Posttraumatic Cranial Cystic Fibrous Dysplasia

A 14-year-old was girl admitted to our hospital with a subcutaneous mass of the occipital head. The mass had grown for 6 years, after she had sustained a head injury at the age of 6, and was located directly under a previous wound. Skull X-ray Photograph (xp), computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a bony defect and cystic changes in the skull corresponding to a subcutaneous mass. Bone scintigraphy revealed partial accumulation. The patient underwent total removal of the skull mass, and the diagnosis from the pathological findings of the cyst wall was fibrous dysplasia (FD). The radiographic findings for cystic cranial FD can be various. Progressive skull disease has been reported to be associated with head trauma, but the relationship between cranial FD and head trauma has not been previously reported. Previous studies have suggested that c-fos gene expression is a key mechanism in injury-induced FD

Effects of Oak Wilt Disease on Fungal Community Composition and Wood Decomposition in Dead Quercus serrata Trunks

departmental bulletin pape

Distribution and toxicity evaluation of ZnO dispersion nanoparticles in single intravenously exposed mice

ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) have been widely used in various commercial products. Application of ZnO NPs is expected to apply to cancer diagnosis and therapy, used as drug delivery carriers. In the present study, the lethal dose 50 (LD50) of intravenously administered ZnO NPs (0.3 mg/kg) was calculated in mice. Blood kinetics and tissue distribution of a toxic dose of ZnO NPs (0.2 mg/kg, 0.05 mg/kg) were investigated after intravenous exposure. In addition, 8-hydroxy-2’-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) was evaluated. Following the injection, ZnO NPs were rapidly removed from the blood and distributed to organs. Pulmonary emphysema was observed pathologically study in mice at 3 days after the 0.2 mg/kg dose and at 6 days after the 0.05 mg/kg dose. ZnO NPs were mainly accumulated in the lung and spleen within 60 min. From the long-term tissue distribution study, the liver showed peak concentration at 6 days, and spleen peaked at 1 day. The lungs kept high levels until 6 days. Tissue distribution and pathological study showed that the spleen, liver, and lungs are target organs for ZnO NPs. Accumulation in the liver and spleen may be due to the phagocytosis by macrophages. A dose-dependent increase in 8-OHdG was observed in mice treated with ZnO NPs. This study is the first to show information on kinetics and target organs following intravenous ZnO injection

The renin–angiotensin system promotes arrhythmogenic substrates and lethal arrhythmias in mice with non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy

[Aims]The progression of pathological left ventricular remodelling leads to cardiac dysfunction and contributes to the occurrence of malignant arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. The underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear, however. Our aim was to examine the role of the renin–angiotensin system (RAS) in the mechanism underlying arrhythmogenic cardiac remodelling using a transgenic mouse expressing a cardiac-specific dominant-negative form of neuron-restrictive silencer factor (dnNRSF-Tg). This mouse model exhibits progressive cardiac dysfunction leading to lethal arrhythmias. [Methods and results]Subcutaneous administration of aliskiren, a direct renin inhibitor, significantly suppressed the progression of pathological cardiac remodelling and improved survival among dnNRSF-Tg mice while reducing arrhythmogenicity. Genetic deletion of the angiotensin type 1a receptor (AT1aR) similarly suppressed cardiac remodelling and sudden death. In optical mapping analyses, spontaneous ventricular tachycardia (VT) and fibrillation (VF) initiated by breakthrough-type excitations originating from focal activation sites and maintained by functional re-entry were observed in dnNRSF-Tg hearts. Under constant pacing, dnNRSF-Tg hearts exhibited markedly slowed conduction velocity, which likely contributes to the arrhythmogenic substrate. Aliskiren treatment increased conduction velocity and reduced the incidence of sustained VT. These effects were associated with suppression of cardiac fibrosis and restoration of connexin 43 expression in dnNRSF-Tg ventricles. [Conclusion]Renin inhibition or genetic deletion of AT1aR suppresses pathological cardiac remodelling that leads to the generation of substrates maintaining VT/VF and reduces the occurrence of sudden death in dnNRSF-Tg mice. These findings demonstrate the significant contribution of RAS activation to the progression of arrhythmogenic substrates

Lanthanum Deposition in the Stomach: Usefulness of Scanning Electron Microscopy for Its Detection

After having been treated with lanthanum carbonate administration for 4 years for hyperphosphatemia, a 75-year-old Japanese woman undergoing hemodialysis was diagnosed with lanthanum phosphate deposition in the stomach. The deposition, seen as white microgranules, was observed using esophagogastroduodenoscopy with magnifying observation. To the best of our knowledge, these are the minutest endoscopy images of lanthanum phosphate deposition in the gastric mucosa. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation enabled easier identification of the deposited material, which was visible as bright areas. The present case suggests the usefulness of SEM observation in the detection of lanthanum phosphate deposition in the gastrointestinal tract

