Abdominoperineal Resection for Unexpected Distal Intramural Spreading of Rectal Cancer

Introduction: In rectal cancer, distal intramural spread may sometimes occur, but a maximum extent of distal spread of > 6 cm is very rare. Case Presentation: A 65-year-old Japanese male with an advanced rectal cancer tumor with para-aortic lymph node metastasis was admitted. We performed a low anterior resection with lymphadenectomy, but the intraoperative frozen-section analysis of margins revealed malignant cell positivity; we, therefore, performed an abdominoperineal resection. Pathological findings showed that the maximum extent of distal spread was 6 cm. After 12 courses of FOLFOX4 as adjuvant chemotherapy, abdominal computed tomography revealed whole lymph node metastases, including Virchow’s node. Though FOLFIRI + panitumumab was started, he was not eligible for additional chemotherapy after 10 cycles. Conclusion: An intraoperative frozen pathology examination was helpful for the additional resection, when unexpected distal spreading had occurred in rectal cancer. The evidence of a distal negative margin should not be underestimated

Real-time observation of X-ray-induced intramolecular and interatomic electronic decay in CH2I2

The increasing availability of X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) has catalyzed the development of single-object structural determination and of structural dynamics tracking in realtime. Disentangling the molecular-level reactions triggered by the interaction with an XFEL pulse is a fundamental step towards developing such applications. Here we report real-time observations of XFEL-induced electronic decay via short-lived transient electronic states in the diiodomethane molecule, using a femtosecond near-infrared probe laser. We determine the lifetimes of the transient states populated during the XFEL-induced Auger cascades and find that multiply charged iodine ions are issued from short-lived (similar to 20 fs) transient states, whereas the singly charged ones originate from significantly longer-lived states (similar to 100 fs). We identify the mechanisms behind these different time scales: contrary to the short-lived transient states which relax by molecular Auger decay, the long-lived ones decay by an interatomic Coulombic decay between two iodine atoms, during the molecular fragmentation

Annual variation in biomass and the community structure of crustacean zooplankton over 5 years in Lake Toya, Japan

Biomass and population dynamics of crustacean zooplankton were investigated in Lake Toya, oligotrophic caldera lake in Japan, during five years from 1992 to 1997. Zooplankton biomass increased in summer with increasing water temperature every year, and varied annually even if temperature and food conditions did not change so much. In 1992 and 1993, zooplankton biomass reached up to > 4 g dry-wt m^[-2], while it declined below 1 g dry-wt m^[-2] after 1994. This extreme change of the zooplankton biomass depends on succession of three dominant species from large ones, such as Daphnia longispina and Cyclops cf. sibiricus, to small ones, such as Eubosmina longispina and Bosmina longirostris. Analyzing population dynamics of the dominant crustaceans demonstrates that the year-to-year variation in the abundance is related to the death rate but not birth rate. Since chlorophyll a concentrations within the euphotic zone and the birth rates of each species were rather higher in low zooplankton biomass years, the higher death rates after 1994 is not considered to be attributed to food shortage. Two planktivorous fish, lacustrine sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) and pond smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus nipponensis), were artificially introduced every year for the sake of commercial fisheries in the lake. Although the two fishes are expected to be the most important predator for the large crustaceans, D. longispina and C. cf. sibiricus, which are actually fed on by the two fishes, the annual catch of the fishes was positively correlated to the average biomass of the crustaceans during summer season. This conflicting result is considered to be attributed to less catch of the fishes with fishing regulation for a gill net used by fishermen due to lowering the growth rate of the fishes in the low zooplankton biomass years. Proliferation of young and/or small fishes, including young-of-the-year pond smelt, which cannot be caught with the gill net may play an important role for eliminating the large crustaceans. Our results suggest that excessively artificial introduction of planktivorous fish, especially pond smelt, limits the zooplankton production in oligotrophic lake such as Lake Toya, subsequently decreasing the growth rate of the fish, and that this negative feed-back finally enhances lowering the annual fish catch

Real-time observation of X-ray-induced intramolecular and interatomic electronic decay in CH2I2

The increasing availability of X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) has catalyzed the development of single-object structural determination and of structural dynamics tracking in real-time. Disentangling the molecular-level reactions triggered by the interaction with an XFEL pulse is a fundamental step towards developing such applications. Here we report real-time observations of XFEL-induced electronic decay via short-lived transient electronic states in the diiodomethane molecule, using a femtosecond near-infrared probe laser. We determine the lifetimes of the transient states populated during the XFEL-induced Auger cascades and find that multiply charged iodine ions are issued from short-lived (∼20 fs) transient states, whereas the singly charged ones originate from significantly longer-lived states (∼100 fs). We identify the mechanisms behind these different time scales: contrary to the short-lived transient states which relax by molecular Auger decay, the long-lived ones decay by an interatomic Coulombic decay between two iodine atoms, during the molecular fragmentation. © 2019, The Author(s)