Tapping but Not Massage Enhances Vasodilation and Improves Venous Palpation of Cutaneous Veins

This paper investigated whether tapping on the median cubital vein or massaging the forearm was more effective in obtaining better venous palpation for venipuncture. Forty healthy volunteers in their twenties were subjected to tapping (10 times in 5 sec) or massage (10 strokes in 20 sec from the wrist to the cubital fossa) under tourniquet inflation on the upper arm. Venous palpation was assessed using the venous palpation score (0-6, with 0 being impalpable). Three venous factors―venous depth, cross-sectional area, and elevation―were also measured using ultrasonography. The venous palpation score increased significantly by tapping but not by massage. Moreover, all 3 venous measurements changed significantly by tapping, while only the depth decreased significantly by massage. The three venous measurements correlated significantly with the venous palpation score, indicating that they are useful objective indicators for evaluating vasodilation. We suggest that tapping is an effective vasodilation technique

Monochloramine inhibits ultraviolet B-induced p53 activation and DNA repair response in human fibroblasts

AbstractMonochloramine (NH2Cl) is one of the inflammation-derived oxidants, and has various effects on cell cycle, apoptosis and signal transduction. We studied the effects of NH2Cl on DNA repair response induced by ultraviolet B (UVB) irradiation in normal human diploid fibroblasts, TIG-1. TIG-1 irradiated with 20 mJ/cm2 UVB showed marked increase in thymine dimer, which decreased by about 50% after 24 h. This decrease in thymine dimer was significantly attenuated (P<0.05) by the pretreatment of NH2Cl (200 μM), which indicated DNA repair inhibition. UVB induced p53 phosphorylation at Ser15, Ser20 and Ser37, and p53 accumulation, and NH2Cl also inhibited these changes. Consequently, UVB-induced increase in the downstream effectors of p53, namely p21Cip1 and Gadd45a, were almost completely inhibited by NH2Cl. Immunoprecipitation study indicated that the association of p53 and MDM2, an E3 ubiquitin ligase for p53, did not change substantially by NH2Cl and/or UVB. The phosphorylation of p53 (Ser15 and Ser37) by UVB is catalyzed by ATR (ataxia telangiectasia mutated and Rad3 related kinase), which works as DNA damage sensor, and ATR also phosphorylates checkpoint kinase 1(Chk1) at Ser345. NH2Cl also inhibited the phosphorylation of Chk1 (Ser345). As UVB-induced DNA damage is repaired by nucleotide excision repair (NER) in human cells, these findings indicated that NH2Cl inhibited NER through the inhibition of p53 phosphorylation and accumulation, and NH2Cl probably impaired DNA damage recognition and/or ATR activation. NH2Cl may facilitate carcinogenesis through the inhibition of NER that repairs DNA damages from various carcinogens

Angiomyofibroblastoma of the vulva: a large pedunculated mass formation.

Angiomyofibroblastoma is a rare, usually small benign mesenchymal tumor that occurs in vulvar lesions of premenopausal women. A case of angiomyofibroblastoma that arose as a unique pedunculated and particularly large mass in the left vulva of a 48-year-old woman is presented herein. The patient had been aware of a gradually enlarged mass of 7 years duration without any other gynecological symptoms or signs. The maximum dimension of the tumor measured 11 cm. The resected tumor was well circumscribed with a bulging and glistening cut surface. Histological examination revealed an admixture of irregularly distributed hypercellular and hypocellular areas with spindled, plump spindled, or plasmacytoid stromal cells and abundant venular or capillary-sized vessels. Stromal cells characteristically cluster around delicate vessels within an edematous to collagenous matrix. In the present case, intralesional adipose tissue was present throughout the tumor. There was no significant nuclear atypia, and mitotic figures were very sparse. There was little stromal mucin throughout the tumor. Immunohistochemically, the stromal cells were characterized by strong reactivity for vimentin and CD34, with focal reactivity for desmin and alpha smooth muscle actin. Both estrogen and progesterone receptors were diffusely expressed in the stromal cells. These histological findings are consistent with angiomyofibroblastoma and support the hypothesis that angiomyofibroblastoma originates from perivascular stem cells with a capacity for myofibroblastic and fatty differentiation

Case Study of Extracurricular Technological Activities based on Participant Observation and Examination of Teaching Method

This paper presents a case study of extracurricular technological activities based on participation observation concerning the teaching method. Participation observation was conducted by setting the framework of activities as “activities involved in making products by using technology” and “collaborative and cooperative activities in groups".” As a result, these case examples of extracurricular technological activities were examined from the perspective of student learning and teacher instruction. One apparent problem was the lack of a clear strategy in the production and design of the activities, resulting in repeated trial and error. The problem of teacher instruction with regard to making products in time for the contest deadline is that the function and shape of the students’ products are similar. Based on this problem, a method of teaching extracurricular technological activities was proposed to provide proper instruction for the extension leaning of ceramics and discipline in the school curriculum

Oxidative modification of IκB by monochloramine inhibits tumor necrosis factor α-induced NF-κB activation

AbstractWe have previously reported that monochloramine (NH2Cl), a neutrophil-derived oxidant, inhibited tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα)-induced expression of cell adhesion molecules and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activation (Free Radical Research 36 (2002) 845–852). Here, we studied the mechanism how NH2Cl inhibited TNFα-induced NF-κB activation, and compared the effects with taurine chloramine (Tau–NHCl). Pretreatment of Jurkat cells with NH2Cl at 70 μM resulted in suppression of TNFα-induced IκB phosphorylation and degradation, and inhibited NF-κB activation. In addition, a slow-moving IκB band appeared on SDS-PAGE. By contrast, Tau–NHCl for up to 200 μM had no effects. Interestingly, NH2Cl did not inhibit IκB kinase activation by TNFα. Protein phosphatase activity did not show apparent change. When recombinant IκB was oxidized by NH2Cl in vitro and phosphorylated by TNFα-stimulated Jurkat cell lysate, its phosphorylation occurred less effectively than non-oxidized IκB. In addition, when NF-κB–IκB complex was immunoprecipitated from NH2Cl-treated cells and phosphorylated in vitro by recombinant active IκB kinase, native IκB but not oxidized IκB was phosphorylated. Amino acid analysis of the in vitro oxidized IκB showed methionine oxidation to methionine sulfoxide. Although Tau–NHCl alone had little effects on TNFα-induced NF-κB activation, simultaneous presence of Tau–NHCl and ammonium ion significantly inhibited the NF-κB activation, probably through the conversion of Tau–NHCl to NH2Cl. These results indicated that NH2Cl inhibited TNFα-induced NF-κB activation through the oxidation of IκB, and that NH2Cl is physiologically more relevant than Tau–NHCl in modifying NF-κB-mediated cellular responses