An Adult Case of Kawasaki Disease in a Pregnant Japanese Woman: A Case Report

Kawasaki disease is an acute febrile disease predominantly seen in young children. We report a case of Kawasaki disease in a 32-year-old pregnant woman. She developed a generalized erythematous skin rash accompanied by high fever. Bilateral conjunctival congestion, tender cervical lymphadenopathy, an edematous lower lip and peripheral edema followed by desquamation were observed. She was successfully treated with aspirin and intravenous gammaglobulin (1 g/kg/day). Her course was not complicated by coronary artery aneurysm and she delivered a healthy baby. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of Kawasaki disease in a pregnant woman. We suggest that Kawasaki disease should be included in the differential diagnosis of a generalized, erythematous skin rash accompanied by high fever in adults

Antioxidant Activity of β-Glucan

β-Glucans extracted from barley, which mainly contains β-(1,3-1,4)-D-glucan, are used extensively as supplements and food additives due to their wide biologic activities, including a reduction in blood lipid level. In this study, the antioxidant activity of β-glucan was examined to assess potential new benefits associated with β-glucan, because oxidative stress is considered one of the primary causal factors for various diseases and aging. β-Glucan extracted from barley was found to possess significant antioxidant activity. The amount of antioxidant activity was influenced by different physiologic properties (e.g., structure and molecular size) of β-glucan, which varied depending on the source and extraction method used. The antioxidant activity of β-glucan was significantly higher than that of various polymers that are used as food additives. These results indicate that β-glucan has promise as a polymeric excipient for supplement and food additive with antioxidant and other benefits, which may contribute to enhancing health and beauty

Considering environmental factors, navigation strategies, and age

Sex differences in navigation have been a topic of investigation for decades and has been subjected to various contradictory findings and debates. The aim of this work was to compare the spatial memory of men and women tested in various different types of spatial tasks, while controlling for navigation strategies and aging. It is generally thought that men outperform women in navigation and that women have higher scores on object location tasks. However, many studies fail to control for different factors that may bias one sex or the other. We aggregated the data of 465 participants (349 young adults, 127 older adults) who took part in various studies conducted in our laboratory, which include both published and original unpublished data, in order to investigate sex differences. In these studies, we used a number of different paradigms: virtual radial arm mazes, a virtual wayfinding task, an object location task, a virtual Morris Water Maze, and the invisible sensor task which is a real-life model of the Morris Water Maze. While our results may seem discordant at first glance, they demonstrate that several factors can impact the performance of men and women on spatial tasks, including spontaneous navigation strategies, environmental characteristics, and age. We replicated findings showing that women favor proximal landmarks compared to men who favor distal landmarks, women have better memory than men for the position of objects in the absence of reference frames, but they will have poorer scores when navigation requires specific angles, distances and polar coordinates. Moreover, we found that in aging, women who avoid the use of landmarks when navigating a radial maze show stronger reliance on these non-spatial strategies than men. On the other hand, women who rely on landmarks, do so to the same extent as men. Our findings highlight the need to carefully take into consideration these factors in order to produce a more harmonious understanding of sex differences in navigation. Finally, the interaction between spontaneous navigation strategies, sex, and age is discussed in terms of its implications for risk of Alzheimer’s disease

A Case of Nephrotic Syndrome with Nephrotoxicity Induced by Low-Dose Cyclosporin Treatment

We report a 3-year-old girl with steroid resistant nephrotic syndrome (NS) who developed nephrotoxicity by low-dose cyclosporin (CsA) treatment. Initial prednisolone (PSL) treatment and subsequent additional cyclophosphamide treatment were not successful in leading her into remission. The first renal biopsy finding revealed neither a glomerular nor interstitial change. CsA therapy was initiated in addition to ongoing glucocorticoid therapy at 6 months from the time of onset. Proteinuria disappeared 3 weeks later and the patient went into complete remission. After experiencing the first relapse, the patient was gradually weaned from CsA, and treatment continued with 30 to 50 ng/mL of trough concentration. No elevations of the serum creatinine, serum urea, serum potassium, excretion of urinary β2-microglobulin, or urinary N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase were demonstrated in the follow-up. A second renal biopsy specimen obtained 1 year later showed a tubulo-interstitial change, containing tubular atrophy and interstitial fibrosis, both of which are consistent with the morphological change associated with CsA nephrotoxicity. A follow-up biopsy should be done in order to evaluate the CsA nephrotoxicity, regardless of the treatment dosage

Decolorization of malachite green by cytochrome c in the mitochondria of the fungus Cunninghamella elegans

We studied the decolorization of malachite green (MG) by the fungus Cunninghamella elegans. The mitochondrial activity for MG reduction was increased with a simultaneous increase of a 9-kDa protein, called CeCyt. The presence of cytochrome c in CeCyt protein was determined by optical absorbance spectroscopy with an extinction coefficient (E\u2085\u2085\u2080\u2013\u2085\u2083\u2085) of 19.7 \ub1 6.3 mM-\ub9 cm-\ub9 and reduction potential of + 261 mV. When purified CeCyt was added into the mitochondria, the specific activity of CeCyt reached 440 \ub1 122 \u3bcmol min-\ub9 mg-\ub9 protein. The inhibition of MG reduction by stigmatellin, but not by antimycin A, indicated a possible linkage of CeCyt activity to the Qo site of the bc1 complex. The RT-PCR results showed tight regulation of the cecyt gene expression by reactive oxygen species. We suggest that CeCyt acts as a protein reductant for MG under oxidative stress in a stationary or secondary growth stage of this fungus.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

Murine breast cancers disorganize the liver transcriptome in a zonated manner

がんが宿主の臓器に及ぼす悪影響を捉えた --がんをもつ個体における「肝機能の空間的制御」の破綻--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2023-02-01.The spatially organized gene expression program within the liver specifies hepatocyte functions according to their relative distances to the bloodstream (i.e., zonation), contributing to liver homeostasis. Despite the knowledge that solid cancers remotely disrupt liver homeostasis, it remains unexplored whether solid cancers affect liver zonation. Here, using spatial transcriptomics, we thoroughly investigate the abundance and zonation of hepatic genes in cancer-bearing mice. We find that breast cancers affect liver zonation in various distinct manners depending on biological pathways. Aspartate metabolism and triglyceride catabolic processes retain relatively intact zonation patterns, but the zonation of xenobiotic catabolic process genes exhibits a strong disruption. The acute phase response is induced in zonated manners. Furthermore, we demonstrate that breast cancers activate innate immune cells in particular neutrophils in distinct zonated manners, rather than in a uniform fashion within the liver. Collectively, breast cancers disorganize hepatic transcriptomes in zonated manners, thereby disrupting zonated functions of the liver