The Function of β2-glycoprotein I in Angiogenesis and Its in Vivo Distribution in Tumor Xenografts

Intact β2-glycoprotein I (iβ2GPI) is a glycoprotein that regulates coagulation and fibrinolysis. Nicked β2GPI (nβ2GPI) possesses an angiogenic property at a relatively low concentration, and an antiangiogenic property at a high concentration. Here we investigated the functions of βi 2GPI and nβ2GPI in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A-induced endothelial cell proliferation and tube formation. We used noninvasive PET imaging to analyze the in vivo distribution of intravenously injected β2GPI variants in tumor lesions in mice. iβ2GPI was incubated with plasmin to obtain nβ2GPI, and its N-terminal sequence was analyzed. nβ2GPI had at least one other cleavage site upstream of the β2GPIʼs domain V, whereas the former plasmin-cleavage site locates between K317 and T318. Both of intact and nicked β2GPI significantly inhibited the VEGF-A-induced cell proliferation and the tube formation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). PET imaging visualized considerably distributed intensities of all tested β2GPI variants in tumor lesions of pancreatic tumor cell-xenografts. These results indicate that β2GPI may be physiologically and pathophysiologically important in the regulation of not only coagulation and fibrinolysis, but also angiogenesis

Relationship of the Difficulty of Helicobacter pylori Eradication with Drinking Habits and Allergic Disease

Eradication of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is crucial to reduce the risk of developing gastric ulcers and gastric cancer. Although immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels and alcohol consumption have been shown to influence the failure of H. pylori eradication, the relationship between these factors and the mechanism of failure has not been clarified. Because high IgE levels are associated with eradication failure, the purpose of this study was to clarify the factors leading to high IgE levels. Completed questionnaires and blood test data were collected from patients who visited a university hospital for H. pylori eradication. Logistic regression analysis was per-formed to examine the relationship between high IgE levels and allergic diseases. We also examined the relationship between alcohol intake and high IgE levels. Linear regression analysis was performed on the relationship between the amount of alcohol consumed and IgE measurements. The results showed that patients with allergic diseases and those with high alcohol intake had significantly higher IgE levels. High IgE levels are a risk factor for failure of H. pylori eradication that is associated with drinking habits and alcohol consumption, and our results suggest that daily alcohol consumption should be avoided even in non-allergic patients

Progress on ITER remote experimentation centre

Construction of ITER remote experimentation centre (REC) based on the broader approach (BA) activityof the joint program of Japan and Europe (EU) is progressing. In order to make the future experiments ofITER and JT-60SA effectively and efficiently implemented, development of a remote experiment systemby using the Satellite Tokamak (JT-60SA) facilities was planned and the development of software for theremote experiment is ongoing, including the systems for the remote connection and the communicationbetween the remote site and the on-site facility. The network system from REC in Rokkasho-site of Japanto the network in EU was established in collaboration with the National Institute of Informatics (NII).Effective data transfer method that is capable of fast transfer speeds in the gigabit range is investigated.Data transfer at the rate of several Gbps was successfully obtained between the institutes in Japan. Thepreliminary versions of the software for data analysis are developed, such as for visualization of timedependent experimental data and transport simulations, visualization of plasma boundary/equilibriumand spatial profiles of diagnostic data. The remote data access program and an integrated platform forDocumentation and Experiment Management are also being developed. A remote experiment room inthe Rokkasho-site in Japan was designed and the construction started. The function of REC will be testedand the total system will be demonstrated by the middle of 2017

High-performance data transfer for full data replication between iter and the remote experimentation centre

A high-performance data transfer method has been developed for the Remote Experimentation Centre (REC) of ITER in Japan for the first time. The developed technology shows the technical feasibility to establish the REC with full data replication between ITER and REC for remote experiments. Test results showed that it achieved a data transfer rate of approximately 7.9 Giga-bits per second (Gbps) on a 10-Gbps network. The new double-layer storage structure can accelerate the storage read/write speed up to 2 GByte/s. Moreover, the Internet and a layer-2 virtual private network (L2VPN) comparison tests demonstrated that the latter is superior in both security and speed. This technology shows great potential for near real-time full data replication between ITER and REC, which may provide a new style of world-wide remote experimentation