Pannus tissue at the cartilage-synovium junction in rheumatoid arthritis.

The cartilage-synovium junction of knees afflicted with rheumatoid arthritis was observed light microscopically using formalin-fixed, decalcified and immunohistochemically stained tissues. Decalcification had little or no influence on immunoreactivity for lysozyme and S-100 protein. All the specimens had pannus formation, which was classified into four types: A) cellular pannus with homogeneous cell pattern, B) cellular pannus of inflammatory cells, C) fibrous pannus with many fibrous bundles, D) fibrous pannus including round cells with scattered fibrous bundles. Type A pannus may be responsible for extensive cartilage degradation, and may occur at the first stage of pannus formation. Type B pannus may occur afterwards, and may be followed by type C pannus at a later stage. Type D pannus was found in two out of 19 specimens. Round cells in type D were positive for S-100 protein and lysozyme, and were probably chondrocytes. The findings indicated that chondrocytes were responsible for cartilage degradation and pannus formation.</p

Flocculation of Artemia induced by East Asian common Octopus octopus sinensis paralarvae under culture conditions

Artemia are potential food organisms for the mass culture of common octopus paralarvae but cause poor paralarval growth and mortality. To understand problems arising from Artemia use, we focused on Artemia flocculation in paralarval culture tanks; Artemia get caught up with each other, exhibit disrupted swimming, are deposited on the tank bottom and eventually die. To clarify whether paralarvae induce the flocculation of food organisms or not, we cultured newly hatched Artemia nauplii, 3-day-old metanauplii and decapod crustacean zoeae with or without paralarvae at different growth stages (weight). Flocculation occurred only when Artemia were cultured with paralarvae; metanauplii had a higher susceptibility for flocculation than nauplii. Flocculated Artemia proportion increased with increasing paralarval weight. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that flocculated metanauplii had deformed setules on their setae, with hook-shaped tips and adhesion of neighbouring tips, suggesting that flocculation may occur via a mechanism similar to the ‘hook-and-loop fastener’. As octopus paralarvae exhibit external digestion, digestive enzymes secreted by paralarvae may deform Artemia setules and result in flocculation. As flocculation did not occur when metanauplii were cultured in water in which paralarvae were cultured and then removed, causative enzymes were probably rapidly inactivated after secretion

ACPA-negative RA consists of two genetically distinct subsets based on RF positivity in Japanese.

HLA-DRB1, especially the shared epitope (SE), is strongly associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, recent studies have shown that SE is at most weakly associated with RA without anti-citrullinated peptide/protein antibody (ACPA). We have recently reported that ACPA-negative RA is associated with specific HLA-DRB1 alleles and diplotypes. Here, we attempted to detect genetically different subsets of ACPA-negative RA by classifying ACPA-negative RA patients into two groups based on their positivity for rheumatoid factor (RF). HLA-DRB1 genotyping data for totally 954 ACPA-negative RA patients and 2,008 healthy individuals in two independent sets were used. HLA-DRB1 allele and diplotype frequencies were compared among the ACPA-negative RF-positive RA patients, ACPA-negative RF-negative RA patients, and controls in each set. Combined results were also analyzed. A similar analysis was performed in 685 ACPA-positive RA patients classified according to their RF positivity. As a result, HLA-DRB1*04:05 and *09:01 showed strong associations with ACPA-negative RF-positive RA in the combined analysis (p = 8.8×10(-6) and 0.0011, OR: 1.57 (1.28-1.91) and 1.37 (1.13-1.65), respectively). We also found that HLA-DR14 and the HLA-DR8 homozygote were associated with ACPA-negative RF-negative RA (p = 0.00022 and 0.00013, OR: 1.52 (1.21-1.89) and 3.08 (1.68-5.64), respectively). These association tendencies were found in each set. On the contrary, we could not detect any significant differences between ACPA-positive RA subsets. As a conclusion, ACPA-negative RA includes two genetically distinct subsets according to RF positivity in Japan, which display different associations with HLA-DRB1. ACPA-negative RF-positive RA is strongly associated with HLA-DRB1*04:05 and *09:01. ACPA-negative RF-negative RA is associated with DR14 and the HLA-DR8 homozygote

