Serum Concentrations of Eosinophil Cationic Protein and Eosinophils of Patients with Kimura's Disease

ABSTRACTBackground: To clarify the role of eosinophils in the pathogenesis of Kimura's disease and the values of measuring serum levels of eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) for monitoring disease activity might be very important, but there are few reports about this matter.Methods: A total 14 serum and 7 tissue samples from patients with Kimura's disease were studied. The concentrations of ECP and cytokines (interleukin-4 (IL-4), granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and interleukin 5 (IL-5)) in sera from patients with Kimura's disease were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The density of eosinophils and the degree of activation of eosinophils in the tissue were also studied immunohistochemically.Results: The concentration of ECP in sera from patients with Kimura's disease was significantly higher than that in the control group (p<0.05). At the time of the remission, a significant decrease of ECP was observed. In interfollicular areas, most infiltrated eosinophils were positive for EG2 antibody (64.0-94.0%) and the mean percentage of EG2-positive eosinophils was 75.7%. The concentrations of IL-4, gM-CSF, and IL-5 in sera from patients with Kimura's disease were within normal ranges or below the detectable level in all sera examined.Conclusions: Our findings suggest that eosinophils play an important role in the pathogenesis of Kimura's disease and ECP may be used as an additional parameter of disease activity

Thermal Control System to Easily Cool the GAPS Balloon-borne Instrument on the Ground

This study developed a novel thermal control system to cool detectors of the General AntiParticle Spectrometer (GAPS) before its flights. GAPS is a balloon-borne cosmic-ray observation experiment. In its payload, GAPS contains over 1000 silicon detectors that must be cooled below -40^{\circ}\mbox{C}. All detectors are thermally coupled to a unique heat-pipe system (HPS) that transfers heat from the detectors to a radiator. The radiator is designed to be cooled below -50^{\circ}\mbox{C} during the flight by exposure to space. The pre-flight state of the detectors is checked on the ground at 1 atm and ambient room temperature, but the radiator cannot be similarly cooled. The authors have developed a ground cooling system (GCS) to chill the detectors for ground testing. The GCS consists of a cold plate, a chiller, and insulating foam. The cold plate is designed to be attached to the radiator and cooled by a coolant pumped by the chiller. The payload configuration, including the HPS, can be the same as that of the flight. The GCS design was validated by thermal tests using a scale model. The GCS design is simple and provides a practical guideline, including a simple estimation of appropriate thermal insulation thickness, which can be easily adapted to other applications.Comment: 8 pages, 14 figures, 3 table

Clinical Performance of a Salivary Amylase Activity Monitor During Hemodialysis Treatment

The hemodialysis procedure is thought to be a physical stressor in the majority of hemodialyzed patients. Previous studies suggest that elevated salivary amylase level may correlate with increased plasma norepinephrine level under psychological and physical stress conditions. In this study, we investigated biological stress reactivity during hemodialysis treatment using salivary amylase activity as a biomarker. Seven patients (male/female = 5/2, age: 67.7+/−5.9 years) who had been receiving regular 4 h hemodialysis were recruited. Salivary amylase activity was measured using a portable analyzer every hour during the hemodialysis session. Salivary amylase activity was shown to be relatively stable and constant throughout hemodialysis, whereas there were significant changes in systolic blood pressure and pulse rate associated with blood volume reduction. Our results show that hemodialysis treatment per se dose not affect salivary amylase activity

Dynamic modification of sphingomyelin in lipid microdomains controls development of obesity, fatty liver, and type 2 diabetes

Susumu Mitsutake, Kota Zama, Hazuki Yokota, Tetsuya Yoshida, Miki Tanaka, Masaru Mitsui, Masahito Ikawa, Masaru Okabe, Yoshikazu Tanaka, Tadashi Yamashita, Hiroshi Takemoto, Toshiro Okazaki, Ken Watanabe, Yasuyuki Igarashi, Dynamic Modification of Sphingomyelin in Lipid Microdomains Controls Development of Obesity, Fatty Liver, and Type 2 Diabetes, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Volume 286, Issue 32, 2011, Pages 28544-28555, ISSN 0021-9258, https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M111.255646

