Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd mineral isochron ages of a pegmatitic gneiss from Oku-iwa Rock, Lutzow-Holm Complex, East Antarctica

Oku-iwa Rock is located in the transitional zone between granulite- and amphibolite-facies metamorphic zones in the Lutzow-Holm Complex (LHC), East Antarctica. Hornblende biotite (HB) gneiss widely outcrops in the northern part of this area. Sm-Nd and Rb-Sr mineral isochron ages obtained from pegmatitic HB gneiss are 578±36Ma and 431±14Ma with initial isotopic ratios of 0.511892±0.000040 and 0.70718±0.00038, respectively. The former mineral isochron age is consistent with the Rb-Sr whole rock isochron age of the HB gneiss (583Ma). The latter age is close to the previously published Rb-Sr mineral isochron age of granitic rocks (418Ma) in Oku-iwa Rock, implying that these ages represent the time when the rocks cooled down to the closure temperature of biotite. The granodioritic precursor formed at 674Ma was gradually cooled down and its temperature reached 700°C at 583Ma based on a previous report. Temperature of the HB gneiss rose at 578Ma by injection of source material for the pegmatitic HB gneiss and rose again at 529Ma (SHRIMP U-Pb zircon age) by regional metamorphism. At 485Ma, the temperature of the gneisses rose for the third time by intrusion of granitic rocks. After the intrusion, the constituent rocks of Oku-iwa Rock gradually cooled by uplifting and the temperature reached 310°C at 431Ma

Geochemistry of the pre/syn-metamorphic granite in the Ongul Islands, East Antarctica

Latest Proterozoic to Early Paleozoic pre/syn- and post-metamorphic granites occur in the Lutzow-Holm Complex (LHC), East Antarctica. The pre/syn-metamorphic granites in the Ongul Islands consist of biotite hornblende (BH) granite and garnet biotite hornblende (GBH) granite. The Rb-Sr whole rock isochron age of 580±23Ma with an initial ^(87)Sr/^(86)Sr ratio of 0.70784±0.00059 is obtained from the BH granite. This age is slightly older than SHRIMP U-Pb zircon and CHIME monazite metamorphic ages (520-550Ma) from the complex. The BH granite has lower aluminum saturation index than the GBH granite. The pre/syn-metamorphic granites have a wide variation of εSr and εNd values at 580m.y. before the present, and the BH granite has lower εSr_(580Ma) and higher εNd_(580Ma) values than the GBH granite. One end of the variations in the ε diagram is close to the values of the mafic to intermediate metamorphic rocks in the island; the other is close to those of the old continental crust. These geochemical and isotopic features suggest that the PSMGs were originated by mixing between magma derived from mafic to intermediate metamorphic rocks and old continental crust

Factors Associated with Cognitive Decline in Elderly Diabetics

www.karger.com/dee This is an Open Access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License (www.karger.com/OA-license), applicable to the online version of the article only. Distribution for non-commercial purposes only.

Narrowing Down the Mapping of Plant Sex-Determination Regions Using New Y-Chromosome-Specific Markers and Heavy-Ion Beam Irradiation-Induced Y-Deletion Mutants in Silene latifolia

Silene latifolia is a well-studied model system for plant XY sex determination. Three maleness factors are thought to function on the Y chromosome, gynoecium suppression factor (GSF), stamen-promoting factor (SPF), and male fertility factor (MFF), and their deletions result in hermaphrodites, anther defects, and pollen defects, respectively. Although a framework map of the Y chromosome exists, the sex determination genes have not been identified, and no markers close enough to potentially be used for BAC library screening are yet available. The analysis of Y deletion mutants by Y-chromosome-specific STS markers is an efficient way to isolate sex determination regions, but more Y-specific STS markers are needed to accelerate the exploration of sex determination factors. Herein, we report a marker design method that uses simple sequence repeats, which is especially effective on the Y chromosome of S. latifolia because it contains many simple sequence repeats. Six new Y-chromosome-specific STS markers were obtained, SmicSy1–6. These were used to detect relatively small Y deletion sites in heavy-ion beam irradiation-induced mutants. The mapping of male sex determination regions was narrowed down by using more markers and smaller-sized Y deletion mutants. One new marker, SmicSy6, is a proximal marker to SPF and, thus, a second index for SPF. The region including SPF is thought to be located between two SPF proximal markers. The flower phenotype correlates with the deletion size of SPF using SPF proximal markers. These findings represent new progress in isolating the sex determination factor, which has been studied for more than 50 years

