Case of plasmablastic lymphoma of the sigmoid colon and literature review

Plasmablastic lymphoma (PBL) is a rare form of non-Hodgkin\u27s lymphoma that is associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Although PBL is most commonly observed in the oral cavity of HIV-positive patients, it can also be observed at extra-oral sites in HIV-negative patients. This report represents an unusual case of HIV-negative PBL that occurred in the sigmoid colon. This patient had a history of systemic lupus erythematosus and an underlying immunosuppressive state from long term steroid therapy. The lymphoma cells were positive for CD138, kappa light chain restriction and Epstein-Barr virus and negative for CD20/L26, CD3, CD79a, UCHL1 (CD45RO) and cytokeratin (AE1/AE3). The patient died approximately 2 mo after the operation. In the present paper, we review cases of PBL of the colon in HIVnegative patients

Dietary fiber intake and risk of incident disabling dementia: the Circulatory Risk in Communities Study

OBJECTIVES: It has been hypothesized that dietary fiber intake has a beneficial impact on prevention of dementia, but the epidemiological evidence is scant. We sought to examine whether dietary fiber intake is inversely associated with risk of dementia requiring care under the national insurance (disabling dementia). METHODS: The study setting was the Circulatory Risk in Communities Study, involving 3739 Japanese individuals aged 40-64 years at the dietary surveys (1985-99). Dietary fiber intake was estimated using the 24-hour dietary recall method. Incident disabling dementia was followed up from 1999 through 2020. Disabling dementia was further classified into that with or without a history of stroke. Hazard ratios of disabling dementia according to quartiles of total, soluble, and insoluble fiber intake were calculated using the Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS: During a median 19.7-year follow-up, a total of 670 cases of disabling dementia developed. Dietary fiber intake was inversely associated with risk of dementia: the multivariate hazards ratios (95% confidence intervals) were 0.83 (0.67-1.04), 0.81 (0.65-1.02), and 0.74 (0.57-0.96) for individuals with the second, third, and highest quartiles of dietary fiber intake, respectively, as compared with the lowest quartile (P for trend = 0.03). The inverse association was more evident for soluble fiber intake and was confined to dementia without a history of stroke. As for fiber-containing foods, potatoes, but not vegetables or fruits, showed a similar association. CONCLUSIONS: Dietary fiber intake, especially soluble fiber, was inversely associated with risk of disabling dementia in a general Japanese population

Unexpected biotic resilience on the Japanese seafloor caused by the 2011 Tōhoku-Oki tsunami

On March 11th, 2011 the Mw 9.0 2011 Tōhoku-Oki earthquake resulted in a tsunami which caused major devastation in coastal areas. Along the Japanese NE coast, tsunami waves reached maximum run-ups of 40 m, and travelled kilometers inland. Whereas devastation was clearly visible on land, underwater impact is much more difficult to assess. Here, we report unexpected results obtained during a research cruise targeting the seafloor off Shimokita (NE Japan), shortly (five months) after the disaster. The geography of the studied area is characterized by smooth coastline and a gradually descending shelf slope. Although high-energy tsunami waves caused major sediment reworking in shallow-water environments, investigated shelf ecosystems were characterized by surprisingly high benthic diversity and showed no evidence of mass mortality. Conversely, just beyond the shelf break, the benthic ecosystem was dominated by a low-diversity, opportunistic fauna indicating ongoing colonization of massive sand-bed deposits.Peer reviewe

Generation and Characterization of Conditional Heparin-Binding EGF-Like Growth Factor Knockout Mice

Recently, neurotrophic factors and cytokines have been shown to be associated in psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression. Heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor (HB-EGF) is a member of the EGF family, serves as a neurotrophic molecular and plays a significant role in the brain. We generated mice in which HB-EGF activity is disrupted specifically in the ventral forebrain. These knockout mice showed (a) behavioral abnormalities similar to those described in psychiatric disorders, which were ameliorated by typical or atypical antipsychotics, (b) altered dopamine and serotonin levels in the brain, (c) decreases in spine density in neurons of the prefrontal cortex, (d) reductions in the protein levels of the NR1 subunit of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor and post-synaptic protein-95 (PSD-95), (e) decreases in the EGF receptor, and in the calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMK II) signal cascade. These results suggest the alterations affecting HB-EGF signaling could comprise a contributing factor in psychiatric disorder

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma as a cause of obstructive jaundice with simultaneous extrahepatic portal vein obstruction: A case report

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a rare cause of biliary obstruction. To the best of our knowledge, non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the peripancreatic region causing obstructive jaundice with simultaneous portal vein (PV) invasion has not yet been reported. We present a 50-year-old patient with obstructive jaundice whose extrahepatic portal vein was obstructed by the invasion of a peripancreatic non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The patient denied any other symptoms such as recurrent fever, night sweat and loss of body weight. Computed tomography (CT) revealed a 10 cm mass in the retroperitoneal space behind the head of the pancreas causing obstruction of the distal bile duct and the PV. A pylorus-preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy combined with a PV resection was performed. The PV was reconstructed using an autologous right internal jugular vein graft. The resected specimen showed endoluminal invasion of both the bile duct and the PV. Histological examination showed the mass consisting of diffuse sheets of large malignant lymphoid cells. These cells were positive for CD20 and CD79a, partially positive for CD10, and negative for CD3, CD4, CD5, CD8 and CD30. The pathologic diagnosis was diffuse large B-cell type non-Hodgkin lymphoma and the patient was transferred to the Department of Hematology and Oncology for chemotherapy. He received four cycles of combined chemotherapy including cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone plus rituximab, and three cycles of intrathecal chemoprophylaxis including methotrexate, cytosine arabinoside and prednisone. The patient is alive with no evidence of the disease for 7 mo after operation and will receive additional courses of chemotherapy

Noodle Qualities of Fresh Pasta Supplemented with Various Amounts of Purple Sweet Potato Powder

Sweet potato is a nutritious, cost-effective and abundantly available food crop in Asia. In an effort to utilize sweet potato for food processing, the effects of purple sweet potato powder (PSPP)-supplementation on the quality of fresh pasta was determined. Results showed that PSPP-supplementation produced fresh pasta dark purple in color, attributable to the intrinsic anthocyanin content. Moreover, PSPP provided a higher amount of gelatinized starch, resulting in softer and more elastic raw fresh pasta; and the boiled fresh pasta showed a softer texture, as indicated by its hardness, rupture force and energy. However, PSPP-supplementation decreased the cooking weight gain of fresh pasta. Sensory evaluation rated the quality of boiled fresh pasta with 7.5% and 10% PSPP as more acceptable and equally acceptable as the control, respectively. Thus, this study suggests that PSPP-supplementation results in an acceptable noodle product, potentially increasing the utilization of purple sweet potato