レトルトカレー中に含まれる天然クルクミンおよび赤ワイン中ブドウ果皮色素の摂取に対する衛生学的評価

Naturally contained curucumin in pre-cooked carried curry packed in a plastic bag or canned and grape skin color in red wine were determined. The results showed that curucumin in one portion of the curry samples have been contained the amount of correspond to 0.3～6 times of acceptable daily intake (ADI) for a man of 50Kg weight, and the amount of grape skin color in the wine corresponded to 3/4 of the ADI. In contrast , artificial color of food red No. 102 in a pickled ginger tuber (Benishoga) and mixture of food blue No. 1 and yellow No.4 in the syrup for shaved ice have been only contained the amount bellow 1/100 of the ADI

市販食品中の食品添加物の使用実態と使用の妥当性について

The actual situations for the use of food additives and its validity were investigated on 200 specimens of processed foods sold on the market. The analytical method was used by summing up the indications printed on the each package. The results are as follows ; As a whole, natural occurring substances about coloring, sweetening and thickening agents have been used overwhelmingly, but the use of artificial materials is much less in most specimens. And on some specimens added the enriched agents like vitamins, those addition was less efficient nutritionally, however, other each addition of food additives have been recognized as appropriateness on other most of specimens

Relationship between postprandial glucose level and carotid artery stiffness in patients without diabetes or cardiovascular disease

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between postprandial glucose level and atherosclerosis in patients without diabetes and cardiovascular disease by determining carotid ultrasonographic variables and serum levels of 1,5-anhydroglucitol (1,5-AG). METHODS: The subjects were 72 patients without diabetes and cardiovascular disease being treated for hypertension or dyslipidemia. The clinical characteristics of all subjects, including the serum level of 1,5-AG, which appears to be well suited for monitoring postprandial hyperglycemia, were evaluated after an overnight fast. The average intima-media thickness (IMT) and the average pulsatility index (PI) of the right and left common carotid arteries were determined with high-resolution ultrasonography and used as ultrasonographic variables. The subjects were divided into a Lower 1,5-AG group (n = 36) and a Higher 1,5-AG group (n = 36). We evaluated the relationship between clinical characteristics and ultrasonographic variables of the carotid artery in both groups. RESULTS: The average PI in the Lower 1,5-AG group was significantly higher than that in the Higher 1,5-AG group, but the average IMT did not differ between the groups. Linear regression analysis, with the ultrasonographic variables as the dependent variables, with 1,5-AG as the independent variable, and adjusted for other clinical characteristics, showed significant correlation between 1,5-AG and the PI but not between 1,5-AG and IMT. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that postprandial hyperglycemia increases carotid artery stiffness, but not morphological change, in patients without diabetes or cardiovascular disease

Broken Screw Rotational Symmetry in the Near-Surface Electronic Structure of ABAB-Stacked Crystals

We investigate the electronic structure of $2H$-$\mathrm{Nb}\mathrm{S}_2$ and $h$$\mathrm{BN}$ by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and photoemission intensity calculations. Although in bulk form, these materials are expected to exhibit band degeneracy in the $k_z=\pi/c$ plane due to screw rotation and time-reversal symmetries, we observe gapped band dispersion near the surface. We extract from first-principles calculations the near-surface electronic structure probed by ARPES and find that the calculated photoemission spectra from the near-surface region reproduce the gapped ARPES spectra. Our results show that the near-surface electronic structure can be qualitatively different from the bulk one due to partially broken nonsymmorphic symmetries.Comment: 6+11 pages, 4+13 figure

食用花(エディブルフラワー)の食品衛生学的研究

Total bacterial counts and pesticide residues in edible flowers on the market were investigated. Results obtained were evaluated food hygienically. Only 20% of total samples were judged to be fresh from the total viable counts: In 55% of the samples the detected bacteria were 10^6/g or more. When these edible flowers are used in a menu, the huge number of bacteria will be mixed with other foodstuffs. Many samples were, therefore, to be treated with food hygienic caution. Within the 12 kinds of pesticides analyzed, more than one drugs were detected from every flower sample. Pesticides of higher densities were detected especially in Bell Rose. As the serving size of an edible flower isn\u27t so large, detecting pesticide below the formally accepted residual limit seems not so harmful to our health. When the detected amount corresponded to more than 10 times the residual limit, the flower seemed to be not so safe food hygienically. From these results, we indicate the necessity of these observations to be continued, and of careful handing of edible flowers as a foodstuff of various menus