A Narrative Review of Advances in Neural Precursor Cell Transplantation Therapies for Spinal Cord Injury

A spinal cord injury (SCI) is a destructive event that causes a permanent deficit in neurological function because of poor regenerative potential. Transplantation therapies have attracted attention for restoration of the injured spinal cord, and transplantation of neural precursor cells (NPCs) has been studied worldwide. Several groups have demonstrated functional recovery via this therapeutic intervention due to the multiple beneficial effects of NPC transplantation, such as reconstruction of neuronal circuits, remyelination of axons, and neuroprotection by trophic factors. Our group developed a method to induce NPCs from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and established a transplantation strategy for SCI. Functional improvement in SCI animals treated with hiPSC-NPCs was observed, and the safety of transplanting these cells was evaluated from multiple perspectives. With selection of a safe cell line and pretreatment of the cells to encourage maturation and differentiation, hiPSC-NPC transplantation therapy is now in the clinical phase of testing for subacute SCI. In addition, a research challenge will be to expand the efficacy of transplantation therapy for chronic SCI. More comprehensive strategies involving combination treatments are required to treat this problematic situation

Adequacy and Long-Term Prognosis of Endoscopic Carpal Tunnel Release

Forty-one hands of 37 patients with idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome treated by endoscopic carpal tunnel release (ECTR) were followed up for more than one year after surgery. Surgical results were evaluated using Kelly's criteria, the Semmes-Weinstein test, the static and moving 2-point discrimination tests, tip-pinch strength, and motor and sensory nerve conduction studies. Clinical results, according to Kelly's criteria three months after surgery, were excellent or good in 36 hands, and fair or poor in five hands. No recovery was evident at six months and 12 months after surgery in fair and poor hands. Based on these findings, we conclude that a neurolysis of the median nerve and release of constriction of the thenar muscle branch should be performed using the conventional open technique for patients with poor results three months after ECTR if the patients are dissatisfied with ECTR results</p

The Coprinopsis cinerea Tup1 homologue Cag1 is required for gill formation during fruiting body morphogenesis

The pileus (cap) of the fruiting body in homobasidiomycete fungi bears the hymenium, a layer of cells that includes the basidia where nuclear fusion, meiosis and sporulation occur. Coprinopsis cinerea is a model system for studying fruiting body development. The hymenium of C. cinerea forms at the surface of the gills in the pileus. In a previous study, we identified a mutation called cap-growthless1-1 (cag1-1) that blocks gill formation, which yields primordia that never mature. In this study, we found that the cag1 gene encodes a homologue of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Tup1. The C. cinerea genome contains another Tup1 homologue gene called Cc.tupA. Reciprocal tagging of Cag1 and Cc.TupA with green and red fluorescent proteins revealed that the relative ratios of the amounts of the two Tup1 paralogues varied among tissues. Compared with Cc.TupA, Cag1 was preferentially expressed in the gill trama tissue cells, suggesting that the function of Cag1 is required for gill trama tissue differentiation and maintenance. Yeast two-hybrid analysis and co-localisation of Cag1 and Cc.TupA suggested that Cag1 interacts with Cc.TupA in the nuclei of certain cells

Microscopic analyses of complexes formed in adsorbent for Mo and Zr separation chromatography

高レベル放射性廃液(HALW)の処理に於いて、抽出クロマトグラフィーによる高効率なマイナーアクチノイド(MA)の回収にはモリブデン(Mo)及びジルコニウム(Zr)の事前除去が必要である。そこで、MoとZrの除去と回収を目的としてbis(2-ethylhexyl) hydrogen phosphate (HDEHP)を含浸させた吸着材を用いることを考案し、模擬HALWのカラム分離実験で、MoとZrを選択的に吸着させて除去することに成功した。次に、吸着材からそれらを回収するための溶離液として過酸化水素水を用いたところ、Moのみ溶離された。この吸着材のマイクロPIXE、EXAFS及びX線小角散乱法による分析結果は、結晶状のZr-HDEHP複合体が吸着材中に一様に形成されたことを示していたことから、Moは今回の方法で除去・回収できるが、Zrは結合が強く、過酸化水素水では回収できないことがわかった

