Pulmonary Cyst

Pulmonary cysts occupy an important place among diseases of the chest. and their treatment has to be considered by taking into account the pathologic condition of each disease. We have reported here the findings obtained through clinical experience of 6 cases of intrapulmonary bronchial cyst, 36 cases of giant bulla, and 127 cases of spontaneous pneumothorax, who were operated on during the past-odd 10 years at this hospital, with regard to the concept, pathologic condition, developmental mechanism, clinical symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of each disease

Slow Fetal Heart Rate before Miscarriage in the Early First Trimester Predicts Fetal Aneuploidy in Women with Recurrent Pregnancy Loss

Establishing whether miscarriages result from fetal aneuploidy or other factors is important for treating recurrent pregnancy loss. We examined the relationship between fetal heart rate (FHR) before miscarriage in the early first trimester and fetal karyotype, analyzing 223 pregnant women with recurrent pregnancy loss. Among the pregnancies, 110 resulted in live births regarded as normal karyotype (the Norm-group). The other 113 pregnancies ended in miscarriage, and we categorized them into groups based on fetal karyotype, determined by chorionic villus sampling: the Misc-NK (normal karyotype) group, n=35 euploid cases; the Misc-CA1 (chromosomal abnormality) group, n=18 cases of aneuploidy with trisomies 13/18/21, Turner’s syndrome, or Klinefelter’s syndrome; and the Misc-CA2 subgroup, n=60 cases of other aneuploidies excluding those in the Misc-CA1 group. We compared the groups’ regression line slopes and intercepts for FHR by an analysis of covariance. The FHRs of the Norm, Misc-NK and Misc-CA1 groups increased from 36 to 49 days after fertilization, but did not significantly differ across these groups. The Misc-CA2 group’s FHR did not increase and significantly differed from the other three groups (p<0.01). These results suggest that the absence of an increase in FHR in early pregnancy may indicate the presence of chromosomal abnormalities causing miscarriage

Signature of strange dibaryon in kaon-induced reaction

We examine how the signature of the strange-dibaryon resonances in the barKNN-piSigmaN system shows up in the scattering amplitude on the physical real energy axis within the framework of Alt-Grassberger-Sandhas (AGS) equations. The so-called point method is applied to handle the three-body unitarity cut in the amplitudes. We also discuss the possibility that the strange-dibaryon production reactions can be used for discriminating between existing models of the two-body barKN-piSigma system with Lambda(1405).Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, talk given at The Fifth Asia-Pacific Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics 2011 (APFB2011), held in Seoul, Korea, August 22-26, 201

Cancer activity and bleeding events post-PCI

Purpose : Limited data exist about clinically relevant bleeding events related to antiplatelet therapy after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in cancer patients. We investigated the risk factors for clinically relevant bleeding events in patients with cancer after PCI with stent implantation. Patients and Methods : Patients with solid cancer subjected to first PCI were divided into active (n = 45) and non-active cancer groups (n = 44). The active group included non-operable patients on treatment or with metastasis ; the non-active included those already subjected to or for whom radical surgery was planned within 3 months after the index PCI. Results : During a median follow-up of 2.2 years, 11 bleeding events occurred, with only one occurring in the non-active cancer group. Half of them occurred during the dual-antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) period, and the rest occurred during single-antiplatelet therapy (SAPT) period. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed significantly more bleeding events in the active cancer group (p = 0.010). Multivariate Cox regression hazard analysis revealed cancer activity as a significant independent risk factor for bleeding (p = 0.023) ; but not for three-point major adverse cardiovascular events. Conclusion : Clinically relevant bleeding risk after PCI was significantly lower in non-active cancer. Active cancer group had clinically relevant bleeding during both DAPT and SAPT periods

Two-photon spectroscopy of core excitons in barium fluoride using synchrotron radiation and laser light

We have conducted two-photon spectroscopy of core excitons in BaF2. Synchrotron radiation and laser light were used for 5p core-electron excitation and Auger-free luminescence was detected as the signal. Two-photon excitation enables access to f and p orbitals that cannot be reached by one-photon excitation of electrons in p orbitals. It has been found that the spin-orbit splittings of 4f and 6p states of the Ba ion in BaF2 are 0.7 +/- 0.1 and 1.4 +/- 0.1 eV, respectively.</p

Contribution of Caspase(s) to the Cell Cycle Regulation at Mitotic Phase

Caspases have been suggested to contribute to not only apoptosis regulation but also non-apoptotic cellular phenomena. Recently, we have reported the involvement of caspase-7 to the cell cycle progression at mitotic phase by knockdown of caspase-7 using small interfering RNAs and short hairpin RNA. Here we showed that chemically synthesized broad-spectrum caspase inhibitors, which have been used to suppress apoptosis, prevented the cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner, and that the subtype-specific peptide-based caspase inhibitor for caspase-3 and -7, but not for caspase-9, inhibited cell proliferation. It was also indicated that the BIR2 domain of X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein, functioning as an inhibitor for caspase-3 and -7, but not the BIR3 domain which plays as a caspase-9 inhibitor, induced cell cycle arrest. Furthermore, flow cytometry revealed that the cells treated with caspase inhibitors arrested at G2/M phase. By using HeLa.S-Fucci (fluorescent ubiquitination-based cell cycle indicator) cells, the prevention of the cell proliferation by caspase inhibitors induced cell cycle arrest at mitotic phase accompanying the accumulation of the substrates for APC/C, suggesting the impairment of the APC/C activity at the transition from M to G1 phases. These results indicate that caspase(s) contribute to the cell cycle regulation at mitotic phase

Immotile cilia 症候群の徴細型態学的研究

Since presentation of the concepts of the immotile cilia syndrome, much attention has been paid to function and structure of respiratory cilia, many authors have pointed out that ultrastructural abnormality of cilia was attributed to the immotility of cilia. We investigated a woman suspected of the immotile cilia syndrome by electron microscopy, cross sections of cilia obtained from respiratory tract showed lack of dynein arms, radial spokes and central sheath, moreover so-called compound cilia

Carbon ion radiotherapy for sacral chordoma

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of carbon ion radiotherapy in patients with sacral chorodma and to compare the results of carbon ion radiotherapy with those of surgical series in literature.Methods: Between 1996 and 2007, 95 patients with sacral chordoma were included in the phase I/II and phase II study of carbon ion radiotherapy for unresectable bone and soft tissue sarcomas. There were sixty-eight males and 27 females. Median age was 66 years (30-85). Eighty-four patients were presented with primary disease and 11 patients with post operative recurrent tumor. Total dose of52.8 to 73.6 GyE was given in 16 fractions over 4 weeks (4 days a week).Results: All patients completed the planned carbon ion radiotherapy. Median survival time was 42 months (13-112). Overall survival rate at 5 years (86%) in patients with sacral chordoma treated by carbon ion radiotherapy is similar to those in reported data on patients treated by surgical resection with/without adjuvant radiotherapy. Local control rate at 5years (88%) in patients with sacral chordoma treated by carbon ion radiotherapy is better than those in reported data. Median time local failure was 35 months (13-60). Four patients treated with a total dose of 73.6 GyE experienced Grade 3/4 skin/soft tissue complications. No other treatment-related surgical interventions including colostomy or urinary diversion were carried out in this series. Fifteen patients required persistent medication for peripheral neuropathy.Conclusions: Carbon ion therapy is suggested to be an effective and safe treatment for sacral chordomas, but further experience and longer follow-up are still needed.14th Annual CTOS Meetin