Inhibition of hepatic stellate cells by bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells in hepatic fibrosis

Background/AimsTherapies involving bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) have considerable potential in the management of hepatic disease. BM-MSCs have been investigated in regenerative medicine due to their ability to secrete various growth factors and cytokines that regress hepatic fibrosis and enhance hepatocyte functionality. The aim of this study was to determine the antifibrosis effect of BM-MSCs on activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) and the mechanism underlying how BM-MSCs modulate the function of activated HSCs.MethodsWe used HSCs in both direct and indirect co-culture systems with BM-MSCs to evaluate the antifibrosis effect of BM-MSCs. The cell viability and apoptosis were evaluated by a direct co-culture system of activated HSCs with BM-MSCs. The activations of both HSCs alone and HSCs with BM-MSCs in the direct co-culture system were observed by immunocytochemistry for alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA). The levels of growth factors and cytokines were evaluated by an indirect co-culture system of activated HSCs with BM-MSCs.ResultsThe BM-MSCs in the direct co-culture system significantly decreased the production of α-SMA and the viability of activated HSCs, whereas they induced the apoptosis of activated HSCs. The BM-MSCs in the indirect co-culture system decreased the production of transforming growth factor-β1 and interleukin (IL)-6, whereas they increased the production of hepatocyte growth factor and IL-10. These results confirmed that the juxtacrine and paracrine effects of BM-MSCs can inhibit the proliferative, fibrogenic function of activated HSCs and have the potential to reverse the fibrotic process by inhibiting the production of α-SMA and inducing the apoptosis of HSCs.ConclusionsThese results have demonstrated that BM-MSCs may exert an antifibrosis effect by modulating the function of activated HSCs

Monitoring Antibiotic Residues and Corresponding Antibiotic Resistance Genes in an Agroecosystem

Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have been commonly reported due to the overuse worldwide of antibiotics. Antibiotic overuse disturbs the environment and threatens public human health. The objective of this study was to measure the residual concentrations of veterinary antibiotics in the tetracycline group (TCs), including tetracycline (TC) and chlortetracycline (CTC), as well as those in the sulfonamide group (SAs), including sulfamethazine (SMT), sulfamethoxazole (SMX), and sulfathiazole (STZ). We also isolated the corresponding ARGs in the agroecosystem. Four sediment samples and two rice paddy soil samples were collected from sites near a swine composting facility along the Naerincheon River in Hongcheon, Korea. High performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) was employed with a solid-phase extraction method to measure the concentration of each antibiotic. ARGs were identified by the qualitative polymerase chain-reaction using synthetic primers. SAs and their corresponding ARGs were highly detected in sediment samples whereas TCs were not detected except for sediments sample #1. ARGs for TCs and SAs were detected in rice paddy soils, while ARGs for TCs were only found in sediment #2 and #4. Continuous monitoring of antibiotic residue and its comprehensive impact on the environment is needed to ensure environmental health

Conical Ground Helical Antenna with Feed-Through Insulator for High-Power Microwave Applications

In this paper, a novel helical antenna for high-power microwave is proposed. The proposed antenna is intended to demonstrate improved power handling capacity without any deterioration in matching characteristics, gain, and axial ratio. The proposed antenna with a long helix structure is investigated in order to achieve high gain and a relatively wide impedance bandwidth. By increasing the distance between the helix and the ground plane, an improved power handling capacity is obtained, and the impedance matching problem caused by the proposed method is addressed with the use of a feed-through insulator. In addition, a conical-shaped ground is used to compensate for the gain reduction by increasing the distance between the helix and the ground plane. As a result, the proposed antenna exhibits a gain exceeding 11 dBi and an axial ratio of less than 2 dB within the frequency range of 0.86–1.09 GHz. In addition, its power handling capacity exceeds 50 MW for a 0.7-ns input pulse length in air conditions

PCR Marker-Based Evaluation of the Eating Quality of Japonica Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Evaluation of eating quality in early breeding generations of rice is critical to developing varieties with better palatability. This paper reports DNA markers associated with eating quality of temperate japonica rice and an evaluation method aided by multiple regression analysis. A total of 30 markers comprising STSs, SNPs, and SSRs were tested for their association with palatability using 22 temperate japonica varieties with different palatability values. Eating quality-related traits of the 22 varieties were also measured. Of the 30 markers, 18 were found to be significantly associated with palatability and, consequently, a model regression equation with an R2 value of 0.99 was formulated to estimate the palatability by the marker data set. Validation of the model equation using selected breeding lines indicated that the marker set and the equation are highly applicable to evaluation of the palatability of cooked rice in temperate japonica varieties

Observation of In-Plane Magnetic Field Induced Phase Transitions in FeSe

We investigate thermodynamic properties of FeSe under in-plane magnetic fields using torque magnetometry, specific heat, and magnetocaloric measurements. Below the upper critical field Hc2, we observed the field induced anomalies at H1 ∼ 15 T and H2 ∼ 22 T near H ∥ ab and below a characteristic temperature T* ∼ 2 K. The transition magnetic fields H1 and H2 exhibit negligible dependence on both temperature and field orientation. This contrasts to the strong temperature and angle dependence of Hc2, suggesting that these anomalies are attributed to the field induced phase transitions, originating from the inherent spin-density-wave instability of quasipaticles near the superconducting gap minima or possible Flude-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state in the highly spin-polarized Fermi surfaces. Our observations imply that FeSe, an atypical multiband superconductor with extremely small Fermi energies, represents a unique model system for stabilizing unusual superconducting orders beyond the Pauli limit

