Properties of Choline and Ethanolamine Kinases Paritally Purified from Rat Liver Supernatant.

Choline and ethanolamine kinases were partially purified from rat liver homogenate by 30 fold and 20 fold, respectively. Though the separation of two enzymes were not achieved, some properties were observed the suggesting possibility that different enzymes or active centers are involved in the phosphorylation of choline and ethanolamin. An apparent Michaelis constant (Km) for choline was 0.23 mM and for ethanolamine was 5mM. Both enzymes showed nearly the same values of maximal velocities or Km for ATP. However, some structural analogues of choline or ethanolamine affected choline and ethanolamine kinase activities in somewhat different manners.departmental bulletin pape

Feasibility and Efficacy of Definitive Radiotherapy with 66 Gy and Concurrent Carboplatin-Paclitaxel Chemotherapy for Stage III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Purpose/Objectives : This study was conducted to assess the feasibility and efficacy of definitive radiotherapy (RT) with a total dose of 66 Gy and concurrent carboplatin-paclitaxel chemotherapy for patients (pts) with stage Ⅲ non-small celllung cancer. Materials/Methods : Between April 2007 and December 2013，99 pts with non-small cell lung cancer were treated using RT with concurrent carboplatin-paclitaxel chemotherapy in our hospital. Sixty-eight of them received RT with a total dose of 66 Gy. We analyzed 46 Stage Ⅲ pts who had been treated with RT using three-dimensional radiotherapy treatment planning. The prophylactic mediastinal lymph nodes were included in the clinical target volume for RT. The survival rate after the start of RT was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. We estimated the cumulative local failure and distant metastasis rates with the Fine-Gray method. Adverse events were evaluated according to the CTCAE (v.4.0). Results : The median age of the pts was 70.9 (52.8-78.7) years old (y.o.). The performance status (PS) of each pt was fairly good (ECOG PS 0: 25, PS 1: 20, PS 3:1), and their clinical stages (UICC 7th) were twenty-nine Ⅲ A and seventeen Ⅲ B. Diagnoses were pathologically confirmed in 32 pts. The median follow-up period was 35.7 (2.0-82.2) months among all pts, and 55.9 (40.1-82.2) months among survivors. The 3- and 5-year Kaplan-Meier overall survival rates were 52.2 and 34.0%，respectively, and the median survival time was 36.6 months. The 3- and 5-year Kaplan-Meier progression-free survival rates were 29.1 and 21.9%，respectively, and the median progression-free survival time was 9.9 months. The 5-year local failure rate was 37.6%, and the 5-year distant metastasis rate was 49.7%. Sixteen (34.8%) pts required steroid administration because of radiation pneumonitis (CTCAE Grade 2 or higher) and two of them died (Grade 5). No other severe non-hematologic toxicity (Grade 3 or higher) was observed. Conclusion : These results suggest that definitive RT with a total dose of 66 Gy and concurrent carboplatin-paclitaxel chemotherapy is feasible and may be promising for pts with Stage Ⅲ non-small cell lung cancer

Cancer diagnosis marker extraction for soft tissue sarcomas based on gene expression profiling data by using projective adaptive resonance theory (PART) filtering method

BACKGROUND: Recent advances in genome technologies have provided an excellent opportunity to determine the complete biological characteristics of neoplastic tissues, resulting in improved diagnosis and selection of treatment. To accomplish this objective, it is important to establish a sophisticated algorithm that can deal with large quantities of data such as gene expression profiles obtained by DNA microarray analysis. RESULTS: Previously, we developed the projective adaptive resonance theory (PART) filtering method as a gene filtering method. This is one of the clustering methods that can select specific genes for each subtype. In this study, we applied the PART filtering method to analyze microarray data that were obtained from soft tissue sarcoma (STS) patients for the extraction of subtype-specific genes. The performance of the filtering method was evaluated by comparison with other widely used methods, such as signal-to-noise, significance analysis of microarrays, and nearest shrunken centroids. In addition, various combinations of filtering and modeling methods were used to extract essential subtype-specific genes. The combination of the PART filtering method and boosting – the PART-BFCS method – showed the highest accuracy. Seven genes among the 15 genes that are frequently selected by this method – MIF, CYFIP2, HSPCB, TIMP3, LDHA, ABR, and RGS3 – are known prognostic marker genes for other tumors. These genes are candidate marker genes for the diagnosis of STS. Correlation analysis was performed to extract marker genes that were not selected by PART-BFCS. Sixteen genes among those extracted are also known prognostic marker genes for other tumors, and they could be candidate marker genes for the diagnosis of STS. CONCLUSION: The procedure that consisted of two steps, such as the PART-BFCS and the correlation analysis, was proposed. The results suggest that novel diagnostic and therapeutic targets for STS can be extracted by a procedure that includes the PART filtering method

Light and Electron Microscopic Studies of Microcalcifications Appearing in Monomorphic Adenomas

Microcalcifications appearing in two cases of monomorphic adenomas were studied histopathologically, electron microscopically, and electron-microanalytically. One case was basal cell adenoma that occurred in a 56-year-old man and the other was canalicular adenoma in a 71-year-old woman. The calcified granules were observed both in the lumina formed by the tumor cells and in the stromal tissues. The surroundings of the granules were stained by alcian blue and showed a sulfur peak by EPMA. These facts suggest that the surroundings contain sulfated glycosaminoglycans and that sulfur has a significant role in the mechanisms of pathological calcification as well as physiological calcification

Cellular Leiomyoma of the Nasal Cavity: Report of a Case and Review of Literature

We report a rare case of cellular leiomyoma in the nasal cavity. A 72-year-old Japanese woman was admitted to a hospital. A tumoral lesion was revealed in the left nasal cavity. Angiography showed tumor staining, and the tumor was endoscopically resected after the embolizaion of the feeding artery. At gross inspection, the tumor measured 1.0 × 1.5 × 2.0 cm. Microscopically, the tumor consisted of many spindled cells with blunt ended nuclei. Immunohistochemical examination revealed that the tumor cells were positive for vimentin, alpha smooth muscle actin. We diagnosed this case as cellular leiomyoma. To the best of our knowledge, there have been only 23 reported cases of nasal leiomyoma in English medical literature. We made a brief literature review of the occurrence of this tumor in the nasal cavity