Tumor-specific exon creation of the HELLS/SMARCA6 gene in non-small cell lung cancer

In an attempt to identify tumor suppressor genes on chromosome 10 in non-small cell lung cancers, we isolated 10 types of splicing variants of the HELLS/ SMARCA6 gene transcripts. HELLS/SMARCA6 is a novel member of SNF2 family, which is implicated in cellular function like chromatin remodeling. Variant 1 was an alternatively spliced isoform containing an insertion of a 44-ntd intronic sequence between exons 3 and 4, giving rise to a premature termination of translation. The expression of the variant 1 was detected exclusively in the lung cancer specimens (11 of 43 cases, 26%), but was not detected in corresponding normal tissues. D10S520 marker in the proximity of the HELLS/SMARCA6 gene showed prevalent allelic loss (41%) as compared with flanking markers (25-31%). These results suggest that loss of function of HELLS/SMARCA6 by allelic loss and aberrant proteins by tumor-specific exon creation may result in epigenetic deregulation, leading the lung cells to malignancy or its progression

GROUND-GLASS OPACITY DETECTION BY USING CORRELATION BETWEEN SUCCESSIVE SLICE IMAGES

Medical imaging systems such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging provided ahigh resolution image for powerful diagnostic tool in visual inspection fields by physician.Especially MDCT image can be used to obtain detailed images of the pulmonary anatomy, includingpulmonary diseases such as the pulmonary nodules, the pulmonary vein, etc. In the medical imageprocessing technique, segmentation is a difficult task because surrounding soft tissues and organshave similar CT values and sometimes contact with each other. We propose a new technique forautomatic segmentation of lung regions and its classification for ground-glass opacity from theextracted lung regions by computer based on a set of the thorax CT images. In this paper, wesegment the lung region for extraction of the region of interest employing binarization and labelingprocess from the inputted each slices images. The region having the largest area is regarded as thetentative lung regions. Furthermore, the ground-glass opacity is classified by correlation distributionon the slice to slice from the extracted lung region with respect to the thorax CT images. Experimentis performed employing twenty six thorax CT image sets and 96% of recognition rates wereachieved. Obtained results are shown along with a discussio

A simple and rapid method for high-resolution visualization of single-ion tracks

Prompt determination of spatial points of single-ion tracks plays a key role in high-energy particle induced-cancer therapy and gene/plant mutations. In this study, a simple method for the high-resolution visualization of single-ion tracks without etching was developed through the use of polyacrylic acid (PAA)-N, N’-methylene bisacrylamide (MBAAm) blend films. One of the steps of the proposed method includes exposure of the irradiated films to water vapor for several minutes. Water vapor was found to promote the cross-linking reaction of PAA and MBAAm to form a bulky cross-linked structure; the ion-track scars were detectable at a nanometer scale by atomic force microscopy. This study demonstrated that each scar is easily distinguishable, and the amount of generated radicals of the ion tracks can be estimated by measuring the height of the scars, even in highly dense ion tracks. This method is suitable for the visualization of the penumbra region in a single-ion track with a high spatial resolution of 50 nm, which is sufficiently small to confirm that a single ion hits a cell nucleus with a size ranging between 5 and 20 μm

Fabrication of Au nanoparticles on poly(vinylpyrrolidone) nanowires exhibiting reversible frequency change of localized surface plasmon resonance

Au nanoparticles (NPs) are formed on gel nanowires (NWs) based on poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) via photoreduction in a HAuCl4-containing MeOH solution. The particle size and number density of the Au NPs increase with the photoreduction time. At a photoreduction time of 15 min, the surfaces of the PVP NWs are almost completely covered by Au NPs. The hybrid material exhibited visible optical absorption based on the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of the Au NPs. The peak LSPR absorption wavelength under dry conditions red-shifted slightly as the particle size and number density increased owing to increased coupling of the plasmonic bands of each particle. In water, the LSPR wavelength is blue-shifted compared with under dry conditions because of an increase in the interparticle distance between the Au NPs owing to the swelling of the PVP gel NWs; this causes a decrease of the plasmonic coupling of the particles. The absorption peak wavelength shifts reversibly when the hybrid NWs is alternately exposed to either air or water because the distance between the Au NPs is altered in response to the volume change of PVP gel during swelling and drying

Fabrication of Au nanoparticles on poly(vinylpyrrolidone) nanowires exhibiting reversible frequency change of localized surface plasmon resonance

単一粒子ナノ加工法によりポリビニルピロリドン（PVP)ナノワイヤを作製し、光還元により金ナノ粒子をナノワイヤ表面に形成した。その金ナノ粒子PVPハイブリッドナノワイヤを表面プラズモン共鳴を空気中と水中で評価したところ、膨潤収縮により吸収波長が変化した。このハイブリッドナノワイヤは高速応答性を持つセンサーやクロミック材料への応用が期待できる