Replication study of the association of SNPs in the LHX3-QSOX2 and IGF1 loci with adult height in the Japanese population; wide-ranging comparison of each SNP genotype distribution

Adult height is a highly heritable trait involving multiple genes. Recent genome-wide association studies have identified that SNP rs12338076 in the LHX3-QSOX2 locus, and rs1457595 and rs17032362 in the IGF1 locus are associated with human height in the Japanese population (Okada et al. (2010)[9]). We performed a replication study to examine the associations between these three SNPs and adult height in the Japanese population based on autopsy cases. However, it was not possible to confirm that all these SNPs influenced adult height in the study population. We first conducted a wide-ranging survey of these three SNPs in the above genes using nine different populations including Asians, Africans and Caucasians, and demonstrated that the genotypes of rs12338076 and rs17032362 were distributed in an ethnicity-dependent manner; even within Asian populations, the genotype distributions of the SNPs differed widely. Although there are differences in height distribution between different populations, possibly due to genetic factors and/or gene-environmental interactions, the contradictory results of the association study and ethnic differences in genotype distribution allow us to assume that these height-related SNPs in the genes may contribute to adult height to a slight extent, at least in the Japanese population. It is anticipated that the present information will be useful for developing a reliable tool for personal identification through elucidation of the genetic basis of human height

High-resolution seismic reflection profiling across the Sone Hills fault zone, central Japan

The Sone fault is a south dipping active reverse fault, trending WNW-ESE and bounding the southern end of the Kofu basin. This fault is located between the Kofu basin and Sone hills, and has displaced several river terraces. To reveal the subsurface geometry of the Sone fault, highresolution shallow seismic profiling was performed along the 2.8-km-long Makado and 0.8-km-long Ubaguchi seismic lines. On the Unagushi section, a south dipping fault surface is clearly recognized by the discontinuity between horizontal reflectors in the north and the domain showing a chaotic pattern of reflections. On the Makado section, the south dipping Sone fault is identified between the horizontal reflectors at the basin-side and dipping reflectors at the hill-side. On both seismic lines, the fault surface dips 30 degrees southward. The trace of The Sone fault is located along the present riverbed of R. Fuefuki, some hundred meters basin-ward shift from the trace estimated from tectonic geomorphology

Beneficial Effects of Estrogen in a Mouse Model of Cerebrovascular Insufficiency

BACKGROUND: The M(5) muscarinic acetylcholine receptor is known to play a crucial role in mediating acetylcholine dependent dilation of cerebral blood vessels. Previously, we reported that male M(5) muscarinic acetylcholine knockout mice (M5R(-/-) mice) suffer from a constitutive constriction of cerebral arteries, reduced cerebral blood flow, dendritic atrophy, and short-term memory loss, without necrosis and/or inflammation in the brain. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We employed the Magnetic Resonance Angiography to study the area of the basilar artery in male and female M5R(-/-) mice. Here we show that female M5R(-/-) mice did not show the reduction in vascular area observed in male M5R(-/-) mice. However, ovariectomized female M5R(-/-) mice displayed phenotypic changes similar to male M5R(-/-) mice, strongly suggesting that estrogen plays a key role in the observed gender differences. We found that 17beta-estradiol (E2) induced nitric oxide release and ERK activation in a conditional immortalized mouse brain cerebrovascular endothelial cell line. Agonists of ERalpha, ERbeta, and GPR30 promoted ERK activation in this cell line. Moreover, in vivo magnetic resonance imaging studies showed that the cross section of the basilar artery was restored to normal in male M5R(-/-) mice treated with E2. Treatment with E2 also improved the performance of male M5R(-/-) mice in a cognitive test and reduced the atrophy of neural dendrites in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. M5R(-/-) mice also showed astrocyte swelling in cortex and hippocampus using the three-dimensional reconstruction of electron microscope images. This phenotype was reversed by E2 treatment, similar to the observed deficits in dendrite morphology and the number of synapses. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings indicate that M5R(-/-) mice represent an excellent novel model system to study the beneficial effects of estrogen on cerebrovascular function and cognition. E2 may offer new therapeutic perspectives for the treatment of cerebrovascular insufficiency related memory dysfunction

Tumor in Internal Medicine

Copia digital. Madrid : Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte. Subdirección General de Coordinación Bibliotecaria, 201