Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Derived Molecules Reverse Fulminant Hepatic Failure

Modulation of the immune system may be a viable alternative in the treatment of fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) and can potentially eliminate the need for donor hepatocytes for cellular therapies. Multipotent bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been shown to inhibit the function of various immune cells by undefined paracrine mediators in vitro. Yet, the therapeutic potential of MSC-derived molecules has not been tested in immunological conditions in vivo. Herein, we report that the administration of MSC-derived molecules in two clinically relevant forms-intravenous bolus of conditioned medium (MSC-CM) or extracorporeal perfusion with a bioreactor containing MSCs (MSC-EB)-can provide a significant survival benefit in rats undergoing FHF. We observed a cell mass-dependent reduction in mortality that was abolished at high cell numbers indicating a therapeutic window. Histopathological analysis of liver tissue after MSC-CM treatment showed dramatic reduction of panlobular leukocytic infiltrates, hepatocellular death and bile duct duplication. Furthermore, we demonstrate using computed tomography of adoptively transferred leukocytes that MSC-CM functionally diverts immune cells from the injured organ indicating that altered leukocyte migration by MSC-CM therapy may account for the absence of immune cells in liver tissue. Preliminary analysis of the MSC secretome using a protein array screen revealed a large fraction of chemotactic cytokines, or chemokines. When MSC-CM was fractionated based on heparin binding affinity, a known ligand for all chemokines, only the heparin-bound eluent reversed FHF indicating that the active components of MSC-CM reside in this fraction. These data provide the first experimental evidence of the medicinal use of MSC-derived molecules in the treatment of an inflammatory condition and support the role of chemokines and altered leukocyte migration as a novel therapeutic modality for FHF

Practice of Open Sharing at Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM]

Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM] (herein after "YCAM") is an art center focused on media technology. It produces artwork incorporating media technology, develops media technology, archives related information, and provides education. YCAM has open shared its achievements from some of its projects. “Open share” means to publish an achievement so that a third party can utilize it freely within a certain extent. In this paper, introduction of open sharing at YCAM and the practice of implementing open sharing will be described and discussed

Flare-Up Diverticulitis in the Terminal Ileum in Short Interval after Conservative Therapy: Report of a Case

Diverticulitis in the terminal ileum is uncommon. Past reports suggested that conservative therapy may be feasible to treat terminal ileum diverticulitis without perforation; however, there is no consensus on the therapeutic strategy for small bowel diverticulitis. We present a 37-year-old man who was referred to our hospital for sudden onset of abdominal pain and nausea. He was diagnosed with diverticulitis in the terminal ileum by computed tomography (CT). Tazobactam/piperacillin hydrate (18 g/day) was administered. The antibiotic treatment was maintained for 7 days, and the symptoms disappeared after the treatment. Thirty-eight days after antibiotic therapy, he noticed severe abdominal pain again. He was diagnosed with diverticulitis in terminal ileum which was flare-up of inflammation. He was given antibiotic therapy again. Nine days after antibiotic therapy, laparoscopy assisted right hemicolectomy and resection of 20 cm of terminal ileum were performed. Histopathology report confirmed multiple ileal diverticulitis. He was discharged from our hospital 12 days after the surgery. Colonoscopy was performed two months after the surgery and it revealed no finding suggesting inflammatory bowel disease. Surgical treatment should be taken into account as a potential treatment option to manage the diverticulitis in the terminal ileum even though it is not perforated

Edwardsiella tarda bacteremia with metastatic gastric cancer

Edwardsiella tarda (E. tarda) is a rare human pathogen; however, the overall mortality of bacteremia is reported to be up to 50%. Here, we describe a case of cholangitis with E. tarda bacteremia who had a pancreatoduodenectomy for a locally advanced gastric cancer. He was successfully treated using a cefmetazole, a second generation cephalosporin for 14 days. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report about E. tarda bacteremia after biliary reconstruction

Ubiquitous Supervisory System Based on Social Contexts Using Ontology

As described in this paper, we propose a supervisory system that considers actual situations and social aspects of users in a ubiquitous computing environment. To realize gentle and safe supervision while providing efficient supervisory services, the system must recognize the situations of a watched person, such as the person's physical condition. To achieve this, we have proposed a ubiquitous supervisory system "uEyes", which introduces Social Context Awareness: a distinguishing feature for supervision. Using this feature, the system can combine environmental information acquired from sensors in the real world and common-sense knowledge related to human activities in daily life. As described in this paper, we specifically examine design of Social Context Awareness using ontology technologies. Based on this advanced feature, a live video streaming system is configured autonomously depending on the users' circumstances in runtime. We implemented a uEyes prototype for supervising elderly people and performed some experiments based on several scenarios. Based on those experimental results, we confirmed that the social contexts are handled effectively to support the supervision