The SUPERMAN protein is an active repressor whose carboxy-terminal repression domain is required for the development of normal flowers

AbstractSUPERMAN was identified as a putative regulator of transcription that acts in floral development, but its function remains to be clarified. We demonstrate here that SUPERMAN is an active repressor whose repression domain is located in the carboxy-terminal region. Ectopic expression of SUPERMAN that lacked the repression domain resulted in a phenotype similar to that of superman mutants, demonstrating that the repression activity of SUPERMAN is essential for the development of normal flowers. Constitutive expression of SUPERMAN resulted in a severe dwarfism but did not affect cell size, indicating that SUPERMAN might regulate genes that are involved in cell division

Seasonal variation of chemical composition of aerosols at Syowa Station, Antarctica in 2001

Antarctic aerosols collected at Syowa Station in 2001 were analyzed to investigate their seasonal variations and long-range transport of anthropogenic aerosols. The measured chemical species were elemental carbon(E.C.) and organic carbon(O.C.) using a combustion technique, SO_4^, NO_3^-, Cl^-, Na^+, NH_4^+, K^+, Ca^ and Mg^ using ion chromatographs, and metals such as Al, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn and Pb using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer. Total mass concentration of aerosols ranged from 0.366 to 2.72μg/m^3 and increased from winter to spring. The NO_3^- concentration was lower than 0.01μg/m^3 in March-July; in contrast, it was higher than 0.02μg/m^3 in August-November. Concentration of elemental carbon was relatively low in April-June and was high in March, October and November. In October and November, NO_3^- concentration was also high. Therefore, the air mass was possibly affected by biomass burning. The concentration of SO_4^- was low around 0.02μg/m^3 in May-July, and it increased to higher than 0.1μg/m^3 in August-December. The concentrations of Al, V, Co, Ni and Pb were sometimes lower than the detection limits. Nevertheless, spikes of the highest concentrations of V, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn and Pb were recorded in August-October, while V and Fe showed second spikes in March. The enrichment factors of Cr, Ni, Zn and Pb were high during 13-20 September and 12-22 October. The E.C. concentrations in these periods were also relatively higher than before and after the sampling periods. Moreover, blizzards occurred in these periods

Neuroendocrine Carcinoma of the Stomach: A Case Study

Gastric neuroendocrine carcinomas are rare and have a poor prognosis, and the diagnostic criteria for this disease have recently changed. We herein report a case of sporadic gastric neuroendocrine carcinoma. A 75-year-old man was referred to our hospital with epigastric pain. Endoscopic examination revealed a localized ulcerative lesion (diameter, 4 cm) at the upper stomach. The diagnosis on biopsy was neuroendocrine carcinoma. Total gastrectomy with D2 lymphadenectomy, splenectomy, and cholecystectomy was performed. Pathologically, the tumor infiltrated the subserosal layer, and 6/49 lymph nodes were involved. The tumor was uniform in shape and arranged in a rosette-like structure to form solid nests, with medium-sized, round-to-cuboid-shaped tumor cells and intense mitosis 46/10 HPF. It was positive for synaptophysin and chromogranin A, and the Ki-67 labeling index was 70–80%. The diagnosis of neuroendocrine carcinoma was made according to the WHO 2010 criteria. The patient was followed up for three years without recurrence

Late presented congenital myasthenic syndrome with novel compound heterozygous CHRNE mutations mimicking seronegative myasthenia gravis

We found a late presented congenital myasthenic syndrome (CMS) patient with novel CHRNE gene mutations. Although our patient has shown blepharoptosis since youth, fatigable muscle weakness began at age 71. Genetic analysis revealed novel compound heterozygous CHRNE mutations (c.1032+2T>G, c.1306_1307 delGA). His myasthenic symptoms were well managed by oral anti‐cholinesterase drug until he died at 82‐year‐old. The present case showed mild myasthenic symptoms with very late presentation and slow progression. Late presented CMS is often underdiagnosed; therefore, genetic testing is important to distinguish it from other myasthenic disease

Clinical and Pathological Benefits of Edaravone for Alzheimer's Disease with Chronic Cerebral Hypoperfusion in a Novel Mouse Model