Development of expert system for lost circulation problems

Lost circulation (LC) is the phenomenon where circulating drilling fluid is lost to fracture or porous in the rock formation rather than returning to the surface. For drilling geothermal well, LC can be serious problem that contributes greatly to the cost of the average geothermal well and completion of the well. We studied ''The research and development of lost circulation techniques in geothermal wells'' to permit systematical lost circulation treatment undertaking committed by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) from 1986 to 1990, whose program consists of detection of LC analysis techniques, plugging materials, and treatment techniques. In this project, the expert system for lost circulation problems, so-called LC expert, was developed to support determination of LC treatment method for drilling engineers. The LC expert suggests drilling engineers to design the optimum LC treatment. We believe these suggestions would reduce uncertainty and mistake in decision process of field personnel. Developed LC expert designs the optimal solutions for LC treatment according to the information obtained from the LC detection tool and its data processing, knowledge base including experiences of drilling experts, properties of each plugging materials, knowledge obtained from simulation test, and knowledge from field test. It was evaluated by drilling experts and actual field tests that the LC expert inferred the LC treatment method quite adequately

A Fundamental Study for Microcellular Poly (ethylene telephtalate) Production Using Supercritical Fluids

Poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET) foam was produced with a batch-wise method using carbon dioxide and nitrogen as physical blowing agents. Saturation pressure and temperature dependence of the foam structure was investigated. Solubility of the gases in PET and crystallinity of the PET induced by gas sorption were also investigated. PET foamed with CO2 at 323K and pressures higher than 10MPa had very fine cell structure (cell number density of 1012cm-3 and average cell diameter of 0.4μm). On the other hand, pressure dependence of the cell structure foamed with N2 was similar to results of amorphous polystyrene foam, whose cell structure became fine with increasing pressure. Volumetric expansivity of the PET+CO2 system rapidly decreased with increasing pressure, whereas that of the PET+N2 system gradually increased with increasing pressure. Cell structure foamed with CO2 became coarse with increasing saturation temperature. In the case of N2, saturation temperature dependence of cell structure was not observed at higher than 400K regardless of the solubility increase. These results suggested that cell structure and volumetric expansivity related not only to crystallinity but also to crystalline structure

A large-scale association study identified multiple HLA-DRB1 alleles associated with ACPA-negative rheumatoid arthritis in Japanese subjects.

[Background] HLA-DRB1 is associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, it has recently been suggested that HLA-DRB1 is only associated with patients with RA who have anticitrullinated peptide/protein antibodies (ACPA), which are specific to RA. [Objective] To elucidate whether specific HLA-DR alleles are associated with ACPA-negative RA development. [Methods] HLA-DRB1 typing was carried out in 368 Japanese ACPA-negative patients with RA and 1508 healthy volunteers as the first set, followed by HLA-DRB1 typing of 501 cases and 500 controls as the second set. The HLA-DRB1 allele frequency and diplotype frequency were compared in each group, and the results of the two studies were combined to detect HLA-DRB1 alleles or diplotypes associated with ACPA-negative RA. [Results] HLA-DRB1*12:01 was identified as a novel susceptibility allele for ACPA-negative RA (p=0.000088, OR=1.72, 95% CI 1.31 to 2.26). HLA-DRB1*04:05 and *14:03 showed moderate associations with ACPA-negative RA (p=0.0063, OR=1.26, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.49 and p=0.0043, OR=1.81, 95% CI 1.20 to 2.73, respectively). The shared epitope was weakly associated with ACPA-negative RA, but no dosage effect was detected (p=0.016, OR=1.17, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.34). A combination of HLA-DRB1*12:01 and DRB1*09:01 showed a strong association with susceptibility to ACPA-negative RA (p=0.00013, OR=3.62, 95% CI 1.79 to 7.30). Homozygosity for HLA-DR8 was significantly associated with ACPA-negative RA (p=0.0070, OR=2.16, 95% CI 1.22 to 3.82). It was also found that HLA-DRB1*15:02 and *13:02 were protective against ACPA-negative RA (p=0.00010, OR=0.68, 95% CI 0.56 to 0.83 and p=0.00059, OR=0.66, 95% CI 0.52 to 0.84, respectively). [Conclusions] In this large-scale association study multiple alleles and diplotypes were found to be associated with susceptibility to, or protection against, ACPA-negative RA