PSA screening in hemodialysis patients

We investigated the long-term outcomes of the Japanese hemodialysis patients with prostate cancer detected by prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening. Clinical data of 646 male hemodialysis patients aged 55 years or older who started yearly PSA testing in the period from January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2012 and were followed until December 31, 2017 were analyzed retrospectively. The median follow-up period was 10.4 years. Nineteen (2.9%) patients were diagnosed with prostate cancer, of whom one patient died of the disease. Androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) was selected for primary prostate cancer treatment in 17 (89.5%) of these 19 patients. Of six prostate cancer patients who underwent primary ADT (PADT) and died of other causes, three died of infectious disease, each one died of cardiovascular disease, liver cancer, and chronic renal failure. No significant difference was observed in regard to overall survival between the prostate cancer patients with PADT and non-prostate cancer patients. Prognosis of hemodialysis patients who were diagnosed with prostate cancer during yearly PSA screening examination and mainly treated with ADT was favorable without increasing cardiovascular events. This result indicates that PSA screening may be useful for detection and management of prostate cancer even in hemodialysis patients

Integrated monitoring and reviewing systems for the Rokkasho Spent Fuel Receipt and Storage Facility

The Rokkasho Spent Fuel Receipt and Storage (RSFS) Facility at the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant (RRP) in Japan is expected to begin operations in 1998. Effective safeguarding by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Japan Atomic Energy Bureau (JAEB) inspectors requires monitoring the time of transfer, direction of movement, and number of spent fuel assemblies transferred. At peak throughput, up to 1,000 spent fuel assemblies will be accepted by the facility in a 90-day period. In order for the safeguards inspector to efficiently review the resulting large amounts of inspection information, an unattended monitoring system was developed that integrates containment and surveillance (C/S) video with radiation monitors. This allows for an integrated review of the facility`s radiation data, C/S video, and operator declaration data. This paper presents an outline of the integrated unattended monitoring hardware and associated data reviewing software. The hardware consists of a multicamera optical surveillance (MOS) system radiation monitoring gamma-ray and neutron detector (GRAND) electronics, and an intelligent local operating network (ILON). The ILON was used for time synchronization and MOS video triggers. The new software consists of a suite of tools, each one specific to a single data type: radiation data, surveillance video, and operator declarations. Each tool can be used in a stand-alone mode as a separate ion application or configured to communicate and match time-synchronized data with any of the other tools. A data summary and comparison application (Integrated Review System [IRS]) coordinates the use of all of the data-specific review tools under a single-user interface. It therefore automates and simplifies the importation of data and the data-specific analyses

ハイガン カンジャ ケッセイチュウ ニオケル ガン ヨクセイ イデンシ サンブツ pRB ニタイスル コウタイ ノ ケンシュツ

Recently, serum antibodies against the oncogene and tumor suppressor gene products have been studied in patients with various types of cancer. Antibody against p53 tumor suppressor gene product among these antibodies was suggested to be useful for early diagnosis and evaluation of prognosis of patients with some types of cancer. In this article,we review clinical significance of antibodies against product of retinoblastoma gene (pRB),one of representative tumor suppressor genes. We also describe methods of detection of antibodies in sera from patients with lung cancer by immunoblotting assays using glutathione-S-transferase (GST)-RB fusion proteins

Image Quality of the Coronary Angiography with Noise Reduction Technology to Decrease the Radiation Dose

We examined the effects of a reduced exposure dose on the quality of images from an angiography device augmented with a noise reduction algorithm. Before its clinical application, we compared the diameter of the discrimination limit of the hole with that in the conventional method by a visual evaluation with a contrast-detail (C-D) phantom imaged using the target dose. Based on the results, a reducible dose was determined and applied clinically. The sample population consisted of patients being followed up after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for coronary artery disease; we evaluated the effects of the exposure reduction on image quality. A significant dose reduction was observed by the noise-reduction method compared to the conventional method; the radiation dose to the flat panel detector (FPD) could be reduced to 70 nGy per frame. Clinically, a dose reduction of approx. 40% was obtained while maintaining image quality almost equal to that of the conventional method

Fluorescent Reporter Signals, EGFP, and DsRed, Encoded in HIV-1 Facilitate the Detection of Productively Infected Cells and Cell-Associated Viral Replication Levels

Flow cytometric analysis is a reliable and convenient method for investigating molecules at the single cell level. Previously, recombinant human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) strains were constructed that express a fluorescent reporter, either enhanced green fluorescent protein, or DsRed, which allow the monitoring of HIV-1-infected cells by flow cytometry. The present study further investigated the potential of these recombinant viruses in terms of whether the HIV-1 fluorescent reporters would be helpful in evaluating viral replication based on fluorescence intensity. When primary CD4+ T cells were infected with recombinant viruses, the fluorescent reporter intensity measured by flow cytometry was associated with the level of CD4 downmodulation and Gag p24 expression in infected cells. Interestingly, some HIV-1-infected cells, in which CD4 was only moderately downmodulated, were reporter-positive but Gag p24-negative. Furthermore, when the activation status of primary CD4+ T cells was modulated by T cell receptor-mediated stimulation, we confirmed the preferential viral production upon strong stimulation and showed that the intensity of the fluorescent reporter within a proportion of HIV-1-infected cells was correlated with the viral replication level. These findings indicate that a fluorescent reporter encoded within HIV-1 is useful for the sensitive detection of productively infected cells at different stages of infection and for evaluating cell-associated viral replication at the single cell level

GABPα regulates Oct-3/4 expression in mouse embryonic stem cells

金沢大学大学院医学系研究科機能再生学Embryonic stem (ES) cells are pluripotent cells derived from the inner cell mass of blastocysts, and transcription factors Oct-3/4, Nanog, Sox2, and STAT3, are essential for their self-renewal. In this study, we searched for molecules downstream of STAT3 in ES cells. Using DNA chip analysis, we obtained GA-repeat binding protein (GABP) α. Expression of GABPα was restricted to undifferentiated ES cells and controlled by STAT3. We found that the expression level of Oct-3/4 is reduced by knockdown of GABPα. On the other hand, GABPα-overexpressing ES cells maintained the expression level of Oct-3/4 even in the absence of LIF. Moreover, the induction of Oct-3/4 repressors Cdx-2, Coup-tf1, and GCNF was stimulated by GABPα knockdown. These data suggest that GABPα upregulates the expression of Oct-3/4 via downregulation of Oct-3/4 repressors. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved