フォン・ヴィレブランド因子の機能を調節することで、マウスの急性腎虚血再灌流障害を緩和できる

Acute kidney injury (AKI), an abrupt loss of renal function, is often seen in clinical settings and may become fatal. In addition to its hemostatic functions, von Willebrand factor (VWF) is known to play a role in cross-talk between inflammation and thrombosis. We hypothesized that VWF may be involved in the pathophysiology of AKI, major causes of which include insufficient renal circulation or inflammatory cell infiltration in the kidney. To test this hypothesis, we studied the role of VWF in AKI using a mouse model of acute ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) kidney injury. We analyzed renal function and blood flow in VWF-gene deleted (knock-out; KO) mice. The functional regulation of VWF by ADAMTS13 or a function-blocking anti-VWF antibody was also evaluated in this pathological condition. Greater renal blood flow and lower serum creatinine were observed after reperfusion in VWF-KO mice compared with wild-type (WT) mice. Histological analysis also revealed a significantly lower degree of tubular damage and neutrophil infiltration in kidney tissues of VWF-KO mice. Both human recombinant ADAMTS13 and a function-blocking anti-VWF antibody significantly improved renal blood flow, renal function and histological findings in WT mice. Our results indicate that VWF plays a role in the pathogenesis of AKI. Proper functional regulation of VWF may improve the microcirculation and vessel function in the kidney, suggesting a novel therapeutic option against AKI.博士（医学）・甲第744号・令和2年3月16日© The Author(s) 2019. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Successful esophageal bypass surgery in a patient with a large tracheoesophageal fistula following endotracheal stenting and chemoradiotherapy for advanced esophageal cancer: case report

A 63-year-old man with esophageal achalasia for more than 20 years complained of respiratory distress. He was admitted as an emergency to the referral hospital three months previously. Computed tomography revealed tracheobronchial stenosis due to advanced esophageal cancer with tracheal invasion. He underwent tracheobronchial stenting and chemoradiotherapy. A large tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF) developed after irradiation (18 Gy) and chemotherapy, and he was unable to eat. Thereafter, he was referred to our hospital, where we performed esophageal bypass surgery using a gastric conduit. A percutaneous cardiopulmonary support system was prepared due to the risk of airway obstruction during anesthesia. A small-diameter tracheal tube inserted into the stent achieved ordinary respiratory management. No anesthesia-related problems were encountered. Oral intake commenced on postoperative day 9. He was discharged on postoperative day 23 and was able to take in sustenance orally right up to the last moment of his life. Esophageal bypass under general anesthesia can be performed in patients with large TEF with sufficient preparation for anesthetic management

Bone structural and metabolic response of caloric restriction in Wistar rats and a GH-IGF-1 axis-suppressed transgenic rat model.

The growth hormone?insulin-like growth factor-1 (GH?IGF-1) axis plays an important role in the effects of caloric restriction(CR) on lifespan extension and may elicit effects on bone metabolism in CR animals. We compared the effects of the GH?IGF-1 axis suppression and CR on bone metabolism. We used Wistar rats fed ad libitum (control group) or fed a 30% calorierestricted diet in CR group and heterozygous transgenic (F1) rats whose GH-IGF-1 axis is moderately suppressed. There was no significant difference in serum IGF-1 concentration between control and CR rats; however, IGF-1 was significantly lower inF1 rats than in other groups. The bone volume fraction (BV/TV) was significantly lower in CR than in the control. The mean SMI value in CR rats was marginally significant difference from that in control rats, Although there was no difference in serum IGF-1 concentrations between CR and control rats, bone volume was lower, and higher SMI was observed in the former. The serum IGF-1 levels in F1 rats were lower than those of controls, but the bone volume and SMI in F1 were not different. Therefore, the effects of bone metabolism in CR rats may be different from those in the GH-IGF-1 suppression rats

The MAXI Mission on the ISS: Science and Instruments for Monitoring All Sky X-Ray Images

The MAXI (Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image) mission is the first astronomical payload to be installed on the Japanese Experiment Module-Exposed Facility (JEM-EF) on the ISS. It is scheduled for launch in the middle of 2009 to monitor all-sky X-ray objects on every ISS orbit. MAXI will be more powerful than any previous X-ray All Sky Monitor (ASM) payloads, being able to monitor hundreds of AGN. MAXI will provide all sky images of X-ray sources of about 20 mCrab in the energy band of 2-30 keV from observation on one ISS orbit (90 min), about 4.5 mCrab for one day, and about 1 mCrab for one month. A final detectability of MAXI could be 0.2 mCrab for 2 year observations.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japa

Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI)

Abstract. Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) is the first astrophysical payload which will be mounted on the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Exposed Facility in 2004. It is an X-ray all-sky monitor with unprecedented sensitivity to watch the activities of the X-ray sources in the whole sky in every 90 minutes. MAXI is boxshaped in 0.8 x 1.0 x 1.85 m with the weight of 500 kg. The mission life will be at least 2 years. MAXI has two fan-like field of views (FOV), 160 x 1.5 degree each. The X-ray instruments are Gas Slit Camera (GSC) and Solid-state Slit Camera (SSC). The GSC uses gas one-dimensional position sensitive proportional counters with 5340 cm 2 effective area in total and the SSC uses CCDs with 200 cm 2 . Both are capable to detect one-dimensional image, which is used to obtain the locations of the X-ray sources in the FOV along the long direction. Together with the scan which determine the other direction, MAXI can scan almost all sky with a precision of better than 1 degree in the energy range of 0.5-30 keV. The CCD is electrically cooled to -60°C and the camera body is radiatively cooled to -20°C. The CCD chip itself and the radiators may suffer contamination problem. The continuous Ethernet down link will enable us to alert the astronomers in all over the world to the appearance of X-ray transients, novae, bursts, flares etc. We made a test counter and test chips in 1998. Those are being tested in RIKEN, NASDA and Osaka-university. In this paper the test results will be presented, as well as the general description of the MAXI mission