Novel and Simple Ultrasonographic Methods for Estimating the Abdominal Visceral Fat Area

Objectives. To evaluate the abdominal visceral fat area (VFA), we developed novel ultrasonographic (US) methods for estimating. Methods. 100 male volunteers were recruited, and their VFA was calculated by two novel US methods, the triangle method and the ellipse method. The VFA calculated by these methods was compared with the VFA calculated by CT. Results. Both the VFA calculated by the triangle method (r=0.766, p<0.001) and the ellipse method (r=0.781, p<0.001) showed a high correlation coefficient with the VFA calculated by CT. Also, the VFA calculated by our novel methods were significantly increased in subjects with one or more metabolic risk factors than in those without any risk factors. Furthermore, the correlation coefficients obtained using the two methods were enhanced by the addition of multiple regression analysis (with the triangle method, r=0.8586, p<0.001; with the ellipse method, r=0.8642, p<0.001). Conclusions. The VFA calculated by the triangle or ellipse method showed a high correlation coefficient with the VFA calculated by CT. These US methods are easy to use, they involve no radiation exposure, and the measurements can be conducted frequently. We hope that our simple methods would be widely adopted for the evaluation of VFA

Hypogammaglobulinemia with a selective delayed recovery in memory B cells and an impaired isotype expression after rituximab administration as an adjuvant to autologous stem cell transplantation for non-Hodgkin lymphoma

Objectives: Some studies have indicated patients who received rituximab as adjuvant to stem cell transplantation had an increased risk of developing severe hypogammaglobulinemia. The mechanism of this hypogammaglobulinemia is unknown, although investigators have hypothesized a further delay in the B-cell recovery as one potential etiology. The aim of this study is to clarify the mechanism(s) of this hypogammaglobulinemia. Methods: A total of 14 patients with high-risk CD20+ lymphoma underwent an autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (APBSCT). After a hematological recovery, rituximab was given weekly for up to four doses as an adjuvant therapy. Results: After a median follow up of 33.5 months, we found six patients (group A) who had hypogammaglobulinemia, while the eight other patients (group B) had normal serum immunoglobulin levels. A phenotypical analysis revealed that group A patients had already achieved B-cell recovery. However, we found a severe delay in the recovery of CD27+ memory B cells, especially in the IgD /CD27+ switched populations in group A, but CD27 negative naive B-cells reverted to a normal range in both groups. Consistent with this, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction studies with peripheral blood mononuclear cells revealed that most patients in group A lacked more than two classes of isotype transcripts. Conclusions: Abnormal repertoires and impaired isotype expression are seen in patients with common variable immunodeficiency, these data suggested that rituximab after APBSCT can affect not only the B-cell quantities, but also the recovery of the B-cell repertoires

Use of intra-procedural fusion imaging combining contrast-enhanced ultrasound using a perflubutane-based contrast agent and auto sweep three-dimensional ultrasound for guiding radiofrequency ablation and evaluating its efficacy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Purpose This study evaluated the usefulness of intraprocedural contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS)/ultrasound (US) fusion imaging using a perflubutane-based contrast agent combined with preprocedural auto sweep three-dimensional US to obtain volume data for guidance and evaluation of the therapeutic efficacy of radiofrequency ablation (RFA). Methods This uncontrolled clinical trial included 50 hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) with a mean diameter of 15.3 mm that had been treated by RFA. The efficacy of RFA was evaluated by CEUS/US fusion imaging during the procedure. If the ablation was deemed to be inadequate, further ablation was performed until adequate ablation was achieved. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) or contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (CEMRI) was performed a month after RFA, and the images obtained using each modality were reviewed to evaluate the efficacy of RFA. Results Thirty-three of the 50 lesions were evaluated by CEUS/US fusion imaging as having been adequately ablated after the first RFA procedure. The ablation was evaluated as inadequate in the remaining 17 lesions, for which additional ablation was performed. Ninety-eight (49/50) of all HCCs were evaluated as having been eventually adequately ablated on intraprocedural CEUS/US fusion imaging. The concordance rate for evaluations between intraprocedural CEUS/US fusion imaging and CECT/CEMRI performed 1 month after RFA was 88% (44/50). The kappa value for agreement between the two methods of evaluation was 0.792. Conclusion Intraprocedural fusion imaging combining CEUS and auto sweep three-dimensional US appears to be a useful modality for RFA guidance and evaluation of therapeutic efficacy of RFA in patients with HCC

Establishment and evaluation of a new highly metastatic tumor cell line 5a-D-Luc-ZsGreen expressing both luciferase and green fluorescent protein.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Although advances in diagnostic imaging for early detection, surgical techniques and chemotherapy have improved overall survival, the prognosis of patients with metastatic breast cancer remains poor. Understanding cancer cell dynamics in the metastatic process is important to develop new therapeutic strategies. Experimental animal models and imaging would be powerful tools for understanding of the molecular events of multistep process of metastasis. In the present study, to develop a new cancer cell line that is applicable to bioluminescence and fluorescence imaging, we transfected the expression vector of a green fluorescent protein ZsGreen1 into a metastatic cell line 5a-D-Luc, which is a subclone of the MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell line expressing luciferase, and established a new tumor cell line 5a-D-Luc-ZsGreen expressing both luciferase and ZsGreen1. The 5a-D-Luc-ZsGreen cells proliferate more rapidly and have a more invasive phenotype compared with 5a-D-Luc cells following intracardiac injection. Metastasis sites were easily detected in the whole body by bioluminescence imaging and in excised tissues by ex vivo fluorescence imaging. The fluorescence of 5a-D-Luc-ZsGreen cells was not lost after formalin fixation and decalcification. It enabled us to easily evaluate tumor spread and localization at the cellular level in microscopic analysis. The strong fluorescence of 5a-D-Luc-ZsGreen cells allowed for real-time imaging of circulating tumor cells in cerebral blood vessels of live animals immediately after intracardiac injection of cells using two-photon laser-scanning microscopy. These findings suggest that the 5a-D-Luc-ZsGreen cells would be a useful tool for research on mechanisms of metastatic process in animal models

Effects of MR16-1 on carcass weight (a), tumor growth (b), food intake (c), and water intake (d).

<p>Transplantation of IL-6-expressing LLC cells caused cachexia in mice (groups 3 and 4), while groups 1 and 2 received only the same amount of saline solution, 0.9% sodium chloride (healthy control groups). We administered MR16-1 (groups 2 and 4) or 0.9% saline (groups 1 and 3), respectively. Body weight, tumor size and food and water intake were measured on days 0, 3, 7, 10, 14, 17 and 21 after transplantation. The measured quantity of food or water was divided by the number of mice and days to determine each intake per animal per day. Statistical significance was evaluated with Tukey’s Honest Significant Differences (HSD) after the one-way ANOVA. Data represent mean and S.D. (S.D. data of weight are shown in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0102436#pone-0102436-t004" target="_blank">Table 4</a>). Tumor growth was not significantly different between groups 3 and 4 (B), but body weight (A) and food (C) and water intake (D) were significantly improved in group 4 (†, p<0.01). No significant differences were observed in the carcass weight and food and water intakes between the untreated (group 1) and treated healthy mice (group 2).</p