Prospect of cytologic diagnosis for malignant melanoma in the maxillary sinus

Two cases of malignant melanoma arising in the maxillary sinus are reported. Cytological examination of the solution obtained by local washing through the sinus puncture identified numerous melanoma cells together with melanophages. The cases were then scheduled for well-planned, preoperative treatment. The cytological criteria for diagnosing malignant melanoma are outlined, and the cytological approach is stressed as a valuable diagnostic procedure for early detection of malignant tumors and surveillance of postoperative recurrence, especially in paranasal sinuses.</p

Distribution and densitometry mapping of L1-CAM Immunoreactivity in the adult mouse brain – light microscopic observation

BACKGROUND: The importance of L1 expression in the matured brain is suggested by physiological and behavioral studies showing that L1 is related to hippocampal plasticity and fear conditioning. The distribution of L1 in mouse brain might provide a basis for understanding its role in the brain. RESULTS: We examined the overall distribution of L1 in the adult mouse brain by immunohistochemistry using two polyclonal antibodies against different epitopes for L1. Immunoreactive L1 was widely but unevenly distributed from the olfactory bulb to the upper cervical cord. The accumulation of immunoreactive L1 was greatest in a non-neuronal element of the major fibre bundles, i.e. the lateral olfactory tract, olfactory and temporal limb of the anterior commissure, corpus callosum, stria terminalis, globus pallidus, fornix, mammillothalamic tract, solitary tract, and spinal tract of the trigeminal nerve. High to highest levels of non-neuronal and neuronal L1 were found in the grey matter; i.e. the piriform and entorhinal cortices, hypothalamus, reticular part of the substantia nigra, periaqueductal grey, trigeminal spinal nucleus etc. High to moderate density of neuronal L1 was found in the olfactory bulb, layer V of the cerebral cortex, amygdala, pontine grey, superior colliculi, cerebellar cortex, solitary tract nucleus etc. Only low to lowest levels of neuronal L1 were found in the hippocampus, grey matter in the caudate-putamen, thalamus, cerebellar nuclei etc. CONCLUSION: L1 is widely and unevenly distributed in the matured mouse brain, where immunoreactivity was present not only in neuronal elements; axons, synapses and cell soma, but also in non-neuronal elements

Somatic polyploidization and characterization of induced polyploids of Dioscorea rotundata and Dioscorea cayenensis

Genetic improvement of major food yams is constrained by a number of factors, such as the scarcity of flowers and lack of synchronization between male and female flowering. Consequently, somaclonal variation including somatic polyploidization has been considered as a useful tool in yam breeding. Somatic polyploidization and its effect on phenotypic traits of Dioscorea species such as D. alata, D. japonica and D. zingiberensis has been reported; however, optimization of this method in two major yam species, D. rotundata and D. cayenensis, is yet to be achieved and the effect of polyploidization on phenotypic traits of this species yet to be elucidated. In the present study, a high rate of somaclonal polyploid variation was successfully achieved by in vitro colchicine treatment of D. rotundata and D. cayenensis. In most cases, except TDc 3704, the highest rate of polyploid induction appeared after 0.1% colchicine treatment. However, in triploid yellow yam accessions the induction rate was relatively low. Tetraploid variants of D. rotundata tended to display somewhat rounder leaves than their diploid parents. The size and shape of D. rotundata stoma were also affected by levels of ploidy, with tetraploid variants exhibiting larger stomata at alower density compared to their diploid parents. The efficient method of in vitro polyploidy induction reported here is therefore a highly useful tool for obtaining polyploid variants for use as genetic resources in D. rotundata breeding.Keywords: Leaf, nodal segment culture, ploidy level, somaclonal variation, stoma, white guinea yam, yellow Guinea ya

A CASE OF DIABETES INSIPIDUS ACCOMPANYING THIRST DISORDER ASSOCIATED WITH HYPEROSMOLAR DIABETIC COMA

The case of a 14-year-old female who suffered from hyperosmolar diabetic coma (HODC) after resection of craniopharyngioma and during treatment for hypopituitarism and diabetes insipidus is presented. In Aug. 1989, craniopharyngioma was diagnosed and she underwent resection surgery and radiotherapy. Since then, she had been on supplemental therapy with hydrocortisone and thyroxin and desmopressin (DDAVP). On Jan. 17, 1992, she fell into HODC upon ingesting a large amount of soft drink to supplement water due to persistent polyuria. She improved quickly when supplementary fluids and insulin were administered. She had demonstrated no abnormality in glucose tolerance prior to this manifestation. Insulin therapy was deemed unnecessary after her recovery from HODC. Because of a disorder in the central nervous thirst mechaninm, she lacked the sense of thirst and concomitantly the thirst-mediated water intake in spite of elevated plasma osmolarity due to dehydration and hyperglycemia. This seemed to be the cause of her accelerating dehydration. The resulting insulin resistance then brought about her HODC. Thus, it is difficult to consider such a case of HODC as symptomatic of diabetes when no abnormality in glucose tolerance either before manifestation or after restoration can be found. It should rather be considered as a case of “dehydration hyperglycemia" and be treated as such

