Two cases of mandibular and masticatory reconstruction with vascularized fibra bone flaps and implants

　Defects of the jawbone have conventionally been repaired using free bone grafts and metallic plates, but patients undergoing reconstruction using these materials experience difficulty using dentures and restoring masticatory function. The use of vascularized bone grafts, which has recently been enabled, has improved bone graft survival rates, and its combination with dental implants has enabled both morphological and functional reconstruction, leading to a higher quality of life. 　We experienced two patients with tumors of the jaw that were treated by resecting and reconstructing it using a vascularized bone graft with the cooperation of the Department of Plastic Surgery in the School of Medicine. We subsequently inserted dental implants, and the superstructure was created by the Department of Prosthetics. We report the course of these patients, who achieved sufficient jaw morphology as well as masticatory function and who are presently satisfied overall three years to three years and nine months postoperatively

Dynamical Symmetry Breaking in Fractal Space

We formulate field theories in fractal space and show the phase diagrams of the coupling versus the fractal dimension for the dynamical symmetry breaking. We first consider the 4-dimensional Gross-Neveu (GN) model in the (4-d)-dimensional randomized Cantor space where the fermions are restricted to a fractal space by the high potential barrier of Cantor fractal shape. By the statistical treatment of this potential, we obtain an effective action depending on the fractal dimension. Solving the 1/N leading Schwinger-Dyson (SD) equation, we get the phase diagram of dynamical symmetry breaking with a critical line similar to that of the d-dimensional (2<d<4) GN model except for the system-size dependence. We also consider QED4 with only the fermions formally compactified to d dimensions. Solving the ladder SD equation, we obtain the phase diagram of dynamical chiral symmetry breaking with a linear critical line, which is consistent with the known results for d=4 (the Maskawa-Nakajima case) and d=2 (the case with the external magnetic field).Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures, LaTeX with epsf macr

A single centre retrospective analysis of AECG classification criteria for primary Sjogren\u27s syndrome based on 112 minor salivary gland biopsies in a Japanese population.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the usefulness and performance of the American European Consensus Group (AECG) criteria based on minor salivary gland biopsy (MSGB) in Japanese patients with primary SS. METHODS: Among 208 MSGB cases, we retrospectively selected 112 subjects who satisfied the complete set of AECG classification criteria. Of the 112 subjects studied, 63 primary SS patients and 49 non-SS group subjects were classified according to the AECG criteria. The contribution of subjective and objective components was statistically analysed. RESULTS: Sex, dry eye, Saxon test, Schirmer\u27s test, anti-SSA/Ro antibody, MSGB grading and sialography statistically contributed to the diagnosis. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that positive MSGB [odds ratio (OR) 105; 95% CI 13, 849), positive anti-SSA/Ro antibody (OR 96; 95% CI 10, 923), a positive Saxon test (OR 46; 95% CI, 6, 340) and the existence of dry eye (OR 8, 95% CI 2, 43) were associated with the diagnosis of primary SS. Among the components of the AECG criteria, MSGB and anti-SSA/Ro antibody were very strong contributors. Furthermore, the abnormal-finding positive rate in sialography significantly correlated with MSGB grading (P-value for trend = 0.0006), although other subjective and objective components were not associated with MSGB grading. CONCLUSION: The usefulness of the AECG criteria for Japanese primary SS patients was confirmed

Reevaluation for clinical manifestations of HTLV-I-seropositive patients with Sjogren’s syndrome

