Unusual endoscopic findings of gastric neuroendocrine tumor

Gastric neuroendocrine tumor (NET) is sometimes found as a submucosal tumor on upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Gastric NET with malignant profile and neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC) show various forms which are difficult to distinguish from gastric cancer and other disease. We report a case of a cauliflower-shaped NET of the stomach. A 61-year-old man was referred to our hospital with a complaint of abdominal fullness. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopic examination revealed an unusual, whitish cauliflower-shaped tumor that belongs to Borrmann type I on the lesser curvature of the gastric antrum. Histological examination of the biopsy specimen revealed NET G2, because the tumor cells were CD56- and synaptophysin-positive by immunohistochemical analysis. A distal gastrectomy with D2 lymphadenectomy was performed. A recurrence in the liver was revealed by follow up computed tomography after 11 months from operation. Combined chemotherapy with irinotecan (CPT-11) plus cisplatin (CDDP) was treated. The patient achieved a partial response, but he died after 31 months from gastrectomy. There is no independent, large-scaled prospective study and no standard treatment for gastric NETs with distant metastases. Our case is reported with a literature review of the treatment of metastatic gastric NET G2

Effect of Aquaculture on Material Cycles in Otsuchi Bay, Japan

A numerical physical-biological coupled model is developed for the study of coastal material cycles including aquaculture. The model calculates spatial distributions of PON (Particulate Organic Nitrogen), POP (Particulate Organic Phosphorus), DON (Dissolved Organic Nitrogen), DOP (Dissolved Organic Phosphorus), Chl-a, zooplankton, NO_3-N, NH_4-N and PO_4-P using simulated current. It also takes into consideration the effects of shellfish feeding and excretion, seaweed photosynthesis, and the loading of DIN from rivers. The model is applied to Otsuchi Bay, in Iwate Pref., in Japan. The model elucidated the cycling of nitrogen among ecological compartments. If the amount of cultured shellfish is extremely increased, the feeding by shellfish is large enough to change the lower trophic level ecosystem, reducing concentration of phytoplankton and POM (Particulate Organic Matter) around the cultured region, while phytoplankton increases far from the culture due to the increase of recycled nutrient by the excretion of shellfish

Another century of gods ? A re-evaluation of Seleukid ruler cult.

This paper argues that numismatic representations portraying living Seleukid kings as divine can be found before the reign of Antiochos III on royal coinage. Furthermore, the numismatic evidence does not support a claim that Antiochos III presented his own divinity on coinage in a way that is significantly different from that of his predecessors. Instead it was not until the reign of Antiochos IV that the living king was unequivocally portrayed as divine through the legend on his coinage. The numismatic evidence therefore differs from the epigraphic evidence as it is only under Antiochos III that there is inscriptional evidence for the recognition of a deified living Seleukid king in a non-civic context. This paper argues that the coinage re-examined here provides evidence for the royal presentation of the kings’ divinity in a non-civic context. In doing so, this paper opens the possibility of re-assessing when a Seleukid royal cult developed

Oxygen-evolving photosystem II structures during S1–S2–S3 transitions

Photosystem II (PSII) catalyses the oxidation of water through a four-step cycle of Si states (i = 0–4) at the Mn4CaO5 cluster1,2,3, during which an extra oxygen (O6) is incorporated at the S3 state to form a possible dioxygen4,5,6,7. Structural changes of the metal cluster and its environment during the S-state transitions have been studied on the microsecond timescale. Here we use pump-probe serial femtosecond crystallography to reveal the structural dynamics of PSII from nanoseconds to milliseconds after illumination with one flash (1F) or two flashes (2F). YZ, a tyrosine residue that connects the reaction centre P680 and the Mn4CaO5 cluster, showed structural changes on a nanosecond timescale, as did its surrounding amino acid residues and water molecules, reflecting the fast transfer of electrons and protons after flash illumination. Notably, one water molecule emerged in the vicinity of Glu189 of the D1 subunit of PSII (D1-E189), and was bound to the Ca2+ ion on a sub-microsecond timescale after 2F illumination. This water molecule disappeared later with the concomitant increase of O6, suggesting that it is the origin of O6. We also observed concerted movements of water molecules in the O1, O4 and Cl-1 channels and their surrounding amino acid residues to complete the sequence of electron transfer, proton release and substrate water delivery. These results provide crucial insights into the structural dynamics of PSII during S-state transitions as well as O–O bond formation

The whole blood transcriptional regulation landscape in 465 COVID-19 infected samples from Japan COVID-19 Task Force