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH) often coexist in dementia patients in aging societies. The hallmarks of AD including amyloid-β (Aβ)/phosphorylated tau (pTau) and pathology-related events such as neural oxidative stress and neuroinflammation play critical roles in pathogenesis of AD with CCH. A large number of lessons from failures of drugs targeting a single target or pathway on this so complicated disease indicate that disease-modifying therapies targeting multiple key pathways hold potent potential in therapy of the disease. In the present study, we used a novel mouse model of AD with CCH to investigate a potential therapeutic effect of a free radical scavenger, Edaravone (EDA) on AD with CCH via examining motor and cognitive capacity, AD hallmarks, neural oxidative stress, and neuroinflammation. Compared with AD with CCH mice at 12 months of age, EDA significantly improved motor and cognitive deficits, attenuated neuronal loss, reduced Aβ/pTau accumulation, and alleviated neural oxidative stress and neuroinflammation. These findings suggest that EDA possesses clinical and pathological benefits for AD with CCH in the present mouse model and has a potential as a therapeutic agent for AD with CCH via targeting multiple key pathways of the disease pathogenesis

A pneumococcal meningoencephalitis with a small spleen

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major cause of bacterial meningitis usually in children or elder adults. We report a case of a 38-year-old man having pneumococcal meningoencephalitis with a small spleen (35 cm(3)), compared to seven previous patients with pneumococcal meningitis in our department. Among the eight patients, four cases were due to sinusitis, but the origin could not be identified in the other four cases, including the present case who was the youngest patient with the smallest splenic size. Of interest in the present analysis was the negative or positive correlation between splenic size and age, with or without sinusitis. This is the first report on pneumococcal meningoencephalitis that takes into consideration age, splenic size, and the origin of infection

A case of esophageal cancer with mesojejunal lymph node metastasis after total gastrectomy

A 56-year-old man was diagnosed with esophageal cancer by upper gastrointestinal endoscopy for examination of dysphagia. The patient had undergone total gastrectomy and jejunal interposition 4 years previously for a gastric cancer at the pT1N0M0 stage according to the UICC-TNM classification. Enhanced CT findings revealed a 3-cm-diameter mass located near the superior mesenteric artery. We conducted subtotal esophagectomy associated with partial jejunectomy including mesojejunectomy. The mass was histologically diagnosed to be mesojejunal lymph node metastasis from esophageal cancer. Mesojejunal lymph node metastasis from esophageal cancer developing after total gastrectomy has been reported in only three cases including ours. The present lymph node metastases may have occurred via the newly developed lymphatic drainage route through the esophagojejunostomy, and this metastatic lymph node can be considered the regional lymph node. Therefore, resection of the interposed jejunal limb with mesojejunectomy may be rational in surgery on esophageal cancer developing after total gastrectomy

ショウワキチ デ カンソク サレタ タイキ エアロゾル チュウ ノ キンゾク セイブン オヨビ タンソ セイブン ノ キセツ ヘンドウ

南極大気中のエアゾロルの季節変動や人為起源エアロゾルの長距離輸送の影響を調べるために,昭和基地において大気エアロゾルを捕集し分析した.測定した化学種は,元素状炭素および有機性炭素,金属成分としてAl,V,Cr,Mn,Fe,Co,Ni,Zn,そしてPbである.元素状炭素の濃度は4-6月にかけて相対的に低く,3月,10月そして11月に高かった.Al,V,Co,Ni,Pbの濃度は検出限界以下であることが多かった.V,Cr,Fe,Co,Ni,Zn,Pbの濃度は8-10月に突出した最高濃度を記録した.人間活動による南極大気中のエアロゾルの組成への影響を評価するため,各金属成分の濃縮係数を計算した.濃縮係数はブリザードが観測された期間に高くなる傾向を示したことから,低気圧擾乱に伴い人為起源エアロゾルを含む気塊が南極大陸まで輸送された可能性が考えられる.Antarctic aerosols collected at Syowa Station in 2001 were analyzed to investigate their seasonal variations and long-range transport of anthropogenic aerosols. The measured chemical species were elemental carbon and organic carbon, and metals such as Al, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn and Pb. Concentration of elemental carbon was relatively low in April-June and was high in March, October and November. The concentrations of Al, V, Co, Ni and Pb were sometimes lower than the detection limits. Spikes of the highest concentrations of V, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn and Pb were recorded in August-October. The enrichment factors were high during blizzards. This indicates that air masses containing anthropogenic aerosols were transported to Antarctica by low-pressure system perturbation