Term delivery choriocarcinoma patient with brain and lung metastases successfully treated by etoposide, methotrexate, actomycin D, cyclophosphamide and vincristine (EMA-CO) chemotherapy.

It is well known that antecedent term delivery and metastasis to sites other than the lungs and vagina are high risk factors for patients with gestational trophoblastic neoplasia. Here we report on a patient with choriocarcinoma who presented with brain and lung metastases after term delivery and was treated by EMA-CO chemotherapy. A 31-year-old woman delivered a healthy infant at term. Frequent episodes of hemoptysis occurred beginning 3 weeks after the delivery. On admission to our hospital, she had lesions in the uterus, lungs and brain as well as motor aphasia and hemiplagia. The pretreatment beta-hCG level was 21,000 ng/ml and the WHO score was 16 (high-risk group). The EMA-CO regimen was administrated as first-line chemotherapy and the patient achieved complete remission after 7 courses. Treatment was terminated after 11 courses and maintained with etoposide (25 mg/day) for 6 months. The patient has remained in complete remission for more than 16 years without other adjuvant therapies. We believe that EMA-CO can currently be considered the regimen of first choice for most high-risk patients with gestational trophoblastic neoplasia in view of its effectiveness and excellent tolerability.</p

Superlattice formation lifting degeneracy protected by non-symmorphic symmetry through a metal-insulator transition in RuAs

The single crystal of RuAs obtained by Bi-flux method shows obvious successive metal-insulator transitions at T_MI1~255 K and T_MI2~195$ K. The X-ray diffraction measurement reveals a formation of superlattice of 3x3x3 of the original unit cell below T_MI2, accompanied by a change of the crystal system from the orthorhombic structure to the monoclinic one. Simple dimerization of the Ru ions is nor seen in the ground state. The multiple As sites observed in nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) spectrum also demonstrate the formation of the superlattice in the ground state, which is clarified to be nonmagnetic. The divergence in 1/T_1 at T_MI1 shows that a symmetry lowering by the metal-insulator transition is accompanied by strong critical fluctuations of some degrees of freedom. Using the structural parameters in the insulating state, the first principle calculation reproduces successfully the reasonable size of nuclear quadrupole frequencies for the multiple As sites, ensuring the high validity of the structural parameters. The calculation also gives a remarkable suppression in the density of states (DOS) near the Fermi level, although the gap opening is insufficient. A coupled modulation of the calculated Ru d electron numbers and the crystal structure proposes a formation of charge density wave (CDW) in RuAs. Some lacking factors remain, but it shows that a lifting of degeneracy protected by the non-symmorphic symmetry through the superlattice formation is a key ingredient for the metal-insulator transition in RuAs.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figure

Lateral female strobili production in a Japanese red pine (Pinus densiflora Sieb. et Zucc.) clone by exogenous cytokinin application

Application of N6-benzylaminopurine(BAP) and gibberellin(GA3) to a grafted Japanese red pine(Pinus densiflora Sieb. et Zucc.) clone promoted flowering. BAP(250mg/l) was sprayed five times to the top of branches in July or September 1992. GA3(100 or 500mg/l) was applied five times to the whole plants by spray treatment during the above period, or GA3 solution of the same concentration was injected once into a small incision made in the main stem of clone trees at the beginning of July or the middle of September 1992. In May 1993, no apical female strobili were observed at the top of the new shoots in any treatment. However, lateral female and bisexual strobili were produced in the lower part of new shoots by BAP application in September, regardless of GA3 application. BAP applied in September without GA3 application was sufficient to produce lateral female and bisexual strobili. In such treatment, production of female and bisexual strobili was 47 and 25, and they occurred in 16 out of 68 new shoots, 11 out of 15 treated branches and 5 out of 5 treated trees. The average number of female and bisexual strobili per new shoot was 1.06. BAP treatment either in July or in September significantly decreased (p<0.005) the production of male strobili. These results indicate that BAP application induces the development of lateral female strobili in Japanese red pine when applied during the period of floral differentiation

Flow-induced Alignment of Amyloid Protofilaments Revealed by Linear Dichroism

This research was originally published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Rumi Adachi, Kei-ichi Yamaguchi, Hisashi Yagi, Kazumasa Sakurai, Hironobu Naiki and Yuji Goto. Flow-induced Alignment of Amyloid Protofilaments Revealed by Linear Dichroism. J. Biol. Chem. 2007; 282, 8978-8983. © the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biolog

Higher Serum Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Levels Are Associated With a Lower Risk of Cognitive Decline: A 2-Year Follow Up Study in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

ObjectiveTo assess the relationship of serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels with the subsequent short-term decline in cognitive functioning in community-dwelling older adults.DesignTwo-year prospective, observational study.Setting and ParticipantsThe study included 405 adults aged 65–84 years, initially free of a dementia diagnosis who were living in Tokyo, Japan.MethodsParticipants underwent health assessments at baseline (2011) and follow-up (2013). Serum BDNF levels and scores from the Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Japanese version (MoCA-J) were systematically measured. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of cognitive decline between baseline and follow-up assessments in the full MoCA-J scale (operationally defined as a decrease of two or more points), as well as in MoCA-J subscales (decline of one or more points in a specific subscale), as a function of serum BDNF level, adjusting for baseline demographics, prevalent chronic diseases, and baseline cognitive scores.ResultsAmong individuals who performed worse on the full MoCA-J at baseline (i.e., scores in the bottom quartile [≤21], which is consistent with a mild cognitive impairment status), but not among those who performed better (top 3 quartiles), those with highest baseline serum BDNF levels (top quartile) had lower odds of subsequent decline in the full MoCA-J scale than those with lowest (bottom quartile); i.e., odds ratio (OR): 0.10 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.02–0.62; p = 0.013). Regarding MoCA-J subscales, adjusted odds of decline in the executive function subscale, but not in the other five subscales, were substantially low among those with highest baseline serum BDNF levels (top quartile), as compared to those with the lowest (bottom quartile), i.e., OR: 0.27 (95% CI:0.13–0.60; p &lt; 0.001).Conclusion and ImplicationsHigher serum BDNF levels were associated with a lower risk of decline in cognitive function in a sample of community-dwelling older Japanese adults. Risk varied across cognitive subdomains and according to baseline cognition. This warrants further research to evaluate the added-value of serum BDNF in health promotion initiatives directed toward cognitive decline prevention in community-dwelling older adults

First-order phase transition to a nonmagnetic ground state in nonsymmorphic NbCrP

We report the discovery of a first-order phase transition at around 125 K in NbCrP, which is a nonsymmorphic crystal with the Pnma space group. From the resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, and nuclear magnetic resonance measurements using crystals made by the Sn-flux method, the high-temperature (HT) phase is characterized to be metallic with a non-negligible magnetic anisotropy. The low-temperature (LT) phase is also found to be a nonmagnetic metallic state with a crystal of lower symmetry. In the LT phase, the spin susceptibility is reduced by ∼30% from that in the HT phase, suggesting that the phase transition is triggered by the electronic instability. The possible origin of the phase transition in NbCrP is discussed based on the electronic structure by comparing it with those in other nonsymmorphic compounds, RuP and RuAs