Endometrial Cancer Diagnosed by the Presence of Bone Metastasis and Treated with Zoledronic Acid: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Bone metastasis from endometrial cancer is rare. We report a case of endometrial cancer which was diagnosed by the presence of bone metastasis and treated with zoledronic acid. A 57-year-old woman complaining of progressive right hip pain consulted an orthopedist. She had no gynecologic complaints. X-rays revealed an osteolytic lesion of the right ischium. Bone scintigraphy was subsequently carried out and showed isotope accumulation in the right ischium. Computed tomography revealed an enlarged uterus; the patient consequently consulted a gynecologist. Histological sections of an endometrial biopsy showed endometrioid adenocarcinoma. Hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, as well as bone biopsy of the right ischium, were therefore carried out. A moderately differentiated endometrioid adenocarcinoma was expressed in the corpus. Histopathological examination of the bone biopsy also revealed adenocarcinoma. The final diagnosis was stage IVB endometrial cancer with bone and lung metastasis. Good pain relief was achieved due to chemotherapy. However, 2 months after completion of the chemotherapy, the patient was administered zoledronic acid because her hip pain had gradually increased. Following zoledronic acid administration, the hip pain reduced. Radiotherapy was then given for the right ischial metastasis after the ninth course of zoledronic acid therapy because the metastasis site had increased and the possibility of a pathological fracture had risen. However, the patient died 21 months after the initial treatment because of disease progression

Peptide ligand screening of α-synuclein aggregation modulators by in silico panning

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>α-Synuclein is a Parkinson's-disease-related protein. It forms aggregates <it>in vivo</it>, and these aggregates cause cell cytotoxicity. Aggregation inhibitors are expected to reduce α-synuclein cytotoxicity, and an aggregation accelerator has recently been reported to reduce α-synuclein cytotoxicity. Therefore, amyloid aggregation modulating ligands are expected to serve as therapeutic medicines.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We screened peptide ligands against α-synuclein by <it>in silico </it>panning, a method which we have proposed previously. In this study, we selected as the target a very hydrophobic region known as the amyloid-core-forming region. Since this region cannot be dissolved in water, it is difficult to carry out the <it>in vitro </it>screening of its peptide ligand. We carried out 6 rounds of <it>in silico </it>panning using a genetic algorithm and a docking simulation. After the <it>in silico </it>panning, we evaluated the top peptides screened <it>in silico </it>by <it>in vitro </it>assay. These peptides were capable of binding to α-synuclein.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We demonstrated that it is possible to screen α-synuclein-binding peptides by <it>in silico </it>panning. The screened peptides bind to α-synuclein, thus affecting the aggregation of α-synuclein.</p

Pathological and Clinical Features and Management of Central Nervous System Hemangioblastomas in von Hippel-Lindau Disease

Central nervous system (CNS) hemangioblastoma is the most common manifestation of von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease. It is found in 70-80% of VHL patients. Hemangioblastoma is a rare form of benign vascular tumor of the CNS, accounting for 2.0% of CNS tumors. It can occur sporadically or as a familial syndrome. CNS hemangioblastomas are typically located in the posterior fossa and the spinal cord. VHL patients usually develop a CNS hemangioblastoma at an early age. Therefore, they require a special routine for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. The surgical management of symptomatic tumors depends on many factors such as symptom, location, multiplicity, and progression of the tumor. The management of asymptomatic tumors in VHL patients is controversial since CNS hemangioblastomas grow with intermittent quiescent and rapid-growth phases. Preoperative embolization of large solid hemangioblastomas prevents perioperative hemorrhage but is not necessary in every case. Radiotherapy should be reserved for inoperable tumors. Because of complexities of VHL, a better understanding of the pathological and clinical features of hemangioblastoma in VHL is essential for its proper management

Dynamics of light-induced anomalous Hall effect in the three-dimensional Dirac semimetal Cd3_3As2_2

We experimentally study the dynamical behavior of the light-induced anomalous Hall effect in a three-dimensional Dirac semimetal, Cd$_3$As$_2$. An ultrashort, circularly polarized, multi-terahertz pump pulse breaks the time-reversal symmetry of a thin film sample. The resulting anomalous Hall effect is clearly observed through the polarization rotation of a single-cycle terahertz probe pulse. Comparing the experimental result with theory, we find that the field-induced injection current dominates the anomalous Hall effect during pump irradiation, while the Berry curvature of the Floquet-Weyl semimetal state does not appreciably contribute. Remarkably, even after pump irradiation, we observe an anomalous Hall effect that lasts for more than 10 ps. A model fit to the Hall conductivity spectrum reveals a relatively long scattering time over 400 fs. This result shows that circularly polarized light creates a polarization of the isospin degree of freedom in the Dirac semimetal, which labels the crystallographic point group representation of the overlapping Weyl semimetal bands. Our observation paves the way for conversion of a robust isospin flow into an electric current at room temperature, being a new analogue of the inverse spin Hall effect.Comment: 44 pages, 14 figure

Chemokine and Free Fatty Acid Levels in Insulin-Resistant State of Successful Pregnancy: A Preliminary Observation

Increased insulin resistance and inflammatory action are observed in pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH), but similar insulin resistance is observed also in successful pregnancy. To estimate insulin resistance and inflammatory activity in normal pregnancy and PIH, serum concentrations of free fatty acids (FFA; corrected with albumin to estimate unbound FFA), monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1, and high-molecular weight (HMW) adiponectin were measured in severe PIH patients with a BMI less than 25 kg/m2 and were measured 3 times during the course of pregnancy in women with normal pregnancies. FFA/albumin, MCP-1, and HMW adiponectin concentrations were significantly higher in PIH patients than in women with normal pregnancies. The 3 measurements of FFA/albumin showed a significant increase through the course of uncomplicated pregnancies. In contrast, MCP-1 and HMW adiponectin were significantly decreased during the course of pregnancy. These results suggest that the reduced MCP-1 concentration in normal pregnancy may be a pathway to inhibit the induction of pathological features from physiological insulin resistance and homeostatic inflammation

