GH RESPONSES AND PATHOLOGY IN ACROMEGALY

Plasma growth hormone (GH) responses to various stimuli were examined in 21 patients with GH-producing pituitary adenomas, classified into three types by the immunohistochemistry of cytokeratin and the glycoprotein hormone α-subunit distribution. Seven type 1 adenomas were exclusively composed of cells in which the cytokeratin formed a dot-like pattern; they were chromophobic to hematoxylin and eosin (H & E), occasionally positive for GH, and almost completely negative for the α-subunit. Thirteen type 2 adenomas were composed of cells with cytokeratin that had a perinuclear distribution; they were eosinophilic to H & E, and diffusely positive for both GH and the α-subunit. One patient had a type 3 adenoma which had a mixed pattern of intracellular cytokeratin distribution and was chromophobic and eosinophilic to H & E. Clinically, type 1 is characterized by earlier onset, larger tumor size, and more frequent aggressive extension. Paradoxical GH responses to TRH and OGTT were seen in 1 of 6 patients (16.7%) of type 1 and 8 of 9 patients (88.9%) of type 2, and 0% of type 1 and 62.5% of type 2, respectively. Type 2 cases showed higher plasma GH response to GH-releasing hormone, and a tendency to greater suppression of plasma GH by bromocriptine compared with type 1. Octreotide acetate administration revealed that the nadir/basal ratio of plasma GH levels was 42.9±6.6% in type 1 and 13.5±5.8% in type 2. These results suggest that there is a pathophysiological difference between these two distinct types of GH-producing pituitary adenomas

Preliminary design of a tangentially viewing imaging bolometer for NSTX-U

The infrared imaging video bolometer (IRVB) measures plasma radiated power images using a thin metal foil. Two different designs with a tangential view of NSTX-U are made assuming a 640 × 480 (1280 × 1024) pixel, 30 (105) fps, 50 (20) mK, IR camera imaging the 9 cm × 9 cm × 2 μm Pt foil. The foil is divided into 40 × 40 (64 × 64) IRVB channels. This gives a spatial resolution of 3.4 (2.2) cm on the machine mid-plane. The noise equivalent power density of the IRVB is given as 113 (46) μW/cm2 for a time resolution of 33 (20) ms. Synthetic images derived from Scrape Off Layer Plasma Simulation data using the IRVB geometry show peak signal levels ranging from ∼0.8 to ∼80 (∼0.36 to ∼26) mW/cm2

Experimental observations and modelling of radiation asymmetries during N2 seeding in LHD

N2 gas has been seeded in the Large Helical Device (LHD) to reduce the divertor heat load through enhanced radiation. Radiation is observed by two imaging bolometers, viewing the same poloidal cross-section from top and bottom ports, at a location which is 36° toroidally removed from the N2 gas puff nozzle located at the bottom of the machine. During N2 seeding, these measurements both confirm that additional radiation from the outboard side is coming exclusively from the top of the cross-section, indicating up/down asymmetry, which is also reproduced by modelling with EMC3-EIRENE using a half torus model. In addition, a toroidally localized, magnetic field direction-dependent radiation enhancement is observed with N2 seeding, but is not reproducible by the model

An Endoscopic Case Report of Jejunal Leiomyosarcoma and Review of the Japanese Literature

Jejunoscopy for a small intestinal leiomyosarcoma was performed on a 73-year-old male. The patient was admitted because of a palpable abdominal mass. A barium meal study, abdominal ultrasonography, computed tomography and angiography suggested a leiomyogenic tumor with a central cavity arising from the jejunal loop extraluminally. Enteroscopy with a pediatric colonofiberscope (PCF) enabled us to observe a mucosal ulcer and a part of the cavity of the tumor. Histology of the resected tumor revealed it to be a leiomyosarcoma with a large central hollow connected to the mucosal ulcer. The authors discussed the endoscopic findings of 17 previously reported Japanese cases of jejunal leiomyosarcoma and the present case

