Upfront stereotactic radiosurgery in patients with brain metastases from small cell lung cancer: retrospective analysis of 41 patients

BACKGROUND: Although the efficacy of prophylactic or therapeutic whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) for brain metastases (BM) from small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is well established, the role of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) has yet to be determined. In the present retrospective analysis, we investigated whether upfront SRS might be an effective treatment option for patients with BM from SCLC. METHODS: We analyzed 41 consecutive patients with a limited number of BM (≤ 10) from SCLC who received SRS as the initial treatment. No prophylactic and therapeutic WBRT was given prior to SRS. The median patient age was 69 years and the median Karnofsky performance status (KPS) score was 90. Repeat SRS was given for new distant lesions detected on follow-up neuroradiological imaging, as necessary. Overall survival, neurological death, and local and distant BM recurrence rates were analyzed. The survival results were tested with three prognostic scoring systems validated for SCLC: Diagnosis-specific graded prognostic assessment (DS-GPA), Radiation therapy oncology group -recursive partitioning analysis and Rades’s survival score. RESULTS: One- and 2-year overall survival rates were 44% and 17%, respectively. The median survival time was 8.1 months. Survival results replicated the DS-GPA (P = 0.022) and Rades’s survival score (P = 0.034). On multivariate analysis, patients with high KPS (hazard ratio (HR): 0.308, P = 0.009) and post-SRS chemotherapy (HR: 0.324, P = 0.016) had better overall survival. In total, 95/121 tumors (79%) in 34 patients (83%) with sufficient radiological follow-up data were evaluated. Six- and 12-month rates of local control failure were 0% and 14%, respectively. Six- and 12-month distant BM rates were 22% and 44%, respectively. Repeat SRS, salvage WBRT and microsurgery were subsequently required in 18, 7 and one patient, respectively. Symptomatic radiation injury developed in two patients and both were treated conservatively. CONCLUSIONS: Our survival analyses with the validated prognostic grading systems suggested upfront SRS for limited BM from SCLC to be a potential treatment option, with patient survival being slightly more than eight months after SRS. Although SRS provided durable local tumor control, repeat treatment was needed in nearly half of patients to achieve control of distant BM

Designing Novel Breeding Strategies for Producing High-Oil Crops Based on a Molecular Understanding of Triacylglycerol Metabolism

Seeds are storage organ in plants and main resource of plant oils to human civilization and the demand of plant oils are increasing yearly and expansion of the production capacity is an urgent issue worldwide. Thus, it is necessary to improve oil yields per unit area and generation of crops with high-oil content is needed. Arabidopsis thaliana plays a vital role in advancement of genetics and molecular biology in plant sciences. The forward and reverse genetic approaches with Arabidopsis have provided an overview of triacylglycerol metabolism. The elucidation of the overview contributes to understanding of spatiotemporal regulation of a metabolic flow of triacylglycerol metabolism in plant cell. This understanding sheds light on bottlenecks in triacylglycerol biosynthesis and provides novel clues for increasing seed triacylglycerol content. Recent advance in metabolic engineering approaches demonstrate several evidences that triacylglycerol metabolism is coordinated with other metabolisms. Most notably, triacylglycerol biosynthesis competes with biosynthesis of starch or seed storage proteins. These studies indicate that alterations of the metabolic pathways to avoid the competitions could be a novel concept for increasing seed oil content

Fault Diagnosis System of Machine Using Neural Networks and Its Application

This paper describes a method on machine fault diagnosis system using neural networks. As fault diagnosing signal, the sound signal of machine can be used, in which the data is obtained as the power spectrum density through FFT analyzer. First. the structure of fault diagnosis system is shown. Next, in the neural networks, both the normal and abnormal conditions of machine can be learned by back-propagation method and the fault diagnosis system of a machine may be constructed. Finally, through simulation experiments, it was verified that the failure of machine was diagnosed based on the spectrum of sound signal including noise. Also, it was certified that, using the real data of sound signal, the fault diagnosis system proposed here can be applied to the practical machine

Fault Diagnosis System of Machine Using Neural Networks and Its Application

This paper describes a method on machine fault diagnosis system using neural networks. As fault diagnosing signal, the sound signal of machine can be used, in which the data is obtained as the power spectrum density through FFT analyzer. First. the structure of fault diagnosis system is shown. Next, in the neural networks, both the normal and abnormal conditions of machine can be learned by back-propagation method and the fault diagnosis system of a machine may be constructed. Finally, through simulation experiments, it was verified that the failure of machine was diagnosed based on the spectrum of sound signal including noise. Also, it was certified that, using the real data of sound signal, the fault diagnosis system proposed here can be applied to the practical machine

Investigation of environmental change pattern in Japan

The author has identified the following significant results. A detailed land use classification for a large urban area of Tokyo was made using MSS digital data. It was found that residential, commercial, industrial, and wooded areas and grasslands can be successfully classified. A mesoscale vortex associated with large ocean current, Kuroshio, which is a rare phenomenon, was recognized visually through the analysis of MSS data. It was found that this vortex affects the effluent patterns of rivers. Lava flowing from Sakurajima Volcano was clearly classified for three major erruptions (1779, 1914, and 1946) using MSS data

Studies on corona in Transformer Oil by Measurement of Space charge

Studies were carried out in needle-plane gaps with a comparatively long separation in transormer oil. Relations of needle voltage with space charge quantities due to coronas by lightning impulse and A. C. voltages were obtained. The charge quantities for AC voltage are larger than that for the impulse voltage. Back discharge phenomena take place, accompanied by sudden space charge reductions at the wave tail of the impulse voltage. The space charge quanytity due to initial cronas at the wave front are reduced considerably by the phenomena

<Review>Biochemical Study on Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) is a multisubunit membrane glycoprotein which functions as a ligand-triggered cation channel. Receptors from electric tissues and skeletal muscle have a molecular weight of approximately 290,000 as a monomer and are composed of four types of polypeptide chains which assemble into a heterologous α_2βγδ pentamer. We determined the carbohydrate structure of Torpedo AChR, which was the first determination for neurotransmitter receptors. About 70 % of the oligosaccharides of the AChR were of the high mannose-type, Man_9GlcNAc_2 and Man_8GlcNAc_2. These two types of oligosaccharides were distributed in all the subunits. The remaining were various kinds of complex-type oligosaccharides, existing mainly in the γ and δ subunits. The α and β subunits had only one carbohydrate chain each, while the γ and δ subunits had two and three carbohydrate chains, respectively. These glycosylation sites were identified by sequencing glycopeptides obtained by lectin-affinity chromatography. The participation of oligosaccharides in ligand-binding of AChR was examined using a newly developed binding assay. The sialic acids and high mannose-type oligosaccharides on AChR were found to be unnecessary for its ligand binding. Next we found that the β and δ subunits of Torpedo AChR were phosphorylated on their tyrosine residues. The level of the phosphorylation was enhanced by incubating the AChR-rich membrane fraction with cholinergic ligands. This suggests that cholinergic agonists physiologically regulate phosphorylation on tyrosine in vivo, which might be included in the desensitization mechanism of the receptor. We also examined the spatial relation of proteins surrounding AChR using Torpedo AChR-rich membrane fraction. Bifunctional crosslinkers revealed an intimate relation among the AChR γ subunit, 43-kD protein, and dystrophin. Finally, we found neurotoxin-binding activities in the su-pernatant fraction obtained by ultracentrifugation of a homogenate of the electric organ, which usually does not contain AChR. This new activity was different in nature from AChR, and could function as a regulator or a modulator for AChR function