Morphological Character and Corm Quality of Somatic Hybrid of Taro (Colocasia esculenta Schott)

　Morphological character and quality of corm in somatic hybrid No.12 obtained by protoplast fusion between taro (Colocasia esulenta Schott) cvs. ‘Yatsugahira’and ‘Malaysisa No.4’were investigated. The number of shoot and leaf was smaller than those of ‘Yatsugashira’and was larger than ‘Malaysia No.4’. The length of leaf blade and petiole were shoeter than the two parents. The number of corm was smaller than the two parents. Generally, the shape of top was comoact as compared the two parents. The total weight of corms was about a half of that of ‘Yatsugashira’, and a thirs of that of ‘Malaysia No.4’. The weight of mother corm of somatic hybrid No.12 was 400-500g. The corm morphology of somatic hybrid No.12 was almost intermediate between the two parents. The upper surface of mother corm of somatic hybrid No.12 was smooth; it was much different from that of mother corm of ‘Yatsugashira’. Starch content of borm was similae to ‘Yatsugashira’and smaller than ‘Malaysia No.4’. Sugar and amino acid contents of somatic hybrid No.12 were higher than those of the two parents. Calcium oxalate content was to the parents

Development of a novel in vitro assay to evaluate environmental water using an IL-8 reporter cell line

The IL-8 luciferase reporter cell line, THP-G8 cells, used in the in vitro sensitization test, OECD442E, can respond to a variety of stimuli other than haptens, such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS), other bacterial toxins, and detergents. Considering these characteristics, we examined the ability of the IL-8 luciferase assay using THP-G8 cells to evaluate water pollution. We first stimulated THP-G8 cell with various Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists and nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor (NLR) agonists, and found that TLR1, 2, 4, 5, 6 agonists and NOD 1, 2 agonists significantly augmented IL-8 luciferase activity (IL8LA). Then, we examined the detection threshold of LPS by THP-G8 cells, and found it 0.4 EU/ml. Next, we examined whether THP-G8 cells can differently respond to a variety of sources of environmental water around Sendai, Japan and Manila, Philippine and whether there is a correlation between the IL8LA of different sources of water and their level of endotoxin assessed by the LAL assay. There was a clear trend that the IL8LA was lower in the upper stream and higher in the downstream in both Japan and Philippine. Moreover, there was a strong correlation between the IL8LA of the environmental water and its endotoxin level. Finally, using N-acetyl-L-cysteine, an antioxidant/radical scavenger, and polymyxin B that neutralizes endotoxin, we demonstrated that there was a difference in the suppressive effects by them between the water from Japan and that from Philippine. These data suggest the potential of the IL-8 luciferase assay for evaluating environmental water pollution both quantitatively and qualitatively

Expression of Neurokinin B Receptor in the Gingival Squamous Cell Carcinoma Bone Microenvironment

Gingival squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) frequently invades the maxillary or mandibular bone, and bone destruction is known as a key prognostic factor in gingival SCCs. Recently, Neurokinin 3 receptor (NK-3R), the receptor ligand for NK-3, which is a member of the tachykinin family expressed in the central nervous system, was identified through pathway analysis as a molecule expressed in osteoclasts induced by the hedgehog signal. Although the expression of NK-3R has been detected in osteoclast and SCC cells at the bone invasion front, the relationship between NK-3R expression and the prognosis of gingival SCC patients remains unclear. In the present study, we retrospectively reviewed 27 patients with gingival SCC who had undergone surgery with curative intent. Significantly higher NK-3R expression in tumor cells was found in a case of jawbone invasion than in a case of exophytic poor jawbone invasion. On the other hand, no significant association was observed between NK-3R tumor-positive cases and tumor size, TNM stage, or tumor differentiation. The survival rate tended to be lower in NK-3R tumor-positive cases, but not significantly. However, the disease-specific survival rate was significantly lower in patients with a large number of NK-3R-positive osteoclasts than in those with a small number of them at the tumor bone invasion front. Our results suggest that NK-3R signaling in the gingival SCC bone microenvironment plays an important role in tumor bone destruction and should be considered a potential therapeutic target in advanced gingival SCC with bone destruction

