Beneficial effect of donor-specific blood transfusions (DST) on living-related kidney allograft survival.

The survival rate of 19 patients who underwent living-related kidney transplantation after donor-specific blood transfusions (DST) was compared with that of 32 historical controls receiving transplants without DST. The graft survival rate of the DST group was 82% after two and three years. The graft survival rate of the DST group was significantly better than the 53% rate after two years obtained with the 32 historical controls (p less than 0.05). We tested sera from 16 DST-treated recipients to study the beneficial effect of DST on kidney allograft survival using the mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC) serum inhibition test. The results demonstrated that MLC inhibitory factors were induced in the serum of the recipient after completion of DST. This inhibition of MLC was observed by treatment of responder lymphocytes with serum obtained three weeks after DST plus rabbit complement. The inhibitory effect was also specific for responder cells in anti-donor MLC. Regarding the correlation with rejection episodes, these MLC inhibitory factors were often observed in the non-rejection group (p less than 0.05). The data suggest that such factors may be anti-idiotypic antibodies and be associated with prolonged graft survival.</p

Making Peer Relationship in the Play Session of 5-year-old Children : A Preliminary Study

In this study, 32 5-year-olds were observed during controlled play sessions, where four same-sex children unfamiliar to each other played together with two adults guiding their play. Sessions were first begun with parents of children, and included separation from parents, Japanese traditional play, two-times unattended free play, and interviews immediately after play. There children were measured and rated by observers in extent they participated in the play. On separation, children coded if they accepted dismissal of their parents. In Japanese traditional play, children were rated their achievement for taking two different roles, a leading role, and a herd-like role. Additionally they were measured in their amounts of locomotion during the unattended play. The results showed several tendencies about children’s participation to play. First, their locomotion during the unattended play generally increased from the first unattended play to the second, suggesting that they adjusted their behavior during the session. Moreover, their increment was related to the descriptions on the groups by an adult who had guided their play; groups whose increment of locomotion was relatively large had the description that the group consisted of one leading child and children who followed him or her, and the other groups did not. Secondly, their achievement for the leading role in the traditional play was correlated with positive impressions of that play stated by children on interviews, but the herd role was not, although those two different types of roles were correlated. These results are discussed in terms of the possibility to measure children's attendance at groups quantitatively and objectively

The Mechanism for Primordial Germ-Cell Migration Is Conserved between Japanese Eel and Zebrafish

Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are segregated and specified from somatic cells during early development. These cells arise elsewhere and have to migrate across the embryo to reach developing gonadal precursors. Several molecules associated with PGC migration (i.e. dead-end, nanos1, and cxcr4) are highly conserved across phylum boundaries. However, since cell migration is a complicated process that is regulated spatially and temporally by multiple adaptors and signal effectors, the process is unlikely to be explained by these known genes only. Indeed, it has been shown that there are variations in PGC migration pattern during development among teleost species. However, it is still unclear whether the actual mechanism of PGC migration is conserved among species. In this study, we studied the migration of PGCs in Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica) embryos and tested the migration mechanism between Japanese eel and zebrafish (Danio rerio) for conservation, by transplanting eel PGCs into zebrafish embryos. The experiments showed that eel PGCs can migrate toward the gonadal region of zebrafish embryos along with endogenous PGCs, even though the migration patterns, behaviors, and settlements of PGCs are somewhat different between these species. Our results demonstrate that the migration mechanism of PGCs during embryonic development is highly conserved between these two distantly related species (belonging to different teleost orders)

Effect of Methotrexate Plus Adalimumab on the Achievement of Rheumatoid Arthritis Therapeutic Goals : Post Hoc Analysis of Japanese Patients (MELODY Study)

Introduction: There is insufficient evidence regarding the appropriate dose of methotrexate (MTX) required to achieve specific treatment goals in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) receiving biologic drugs in Japan. The present study aimed to assess the dose-response effect of MTX in combination with adalimumab (ADA) to achieve low disease activity (LDA) and/or remission at 24 weeks in RA patients. Methods: This analysis used data of the ADA all-case survey in Japan (n = 7740), and 5494 patients who received ADA and MTX were classified into five groups by weighted average MTX dose (>0-3.2 were analyzed for effectiveness by MTX dose. Results: In biologic-naive patients (n = 1996/3097), LDA/remission rates increased with MTX up to 6-<8 mg/week and then plateaued at higher doses (LDA, p = 0.0440; remission, p = 0.0422). In biologic-exposed patients (n = 1101/3097), LDA/remission rates increased with MTX dose (LDA, p = 0.0009; remission p = 0.0143). The incidences of serious adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and serious infections did not differ by MTX dose, but total ADRs and infections were significantly higher (p < 0.05) with increased MTX doses. Conclusion: The appropriate MTX doses in combination with ADA to achieve LDA and/or remission at week 24 were different between biologic-naive and biologic-exposed patients with RA, suggesting that 8 mg/week of MTX would be enough for biologic-naive patients