Wnt-4 and Ets-1 signaling pathways for regeneration after acute renal failure

Ischemic acute renal failure (ARF) is the most common form of ARF in the adult population. The molecular mechanisms of tubular regeneration after ischemic renal injury remain largely unknown. An understanding of the mechanisms that lead to renal cell proliferation and regeneration will be necessary for the exploration of novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of ARF. It has been suggested that regeneration processes may recapitulate developmental processes in order to restore organ or tissue function. The adult tubular epithelial cells have a potent ability of regenerate after cellular damage. We examined functional role of two developmental genes, Wnt-4 and Ets-1, in renal tubular regeneration in ARF. The Wnt-β-catenin pathway plays key roles in embryogenesis. Wnt-4 is known to be expressed in the mesonephric duct in the embryonic development. To clarify the significance of the Wnt-4-β-catenin pathway in ARF, we used a rat ARF model in vivo and LLC-PK1 cells as an in vitro model. After clamping left rat renal artery for 1 hour, we examined whole kidney homogenate and total RNA extracted at 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours after reperfusion by Western blot analysis and real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Wnt-4 mRNA and protein expression were strongly increased at 3 to 12 hours and 6 to 24 hours after ischemia, respectively. In immunohistologic examination, Wnt-4 was expressed in the proximal tubules and coexpressed with aquaporin 1 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). Cyclin D1 and cyclin A were expressed at 12 to 48 hours after reperfusion. Furthermore, overexpression of Wnt-4 and β-catenin promoted the cell cycle and increased the promoter activity and protein expression of cyclin D1 and cyclin A in LLC-PK1 cells. These data suggest that the Wnt-4-β-catenin pathway plays a key role in the cell cycle progression of renal tubules in ARF. The Ets family of transcription factors is defined by a conserved DNA-binding Ets domain that forms a winged helix-turn-helix structure motif. The Ets family is involved in a diverse array of biologic functions, including cellular growth, migration, and differentiation. To clarify the significance of Ets-1 in ARF, we used a rat ARF model in vivo and LLC-PK1 cells as an in vitro model. Ets-1 mRNA and protein expression were strongly increased at 3 to 12 hours and 6 to 24 hours after the ischemia, respectively. In the immunohistologic examination, Ets-1 was expressed in the proximal tubules and coexpressed with PCNA. Furthermore, overexpression of Ets-1 promoted the cell cycle and increased the promoter activity and protein expression of cyclin D1 in LLC-PK1 cells. Ets-1 promoter activity increased between 3 hours and 6 hours in hypoxia, and hypoxia also induced changes in the Ets-1 protein level in LLC-PK1 cells. Taken together, these data suggest that Ets-1 plays a key role in the cell cycle progression of renal tubules in ARF. Our data suggest that Wnt-4-β-catenin and Ets-1 pathways regulate the transcription of cyclin D1 and control the regeneration of renal tubules in ARF. These developmental genes may play key roles in dedifferentiation and regeneration of the renal tubular cells after ARF

A System for Generating Musical Score Indicating the Hitting Hand for Drum Performance

On playing drums, it is important to master the correct stroking order. Drummers are required to learn the drum rudiment to play drums efficiently. Generally, musical scores for drums do not have the annotation that indicates which hand drummers use to stroke each drum, left or right. Although drum teachers handwrite such annotation on the musical score, there is not the system that generates the musical score indicating the hitting hand on playing drums automatically. In this research, we proposed the system that generates the musical score that indicates the hitting hand to stroke each drum. The proposed system recognizes the hitting hand on the basis of the data of a gyro sensor that are embedded in the drum sticks and MIDI message from an electronic drum. We constructed the prototype system and evaluated its effectiveness

Identification of microscopic spin-polarization coupling in the ferroelectric phase of a magnetoelectric multiferroic CuFe1-xAlxO2

We have performed synchrotron radiation X-ray and neutron diffraction measurements on magnetoelectric multiferroic CuFe1-xAlxO2 (x=0.0155), which has a proper helical magnetic structure with incommensurate propagation wave vector in the ferroelectric phase. The present measurements revealed that the ferroelectric phase is accompanied by lattice modulation with a wave number 2q, where q is the magnetic modulation wave number. We have calculated the Fourier spectrum of the spatial modulations in the local electric polarization using a microscopic model proposed by Arima [T. Arima, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 76, 073702 (2007)]. Comparing the experimental results with the calculation results, we found that the origin of the 2q-lattice modulation is not conventional magnetostriction but the variation in the metal-ligand hybridization between the magnetic Fe^3+ ions and ligand O^2- ions. Combining the present results with the results of a previous polarized neutron diffraction study [Nakajima et al., Phys. Rev. B 77 052401 (2008)], we conclude that the microscopic origin of the ferroelectricity in CuFe1-xAlxO2 is the variation in the metal-ligand hybridization with spin-orbit coupling.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Cluster Entropy: Active Domain Adaptation in Pathological Image Segmentation

The domain shift in pathological segmentation is an important problem, where a network trained by a source domain (collected at a specific hospital) does not work well in the target domain (from different hospitals) due to the different image features. Due to the problems of class imbalance and different class prior of pathology, typical unsupervised domain adaptation methods do not work well by aligning the distribution of source domain and target domain. In this paper, we propose a cluster entropy for selecting an effective whole slide image (WSI) that is used for semi-supervised domain adaptation. This approach can measure how the image features of the WSI cover the entire distribution of the target domain by calculating the entropy of each cluster and can significantly improve the performance of domain adaptation. Our approach achieved competitive results against the prior arts on datasets collected from two hospitals.Comment: Accepted by IEEE ISBI'2