Lip pleomorphic adenomas: case series and literature review

Background: Pleomorphic adenoma (PA) is the most frequent benign salivary gland tumor, but a lip PA is rare. Although this tumor may be definitively diagnosed by imaging or a tissue biopsy if it is reasonably large, PAs on the lip are relatively small, and they present findings that are similar to those of other lip lesions, which can make a preoperative diagnosis difficult. Methods: We analyzed all PAs in the oral region and lesions on the lips treated in our department over the past 20 years, and we discuss them together with the relevant literature. Results: We found that 11.8% (n=6) of the PAs occurred on a lip (upper lip: 9.8%, lower lip: 2.0%), and ~1% of all mass lesions of the lips were PAs. The average size of the lip PAs was 1.5±0.7 cm (range, 0.7–2.2 cm). For preoperative diagnostic assistance, ultrasonography (US) (n=4), magnetic resonance (MR) (n=3), or no imaging (n=2) was used. An excisional biopsy was performed in all cases, and to date, no recurrence or malignant transformation has been observed. Conclusions: Lip PA is relatively rare. Because almost all of these lesions are small, a preoperative diagnosis is more difficult compared to palatal lesions. This tumor is also prone to long-term neglect and has the potential for recurrence and malignant transformation. It is thus necessary to perform an excision that includes the capsule and surrounding tissues, and careful postoperative follow-up should be continued

A case of oral cancer with delayed occipital lymph node metastasis: Case report

Consideration of unexpected metastasis in patients who have undergone neck dissection with advanced tumors must be anticipated with careful follow-up

A new case of GABA transaminase deficiency facilitated by proton MR spectroscopy

BACKGROUND: Deficiency of 4-aminobutyrate aminotransferase (GABA-T) is a rare disorder of GABA catabolism, with only a single sibship reported. We report on a third case, a Japanese female infant with severe psychomotor retardation and recurrent episodic lethargy with intractable seizures, with the diagnosis facilitated by proton magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS). METHODS: Neuroimaging was performed at the first episode of lethargy. For (1)H-MRS, locations were placed in the semioval center and the basal ganglia. Quantification of metabolite concentrations were derived using the LCModel. We confirmed the diagnosis subsequently by enzyme and molecular studies, which involved direct DNA sequence analysis and the development of a novel multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification test. RESULTS: (1)H-MRS analysis revealed an elevated GABA concentration in the basal ganglia (2.9 mmol/l). Based on the results of quantitative (1)H-MRS and clinical findings, GABA-T deficiency was suspected and confirmed in cultured lymphoblasts. Molecular studies of the GABA-T gene revealed compound heterozygosity for a deletion of one exon and a missense mutation, 275G>A, which was not detected in 210 control chromosomes. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that excessive prenatal GABA exposure in the central nervous system (CNS) was responsible for the clinical manifestations of GABA transaminase deficiency. Our findings suggest the dual nature of GABA as an excitatory molecule early in life, followed by a functional switch to an inhibitory species later in development. Furthermore, quantitative (1)H-MRS appears to be a useful, noninvasive tool for detecting inborn errors of GABA metabolism in the CNS

The Role of Sonic Hedgehog Signaling in Osteoclastogenesis and Jaw Bone Destruction.

