Quantitative analysis of the production of heat-labile enterotoxin by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli.

A modified method of passive immune hemolysis (PIH) was applied to the quantitative assay of heat-labile enterotoxin (LT) produced by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli. The method enabled the measurement of 0.2 to 1.2 ng LT. The production of LT by enterotoxigenic E. coli under various conditions was analyzed using the modified method. LT production was intense during the logarithmic growth phase and decreased during the stationary growth phase. Lincomycin (50 to 100 micrograms/ml) affected cell growth slightly, but enhanced production of LT until the late-stationary growth phase. About 90% of the LT produced was retained in the cell, and the rest was excreted into the culture medium. The initial pH of the culture medium affected LT production. Alkaline pH enhanced LT production, though growth was depressed. Aeration enhanced both growth and LT production.</p

Transannular patch repair of double-outlet right ventricle, {s,d,l}, and single right coronary artery

AbstractJ Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1999;117:622-

Drug Targeting Mini-Symposium of the Division for Medicinal Chemistry (DMC) of the Swiss Chemical Society (SCS), at the Department of Chemistry, University of Basel, May 29, 2008: Conference Report

Specific targeting of drugs to their respective target organs or tissues is challenging. Substantial research efforts have been undertaken in the recent past to develop target specific drugs or drug conjugates. Such concepts are most relevant in rather severe diseases like cancer since it helps to reduce the concentration of frequently rather toxic drugs outside the tumor tissue. Various techniques can be used to specifically direct a drug or a drug conjugate to a specific tumor tissue such as using antibodies directed against tumor specific proteins, as nanoparticles or nano-sized polymer conjugates carrying tumor-specific recognition elements or by applying the active drug principle in a prodrug form designed to be liberated specifically in tumor tissue. Three speakers from the academia and one speaker from industry described different approaches and their respective potentials from various perspectives in the lectures entitled: 'Polymer Therapeutics and other Nanomedicines as Targetable Cancer Therapies', 'Design, Application, and Chemical Biology of Tumor-Targeting Drug Conjugates', 'Antibody-Based Vascular Tumor Targeting: From the Bench to the Clinic', and 'Discovery of Capecitabine, a Rationally Designed and Tumor-Activated Oral Prodrug of 5-FU, and Beyond'

Physicochemical and immunological properties of the hepatitis B surface antigen containing the preS2 9 amino acid sequence produced by a recombinant yeast.

The hepatitis B virus surface antigen containing the preS2 nine amino acid sequence produced by a recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yHBsAg) was purified and its physicochemical properties were determined. Ultrastructurally, the yHBsAg was found to be a homogeneous spherical particle with a diameter of 24 +/- 4 nm. The homogeneity of the yHBsAg particles was also demonstrated by analyses of their buoyant density and isoelectric point. They consisted of protein (53%), lipid (36%) and carbohydrate (11%), and the alpha-helix content was estimated to be 32%, differing from the reported values for human plasma-derived HBsAg (hHBsAg). Immunodiffusion analysis showed that the antigenic specificity of yHBsAg was identical to that of hHBsAg. Immunization of mice demonstrated that the immunogenicity of the yHBsAg was significantly higher than that of hHBsAg. </p

Slave-Boson Mean-Field Theory of the Antiferromagnetic State in the Doubly Degenerate Hubbard Model - the Half-Filled Case -

The antiferromagnetic ground state of the half-filled Hubbard model with the doubly degenerate orbital has been studied by using the slave-boson mean-field theory which was previously proposed by the present author. Numerical calculations for the simple cubic model have shown that the metal-insulator transition does not take place except at the vanishing interaction point, in strong contrast with its paramagnetic solution. The energy gap in the density of states of the antiferromagnetic insulator is much reduced by the effect of electron correlation. The exchange interaction $J$ plays an important role in the antiferromagnetism: although for $J = 0$ the sublattice magnetic moment $m$ in our theory is fairly smaller than $m_{HFA}$ obtained in the Hartree-Fock approximation, $m$ for $J/U > 0.2$ ($U$: the Coulomb interaction) is increased to become comparable to $m_{HFA}$. Surprisingly, the antiferromagnetic state is easily destroyed if a small, negative exchange interaction ($J/U < -0.05$) is introduced.Comment: Latex 18 pages, 12 figures available on request to [email protected] Note: published in Phys. Rev. B with some minor modification

RB1CC1 Together with RB1 and p53 Predicts Long-Term Survival in Japanese Breast Cancer Patients

RB1-inducible coiled-coil 1 (RB1CC1) plays a significant role in the enhancement of the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor (RB1) pathway and is involved in breast cancer development. However, RB1CC1's role in clinical progression of breast cancer has not yet been evaluated, so, as a first step, it is necessary to establish its usefulness as a tool to evaluate breast cancer patients. In this report, we have analyzed the correlation between abnormalities in the RB1CC1 pathway and long-term prognosis, because disease-specific death in later periods (>5 years) of the disease is a serious problem in breast cancer. Breast cancer tissues from a large cohort in Japan were evaluated by conventional immunohistochemical methods for the presence of the molecules involved in the RB1CC1 pathway, including RB1CC1, RB1, p53, and other well-known prognostic markers for breast cancer, such as estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2. The correlation between the immunohistochemical results and clinical outcomes of 323 breast cancer patients was analyzed using a Kaplan-Meier log-rank test and a multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. Absence of nuclear RB1CC1 expression was associated with the worst prognosis (Log-rank test, Chi-Square value = 17.462, p<0.0001). Dysfunction of either one of RB1CC1, RB1, or p53 was associated with the highest risk for cancer-specific death, especially related to survival lasting more than 5 years (multivariate Cox proportional hazard ratio = 3.951, 95% Confidence Interval = 1.566–9.967, p = 0.0036). Our present data demonstrate that the combined evaluation of RB1CC1, RB1 and p53 by conventional immunohistochemical analysis provides an accurate prediction of the long-term prognoses of breast cancer patients, which can be carried out as a routine clinical examination