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19患者由来の血液細胞における遺伝子発現の網羅的解析 --重症度に応じた遺伝子発現の変化には、ヒトゲノム配列の個人差が影響する--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-23.Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently-emerged infectious disease that has caused millions of deaths, where comprehensive understanding of disease mechanisms is still unestablished. In particular, studies of gene expression dynamics and regulation landscape in COVID-19 infected individuals are limited. Here, we report on a thorough analysis of whole blood RNA-seq data from 465 genotyped samples from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force, including 359 severe and 106 non-severe COVID-19 cases. We discover 1169 putative causal expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) including 34 possible colocalizations with biobank fine-mapping results of hematopoietic traits in a Japanese population, 1549 putative causal splice QTLs (sQTLs; e.g. two independent sQTLs at TOR1AIP1), as well as biologically interpretable trans-eQTL examples (e.g., REST and STING1), all fine-mapped at single variant resolution. We perform differential gene expression analysis to elucidate 198 genes with increased expression in severe COVID-19 cases and enriched for innate immune-related functions. Finally, we evaluate the limited but non-zero effect of COVID-19 phenotype on eQTL discovery, and highlight the presence of COVID-19 severity-interaction eQTLs (ieQTLs; e.g., CLEC4C and MYBL2). Our study provides a comprehensive catalog of whole blood regulatory variants in Japanese, as well as a reference for transcriptional landscapes in response to COVID-19 infection

DOCK2 is involved in the host genetics and biology of severe COVID-19

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19疾患感受性遺伝子DOCK2の重症化機序を解明 --アジア最大のバイオレポジトリーでCOVID-19の治療標的を発見--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-10.Identifying the host genetic factors underlying severe COVID-19 is an emerging challenge. Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 2, 393 cases of COVID-19 in a cohort of Japanese individuals collected during the initial waves of the pandemic, with 3, 289 unaffected controls. We identified a variant on chromosome 5 at 5q35 (rs60200309-A), close to the dedicator of cytokinesis 2 gene (DOCK2), which was associated with severe COVID-19 in patients less than 65 years of age. This risk allele was prevalent in East Asian individuals but rare in Europeans, highlighting the value of genome-wide association studies in non-European populations. RNA-sequencing analysis of 473 bulk peripheral blood samples identified decreased expression of DOCK2 associated with the risk allele in these younger patients. DOCK2 expression was suppressed in patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis (n = 61 individuals) identified cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 and a COVID-19-specific decreasing effect of the risk allele on DOCK2 expression in non-classical monocytes. Immunohistochemistry of lung specimens from patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia showed suppressed DOCK2 expression. Moreover, inhibition of DOCK2 function with CPYPP increased the severity of pneumonia in a Syrian hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, characterized by weight loss, lung oedema, enhanced viral loads, impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. We conclude that DOCK2 has an important role in the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of severe COVID-19, and could be further explored as a potential biomarker and/or therapeutic target

A STUDY OF THE INFLUENCES OF DEFOLIATION AND PINCHING-BACK ON YOUNG MULBERRY TRESS IN THE NURSERY : II. The INFLUENCES OF PINCHING-BACK