Sonic hedgehog (SHH) and its signaling have been identified in several human cancers, and increased levels of its expression appear to correlate with disease progression and metastasis. However, the role of SHH in bone destruction associated with oral squamous cell carcinomas is still unclear. In this study we analyzed SHH expression and the role played by SHH signaling in gingival carcinoma-induced jawbone destruction. From an analysis of surgically resected lower gingival squamous cell carcinoma mandible samples, we found that SHH was highly expressed in tumor cells that had invaded the bone matrix. On the other hand, the hedgehog receptor Patched and the signaling molecule Gli-2 were highly expressed in the osteoclasts and the progenitor cells. SHH stimulated osteoclast formation and pit formation in the presence of the receptor activator for nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL) in CD11b+ mouse bone marrow cells. SHH upregulated phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and p38 MAPK, NFATc1, tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP), and Cathepsin K expression in RAW264.7 cells. Our results suggest that tumor-derived SHH stimulated the osteoclast formation and bone resorption in the tumor jawbone microenvironment

Proposing an Unsupervised Approach to Evaluate Essays Using IDF on Reference Data

大学入試において2020 年から記述式問題が導入されることから記述式の問題を自動で採点する手法の開発が求められている．本論では，エッセイタイプの小論文課題を対象に，課題に関連する参照データとWikipedia 全文から作成したidf を利用した事前採点不要な自動採点手法を提案する．先行研究において，日本語小論文を対象とした自動採点では，多くの事前採点が必要となり，実際の数百人規模の試験では利用することが難しいと考えられる．そこで本研究では，事前採点が不要な小論文採点手法を提案する．また，小論文の模擬試験を実施して小論文データを構築する．構築した小論文データに対して採点手法を用い，実験を行い評価する．また小論文データの人手による採点に対しても評価を行う．評価実験の結果neologd 辞書を利用した形態素解析器を用いて， idf 値を利用した形態素の一致数が，人手の評価値と相関が高いことを示す．In this paper, we describe an on-going study of developing an automatic essay-scoring system in Japanese. Essay scoring systems have already been developed and used mainly in English, while not many previous studies have been done on Japanese essay evaluations. Most of the methods and systems of automatic essay evaluation need not small number of previously human-graded essays for calibrating the parameter of regression functions or parameter of machine learning. The previous studies show the high performance for essay evaluation task, however, it must be not easy to assume large graded essays in, for example, actual tests or entrance examinations. Thus, we take a approach to evaluate Japanese essays without previously human-graded essays but with assuming reference data related to essay questions. The proposed method is a simple one, that is, evaluating the essays with co-occurrences with the reference data in their words or morphemes. In the method technical terms would be given high scores using neologd dictionary and idf values. Experimental results show that the proposed method works well in our developing Japanese mock trial writing tests. Key words automatic scoring of essays, human annotation, supportin

EpEX, the soluble extracellular domain of EpCAM, resists cetuximab treatment of EGFR-high head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Objectives: Cetuximab (Cmab) is a molecularly targeted monoclonal antibody drug for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSC), although cetuximab resistance is a serious challenge. Epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) is an established marker for many epithelial tumors, while the soluble EpCAM extracellular domain (EpEX) functions as a ligand for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). We investigated the expression of EpCAM in HNSC, its involvement in Cmab action, and the mechanism by which soluble EpEX activated EGFR and played key roles in Cmab resistance. Materials and methods: We first examined EPCAM expression in HNSCs and its clinical significance by searching gene expression array databases. We then examined the effects of soluble EpEX and Cmab on intracellular signaling and Cmab efficacy in HNSC cell lines (HSC-3 and SAS). Results: EPCAM expression was found to be enhanced in HNSC tumor tissues compared to normal tissues, and the enhancement was correlated with stage progression and prognosis. Soluble EpEX activated the EGFR-ERK signaling pathway and nuclear translocation of EpCAM intracellular domains (EpICDs) in HNSC cells. EpEX resisted the antitumor effect of Cmab in an EGFR expression-dependent manner. Conclusion: Soluble EpEX activates EGFR to increase Cmab resistance in HNSC cells. The EpEX-activated Cmab resistance in HNSC is potentially mediated by the EGFR-ERK signaling pathway and the EpCAM cleavage-induced nuclear translocation of EpICD. High expression and cleavage of EpCAM are potential biomarkers for predicting the clinical efficacy and resistance to Cmab