Three cases of glycogenic hepatopathy mimicking acute and relapsing hepatitis in type I diabetes mellitus

Glycogenic hepatopathy (GH) is an uncommon cause of serum transaminase elevation in type I diabetes mellitus (DM). The clinical signs and symptoms of GH are nonspecific, and include abdominal discomfort, mild hepatomegaly, and transaminase elevation. In this report we describe three cases of patients presenting serum transaminase elevation and hepatomegaly with a history of poorly controlled type I DM. All of the cases showed sudden elevation of transaminase to more than 30 times the upper normal range (like in acute hepatitis) followed by sustained fluctuation (like in relapsing hepatitis). However, the patients did not show any symptom or sign of acute hepatitis. We therefore performed a liver biopsy to confirm the cause of liver enzyme elevation, which revealed GH. Clinicians should be aware of GH so as to prevent diagnostic delay and misdiagnosis, and have sufficient insight into GH; this will be aided by the present report of three cases along with a literature review

Slow pyrolyzed biochars from crop residues for soil metal(loid) immobilization and microbial community abundance in contaminated agricultural soils

This study evaluated the feasibility of using biochars produced from three types of crop residues for immobilizing Pb and As and their effects on the abundance of microbial community in contaminated lowland paddy (P-soil) and upland (U-soil) agricultural soils. Biochars were produced from umbrella tree [Maesopsis eminii] wood bark [WB], cocopeat [CP], and palm kernel shell [PKS] at 500\ua0°C by slow pyrolysis at a heating rate of 10\ua0°C min-1. Soils were incubated with 5% (w\ua0w-1) biochars at 25\ua0°C and 70% water holding capacity for 45\ua0d. The biochar effects on metal immobilization were evaluated by sequential extraction of the treated soil, and the microbial community was determined by microbial fatty acid profiles and dehydrogenase activity. The addition of WB caused the largest decrease in Pb in the exchangeable fraction (P-soil: 77.7%, U-soil: 91.5%), followed by CP (P-soil: 67.1%, U-soil: 81.1%) and PKS (P-soil: 9.1%, U-soil: 20.0%) compared to that by the control. In contrast, the additions of WB and CP increased the exchangeable As in U-soil by 84.6% and 14.8%, respectively. Alkalinity and high phosphorous content of biochars might be attributed to the Pb immobilization and As mobilization, respectively. The silicon content in biochars is also an influencing factor in increasing the As mobility. However, no considerable effects of biochars on the microbial community abundance and dehydrogenase activity were found in both soils

The usefulness of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography in the early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma viability after transarterial chemoembolization: pilot study

Background/AimsThe therapeutic effect of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is usually assessed using multidetector computed tomography (MDCT). However, dense lipiodol depositions can mask the enhancement of viable HCC tissue in MDCT. Contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) could be effective in detecting small areas of viability and patency in vessels. We investigated whether arterial enhancement in CEUS after treatment with TACE can be used to detect HCC viability earlier than when using MDCT.MethodsTwelve patients received CEUS, MDCT, and gadoxetic-acid-enhanced dynamic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at baseline and 4 and 12 weeks after TACE. The definition of viable HCC was defined as MRI positivity after 4 or 12 weeks.ResultsEight of the 12 patients showed MRI positivity at 4 or 12 weeks. All patients with positive CEUS findings at 4 weeks (n=8) showed MRI positivity and residual viable HCC at 4 or 12 weeks. Five of the eight patients with positive CEUS findings at 4 weeks had negative results on the 4-week MDCT scan. Four (50%) of these eight patients did not have MRI positivity at 4 weeks and were ultimately confirmed as having residual HCC tissue at the 12-week MRI. Kappa statistics revealed near-perfect agreement between CEUS and MRI (κ=1.00) and substantial agreement between MDCT and MRI (κ=0.67).ConclusionsIn the assessment of the response to TACE, CEUS at 4 weeks showed excellent results for detecting residual viable HCC, which suggests that CEUS can be used as an early additive diagnosis tool when deciding early additional treatment with TACE

A Case of Pulmonary Alveolar Microlithiasis

Pulmonary alveolar microlithiasis (PAM) is a rare disease with unknown etiology and pathogenesis. It is characterized by diffuse, innumerable, and minute calculi, called microlithiasis in the alveoli. More than half of reported cases are asymptomatic at the time of diagnosis. We describe the first case of PAM in Korea. A 19-yr-old man without respiratory symptoms presented with interstitial thickening on the chest radiograph. His chest high resolution CT scan showed diffusely scattered, ill defined tiny micronodules and interstitial thickening. Open lung biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of PAM. He was followed up for 6 months without treatment, and no progression was noticed