Immunohistochemical detection of procalcitonin in fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma

A 25-year-old woman with fever and epigastric pain was referred to our hospital. Blood examination showed significant liver dysfunction, markedly high C-reactive protein (CRP 19.1 mg/dL) and procalcitonin (48.3 ng/mL) levels. Dynamic computed tomography showed a tumor approximately 120 mm in size in the right lobe of the liver, but with no abscess formation. The patient was hospitalized and started on antibiotics; her CRP level improved, but the procalcitonin level did not decrease. Histopathological examination of the liver tumor biopsy revealed fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma (FLC). Positive staining of the FLC with an anti-procalcitonin antibody suggested the production of procalcitonin

Perspectives on childhood coronavirus disease vaccination in Japan and influencing factors

BACKGROUND: To support parental decision-making it is important to understand parents' perspectives on vaccination for their children and the factors that contribute to their vaccine hesitancy. There have been relatively few studies in this area in Japan, particularly with longitudinal and mixed methodologies. METHODS: We used an explanatory sequential mixed methods approach to describe longitudinal changes in vaccine acceptance and to explore factors associated with parental coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine hesitancy. We recruited parents who had children aged 6 months to 11 years old from five facilities in Japan. Two cross-sectional online surveys and semi-structured online interviews were conducted. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore factors associated with parents' vaccine hesitancy for their children, and thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview data. RESULTS: In total, 134 parents responded to both online surveys and, of those, 10 participated in interviews. Acceptance rates of COVID-19 vaccination for their children were 19.4% (26/134) at the first survey and 11.2% (15/134) at the second survey. Integration of the data identified that the main factors for vaccine hesitancy included vaccine safety, vaccine effectiveness, government policy, and recommendations from people close to parents. CONCLUSIONS: Readily available and more balanced information, and community-wide support from people close to parents and familiar health-care providers are likely to provide better support for parents' decision-making. Further investigation is required on how to provide information in an easily understood manner

UNC93B1 Physically Associates with Human TLR8 and Regulates TLR8-Mediated Signaling

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) 3, 7, 8, and 9 are localized to intracellular compartments where they encounter foreign or self nucleic acids and activate innate and adaptive immune responses. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-resident membrane protein, UNC93B1, is essential for intracellular trafficking and endolysosomal targeting of TLR7 and TLR9. TLR8 is phylogenetically and structurally related to TLR7 and TLR9, but little is known about its localization or function. In this study, we demonstrate that TLR8 localized to the early endosome and the ER but not to the late endosome or lysosome in human monocytes and HeLa transfectants. UNC93B1 physically associated with human TLR8, similar to TLRs 3, 7, and 9, and played a critical role in TLR8-mediated signaling. Localization analyses of TLR8 tail-truncated mutants revealed that the transmembrane domain and the Toll/interleukin-1 receptor domain were required for proper targeting of TLR8 to the early endosome. Hence, although UNC93B1 participates in intracellular trafficking and signaling for all nucleotide-sensing TLRs, the mode of regulation of TLR localization differs for each TLR

Effects of Starvation on Brain Short Neuropeptide F-1, -2, and -3 Levels and Short Neuropeptide F Receptor Expression Levels of the Silkworm, Bombyx mori

In our previous report, we demonstrated the possibility that various regulatory neuropeptides influence feeding behavior in the silkworm, Bombyx mori. Among these feeding-related neuropeptides, short neuropeptide F (sNPF) exhibited feeding-accelerating activity when injected into B. mori larvae. Like other insect sNPFs, the deduced amino acid sequence of the cDNA encoding the sNPF precursor appears to produce multiple sNPF and sNPF-related peptides in B. mori. The presence of three sNPFs, sNPF-1, sNPF-2, and sNPF-3, in the brain of B. mori larvae was confirmed by direct MALDI-TOF mass spectrometric profiling. In addition, all three sNPFs are present in other larval ganglia. The presence of sNPF mRNA in the central nervous system (CNS) was also confirmed by Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Semi-quantitative analyses of sNPFs in the larval brain using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry further revealed that brain sNPF levels decrease in response to starvation, and that they recover with the resumption of feeding. These data suggest that sNPFs were depleted by the starvation process. Furthermore, food deprivation decreased the transcriptional levels of the sNPF receptor (BNGR-A10) in the brain and CNS, suggesting that the sNPF system is dependent on the feeding state of the insect and that the sNPF system may be linked to locomotor activity associated with foraging behavior. Since the injection of sNPFs accelerated the onset of feeding in B. mori larvae, we concluded that sNPFs are strongly related to feeding behavior. In addition, semi-quantitative MS analyses revealed that allatostatin, which is present in the larval brain, is also reduced in response to starvation, whereas the peptide level of Bommyosuppressin was not affected by different feeding states

Bone Morphogenetic Protein-2 Accelerates Osteogenic Differentiation in Spheroid-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells

福岡歯科大学2018年

〔研究ノート〕ヒト血清アルブミンの糖化反応による カルボキシメチルリジンの生成箇所の同定

　　Human serum albumin（HSA）is an abundant plasma protein and is modified by glucose in plasma. The incubation of HSA with glucose at 37℃ for four weeks resulted in the formation of carboxymethyllysine in 11 sites of lysine residues of HSA（65, 190 . . .Ⅰ, 199, 233, 313, 378 . . .Ⅱ, 402, 432, 519, 525, 573 . . . Ⅲ）. The same experiments without glucose showed no carboxymethyllysine formation.　　Although early studies established that four lysine residues（Lys199, Lys281, Lys439 and Lys525）had been modified by nonenzymatic glycosylation, carboxymethylations of Lys281 and Lys439 were not detected in this experiment. Most carboxymethylation of lysine residues in HSA was located in domain Ⅲ in our study