Cell-Level Analysis Visualizing Photodynamic Therapy with Porphylipoprotein and Talaporphyrin Sodium

We revealed the difference in the mechanism of photodynamic therapy (PDT) between two photosensitizers: porphylipoprotein (PLP), which has recently attracted attention for its potential to be highly effective in treating cancer, and talaporphyrin sodium (NPe6). (1) NPe6 accumulates in lysosomes, whereas PLP is incorporated into phagosomes formed by PLP injection. (2) PDT causes NPe6 to generate reactive oxygen species, thereby producing actin filaments and stress fibers. In the case of PLP, however, reactive oxygen species generated by PDT remain in the phagosomes until the phagosomal membrane is destroyed, which delays the initiation of RhoA activation and RhoA*/ROCK generation. (4) After the disruption of the phagosomal membrane, however, the outflow of various reactive oxygen species accelerates the production of actin filaments and stress fibers, and blebbing occurs earlier than in the case of NPe6. (5) PLP increases the elastic modulus of cells without RhoA activity in the early stage. This is because phagosomes are involved in polymerizing actin filaments and pseudopodia formation. Considering the high selectivity and uptake of PLP into cancer cells, a larger effect with PDT can be expected by skillfully combining the newly discovered characteristics, such as the appearance of a strong effect at an early stage

Serum Hepatitis Resulted from Blood Transfusion

In recent years there have been many cases, with increasing frequency, of serum hepatitis resulted from blood transfusion. The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence, clinical feature, prognosis and prophylaxis of serum hepatitis followed by blood transfusion. The results obtained were as follows; 1) Incidence of serum hepatitis among the patients who had blood transfusion at local institutions in Okayama City was 3.3% in 1957 and 4.7% in 1958, on the other hand, at Okayama University Hospital in 1958 it was 5.0% in the First Surgical Division, 5.4% the Second Surgery and 5.2% OBGYN respectively. The patients with serum hepatitis had received the amount 2,600 to 1,120 cc of blood, whereas 810 to 1,120 cc in the cases who never developed serum hepatitis after blood transfusion. 2) Mean incubation period was 72.8 days ranging 19 to 180 days calculated from the date of last blood transfusion. Prodremal stage varied from 1 to 20 days, average 6.1 days, icteric stage 7 to 15 days, average 35.8 days, and convalescent stage 7 to 200 days, average 30.0 days. 3) Characteristic initial symptoms were anorexia, malaise and jaundice by which fairly number of the cases noticed the onset of the disease. Few had febrile course but low grade in most of the cases. 4) Laboratory data were obtained from the 20 cases of serum hepatitis admitted to our First Mebical Division. Serum bilirubin showed the maximum level on the 10 th day, average 13.0 mg% . No significant changes were noted in peripheral blood picture but for a slight initial monocytosis. SGO-T and SGP-T presented a elevation earlier than that of serum bilirubin, maximum on or about the 5 th day and then decreased abruptly. Serum colloidal liver function tests; in initial stage, positive Takata's reaction in 51.%, positive CCF 46% and TTT 58% were noted, but even after 100 th day Takata's reaction was positive in 25% of the cases. 5) Follow-up studies were made on 49 serum hepatitis cases discharged from our hospital with complete recovery. 69% of these had subjective symptems in some sort or another. Enlargement of the liver was noted in 20% of the cases. 33 cases were studied with special reference to liver function tests and liver biopsy. It was revealed that 43% of the cases still had impairment of liver function and that by means of liver biopsy, postnecrotic cirrhosis was found 9.1% of the cases. Therefore, the prognosis of serum hepatitis of this type was considered to be grave. 6) For the purpose of prophylaxis, 300 to 600 mg of gamma globulin was simultaneously administered on blood transfusion in 38 cases. Inspite of this, 4 cases suffered from serum hepatitis later on, and no definite prophylactic effect of gamma globulin was noted