Successful treatment of desmoid tumor of the chest wall with tranilast: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Desmoid tumor is characterized by infiltrative growth and local recurrence often occurs after surgery. To reduce the local recurrence rate, adjuvant therapy, such as radiotherapy and pharmacotherapy with cytotoxic agents, anti-estrogen agents and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, is often applied. In addition, these non-surgical treatments are also performed in patients with unresectable desmoid tumors. We successfully treated a patient with a desmoid tumor with tranilast; an anti-allergic agent.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 48-year-old Japanese man with a slow-growing desmoid tumor on his chest wall was treated with an oral administration of tranilast (300 mg per day, three times a day). Two years and two months after the commencement of his therapy, the tumor became impalpable. At this time, the oral administration of tranilast was discontinued. Two years after discontinuation of the treatment, a physical examination showed no recurrence of the tumor and he continued in a state of remission. We were successfully able to reduce the size of the tumor and thereafter maintain the reduced size.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Tranilast was clinically effective in our case, and is probably comparable to cytotoxic agents or anti-estrogen agents. Because tranilast has substantially fewer adverse effects than cytotoxic agents, it could be a very useful therapeutic agent for desmoid tumor.</p

Why Amphibians Are More Sensitive than Mammals to Xenobiotics

Dramatic declines in amphibian populations have been described all over the world since the 1980s. The evidence that the sensitivity to environmental threats is greater in amphibians than in mammals has been generally linked to the observation that amphibians are characterized by a rather permeable skin. Nevertheless, a numerical comparison of data of percutaneous (through the skin) passage between amphibians and mammals is lacking. Therefore, in this investigation we have measured the percutaneous passage of two test molecules (mannitol and antipyrine) and three heavily used herbicides (atrazine, paraquat and glyphosate) in the skin of the frog Rana esculenta (amphibians) and of the pig ear (mammals), by using the same experimental protocol and a simple apparatus which minimizes the edge effect, occurring when the tissue is clamped in the usually used experimental device

Indications of intermediate-scale anisotropy of cosmic rays with energy greater than 57 EeV in the northern sky measured with the surface detector of the Telescope Array experiment

We have searched for intermediate-scale anisotropy in the arrival directions of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays with energies above 57 EeV in the northern sky using data collected over a 5 yr period by the surface detector of the Telescope Array experiment. We report on a cluster of events that we call the hotspot, found by oversampling using 20?? radius circles. The hotspot has a Li-Ma statistical significance of 5.1??, and is centered at R.A. = 146.??7, decl. = 43.??2. The position of the hotspot is about 19?? off of the supergalactic plane. The probability of a cluster of events of 5.1?? significance, appearing by chance in an isotropic cosmic-ray sky, is estimated to be 3.7 ?? 10-4 (3.4??).open2

Measurement of the proton-air cross section with Telescope Array&apos;s Middle Drum detector and surface array in hybrid mode

In this work we are reporting on the measurement of the proton-air inelastic cross section sigma(inel)(p-air) using the Telescope Array detector. Based on the measurement of the sigma(inel)(p-air), the proton-proton cross section sigma(p-p) value is also determined at root s = 95(-8)(+5) TeV. Detecting cosmic ray events at ultrahigh energies with the Telescope Array enables us to study this fundamental parameter that we are otherwise unable to access with particle accelerators. The data used in this report are the hybrid events observed by the Middle Drum fluorescence detector together with the surface array detector collected over five years. The value of the sigma(inel)(p-air) is found to be equal to 567.0 +/- 70.5[Stat](-25)(+29)[Sys] mb. The total proton-proton cross section is subsequently inferred from Glauber formalism and the Block, Halzen and Stanev QCD inspired fit and is found to be equal to 170(-44)(+48)[Stat](-17)(+19)[Sys] mb.open20

A NORTHERN SKY SURVEY FOR POINT-LIKE SOURCES OF EeV NEUTRAL PARTICLES WITH THE TELESCOPE ARRAY EXPERIMENT

We report on the search for steady point-like sources of neutral particles around 10(18) eV between 2008 and 2013 May with the scintillator SD of the Telescope Array experiment. We found overall no significant point-like excess above 0.5 EeV in the northern sky. Subsequently, we also searched for coincidence with the Fermi bright Galactic sources. No significant coincidence was found within the statistical uncertainty. Hence, we set an upper limit on the neutron flux that corresponds to an averaged flux of 0.07 km(-2) yr(-1) for E &gt; 1 EeV in the northern sky at the 95% confidence level. This is the most stringent flux upper limit in a northern sky survey assuming point-like sources. The upper limit at the 95% confidence level on the neutron flux from Cygnus X-3 is also set to 0.2 km(-2) yr(-1) for E &gt; 0.5 EeV. This is an order of magnitude lower than previous flux measurementsopen0

Functionalisation of PLLA nanofiber scaffolds using a possible cooperative effect between collagen type I and BMP-2: impact on growth and osteogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells

Mesenchymal stem cell differentiation of osteoblasts is triggered by a series of signaling processes including integrin and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP), which therefore act in a cooperative manner. The aim of this study was to analyze whether these processes can be remodeled in an artificial poly-(l)-lactide acid (PLLA) based nanofiber scaffold. Matrices composed of PLLA-collagen type I or BMP-2 incorporated PLLA-collagen type I were seeded with human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) and cultivated over a period of 22 days, either under growth or osteoinductive conditions. During the course of culture, gene expression of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), osteocalcin (OC) and collagen I (COL-I) as well as Smad5 and focal adhesion kinase (FAK), two signal transduction molecules involved in BMP-2 or integrin signaling were analyzed. Furthermore, calcium and collagen I deposition, as well as cell densities and proliferation, were determined using fluorescence microscopy. The incorporation of BMP-2 into PLLA-collagen type I nanofibers resulted in a decrease in diameter as well as pore sizes of the scaffold. Mesenchymal stem cells showed better adherence and a reduced proliferation on BMP-containing scaffolds. This was accompanied by an increase in gene expression of ALP, OC and COL-I. Furthermore the presence of BMP-2 resulted in an upregulation of FAK, while collagen had an impact on the gene expression of Smad5. Therefore these different strategies can be combined in order to enhance the osteoblast differentiation of hMSC on PLLA based nanofiber scaffold. By doing this, different signal transduction pathways seem to be up regulated