Granulovacuolar Degenerations Appear in Relation to Hippocampal Phosphorylated Tau Accumulation in Various Neurodegenerative Disorders

BACKGROUND: Granulovacuolar degeneration (GVD) is one of the pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and it is defined as electron-dense granules within double membrane-bound cytoplasmic vacuoles. Several lines of evidence have suggested that GVDs appear within hippocampal pyramidal neurons in AD when phosphorylated tau begins to aggregate into early-stage neurofibrillary tangles. The aim of this study is to investigate the association of GVDs with phosphorylated tau pathology to determine whether GVDs and phosphorylated tau coexist among different non-AD neurodegenerative disorders. METHODS: An autopsied series of 28 patients with a variety of neurodegenerative disorders and 9 control patients were evaluated. Standard histological stains along with immunohistochemistry using protein markers for GVD and confocal microscopy were utilized. RESULTS: The number of neurons with GVDs significantly increased with the level of phosphorylated tau accumulation in the hippocampal regions in non-AD neurodegenerative disorders. At the cellular level, diffuse staining for phosphorylated tau was detected in neurons with GVDs. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that GVDs appear in relation to hippocampal phosphorylated tau accumulation in various neurodegenerative disorders, while the presence of phosphorylated tau in GVD-harbouring neurons in non-AD neurodegenerative disorders was indistinguishable from age-related accumulation of phosphorylated tau. Although GVDs in non-AD neurodegenerative disorders have not been studied thoroughly, our results suggest that they are not incidental findings, but rather they appear in relation to phosphorylated tau accumulation, further highlighting the role of GVD in the process of phosphorylated tau accumulation

Nucleation of Surfactant–Alkane Mixed Solid Monolayer and Bilayer Domains at the Air–Water Interface

We investigated the wetting transitions of tetradecane and hexadecane droplets in dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (C12TAB), tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (C14TAB), and hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (C16TAB) aqueous solutions. By varying the surfactant concentration, the formation of mixed monolayers of a surfactant and an alkane was observed at the air–water interface. Depending on the combination of surfactant and alkane, these wetting monolayers underwent another thermal phase transition upon cooling either to a frozen mixed monolayer (S1) or a bilayer structure composed of a solid monolayer of a pure alkane rested on a liquid-like mixed monolayer (S2). Based on the phase diagrams determined by phase modulation ellipsometry, the difference in the morphology of the nucleated S1 and S2 phase domains was also investigated using Brewster angle microscopy. Domains of the S1 phase were relatively small and highly branched, whereas those of the S2 phase were large and circular. The difference in domain morphology was explained by the competition of the domain line tension and electrostatic dipole interactions between surfactant molecules in the domains

三角格子を持つ新しい有機伝導体の合成と物性

Recently, materials with a triangular lattice have attracted much attention due to their interesting physical properties, such as a quantum spin liquid. It has been reported that organic conductors κ-(ET)2Cu2(CN)3 (1) and κ-(ET)2Ag2(CN)3 (2) show quantum spin liquid behavior, where ET is bis(ethylenedithio) tetrathiafulvalene. These two salts are the only ones known as κ-type ET salt organic conductors with a nearly regular triangular lattice. Therefore, in order to develop new materials with a regular triangular lattice, we synthesized κ-(ET)2Cu2xAg2(1-x)(CN)3 (3) by mixing Cu+ and Ag+ ions. We analyzed the element distribution and composition ratio in the crystal by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscope (EDX). The Cu+ and Ag+ ions were distributed uniformly in the crystals. The x was found to be x = 0.82 ± 0.01 for batch #1, and x = 0.81 ± 0.06 for batch #2. The mixed crystal showed semiconducting behavior with activation energy (Ea/kB) of 711 K. This material is considered a Mott insulator.近年, 三角格子を持つ物質はスピン液体などの興味深い性質を持つことで注目されている. κ-(ET)2Cu2(CN)3 とκ-(ET)2Ag2(CN)3は三角格子を持つモット絶縁体であり, スピン液体の振る舞いを示すことが報告されている. しかし, ほぼ正三角形の構造を持つκ 型ET塩有機伝導体はこの二つしか知られていない. そこで, 今回我々は新しい正三角形の構造を持つ物質を開発するために, 銅イオンと銀イオンを混ぜて, 有機伝導体の混晶試料κ-(ET)2Cu2xAg2(1-x)(CN)3 を合成した. 2 種類のバッチ（#1, #2）について結晶構造と物性を調べた. X線構造解析によって, この混晶は同形構造を持つことが分かった. SEM/EDX分析により, 結晶内の元素分布や組成比を調べた結果, 銅イオンと銀イオンはともに結晶内に一様に分布し, その比は上記の化学式において, #1 ではx = 0.82±0.01, #2 ではx = 0.81±0.06であることが分かった. また, #2 の結晶について面内の電気抵抗を測定した結果, 半導体的な挙動を示し, その活性化エネルギー（Ea/kB）は711 K であった. これは二つの母物質の活性化エネルギーの値の中間であることから, 得られた混晶はモット絶縁体であると考えられる