1) We have made an enquiry into the effects of \u22pinching-back\u22 on young mulberry trees in the nursery, as practised in various stages of their growth. For the purpose of comparative study, we divided our nursery into the following sections:? The \u22Control\u22 Section, where no pinching-back has been practised. Section \u22A,\u22 where the trees were pinched back once in late September while in growth. Section \u22 B,\u22 where the trees were pinched back once in August, and then the axillary buds sprouting thereafter were all removed. The growth of stems having thus been checked, the leaves borne by these trees have been much limited in number. Section \u22C,\u22 where the trees were pinched hack once in August, and then only two or three uppermost axillary buds were allowed to grow from each tree. In autumn, the leaves borne by these new stems were collected for September-silkworm-culture. 2) The trees in Section \u22A,\u22 where the pinching-back was practised in autumn, are generally found to be compared favourably with those in the \u22Control\u22 Section, in the gross weighte respectively of the young trees, the roots, and the stems; in the length of the stems, and in the weight of the stems cut to a certain uniform length; in the diameters of the transverse sections of the stems; etc. On the other hand, the trees in both Sections \u22B\u22 and \u22C\u22 are found to be inferior in all these respects to those in the \u22Control\u22 Section; while the ratio between the diameter of the pith and that of the stem is found to be large in either of these Sections to the same ratio in the \u22Control\u22 Section. 3) The trees in Section \u22A,\u22 while in the breaking strength and the specific gravity of the stems approximately resembling those in the \u22Control\u22 Section, have had smaller parts winterkilled. On the other hand, the tree s in Section \u22B,\u22 though having a somewhat smaller breaking strength and smaller specific gravity of the stems, have been least susceptible to winterkilling. Lastly, Section \u22C\u22 has presented the poorest results, having the smallest breaking strength and specific gravity of the stems, and having had the largest parts winterkilled. 4) As compared with the \u22Control\u22 Section, Section \u22A\u22 has been observed to contain almost equal percentages respectively of water, dry matter, ash, and organic matter; whilst Sections \u22B\u22 and \u22C\u22 generally contain larger percentages of water and ash and smaller percentages of dry and organic matters. 5) As compared with the \u22Control\u22 Section, Section \u22A\u22 contains a more or less smaller percentage of soluble carbohydrates; especially is this the case with the preserved carbohydrates contained in the roots, the proportion of such preserved nutriments markedly tending to be inferior in the trees in this Section. Sections \u22B\u22 and \u22C\u22 are both inferior to the \u22Control\u22 Section in the proportional quantities of the above mentioned constituents, particularly so as regards the preserved carbohydrates contained in the roots. This general tendency in the \u22treated\u22 Sections may be attributed to the comparative scarcity of foliage resultant from the pinching-back and disbudding. 6) As regards nitrogen compounds, little or no marked difference is noticeable among the four Sections studied: only, Section \u22B\u22 tends to hold a larger percentage than other Sections of these compounds. Thus, it has been observed that the percent ages of the nitrogen compounds contained in the trees in the four Sections present somewhat different aspects from the percentages of the soluble carbohydrates contained in the same. 7) As regards these constituents and preserved nutrinents contained in the roots and stems, Section \u22A\u22 generally resembles the \u22Control\u22 Section, in the absolute quantities of the dry matter, of the ash, and of the organic matter, but tends to be somewhat inferior in the absolute quantities of the soluble carbohydrates and of the nitrogen compounds. Section \u22B\u22 and \u22C\u22 are both inferior to the \u22Control\u22 Section in the absolute quantities of the above mentioned constituents and of the preserved nutriments. 8) As regards the absolute quantities of the same constituents and preserved nutriments contained in the combination of the stems cut to a certain uniform length and of the roots, the results of our enquiry have been identical with the results described under 7).1) 育苗中の種々なる摘芯が桑苗に及ぼす影響につきて研究せり。摘芯試驗區は次の如し。 : 標準區…………摘芯せず。 : A區…………秋季 (9月下旬) 先端を摘芯せり。 : B區…………夏季 (8月) 桑苗の先端を摘芯又は摘梢し後, 再發芽する腋芽は之を除去せり。從つて爾後の枝條の伸長は抑止せられしために其の着葉數は減少せり。 : C區…………夏季 (8月) 桑苗の先端を摘芯又は摘梢し後, 其の先端より2-3本宛の新枝條を伸長せしめ秋季 (晩秋蠶期) 新枝條に着生せる桑葉を採葉して養蠶に利用せり。2) A區は標準區に比し全重, 根重, 枝條重, 枝條長, 一定條長の重量, 枝條直徑等は概して大差なきも他の摘芯B, C區は共に何れも減少し, 髓心直徑と枝條直徑との割合は反對に大となれり。3) A區は標準區に比し枝條の折の強さ及び比重に付ては概して大差なきも寒枯は少なく, 他の摘芯B區は折の張さ, 比重は稍々小なるも寒枯長最も少なし, C區は枝條の折の張さ, 比重小にして寒枯長も最も大なり。4) 水分, 乾物及び灰分, 有機物%はA區は標準區と大差なく, 他の摘芯B, C區は水分及び灰分%多くして乾物及び有機物%少なき傾向あり。5) 可溶炭水化合物%はA區は標準區に比し稍々減少し特に根部の貯藏炭水化合物量に於て減少の傾向大なり。他の摘芯B, C區は共に標準區よりも減少し特に根部の貯藏炭水化合物量に於て減少大なり。摘芯區の上記の傾向は標準區よりも着葉數の少なきことに歸因するなるべし。6) 窒素化合物%は各區概して大差なきもB區は稍々大なる傾向あり, A區は標準區よりも稍々小なる傾向あり。即ち窒素化合物%は可溶炭水化合物%と稍々趣を異にする傾向あり。7) 桑苗の根部及び枝條部の諸成分の絶對重量は, A區根皮部及び條皮部の乾物絶對重量, 灰分及び有機物の絶對重量に於ては標準區に比し大差なきも可溶炭水化合物絶對重量及び窒素化合物絶對重量共に稍々減少せる傾向あり, 他の摘芯B, C區は共に何れも標準區よりも減少せり。8) 桑苗の根部と枝條一定長との合計の諸成分の絶對量も亦 7) に述べたると同樣なる結果となれり