Analyses of Oviductal Pars Recta-Induced Fertilizability of Coelomic Eggs in Xenopus laevis

AbstractThe acquisition of fertilizability in coelomic eggs of Xenopus laevis has been shown to be correlated with the physical, biochemical, and ultrastructural alterations of the egg envelope [coelomic envelope (CE)] induced during the passage of eggs through the pars recta portion of the oviduct. However, no direct evidence that the pars recta renders eggs fertilizable has yet been presented. In this study, we show that coelomic eggs are highly fertilizable when they are incubated with continuous shaking for 4 h at 15°C in pars recta extract (PRE) derived from females prestimulated by pregnant mare serum gonadotropin. The PRE from pituitary-stimulated Bufo japonicus was as potent as homologous PRE in rendering Xenopus eggs fertilizable. Incubation of coelomic eggs in PRE for 30 min induced a dramatic increase in the rates of sperm binding to the envelope to a level equivalent to that exhibited by the envelope from uterine eggs (VEs). The CE-to-VE ultrastructural conversion and a 43k-to-41k hydrolysis of the envelope glycoprotein component started 5 min after, and were completed by 15 min after, the start of incubation in PRE and were accompanied by an exposure of a new N-terminal sequence typical to gp41. Thus, the biochemical and ultrastructural conversions and the sperm-binding activity of the envelope induced by PREs, although being prerequisite, were not sufficient to render coelomic eggs fully accessible to fertilizing sperm

Conophylline Suppresses Hepatic Stellate Cells and Attenuates Thioacetamide-induced Liver Fibrosis in Rats

学位記番号：医博甲146

Spin, charge and orbital fluctuations in a multi-orbital Mott insulator

The two-orbital degenerate Hubbard model with distinct hopping integrals is studied by combining dynamical mean-field theory with quantum Monte Carlo simulations. The role of orbital fluctuations for the nature of the Mott transition is elucidated by examining the temperature dependence of spin, charge and orbital susceptibilities as well as the one-particle spectral function. We also consider the effect of the hybridization between the two orbitals, which is important particularly close to the Mott transition points. The introduction of the hybridization induces orbital fluctuations, resulting in the formation of a Kondo-like heavy-fermion behavior, similarly to $f$ electron systems, but involving electrons in bands of comparable width.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure

A 90-day Feeding Toxicity Study of l-Serine in Male and Female Fischer 344 Rats

A subchronic feeding study of l-serine (l-Ser) was conducted with groups of 10 male and 10 female Fischer 344 rats fed a powder diet containing 0, 0.06, 0.5, 1.5 or 5.0% concentrations of l-Ser for 90 days. There were no toxicologically significant, treatment-related changes with regards to body weight, food intake, water intake or urinalysis data. In several of the hematology, serum biochemistry and organ weight parameters, significant changes were observed between some of the treated groups and the controls. All these changes, however, were subtle and lacked any corresponding pathological findings. In addition, the increased or decreased values remained within the range of the historical control values. In fact, histopathological assessment revealed only sporadic and/or spontaneous lesions. In conclusion, the no-observed-adverse-effect-level (NOAEL) for l-Ser was, therefore, determined to be at least a dietary dose of 5.0% (2765.0 mg/kg body weight/day for males and 2905.1 mg/kg body weight/day for females) under the present experimental conditions

RVS for small lesion in hepatectomy

Background : Systemic chemotherapy can drastically downsize metastatic liver tumors and these small liver lesions could sometimes be difficult for surgeons to detect during hepatectomy. We assessed the usefulness of intraoperative real-time virtual sonography (RVS) with contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) using ‘Sonazoid’ contrast agent (RVS-CEUS). Methods : We performed the intraoperative RVS-CEUS technique on 10 tumor lesions in six cases, which were scheduled for hepatic resection of < 10 mm in diameter in our liver metastases series. These lesions were preoperatively diagnosed by contrast enhanced-computed tomography (CE-CT) or Gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (EOB-MRI). We assessed the detectability of a tumor with RVS-CEUS during surgery and compared it with that of preoperative CE-CT or EOB-MRI. Results : Detectability of RVS-CEUS for 10 small lesions was 90% (n = 9/10) and that of other preoperative modalities were 50% (n = 5/10, CE-CT) and 100% (n = 10/10, EOB-MRI). Minimum tumor size detected was 3.0 mm in diameter, and maximum depth of detection with RVS-CEUS was 43.5 mm ; these results could be an advantage when compared with other intraoperative diagnostic modalities. Conclusion : Intraoperative RVS-CEUS was useful for detecting small metastatic liver lesions after chemotherapy and could be an effective intraoperative diagnostic technique for hepatic resection of a size < 10 mm

Risk factors for an additional port in single-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy in patients with cholecystitis

Although single-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy is now widely performed in patients with cholecystitis, some cases require an additional port to complete the procedure. In this study, we focused on risk factor of additional port in this surgery. We performed single-incision cholecystectomy in 75 patients with acute cholecystitis or after cholecystitis between 2010 and 2014 at Gunma University Hospital. Surgical indications followed the TG13 guidelines. Our standard procedure for single-incision cholecystectomy routinely uses two needlescopic devices. We used logistic regression analysis to identify the risk factors associated with use of an additional full-size port (5 or 10 mm). Surgical outcome was acceptable without biliary injury. Nine patients (12.0%) required an additional port, and one patient (1.3%) required conversion to open cholecystectomy because of severe adhesions around the cystic duct and common bile duct. In multivariate analysis, high C-reactive protein (CRP) values (>7.0 mg/dl) during cholecystitis attacks were significantly correlated with the need for an additional port (P = 0.009),with a sensitivity of 55.6%, specificity of 98.5%, and accuracy of 93.3%. This study indicated that the severe inflammation indicated by high CRP values during cholecystitis attacks predicts the need for an additional port