A case of adult Meckel's diveticul um with gastrointestinal bleeding

Gastrointestinal bleeding is often intermittent and its souree may be difficult to locate, resulting in delay of definitve diagnosis. Melena usually denotes bleeding not only from the upper, and lower gastrointestine but from the small int estine. Adult Meckel's diverticulum with gastrointestinal beeding is a relatively rare disease and often presents difficulty in preoperative diagnosis. A 65-year-old man was admitted to our hospital due to melena. Upper and lower gastrointestional endoscopy revealed no bleeding stie. (99m)Tc-pertechnetate scintigraphy is well known as a useful tool for preoperative delineation of Meckel's diverticulm. (99m)Tc-pertechnetate scintigraphy was performed in this patient and succesfully depicted the lesion noninvasively. In surgery, Meckel's diverticulum was found at an oral stie 90 cm from the terminalileum, and a sleevereseection was performed. Histopathologically, the diver ticulum had ectopic gastric muco sa and two 5mm ulcers on the border of the gastric mucosa

Vaccination during the 2013-2014 influenza season in pregnant Japanese women

This questionnaire survey was conducted at 11 hospitals in Japan to determine vaccination coverage against seasonal influenza and the prevalence rate of influenza among pregnant Japanese women. Of 2,808 postpartum women who gave birth at the 11 hospitals during the study period from March 1, 2014, to July 31, 2014, 1,713 (61 %) participated in this study and 876 (51 %) reported having received vaccination against influenza in or after October 2013. Women aged < 25 years had a significantly lower vaccination rate than those aged a parts per thousand yen25 years (31 % vs. 53 %, respectively; p = 0.0000). Eighty-seven (5.1 %) and 1,626 (94.9 %) women did and did not contract influenza, respectively. Although prior birth did not affect overall vaccination coverage (50 % for primiparous vs. 53 % for multiparous), multiparous women had a significantly higher rate of contracting influenza than primiparous women, irrespective of vaccination status (5.6 % vs. 2.2 % [p = 0.0216] and 9.7 % vs. 3.5 % [p = 0.0003] for women with and without vaccination, respectively). The 2013-2014 vaccination program significantly reduced the influenza infection rate by 35 % (3.9 % vs. 6.3 % for women with and without vaccination, respectively; p = 0.0272). Seventy-two (83 %) of the 87 women took antiviral agents for the treatment of influenza and two (2.3 %) required hospitalization. These results suggested that pregnant Japanese women had a high level of concern regarding seasonal influenza. However, campaigns targeting young pregnant Japanese women, as well as multiparous women, for vaccination are needed in order to further reduce the incidence of influenza among pregnant Japanese women.The original publication is available at www.springerlink.co

Application of amplicon-based targeted sequencing with the molecular barcoding system to detect uncommon minor EGFR mutations in patients with treatment-naïve lung adenocarcinoma

Abstract Background In lung cancer, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor sensitizing mutations co-existing with rare minor EGFR mutations are known as compound mutations. These minor EGFR mutations can lead to acquired resistance after EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment, so determining the mutation status of patients is important. However, using amplicon-based targeted deep sequencing based on next-generation sequencing to characterize mutations is prone to sequencing error. We therefore assessed the benefit of incorporating molecular barcoding with high-throughput sequencing to investigate genomic heterogeneity in treatment-naïve patients who have undergone resection of their non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) EGFR mutations. Methods We performed amplicon-based targeted sequencing with the molecular barcoding system (MBS) to detect major common EGFR mutations and uncommon minor mutations at a 0.5% allele frequency in fresh–frozen lung cancer samples. Results Profiles of the common mutations of EGFR identified by MBS corresponded with the results of clinical testing in 63 (98.4%) out of 64 cases. Uncommon mutations of EGFR were detected in seven cases (10.9%). Among the three types of major EGFR mutations, patients with the G719X mutation had a significantly higher incidence of compound mutations than those with the L858R mutation or exon 19 deletion (p = 0.0052). This was validated in an independent cohort from the Cancer Genome Atlas dataset (p = 0.018). Conclusions Our findings demonstrate the feasibility of using the MBS to establish an accurate NSCLC patient genotype. This work will help understand the molecular basis of EGFR compound mutations in NSCLC, and could aid the development of new treatment modalities