Comparison of Efficacy and Safety between Mosapride and Acotiamide for Japanese patients with Functional Dyspepsia

　Background: 5-HT4 agonists (mosapride) and acetylcholine esterase inhibitor (acotiamide) are prokinetics used to treat functional dyspepsia (FD). However, to date, there has been no direct comparative study between them. The aim of this study was to compare the drugs’ efficacy and safety and to determine their predictive biomarkers.　Methods: The present study was a prospective, randomized, open-labeled, and crossover trial in Japanese FD patients. FD was diagnosed using Rome IV. We performed upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy, GI symptom rating scale, and 8-item Short-Form Health Survey to evaluate the presence of GI disorders, GI symptoms, and quality of life (QOL), respectively. Responders were defined when reporting at least a 40% improvement of the GSRS scores from their baseline.　Results: In total, 60 Japanese FD patients were randomly assigned to the acotiamide preceding group (n = 30) or mosapride preceding group (n = 30), and 51 patients were finally analyzed. Following treatment with both mosapride and acotiamide, GI symptoms and QOL scores improved significantly. The responder rates of mosapride and acotiamide were 37% and 33%, respectively. No severe adverse clinical event developed. The prevalence of H. pylori eradication history was significantly lower in the mosapride responder group than in the nonresponder group (45.9% vs. 14.2%, p = 0.03).　Discussion: Mosapride and acotiamide had similar effects on GI symptoms in FD patients in the absence of severe adverse events. H. pylori infection might impact in the pathogenesis of functional dyspepsia. Further investigation is needed to clarify the difference between mosapride and acotiamide

Strategies of Impoliteness in Japanese Spontaneous Talks

If, on the one hand, Japanese language, with its richness of marked allomorphs used for honorifics, has been considered one of the most attractive languages to investigate the phenomenon of politeness, on the other hand, a very small number of studies have been devoted to Japanese impoliteness, most of them limited to BBSs’ (Bulletin Board System) chats on Internet. Interestingly, Japanese native speakers declare, in general, that their language has a very limited number of offensive expressions and that ‘impoliteness’ is not a characteristic of their mother tongue. I tried to analyse some samples of spontaneous conversations taken from YouTube and other multimedia repertoires, in order to detect the main strategies used in Japanese real conversations to cause offence or to show a threatening attitude toward the partner’s face. It seems possible to state that, notwithstanding the different ‘cultural’ peculiarities, impoliteness shows, also in Japanese, a set of strategies common to other languages and that impoliteness, in terms of morphology, is not a mirror counterpart of keigo

Fission Yeast CENP-C (Cnp3) Plays a Role in Restricting the Site of CENP-A Accumulation

The centromere is a chromosomal locus where a microtubule attachment site, termed kinetochore, is assembled in mitosis. In most eukaryotes, with the exception of holocentric species, each chromosome contains a single distinct centromere. A chromosome with an additional centromere undergoes successive rounds of anaphase bridge formation and breakage, or triggers a cell cycle arrest imposed by DNA damage and replication checkpoints. We report here a study in Schizosaccharomyces pombe to characterize a mutant (cnp3-1) in a gene encoding a homolog of mammalian centromere-specific protein, CENP-C. At the restrictive temperature 36 degrees , the Cnp3-1 mutant protein loses its localization at the centromere. In the cnp3-1 mutant, the level of the Cnp1 (a homolog of a centromere-specific histone CENP-A) also decreases at the centromere. Interestingly, the cnp3-1 mutant is prone to promiscuous accumulation of Cnp1 at non-centromeric regions, when Cnp1 is present in excess. Unlike the wild type protein, Cnp3-1 mutant protein is found at the sites of promiscuous accumulation of Cnp1, suggesting that Cnp3-1 may stabilize or promote accumulation of Cnp1 at non-centromeric regions. From these results, we infer the role of Cnp3 in restricting the site of accumulation of Cnp1 and thus to prevent formation of de novo centromeres