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Prevalence of Diabetes and Incidence of Angiopathy in Patients with Chronic Viral Liver Disease

Patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) often develops glucose intolerance. We explored the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in viral CLD, and analyzed factors profoundly affecting the diabetic angiopathies. 229 CLD patients (124 chronic hepatitis and 105 liver cirrhosis) entered the study. The diagnosis of diabetes was made with the criteria by World Health Organization. Laboratory investigation included serum asparate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, albumin, fasting blood sugar, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), fasting immunoreactive insulin, and HOMA-R (FBS*IRI/405). The incidence of macro- and microangiopathy were also examined. Forty (17.5%) CLD patients were diagnosed diabetes, giving a significantly higher incidence than that of general cohort (5.3%) (p<0.001). Among them, 12 (30%) had the triopathy, significantly lower than that in a matched group of diabetic patients without CLD (65%) (p<0.001). Significantly increased levels of HbA1c and HOMA-R were observed in diabetic CLD with angiopathy compared with diabetic CLD without. Incidence of diabetes was increased in viral CLD patients. The rate of diabetic angiopathies in CLD, however, was relatively low, this could be explained by low coagulability in these patients. Poor control of hyperglycemia, partly due to insulin resistance, might explain the onset of angiopathy in diabetic CLD

Elevated levels of plasma lactate dehydrogenase is an unfavorable prognostic factor in patients with epidermal growth factor receptor mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer, receiving treatment with gefitinib or erlotinib.

Treatment with epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) has been shown to prolong survival in patients with EGFR mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The present study performed a retrospective analysis to investigate the association between the plasma lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels and survival in patients with EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC receiving treatment with EGFR-TKIs. The medical charts of patients with EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC who were receiving treatment with EGFR-TKIs at Toyama University Hospital between 2007 and 2014 were assessed. The data from 65 patients were included in the analysis. Patients with higher plasma LDH levels exhibited shorter progression-free survival (6.2 vs. 13.2 months; P<0.01) and overall survival (10.5 vs. 36.1 months; P<0.01) periods compared with patients with lower plasma LDH levels. A Cox proportional hazards model identified that the plasma LDH level was associated with the progression-free survival (P=0.05) and overall survival (P<0.01). An association was demonstrated between the pretreatment plasma LDH level and the survival in patients with EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC receiving treatment with EGFR-TKIs. Close observation is required in EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC patients exhibiting high plasma LDH levels following the initiation of treatment with EGFR-TKIs.出版社サイトへのリンク：https://doi.org/10.3892/mco.2016.77

Organelle DNA degradation contributes to the efficient use of phosphate in seed plants

Mitochondria and chloroplasts (plastids) both harbour extranuclear DNA that originates from the ancestral endosymbiotic bacteria. These organelle DNAs (orgDNAs) encode limited genetic information but are highly abundant, with multiple copies in vegetative tissues, such as mature leaves. Abundant orgDNA constitutes a substantial pool of organic phosphate along with RNA in chloroplasts, which could potentially contribute to phosphate recycling when it is degraded and relocated. However, whether orgDNA is degraded nucleolytically in leaves remains unclear. In this study, we revealed the prevailing mechanism in which organelle exonuclease DPD1 degrades abundant orgDNA during leaf senescence. The DPD1 degradation system is conserved in seed plants and, more remarkably, we found that it was correlated with the efficient use of phosphate when plants were exposed to nutrient-deficient conditions. The loss of DPD1 compromised both the relocation of phosphorus to upper tissues and the response to phosphate starvation, resulting in reduced plant fitness. Our findings highlighted that DNA is also an internal phosphate-rich reservoir retained in organelles since their endosymbiotic origin

Plasma neuron-specific enolase level as a prognostic marker in patients with non-small cell lung cancer receiving gefitinib.

Determination of the presence of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutation is useful for predicting the efficacy of gefitinib. However, the survival rate following the initiation of treatment with gefitinib varies among individuals. A retrospective study was conducted to investigate the associations of the pretreatment serum pro-gastrin-releasing peptide (pro-GRP) and plasma neuron-specific enolase (NSE) levels to the patient survival rate following initiation of treatment with gefitinib in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients receiving gefitinib treatment. Patients with NSCLC harboring EGFR gene mutations who received gefitinib therapy between 2004 and 2012 were included in the study. Data from a total of 41 patients were analyzed. The serum pro-GRP level was measured in 31 patients and the plasma NSE in 22 patients. The progression-free survival (PFS) (P=0.013) and overall survival (OS) (P=0.014, log-rank test) rates decreased as the plasma NSE level increased. Statistical analysis using a Cox proportional hazards regression model adjusted for age, gender, performance status (PS) and disease stage showed that higher NSE levels were associated with shorter PFS (P=0.021) and OS (P=0.0024). By contrast, no association was detected between the serum level of pro-GRP and survival rate. The results suggest that pretreatment NSE measurement could be clinically useful in patients with NSCLC scheduled to receive gefitinib treatment.出版社サイトへのリンク: https://doi.org/10.3892/mco.2015.56

Citizen science "Thundercloud Project" -- multi-point radiation measurements of gamma-ray glows from accelerated electrons in thunderstorms

38th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2023), 26 July - 3 August, 2023, Nagoya, JapanIt has been a long-standing question whether cosmic rays promote the triggering of lightning and how cosmic-ray air showers interact with the electric field of thunderclouds. The strong electric field in the thunderclouds accelerates electrons to the relativistic regime, of which seed electrons are thought to be supplied from cosmic-ray air shower. Such relativistic electrons emit bremsstrahlung photons in gamma rays, which have been detected by on-ground measurements called gamma-ray glows. Low-altitude winter thunderstorm in Japan provides an ideal environment for observations of gamma-ray glows. We newly launched the citizen science ``Thundercloud Project" to construct a multi-point radiation mapping campaign for glows from winter thunderstorms around Kanazawa, Japan. We developed a new handy radiation monitor and shipped about 60 detectors to citizen supporters. The radiation data are stored in the microSD cards in the detectors, and a part of them is remotely sent to the web server so that researchers and supporters can watch the real-time data. In addition, an automatic alert is sent to public Twitter from the server when a glow is detected. The purpose of this project is (1) to characterize the methodological condition of electron acceleration, (2) to investigate whether accelerated relativistic electrons can enhance the chance of the initiation of lightning discharges, and (3) to find a new way of the citizen science to join in the cutting edge science in the physics field. Here we report this growing citizen science project and examples of successful gamma-ray glow observations. Our first scientific result from this citizen science project was published in Tsurumi et al., GRL 2023, where we reported lightning discharges started in or near the electron acceleration site of a gamma-ray glow