ウナギに脂肪酸のメチルエステル,エチルエステルおよびグリセライドを給与した時の影響(予報)

ウナギに脂肪酸のメチルエステル,エチルエステルおよびグリセライドを与え,そのアルコール基の違いによる成長,脂質,トコフエロール,ユビキノン,ビタミンAおよびコレステロール含量に与える影響をしらべ次の結果を得た。1)本実験条件でウナギを飼育した場合,成長はグリセライド区>エチルエステル区>メチルエステル区の順であり,その成長の差は90日から120日の間で顕著にあらわれ,特記すべきは120日以降でメチルエステル区は減少がみられた。2)トコフエロール,ユビキノン,ビタミンAおよびコレステロール含量はメチルエステル区で他の2区より明かに多い。コレステロール含量がメチルエステル区で多いことはメチル基がウナギの体質劣化に関係していることを示唆している。なお本研究に際し供試エステル類の製造に御協力をいただいた理研ビタミンKKの中沢正治氏に感謝します

Role of leukocyte cell-derived chemotaxin 2 as a biomarker in hepatocellular carcinoma

We sought to identify a secreted biomarker for β-catenin activation commonly seen in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). By examination of our previously published genearray of hepatocyte-specific β-catenin knockout (KO) livers, we identified secreted factors whose expression may be β-catenin-dependent. We verified expression and secretion of the leading factor in HCC cells transfected with mutated (Hep3BS33Y)-β- catenin. Serum levels of biomarker were next investigated in a mouse model of HCC with β-catenin gene (Ctnnb1) mutations and eventually in HCC patients. Leukocyte cell-derived chemotaxin-2 (LECT2) expression was decreased in KO livers. Hep3BS33Y expressed and secreted more LECT2 in media as compared to Hep3BWT. Mice developing HCC with Ctnnb1 mutations showed significantly higher serum LECT2 levels. However patients with CTNNB1 mutations showed LECT2 levels of 54.28±22.32 ng/mL (Mean ± SD; n = 8) that were insignificantly different from patients with non-neoplastic chronic liver disease (32.8±21.1 ng/mL; n = 15) or healthy volunteers (33.2±7.2 ng/mL; n = 11). Intriguingly, patients without β-catenin mutations showed significantly higher serum LECT2 levels (54.26 ± 22.25 ng/mL; n = 46). While β-catenin activation was evident in a subset of non-mutant β-catenin HCC group with high LECT2 expression, serum LECT2 was unequivocally similar between β-catenin-active and -normal group. Further analysis showed that LECT2 levels greater than 50 ng/ml diagnosed HCC in patients irrespective of β-catenin mutations with specificity of 96.1% and positive predictive value of 97.0%. Thus, LECT2 is regulated by β-catenin in HCC in both mice and men, but serum LECT2 reflects β-catenin activity only in mice. Serum LECT2 could be a potential biomarker of HCC in patients. © 2014 Okabe et al

魚類の成長に対するクロレラの効果

コイおよびアユを試験魚として市販配合飼料のみによって飼育した場合と配合飼料にクロレラを添加した飼料によって飼育した場合とを比較し次の結果が得られた。(1)コイの場合は市販配合飼料にクロレラを6%および12%添加すると成長を促進し,かつ12%添加の方が6%添加よりもすぐれている傾向がみられた。(2)アユの場合は初期の飼育ではクロレラを添加することは,対照に比べ著しく成長が良好であった。ただし夏期においては飼料にクロレラを10%添加した区と対照区ではその差はほとんどがなかった。(3)コイ,アユとも飼料に6～12%のクロレラを添加して飼育した魚は体表面が緑色をおび天然の魚に近似した外観を呈した。(4)血液性状の試験結果からは飼料にクロレラを添加した魚の方が,とくにアユの場合において,より健康上好ましい傾向にあった。(5)市販の魚類養殖用配合飼料にクロレラを適当に添加すればコイ,アユの成長,体質改善に効果が期待できる。本研究に際し供試魚につき配慮をいただいた東京都水産試験場,静岡県水産試験場に,また配合飼料を提供された日清製粉株式会社,オリエンタル酵母株式会社,日本配合飼料株式会社に感謝します。後記 著者らのクロレラに関する研究はその後もつづけているが,これらの研究が契機となって昨年「水産増殖クロレラ研究会」がつくられた。本研究会は魚類,貝類などの飼料としてクロレラを使用した場合の成長,健康などにおよぼすクロレラの効果について,大学,水産研究所,県水産試験場の研究者が協力して研究する組織である。本研究会に関する事務は日本クロレラ株式会社が行い,本研究会のメンバーの必要とする試料(クロレラなど)は本研究会が提供することになった