Background: The aim of the study was to reassess the prevalence and characteristics of human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I)-associated Sjogren\u27s syndrome (SS) and SS in HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (HAM) based on the American European Consensus Group (AECG) criteria in HTLV-I endemic area, Nagasaki prefecture. Methods: The 349 patients who underwent a minor salivary gland biopsy (MSGB) for suspected SS were retrospectively classified by AECG classification criteria and divided with or without anti-HTLV-I antibody. Results: The HTLV-I data-available 294 patients were investigated. One hundred-seventy patients were classified as SS and 26.5 % were HTLV-I-seropositive. We have included 26 patients with HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (HAM) and 38.5 % were classified as having SS. The prevalences of ANA and anti-SS-A/Ro antibody of HAM + SS were significantly low compared to the HTLV-I asymptomatic carriers (AC) with SS and the HTLV-I-seronegative SS patients, although lacrimal dysfunction tended to be high in HAM + SS and significantly high in AC + SS patients compared with the patients with HTLV-I-seronegative SS. The focus scores of MSGB in the HAM + SS patients were similar to those of the AC + SS patients and the HTLV-I-seronegative patients with SS. Among the MSGB-positive patients, there was a low prevalence of ANA in the HAM + SS patients. Similar results were obtained in case of anti-SS-A/Ro or SS-B/La antibody. Conclusion: In HTLV-I endemic area, high prevalence of anti-HTLV-I antibody among SS as well as the characteristics of HAM + SS and AC + SS was still determined by AECG classification criteria

Seasonal level of hemoagglutinin inhibitinlt and its 2-mercaptoethanol sensitive antibody in the sera of swine (Epidemiological Study on Japanese Encephalitis, 67)

Seasonal level of hemoagglutinin inhibiting and its 2 -mercaptoethanol sensitive antibody in the sera of swine were researched and the following results were obtained. 1. The positive rate of hemoagglutination inhibit reaction (HI reaction) on swine showed 100% at maximum in the middle of September. 1980. The positive rate of 2-ME sensitive antibody showed the titer of over 1 : 40 with all swine examined in the middle of August, 1980. 2. The positive rate of HI reaction of inhabitants at Mukaiyama in Kurashiki City was 76.0% (on 8th in July, 1980) indicating the rather big decrease being compared with annual value of 90.6%, in 1976. Date indicated that increase In JE virus in swine as source of infection thought to be a vector of JE, caused a genuine case of JE, in 1980, as described below. 3. Higher positive rate of HI reaction and 2-ME sensitive positive rate of swine were observed in 1980. 4. One patient who suffered from JE was found In Kurashiki City in 1980. 5. Henceforth and continuously, Japanese Encephalitis should be investigated, above all on its occurance order with the number or Ct or the positive rate of hemoagglutination inhibit reaction in inhahitants and swine, etc. considering that J.E. has a high lethality rate and often leaves the terrible J. E. residue to patients

The whole blood transcriptional regulation landscape in 465 COVID-19 infected samples from Japan COVID-19 Task Force

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19患者由来の血液細胞における遺伝子発現の網羅的解析 --重症度に応じた遺伝子発現の変化には、ヒトゲノム配列の個人差が影響する--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-23.Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently-emerged infectious disease that has caused millions of deaths, where comprehensive understanding of disease mechanisms is still unestablished. In particular, studies of gene expression dynamics and regulation landscape in COVID-19 infected individuals are limited. Here, we report on a thorough analysis of whole blood RNA-seq data from 465 genotyped samples from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force, including 359 severe and 106 non-severe COVID-19 cases. We discover 1169 putative causal expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) including 34 possible colocalizations with biobank fine-mapping results of hematopoietic traits in a Japanese population, 1549 putative causal splice QTLs (sQTLs; e.g. two independent sQTLs at TOR1AIP1), as well as biologically interpretable trans-eQTL examples (e.g., REST and STING1), all fine-mapped at single variant resolution. We perform differential gene expression analysis to elucidate 198 genes with increased expression in severe COVID-19 cases and enriched for innate immune-related functions. Finally, we evaluate the limited but non-zero effect of COVID-19 phenotype on eQTL discovery, and highlight the presence of COVID-19 severity-interaction eQTLs (ieQTLs; e.g., CLEC4C and MYBL2). Our study provides a comprehensive catalog of whole blood regulatory variants in Japanese, as well as a reference for transcriptional landscapes in response to COVID-19 infection

