A case of sporadic intestinal cryptosporidiosis diagnosed by endoscopic biopsy

Sporadic intestinal cryptosporidiosis is not easily diagnosed and might be overlooked. We present here a case of this disease in a 23-year-old Japanese military man with 3 days of abdominal pain, watery diarrhea, and nausea. The frequency of his diarrhea was more than 10 times per day. After his diarrheal bowel symptoms subsided, a colonoscopy was performed because inflammatory bowel disease was suspected. Although the endoscopic findings indicated non-specific ileitis, intestinal cryptosporidiosis was suspected from the histology of ileal biopsy specimens, and this was confirmed ultrastructurally. At that time, however, the patient was on active duty, and thus it was not possible to confirm this as a definitive diagnosis by an adequate stool examination for cryptosporidium. Routine practitioners should be encouraged to carefully inspect patients for this disease, supported by detailed knowledge of it and its diagnosis. If stool-examination results are negative or are not obtained at first, histological diagnosis by endoscopic biopsy could be a useful way to screen for intestinal cryptosporidiosis. Furthermore, stool or histological examination should be performed in recovered patients because the oocysts may continue to be shed for 1 to 4 weeks after the symptoms disappear. Therefore, endoscopic and histological examinations may be useful tools for the early diagnosis of intestinal cryptosporidiosis, although admittedly they are invasive procedures.</p

Electronic properties of electron-doped [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester and silylmethylfullerene

Electronic properties of electron-doped chemically decorated fullerenes, [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) and silylmethylfullerene (SIMEF), by a planar electrode were studied using density functional theory combined with the effective screening medium method to simulate the heterointerface between the chemically decorated and cationic counter materials. We find that the distribution of accumulated electrons and induced electric field depend on the molecular arrangement with respect to the external electric field of the electrode. We also show that the quantum capacitance of the molecule is sensitive to molecular arrangement owing to the asymmetric distribution of the accumulated electrons

Energetics and electronic structures of chemically decorated C60 chains

We studied the energetics and electronic structures of one-dimensional molecular chains of [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) using the density functional theory (DFT). Our DFT calculations show that the binding energies of PCBM range from 90 to 300 meV, depending on not only the intermolecular spacing but also the intermolecular arrangements owing to the interaction between functional groups and C60. The electronic structure of PCBM chains are also sensitive to the mutual arrangements of PCBM in their chain structure. The calculated effective masses of the conduction band range from 0.58 to 634.97m e, giving rise to anisotropic transport properties in their condensed phase

Loss of ATF6α in a Human Carcinoma Cell Line Is Compensated not by Its Paralogue ATF6β but by Sustained Activation of the IRE1 and PERK Arms for Tumor Growth in Nude Mice

To survive poor nutritional conditions, tumor cells activate the unfolded protein response, which is composed of the IRE1, PERK, and ATF6 arms, to maintain the homeostasis of the endoplasmic reticulum, where secretory and transmembrane proteins destined for the secretory pathway gain their correct three-dimensional structure. The requirement of the IRE1 and PERK arms for tumor growth in nude mice is established. Here we investigated the requirement for the ATF6 arm, which consists of ubiquitously expressed ATF6α and ATF6β, by constructing ATF6α-knockout (KO), ATF6β-KO, and ATF6α/β-double KO (DKO) in HCT116 cells derived from human colorectal carcinoma. Results showed that these KO cells grew similarly to wild-type (WT) cells in nude mice, contrary to expectations from our analysis of ATF6α-KO, ATF6β-KO, and ATF6α/β-DKO mice. We then found that the loss of ATF6α in HCT116 cells resulted in sustained activation of the IRE1 and PERK arms in marked contrast to mouse embryonic fibroblasts, in which the loss of ATF6α is compensated for by ATF6β. Although IRE1-KO in HCT116 cells unexpectedly did not affect tumor growth in nude mice, IRE1-KO HCT116 cells with ATF6α knockdown grew significantly more slowly than WT or IRE1-KO HCT116 cells. These results have unraveled the situation-dependent differential compensation strategies of ATF6α

Electronic structure and cohesive energy of silylmethyl fullerene and methanoindene fullerene solids

Using the density functional theory, we studied the energetics and electronic structures of chemically decorated fullerene solids, monoclinic phases of silylmethyl fullerene (SIMEF) and methanoindene fullerene (MIF), under the experimentally determined lattice parameters. Cohesive energies of these solids are 1.83 and 1.07 eV for SIMEF and MIF, respectively, despite the large intermolecular spacing owing to the functional groups. The SIMEF and MIF solids are semiconductors with a moderate band gap of about 1.2 eV with narrow dispersion band near the band gap. We also elucidated that these solids exhibit a strong anisotropic band dispersion relation near the gap, because of their large asymmetric molecular shape. The calculated electron effective masses range from 1.37m e to 7.91m e for the SIMEF solid and from 0.57m e to 4.23m e for the MIF solid

For Vol.70, No.5 pp405-408 A Multicenter, Prospective, Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluating the Efficacy of Rectal Diclofenac and Sublingual Nitrate as a Combined Prophylactic Treatment for Post-ERCP Pancreatitis

In the article by Tomoda T et al. entitled “A Multicenter, Prospective, Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluating the Efficacy of Rectal Diclofenac and Sublingual Nitroglycerin as a Combined Prophylactic Treatment for Post-ERCP Pancreatitis”, which appeared in the October 2016 issue, Vol. 70, No. 5, pp405-408, the word “nitroglycerin” should be corrected to “nitrate” throughout the manuscript

A Bezoar Composed of Bilirubin Calcium, Calcium Carbonate, and Fatty Acid Calcium

A 68-year-old Japanese man was diagnosed with bezoar in the stomach, which was endoscopically retrieved. The bezoar was composed of bilirubin calcium, calcium carbonate, and fatty acid calcium. Due to the presence of bilirubin calcium in the bezoar, we performed imaging studies of the bile duct; gallstones and common bile duct stones were identified. Although bezoar with components similar to bile is infrequently encountered, our findings suggest that a bezoar originating from bile should be considered among the differential diagnoses in patients without a recent consumption history of persimmons who demonstrate a mass in the digestive tract. This case highlights the importance of component analysis of gastric bezoars because its findings may alter the treatment plan

Synthesis and reactivity of 4-oxo-5-trimethylsilanyl derived α-amino acids

A Lewis-acid promoted one-carbon homologation of an aspartic acid semialdehyde with trimethylsilyldiazomethane has led to the efficient synthesis of two silicon-containing α-amino acids. The use of trimethylaluminium or catalytic tin(II) chloride gave novel 4-oxo-5-trimethylsilanyl derived amino acids in yields of 71–88%. An investigation into the reactivity of these highly functional α-amino acids showed that selective cleavage of the C–Si bond could be achieved under mild basic conditions to give a protected derivative of the naturally occurring amino acid, 4-oxo-l-norvaline. Alternatively, Peterson olefination with aryl or alkyl aldehydes resulted in the formation of E-enone derived α-amino acids