H. pylori-Eradication Therapy Increases RUNX3 Expression in the Glandular Epithelial Cells in Enlarged-Fold Gastritis

Helicobacter pylori (HP)-eradication therapy increases Runt domain transcription factor 3 (RUNX3) expression in the glandular epithelial cells in enlarged-fold gastritis. The aim of this study is to evaluate expression of the RUNX3 protein, the product of a gastric tumor suppression gene, and mutagenic oxidative stress in human gastric mucosal specimens obtained from patients with HP-induced enlarged-fold gastritis. Methods. RUNX3 expression was immunohistochemically scored and the degree of the mucosal oxidative stress was directly measured by the chemiluminescense (ChL) assay in the biopsy specimens. Results. RUNX3 expression was detected in the gastric epithelial cells. HP-eradication significantly increased RUNX3 expression in the glandular epithelium of the corpus, however, no change was observed in those of the antrum. A fourfold higher mucosal ChL value was observed in the corpus as compared with that in the antrum. HP-eradication significantly decreased the mucosal ChL values in both portions of the stomach to nearly undetectable levels. Conclusion. The glandular epithelium is exposed to a high level of carcinogenic oxidative stress and shows low levels of expression of the tumor suppressive molecule, RUNX3; however, this expression was restored after HP-eradication, suggesting the high risk of carcinogenesis associated with HP-induced enlarged-fold gastritis of the corpus

16S rRNA targeted RT-PCR for the detection of Vibrio penaeicida, the pathogen of cultured kuruma prawn Penaeus japonicus.

Vibrio penaeicida is the causative bacterium of vibriosis in cultured kuruma prawn Penaeus japonicus in Japan. To develop a specific and sensitive method for the detection of the pathogen, a species-specific sequence in the 16S rRNA of V. penaeicida was determined and a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based method was devised on the basis of the sequence. Prior to sequencing, a part of the variable regions of the 16S rRNA was amplified by using primers designed from 2 conserved regions according to previously reported data on Vibrionaceae. The region of the 16S rRNA (nucleotide numbers 440 to 490 in Escherichia coli 16S rRNA) obtained by this procedure was found to be species-specific for V. penaeicida. It was confirmed that PCR and RT (reverse transcription)-PCR amplifications with a sense primer designed from the V. penaeicida-specific sequence were both able to differentiate V. penaeicida from other prawn-pathogenic vibrios. 16S rRNA-targeted RT-PCR was demonstrated to have 100 times higher sensitivity than 16S rDNA-targeted PCR and 10 fg of total nucleic acids extracted from cultured bacterial cells was sufficient to yield the visible fragment in gel electrophoresis. These results indicate that RT-PCR amplification with this primer is useful for specific and sensitive detection of V. penaeicida

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of RNA of striped jack nervous necrosis (SJNNV)

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to amplify a portion of the coat protein gene (RNA2) of striped jack nervous necrosis vlrus (SJNNV), the causative agent of viral nervous necrosis (VNN) of larval striped jack Pseudocaranx dentex. Based on the sequence data of SJNNV RNA2, 2 forward (F1 and F2) and 3 reverse (RI. R2 and R3) PCR primers were synthesized and the 5 potential target regions were amplified with a combination of these primers. After reverse transcription of genomic RNA extracted from SJNNV and 25 cycles of PCR amplification, products of the expected size were detected separately on agarose gels stained with ethidium bromide. Southern blot hybridization confirmed that all of the amplified products were specific to cDNA of SJNNV RNA2. Two primer sets, F1-R2 and F2-R3, produced the specified 180 bp and 430 bp products. The PCR system, using the F2-R3 primer set, was able to detect 100 fg of SJNNV RNA after 25 cycles and was also able to efficiently amplify the target region of SJNNV gene in the total nucleic acids extracted from larval striped jack affected with VNN

A Case of Gastroparesis after Cryoballoon Ablation followed by Medication-Induced Recovery within 6 Months

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia, and cryoballoon ablation was developed as a new treatment modality for symptomatic AF. Gastroparesis is rarely reported as a transient complication of ablation, and its frequency and risk are not clear. We experienced a rare case of gastroparesis after cryoballoon ablation followed by medication-induced recovery within 6 months

Subaru high-z exploration of low-luminosity quasars (SHELLQs). I. Discovery of 15 quasars and bright galaxies at 5.7 < z < 6.9

We report the discovery of 15 quasars and bright galaxies at 5.7 < z < 6.9. This is the initial result from the Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-Luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs) project, which exploits the exquisite multiband imaging data produced by the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Strategic Program survey. The candidate selection is performed by combining several photometric approaches including a Bayesian probabilistic algorithm to reject stars and dwarfs. The spectroscopic identification was carried out with the Gran Telescopio Canarias and the Subaru Telescope for the first 80 deg2 of the survey footprint. The success rate of our photometric selection is quite high, approaching 100 % at the brighter magnitudes (zAB < 23.5 mag). Our selection also recovered all the known high-z quasars on the HSC images. Among the 15 discovered objects, six are likely quasars, while the other six with interstellar absorption lines and in some cases narrow emission lines are likely bright Lyman-break galaxies. The remaining three objects have weak continua and very strong and narrow Ly alpha lines, which may be excited by ultraviolet light from both young stars and quasars. These results indicate that we are starting to see the steep rise of the luminosity function of z > 6 galaxies, compared with that of quasars, at magnitudes fainter than M1450 ~ -22 mag or zAB ~24 mag. Follow-up studies of the discovered objects as well as further survey observations are ongoing.Comment: Published in ApJ (828:26, 2016