 14 μm in intensive yellow plaques (p &lt; 0.0001). In Spearman rank-order correlation analysis, there was a significant negative correlation between yellow color intensity and fibrous cap thickness (p &lt; 0.0001). Furthermore, 80% of intensive yellow plaques were thin cap fibroatheroma with a cap thickness of ≤65 μm.ConclusionsThe plaque color in coronary angioscopy was determined by the fibrous cap thickness, which was assessed by OCT. Although coronary angioscopy remains a specialized research tool, it might allow us to evaluate plaque vulnerability

Mao-to Prolongs the Survival of and Reduces TNF-α Expression in Mice with Viral Myocarditis

Goal of this study was to evaluate effects of Mao-to on development of myocarditis induced by encephalomyocarditis (EMC) virus in mice. Mice were randomly divided into five groups. Group N included uninfected controls (n = 18), while group A, B and C underwent intraperitoneal injection of EMC virus. Group A was administered oral saline from day 0 to day 4. Group B was administered oral Mao-to (500 mg−1 kg−1 day−1) from day 0 to day 4. Group C was administered Mao-to from day 2 to day 6. Group D was administered Mao-to from day 5 to day 10. Treated mice were followed for survival rates during 2 weeks after infection. Body weight (BW) and organ weights including heart (HW), lungs, thymus and spleen were examined on days 4, 6 and 14. Survival rate of group C (36.4%) was significantly improved compared with group A, B or D (0% of each, P < 0.05). HW and HW/BW ratio in group C was significantly (P < 0.05) lower than those in group A, B or D. Viral titers of hearts were significantly different among groups A, B and C. Cardiac expression in tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) was significantly reduced in group C in comparison with group A, B or D on day 6 by immunohistochemical study. Administration of Mao-to starting on day 2 improves mortality resulting from viral myocarditis in mice with reduced expression of cardiac TNF-α. These findings suggest that timing of Mao-to is crucial for preventing cardiac damage in mice with viral myocarditis

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

Characterization of the sequence specificity of the R1Bm endonuclease domain by structural and biochemical studies

R1Bm is a long interspersed element (LINE) inserted into a specific sequence within 28S rDNA of the silkworm genome. Of two open reading frames (ORFs) of R1Bm, ORF2 encodes a reverse transcriptase (RT) and an endonuclease (EN) domain which digests specifically both top and bottom strand of the target sequence in 28S rDNA. To elucidate the sequence specificity of EN domain of R1Bm (R1Bm EN), we examined the cleavage tendency for the target sequences, and found that 5′-A(G/C)(A/T)!(A/G)T-3′ is the consensus sequence (! = cleavage site). We also determined the crystal structure of R1Bm EN at 2.0 Å resolution. Its structure was basically similar to AP endonuclease family, but had a special β-hairpin at the edge of the DNA binding surface, which is a common feature among EN of LINEs. Point-mutations on the DNA binding surface of R1Bm EN significantly decreased the cleavage activities, but did not affect the sequence recognition in most residues. However, two mutants Y98A and N180A had altered cleavage patterns, suggesting an important role of these residues (Y98 and N180) for the sequence recognition of R1Bm EN. In addition, Y98A mutant showed another cleavage pattern, that implies de novo design of novel sequence-specific EN

Leptospirosis as a cause of fever associated with jaundice in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

BACKGROUND: Fever with jaundice is a common symptom of some infectious diseases. In public health surveillance within the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), yellow fever is the only recognized cause of fever with jaundice. However, only 5% of the surveillance cases are positive for yellow fever and thus indicate the involvement of other pathogens. Leptospira spp. are the causative agents of leptospirosis, a widespread bacterial zoonosis, a known cause of fever with jaundice. This study aimed to determine the seropositivity of anti-Leptospira antibodies among suspected yellow fever cases and map the geographical distribution of possible leptospirosis in the DRC. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study using 1,300 samples from yellow fever surveillance in the DRC from January 2017 to December 2018. Serum samples were screened for the presence of IgM against Leptospira spp. by a whole cell-based IgM ELISA (Patoc-IgM ELISA) at the Institut National de Recherche Biomedicale in Kinshasa (INRB) according to World Health Organization (WHO) guidance. Exploratory univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were undertaken to assess associations between socio-demographic factors and the presence of Leptospira IgM. RESULTS: Of the 1,300 serum samples screened, 88 (7%) showed evidence of IgM against Leptospira spp. Most positive cases (34%) were young adult males in the 20-29-year group. There were statistically significant associations between having Leptospira IgM antibodies, age, sex, and living area. Observed positive cases were mostly located in urban settings, and the majority lived in the province of Kinshasa. There was a statistically significant association between seasonality and IgM Leptospira spp. positivity amongst those living in Kinshasa, where most of the positive cases occurred during the rainy season. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that leptospirosis is likely an overlooked cause of unexplained cases of fever with jaundice in the DRC and highlights the need to consider leptospirosis in the differential diagnosis of fever with jaundice, particularly in young adult males. Further studies are needed to identify animal reservoirs, associated risk factors, and the burden of human leptospirosis in the DRC