RBM10 in complete hydatidiform mole: cytoplasmic occurrence of its 50 kDa polypeptide

Background: RNA-binding motif protein 10 (RBM10), originally identified as S1-1 protein, is a nuclear protein with likely functions in transcription and RNA splicing. The RBM10 gene maps to the X chromosome and, in female cells, is inactivated in one of the two X chromosomes near the boundary with genes escaping inactivation. This study investigated the occurrence of the RBM10 gene product in complete hydatidiform mole, which is composed of cells with paternal diploid chromosomes (46, XX).Methods: Deparaffinized normal chorion or complete hydatidiform mole tissues were hybridized with a fluorescein-conjugated RBM10 gene probe in fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis. Immunohistochemistry and immunoelectron microscopy of the tissues were performed using an anti-RBM10 antiserum. Proteins from complete hydatidiform mole tissues and those separated by anti-RBM10-linked affinity chromatography were also examined by western blotting.Results: As expected, the RBM10 gene was detected by FISH as double spots in the nuclei of complete hydatidiform mole cells. Immunohistochemistry revealed a nuclear presence of RBM10 in normal chorion and complete hydatidiform moles, and a notable cytoplasmic presence in complete hydatidiform moles. Western blotting and immunoaffinity chromatography revealed that a 50 kDa protein was predominantly found in the cytosolic fraction of complete hydatidiform moles.Conclusions: A 50 kDa protein with common antigenicity to RBM10 was found in the cytoplasm of complete hydatidiform mole cells, and could represent one of the characteristics of the disease

Unilateral minimal ovarian cancer with peritoneal implant and an intraepithelial carcinoma in the contralateral fallopian tube

Here we present postoperative pathology of an 82-year-old woman who presented with massive ascites, and an implant-like adenocarcinoma on her intrapelvic peritoneum, which revealed a minimal (<5mm) serous adenocarcinoma on her left ovary and an intraepithelial carcinoma on inner surface of her right Fallopian tube.  The left ovarian serous adenocarcinoma may have originated as an intraepithelial carcinoma on contralateral Fallopian tube

Acute intraabdominal hemorrhage from an aneurysm on uterine artery

A 36-year-old woman was underwent emergency laparotomy for acute intraabdominal hemorrhage, but bleeding points were not found. Abdominal pains continued after the laparotomy, and rupture of aneurysm on uterine artery was found in angiography. An transcatheter arterial embolization was done for the uterine artery, and the aneurysm was found to disappear in 4-day-after the angiography. Rupture of an aneurysm on uterine artery should be considered for the causes of acute intraabdominal hemorrhage

Antarctic micrometeorites collected at the Dome Fuji Station

Antarctic micrometeorites (AMMs) were found among the precipitated fine particles recovered from a water tank in the Dome Fuji Station. These AMMs had been contained in the recent fallen snow around the station. Initial processing of the precipitated particles revealed that they were dominated by natural and artificial terrestrial materials, thus a series of processes were developed to separate AMMs from terrestrial particles. The recovery rate of AMMs by the processes was approximately 45% in weight, which was determined from a weight ratio of recovered/accreted AMMs. The micro-morphology and major-element concentration of the recovered AMMs were characterized. They appear to have been heated upon atmospheric entry to varying temperatures and can be classified into two major types based on the degree of heating : (1) fine-grained, irregular-shaped, partial-melted micrometeorites with chondritic composition, and (2) total-melted spherical micrometeorites with chondritic composition except for volatile elements. A digital catalog for the AMMs identified in this study was established on the web site [URL : http : //dust. cc. gakushuin. ac. jp/], in which optical characteristics, high-resolution images, and chemical compositions of individual AMMs are presented. The AMMs listed in the catalog are the first Japanese collection of extraterrestrial dust. The criterion and techniques developed for the selection and initial analysis of AMMs are applicable for the dust samples that are being collected by the 39th Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition team

Comparative Study of Subseafloor Microbial Community Structures in Deeply Buried Coral Fossils and Sediment Matrices from the Challenger Mound in the Porcupine Seabight

Subseafloor sedimentary environments harbor remarkably diverse microbial communities. However, it remains unknown if the deeply buried fossils in these sediments play ecological roles in deep microbial habitats, or whether the microbial communities inhabiting such fossils differ from those in the surrounding sediment matrix. Here we compare the community structures of subseafloor microbes in cold-water coral carbonates (Madrepora oculata and Lophelia pertusa) and the clay matrix. Samples were obtained from the Challenger Mound in the Porcupine Seabight at Site U1317 Hole A during the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 307. DNA was extracted from coral fossils and the surrounding sedimentary matrix at 4, 20, and 105 m below the seafloor. 16S rRNA genes of Bacteria and Archaea were amplified by PCR, and a total of 213,792 16S rRNA gene-tagged sequences were analyzed. At the phylum level, dominant microbial components in both habitats consisted of Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Nitrospirae, Chloroflexi, and Miscellaneous Crenarchaeota Group (MCG) at all three of the depths examined. However, at the genus and/or species level (similarity threshold 97.0%), the community compositions were found to be very different, with 69–75 and 46–57% of bacterial and archaeal phylotypes not overlapping in coral fossils and the clay matrix, respectively. Species richness analysis revealed that bacterial communities were generally more diverse than archaea, and that the diversity scores of coral fossils were lower than those in sediment matrix. However, the evenness of microbial communities was not significantly different in all the samples examined. No eukaryotic DNA sequences, such as 18S rRNA genes, were obtained from the corals. The findings suggested that, even at the same or similar depths, the sedimentological characteristics of a habitat are important factors affecting microbial diversity and community structure in deep subseafloor sedimentary habitats