ブンプ ホクゲンイキ イリオモテジマ ノ マヤプシキ ニ オケル ホウカ ドウブツシュ ト ホウカ ジカンタイ ノ キセツ ヘンカ

マングローブ植物のマヤプシキは，夜間に開花するコウモリ媒花であり，熱帯ではオオコウモリ科の果実・花蜜食性の小型コウモリが花粉媒介者となっている。分布北限域である西表島のマングローブ林には，オオコウモリ科のコウモリはほとんど分布せず，ヤエヤマオオコウモリ1種のみが分布するが，マヤプシキへの訪花は確認されていない。そこで，分布北限域の西表島において，マヤプシキはどのような動物種により代替的に送粉されているのかを明らかにするため，マヤプシキへ訪花する動物種とその訪花頻度の日・季節変動を調べた。マヤプシキ13個体に訪花する動物を，4季節にわたり夜間を含むのべ225時間9分記録した。その結果，鳥類，膜翅目，双翅目，鱗翅目，およびカニ類が訪花動物種として観察された。観察時間内の訪花回数は764回を数えたが，ヤエヤマオオコウモリの訪花は確認されなかった。それらのうち鱗翅目のガ類のみがマヤプシキの開花時間に対応した夜間に訪花したが，送粉よりも盗蜜者的な行動を示した。ガは主に秋季に訪花した。リュウキュウメジロなどの鳥類とスズメガ科のホウジャクの一種は，葯と柱頭の両方に接触するとともに次々と花を移動したため，有効な送粉者と考えられた。しかし，花が満開の夜間には訪花せず，昼間の訪花頻度も小さかった。ニホンミツバチは4季節を通じて訪花が観察されたが，体サイズが花に対して小さく，送粉に関わりなく花粉や蜜のみを選択的に集めることが可能だった。以上のように，分布北限域の西表島では，マヤプシキに対して効率よく送粉を行う訪花者が少なく，花粉制限が存在する可能性が示唆された。Mangrove apple (Sonneratia alba) has nocturnal and chiropterophilous flowers. Abundance of flying foxes, the potential pollinator of S. alba in the tropics, is known to be negligible in mangrove forests in Iriomote Island, which is the northern range limit of S. alba. Unless alternative pollinator community without flying fox functions as an effective pollinator of the S. alba population of Iriomote Island, S. alba population may receive pollen limitation. The aim of this study is to examine the seasonal changes of pollinator species and their visiting time to S. alba in Iriomote Island. We recorded the pollinator species and their behavior on 13 S. alba trees during all day including night for four seasons (totally 229h 9 m). We found a total of 764 visitations of birds, Hymenoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera and crabs as flower visitors, while flying fox could not be found. Moths only visited the flowers at night, when S. alba’s flowers bloom. But moths visited flowers only in autumn, and behaved like nectar robber. Birds and hawk moths touched both of anther and stigma, and then, visited flowers one after another, indicating potential as effective pollinators. However, they usually did not visit the flowers at night when they bloom, and their visitation frequency was relatively low. Honeybees visited to flowers irrespective of seasons. However, their body size is too small relative to the flower, and they can directly obtain pollens and nectar without pollination. Accordingly, because of a limited number of effective pollinators, S. alba may receive pollen limitation in their northern range limit

Lyman Alpha Emitters at z=7 in the Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Survey Field: Photometric Candidates and Luminosity Function

We conducted a deep narrowband NB973 (FWHM = 200 A centered at 9755 A) survey of z=7 Lyman alpha emitters (LAEs) in the Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Survey Field, using the fully depleted CCDs newly installed on the Subaru Telescope Suprime-Cam, which is twice more sensitive to z=7 Lyman alpha at ~ 1 micron than the previous CCDs. Reaching the depth 0.5 magnitude deeper than our previous survey in the Subaru Deep Field that led to the discovery of a z=6.96 LAE, we detected three probable z=7 LAE candidates. Even if all the candidates are real, the Lyman alpha luminosity function (LF) at z=7 shows a significant deficit from the LF at z=5.7 determined by previous surveys. The LAE number and Lyman alpha luminosity densities at z=7 is ~ 7.7-54% and ~5.5-39% of those at z=5.7 to the Lyman alpha line luminosity limit of L(Ly-alpha) >~ 9.2 x 10^{42} erg s^{-1}. This could be due to evolution of the LAE population at these epochs as a recent galaxy evolution model predicts that the LAE modestly evolves from z=5.7 to 7. However, even after correcting for this effect of galaxy evolution on the decrease in LAE number density, the z=7 Lyman alpha LF still shows a deficit from z=5.7 LF. This might reflect the attenuation of Lyman alpha emission by neutral hydrogen remaining at the epoch of reionization and suggests that reionization of the universe might not be complete yet at z=7. If we attribute the density deficit to reionization, the intergalactic medium (IGM) transmission for Lyman alpha photons at z=7 would be 0.4 <= T_{Ly-alpha}^{IGM} <= 1, supporting the possible higher neutral fraction at the earlier epochs at z > 6 suggested by the previous surveys of z=5.7-7 LAEs, z ~ 6 quasars and z > 6 gamma-ray bursts.Comment: Accepted to ApJ for publicatio