Intestinal Nature in Gallbladder Carcinoma with Reference to its Histogenesis

Forty advanced cases of gallbladder carcinoma were examined by the use of histochemical and immunohistological methods, in which attention was focused on intestinal metaplasia seen in and around the lesions. Twenty-nine percent for cases of well-differentiated adenocarcinoma displayed goblet cell-type carcinoma cells within the lesions, while no similar cell was evident in cases of poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. Ten percent for cases of gallbladder carcinoma included endocrine cells within neoplastic tissues, all of which consisted of well-differentiated adenocarcinoma and mucosal areas adjacent to which also contained similar cells. Mucosal areas in the proximity to foci of well-differentiated adenocarcinoma demonstrated a marked increase in the amount of non-sulfated acid mucin, but no such tendency was discernible around foci of poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. Lysozyme immunoreactivity was identifiable in a high percent of well-differentiated adenocarcinoma foci and their surrounding mucosal areas, while similar reactivity was rarely present in cases of poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. It may be suggested from these results that an intimate relationship would exist in between intestinal metaplasia and well-differentiated adenocarcinoma occurring in the gallbladder. It is, however, to be determined whether or not intestinal metaplasia alone would act as a precancerous lesion like adenoma, dysplasia and possibly hyperplastic polyp for the histogenesis of gallbladder carcinomas

Autophagy–physiology and pathophysiology

“Autophagy” is a highly conserved pathway for degradation, by which wasted intracellular macromolecules are delivered to lysosomes, where they are degraded into biologically active monomers such as amino acids that are subsequently re-used to maintain cellular metabolic turnover and homeostasis. Recent genetic studies have shown that mice lacking an autophagy-related gene (Atg5 or Atg7) cannot survive longer than 12 h after birth because of nutrient shortage. Moreover, tissue-specific impairment of autophagy in central nervous system tissue causes massive loss of neurons, resulting in neurodegeneration, while impaired autophagy in liver tissue causes accumulation of wasted organelles, leading to hepatomegaly. Although autophagy generally prevents cell death, our recent study using conditional Atg7-deficient mice in CNS tissue has demonstrated the presence of autophagic neuron death in the hippocampus after neonatal hypoxic/ischemic brain injury. Thus, recent genetic studies have shown that autophagy is involved in various cellular functions. In this review, we introduce physiological and pathophysiological roles of autophagy

Sleep maturation influences cognitive development of preterm toddlers

Our recent study on full-term toddlers demonstrated that daytime nap properties affect the distribution ratio between nap and nighttime sleep duration in total sleep time but does not affect the overall total amount of daily sleep time. However, there is still no clear scientific consensus as to whether the ratio between naps and nighttime sleep or just daily total sleep duration itself is more important for healthy child development. In the current study, to gain an answer to this question, we examined the relationship between the sleep properties and the cognitive development of toddlers born prematurely using actigraphy and the Kyoto scale of psychological development (KSPD) test. 101 premature toddlers of approximately 1.5 years of age were recruited for the study. Actigraphy units were attached to their waist with an adjustable elastic belt for 7 consecutive days and a child sleep diary was completed by their parents. In the study, we found no significant correlation between either nap or nighttime sleep duration and cognitive development of the preterm toddlers. In contrast, we found that stable daily wake time was significantly associated with better cognitive development, suggesting that sleep regulation may contribute to the brain maturation of preterm toddlers

Preterm toddlers have low nighttime sleep quality and high daytime activity.

A number of studies have been made on the sleep characteristics of children born preterm in an attempt to develop methods to address the sleep problems commonly observed among such children. However, the reported sleep characteristics from these studies vary depending on the observation methods used, i.e., actigraphy, polysomnography and questionnaire. In the current study, to obtain reliable data on the sleep characteristics of preterm-born children, we investigated the difference in sleep properties between 97 preterm and 97 term toddlers of approximately 1.5 years of age using actigraphy. Actigraphy units were attached to the toddlers’ waists with an adjustable elastic belt for 7 consecutive days, and a child sleep diary was completed by their parents. In the study, we found that preterm toddlers had more nocturnal awakenings and more daytime activity, suggesting that preterm-born children may have a different process of sleep development in their early development

Palladium-catalysed carbonylation of aryl halides in ionic liquid media: high catalyst stability and significant rate-enhancement in alkoxycarbonylation

Palladium-catalysed carbonylation of aryl halides with alcohols or NEt 2 H proceeds in ionic liquid media (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate or hexafluorophosphate). The catalyst/ionic liquid mixture could be recycled, after separation of the product by either distillation or extraction with ether. Carbonylation with alcohols forming benzoates was greatly accelerated by the use of ionic liquid