Imaging of radiation during impurity gas puffing in LHD

In LHD, several methods of detachment have been attempted, including impurity gaspuffing [1], and the application of an m/n=1/1 magnetic perturbation [2]. LHD is equipped with an imaging bolometer (IRVB) [3] that views the plasma from an upper port. Two scenarios are shown and compared, Ne puffing and N2 puffing. In the case of Ne puffing, radiation becomes more intense near the helical divertor X-point as the radiation increases. In the case of N2 puffing, a double stripe pattern evolves around the upper helical divertor X-point, which appears to be localized near the gas puff inlet. In addition, probe data also indicates that the drop in divertor flux with N2 is localized, while uniform with Ne

Development of impurity seeding and radiation enhancement in the helical divertor of LHD

Impurity seeding to reduce the divertor heat load was conducted in the large helical device (LHD) using neon (Ne) and krypton (Kr) puffing. Radiation enhancement and reduction of the divertor heat load were observed. In the LHD, the ratio between the total radiated power and the heating power, f rad = Prad/Pheating, is limited up to around 30% in hydrogen plasmas even for high density plasma just below the radiative collapse (ne, bar  >  1   ×   1020 m−3), where ne, bar is the line averaged density. With Ne seeding, the ratio could be raised to 52% at ne, bar ~ 1.3   ×   1019 m−3, albeit with a slight reduction in confinement. f rad ~ 30% could be sustained for 3.4 s using multi-pulse Ne seeding at ne, bar ~ 4   ×   1019 m−3. The localized supplemental radiation was observed along the helical divertor X-points (HDXs) which is similar to the estimated structure by the EMC3-EIRENE code. Kr seeding was also conducted at ne, bar ~ 3.1   ×   1019 m−3. f rad ~ 25% was obtained without a significant change in stored energy. The radiation enhancement had a slower time constant. The supplemental radiation area of the Kr seeded plasma moved from the HDXs to the core plasma. Highly charged states of Kr ions are considered to be the dominant radiators from the plasma core region

Insights into Land Plant Evolution Garnered from the Marchantia polymorpha Genome.

The evolution of land flora transformed the terrestrial environment. Land plants evolved from an ancestral charophycean alga from which they inherited developmental, biochemical, and cell biological attributes. Additional biochemical and physiological adaptations to land, and a life cycle with an alternation between multicellular haploid and diploid generations that facilitated efficient dispersal of desiccation tolerant spores, evolved in the ancestral land plant. We analyzed the genome of the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, a member of a basal land plant lineage. Relative to charophycean algae, land plant genomes are characterized by genes encoding novel biochemical pathways, new phytohormone signaling pathways (notably auxin), expanded repertoires of signaling pathways, and increased diversity in some transcription factor families. Compared with other sequenced land plants, M. polymorpha exhibits low genetic redundancy in most regulatory pathways, with this portion of its genome resembling that predicted for the ancestral land plant. PAPERCLIP

The whole blood transcriptional regulation landscape in 465 COVID-19 infected samples from Japan COVID-19 Task Force

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19患者由来の血液細胞における遺伝子発現の網羅的解析 --重症度に応じた遺伝子発現の変化には、ヒトゲノム配列の個人差が影響する--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-23.Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently-emerged infectious disease that has caused millions of deaths, where comprehensive understanding of disease mechanisms is still unestablished. In particular, studies of gene expression dynamics and regulation landscape in COVID-19 infected individuals are limited. Here, we report on a thorough analysis of whole blood RNA-seq data from 465 genotyped samples from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force, including 359 severe and 106 non-severe COVID-19 cases. We discover 1169 putative causal expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) including 34 possible colocalizations with biobank fine-mapping results of hematopoietic traits in a Japanese population, 1549 putative causal splice QTLs (sQTLs; e.g. two independent sQTLs at TOR1AIP1), as well as biologically interpretable trans-eQTL examples (e.g., REST and STING1), all fine-mapped at single variant resolution. We perform differential gene expression analysis to elucidate 198 genes with increased expression in severe COVID-19 cases and enriched for innate immune-related functions. Finally, we evaluate the limited but non-zero effect of COVID-19 phenotype on eQTL discovery, and highlight the presence of COVID-19 severity-interaction eQTLs (ieQTLs; e.g., CLEC4C and MYBL2). Our study provides a comprehensive catalog of whole blood regulatory variants in Japanese, as well as a reference for transcriptional landscapes in response to COVID-19 infection