DOCK2 is involved in the host genetics and biology of severe COVID-19

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19疾患感受性遺伝子DOCK2の重症化機序を解明 --アジア最大のバイオレポジトリーでCOVID-19の治療標的を発見--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-10.Identifying the host genetic factors underlying severe COVID-19 is an emerging challenge. Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 2, 393 cases of COVID-19 in a cohort of Japanese individuals collected during the initial waves of the pandemic, with 3, 289 unaffected controls. We identified a variant on chromosome 5 at 5q35 (rs60200309-A), close to the dedicator of cytokinesis 2 gene (DOCK2), which was associated with severe COVID-19 in patients less than 65 years of age. This risk allele was prevalent in East Asian individuals but rare in Europeans, highlighting the value of genome-wide association studies in non-European populations. RNA-sequencing analysis of 473 bulk peripheral blood samples identified decreased expression of DOCK2 associated with the risk allele in these younger patients. DOCK2 expression was suppressed in patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis (n = 61 individuals) identified cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 and a COVID-19-specific decreasing effect of the risk allele on DOCK2 expression in non-classical monocytes. Immunohistochemistry of lung specimens from patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia showed suppressed DOCK2 expression. Moreover, inhibition of DOCK2 function with CPYPP increased the severity of pneumonia in a Syrian hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, characterized by weight loss, lung oedema, enhanced viral loads, impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. We conclude that DOCK2 has an important role in the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of severe COVID-19, and could be further explored as a potential biomarker and/or therapeutic target

APPLICATION OF INVERSE GAUSSIAN DISTRIBUTION TO OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE DATA

Abstract—Occupational exposure concentrations are generally assumed to vary in a log-normal manner. However, because the mean of random samples from a log-normal distribution is not lognormally distributed, it cannot, in theory, deal with the changes in the distribution of timeweighted average (TWA) values when the averaging time varies. On the other hand, inverse Gaussian distribution, which is similar to a log-normal one, offers the advantage of reproducibility. This paper proposes the application of inverse Gaussian distribution to occupational exposure data. First, inverse Gaussian distribution was compared with the log-normal one. Second, in order to simplify the application, the percentiles of inverse Gaussian distribution with CV = 0.25 to 4 were calculated. Finally, this distribution was applied to occupational exposure data. © 1997 British Occupational Hygiene Society. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd

Salivary gland ultrasonography: can it be an alternative to sialography as an imaging modality for Sjogren\u27s syndrome?

OBJECTIVES: Salivary ultrasonography (US) was evaluated as an alternative imaging modality to sialography for Sjögren\u27s syndrome (SS). METHODS: Parotid sialography and parotid and submandibular US were performed in 360 patients (188 with SS and 172 non-SS) who were suspected of SS and had fulfilled the American-European criteria (AEC) for SS or had received > or =3 of the objective examinations that were considered minimal requirements for classifying non-SS and had undergone both the imaging examinations. The glands were considered positive for SS if they exhibited peripheral sialoectatic changes on sialography and/or hypoechoic areas, echogenic streaks and/or irregular gland margins on US. The images obtained were independently rated as SS-positive or SS-negative by three radiologists in a blind fashion and the final decision was made by consensus. Interobserver and intermodality agreement was evaluated using kappa values for sialography and parotid and/or submandibular US. RESULTS: Average kappa values for the interobserver agreement were 0.81, 0.80 and 0.82 in sialography, parotid and submandibular US, respectively, indicating very good or good agreement. The kappa value for intermodality agreement between sialography and parotid US was 0.81 and between sialography and submandibular US was 0.76, indicating very good and good agreement, respectively. The diagnostic ability of parotid US was significantly lower than that of sialography (p<0.001, McNemar test). However, the diagnostic ability of submandibular US was comparable to that of sialography (p=0.153). CONCLUSIONS: Submandibular US is a promising technique that can be used as a practical alternative to sialography in the classification of SS