Imaging tools for mediastinal cystic lesions

Objective : To identify and differentiate patients with mediastinal cysts from those with cystic tumors requiring surgery. Methods : A total of 36 patients with mediastinal cystic lesions were enrolled. The patients were separated into two groups based on pathological findings : those with mediastinal cysts (n=23) and those with mediastinal tumors (n=13). The cystic components were measured using imaging parameters including mean computed tomography (CT) value, apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), T1 signal intensity ratio (T1SI-ratio), and T2 signal intensity ratio (T2SI-ratio), acquired from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) ; and standardized maximum uptake value (SUVmax) from 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT). Both groups were statistically compared. Results : Comparative parameters between the cysts and tumors revealed the following ratios : CT value, 40.9±21.2 versus (vs) 24.8±12.9 (p = 0.019) ; SUVmax, 1.18±0.50 vs 4.32±3.52 (p = 0.003) ; ADC, 3.46±0.96 vs 2.68±0.74 (p = 0.022) ; T1SI-ratio, 1.06±0.60 vs 1.35±0.92 (p = 0.648) ; T2SI-ratio, 5.40±1.80 vs 4.33±1.58 (p = 0.194). However, there was no correlation between FDG uptake and ADC value. Conclusions : SUVmax from 18F-FDG PET/CT and ADC derived from MRI were effective in facilitating preoperative diagnosis to differentiate mediastinal cysts from tumors. However, these examinations may be complementary to one another, not dominant

LPA, C1P, and S1P in IPF

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is the most common idiopathic interstitial pneumonias. Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) and sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) are signaling lipids that evoke growth factor-like responses to many cells. Recent studies revealed the involvement of LPA and S1P in the pathology of IPF. In this study, we determined LPA, S1P and ceramide 1-phosphate (C1P) in peripheral blood plasma of IPF patients, and examined correlation to the vital capacity of lung (VC), an indicator of development of fibrosis. Blood plasma samples were taken from eleven patients with IPF and seven healthy volunteers. The lipids of the sample were extracted and subjected to liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for analysis. Results showed that there is a significant negative correlation between VC and plasma LPA levels, indicating that IPF patients with advanced fibrosis had higher concentration of LPA in their plasma. Average of S1P levels were significantly higher in IPF patients than those in healthy subjects. Although it is not statistically significant, a similar correlation trend that observed in LPA levels also found between VC and S1P levels. These results indicated that plasma LPA and S1P may be associated with deterioration of pulmonary function of IPF patients

A Case of Autoimmune Hepatitis Associated with Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura and Chronic Thyroiditis

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is frequently associated with extrahepatic autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogren\u27s syndrome, and chronic thyroiditis, but the association with idiopathic (immune) thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is rare. We report a 46-year-old Japanese woman who presented with severe thrombocytopenia, elevated levels of aminotransferases, immunoglobulin (Ig) G, and platelet-associated IgG (PAIgG), positive anti-nuclear antibody, and hypothyroidism. After a diagnosis of coexisting AIH, ITP, and chronic thyroiditis, the patient was treated with 30 mg/day of prednisolone orally. The patient responded to such treatment: showing an increase in the number of platelets and decrease of serum levels of aminotransferases, IgG, and PAIgG to within normal ranges. Discrimination of ITP from liver cirrhosis as a cause of severe thrombocytopenia seen in chronic liver disease is important because complications and therapy are quite different. Prednisolone as a treatment for All should be also effective for ITP, and therefore, ITP should be considered when liver dysfunction is accompanied by severe thrombocytopenia, particularly in the autoimmune types of liver diseases

A Case Control Association Study and Cognitive Function Analysis of Neuropilin and Tolloid-Like 1 Gene and Schizophrenia in the Japanese Population

BACKGROUND: Using a knock-out mouse model, it was shown that NETO1 is a critical component of the NMDAR complex, and that loss of Neto1 leads to impaired hippocampal long term potentiation and hippocampal-dependent learning and memory. Moreover, hemizygosity of NETO1 was shown to be associated with autistic-like behavior in humans. PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH: We examined the association between schizophrenia and the neuropilin and tolloid-like 1 gene (NETO1). First, we selected eight single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the NETO1 locus, based on the Japanese schizophrenia genome wide association study (JGWAS) results and previously conducted association studies. These SNPs were genotyped in the replication sample comprised of 963 schizophrenic patients and 919 healthy controls. We also examined the effect of associated SNPs on scores in the Continuous Performance Test and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test Keio version (schizophrenic patients 107, healthy controls 104). RESULTS: There were no significant allele-wise and haplotype-wise associations in the replication analysis after Bonferroni correction. However, in meta-analysis (JGWAS and replication dataset) three association signals were observed (rs17795324: p = 0.028, rs8098760: p = 0.017, rs17086492: p = 0.003). These SNPs were followed up but we could not detect the allele-specific effect on cognitive performance measured by the Continuous performance test (CPT) and Wisconsin Card Sorting test (WCST). MAJOR CONCLUSIONS: We did not detect evidence for the association of NETO1 with schizophrenia in the Japanese population. Common variants within the NETO1 locus may not increase the genetic risk for schizophrenia in the Japanese population. Additionally, common variants investigated in the current study did not affect cognitive performance, as measured by the CPT and WCST