Large Skin Ulcer and Delayed Wound Healing around a Colostomy in a Patient with Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Receiving Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2 Inhibitor Therapy

Ramucirumab is an antiangiogenic agent targeting vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGF)-2 that has been approved for second-line treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. VEGF-targeted therapy has various distinctive adverse effects owing to its antitumour effects. However, little is known with regard to its skin toxicity, such as its ability to cause skin ulcers. We report a case of large skin ulceration around a colostomy and delayed healing caused by ramucirumab. A 58-year-old patient diagnosed with rectal cancer with liver and lung metastases. He was administered folinic acid, fluorouracil (5-FU), and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX) and bevacizumab as first-line treatment. A laparoscopic colostomy was performed for suspected worsening of the bowel obstruction. He was then administered folinic acid, 5 fluorouracil, and irinotecan (FOLFIRI) and ramucirumab as second-line treatment after surgery. However, dehiscence and a small skin ulceration caused by ramucirumab developed around the colostomy which increased in size and became necrotic; therefore, he was administered only FOLFIRI, without ramucirumab. The ulcer decreased in size slightly with surgical debridement and showering. He resumed FOLFIRI and ramucirumab

Structural Basis of the Highly Efficient Trapping of the HIV Tat Protein by an RNA Aptamer

AbstractAn RNA aptamer containing two binding sites exhibits extremely high affinity to the HIV Tat protein. We have determined the structure of the aptamer complexed with two argininamide molecules. Two adjacent U:A:U base triples were formed, which widens the major groove to make space for the two argininamide molecules. The argininamide molecules bind to the G bases through hydrogen bonds. The binding is stabilized through stacking interactions. The structure of the aptamer complexed with a Tat-derived arginine-rich peptide was also characterized. It was suggested that the aptamer structure is similar for both complexes and that the aptamer interacts with two different arginine residues of the peptide simultaneously at the two binding sites, which could explain the high affinity to Tat

Fifty Years of Scientific Ocean Drilling

Author Posting. © Oceanography Society , 2019. This article is posted here by permission of Oceanography Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Becker, K., Austin, J. A., Jr., Exon, N., Humphris, S., Kastner, M., McKenzie, J. A., Miller, K. G., Suyehiro, K., & Taira, A. Fifty years of scientific ocean drilling. Oceanography, 32(1), (2019):17-21, doi:10.5670/oceanog.2019.110.Nearly a century after the first systematic study of the global ocean and seafloor by HMS Challenger (1871–1876), US scientists began to drill beneath the seafloor to unlock the secrets of the ~70% of Earth’s surface covered by the seas. Fifty years of scientific ocean drilling by teams of international partners has provided unparalleled advancements in Earth sciences. Here, we briefly review the history, impacts, and scientific achievements of five decades of coordinated scientific ocean drilling

2-D Heterogeneous Structure in Eastern Hokkaido Inferred from S-wave Coda Amplification Factors

We examined 2-D heterogeneous structure in the eastern Hokkaido region, using the S-wave coda amplification factor (CAF) with seismic storong-motion date of Kyoshin Net(K-NET). CAF is defined as the spectral ratio of coda waves among different stations after corrections for source, site, and overall propagation.(i.e,cada-Q) effects. Confirming that code-Q values are nearly independent of both source and station, the site effect at each station was esetimated by the coda-normalization method. The source effect was removed by taking the spectral ratio of S-wave coda among stations for each earthquake. We evaluated the CAF value of each source-station pair for three components,using 95 seismograms for five local earthquakes recorded at 21 stations of K-NET. A map of CAF values at the frequency band of 16 Hz shows a systematic variation, implying that heterogeneities are concentrated at the central area (Shibeccha) in the eastern Hokkaido region, manifested locally as a large degree of scattering