Intra-articular osteoid osteoma of the calcaneus: a case report and review

AbstractOsteoid osteoma of the calcaneus is rare and frequently misdiagnosed as arthritis because of similar symptoms. In addition, radiographic findings may be nonspecific, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may show a bone marrow edema and changes in adjacent soft tissue. A 19-year-old man presented with a 6-month history of persistent pain and swelling in the left hind foot; diagnostic computed tomography and MRI analyses revealed lesions suggesting an intra-articular osteoid osteoma of the calcaneus. Initial MRI did not show specific findings. On operation, the tumor was removed by curettage; pathologic findings demonstrated woven bone trabeculae surrounded by connective tissue, confirming the diagnosis. To the best of our knowledge, MRI scans in all cases of calcaneal osteoid osteoma reported till 3 months after the injury exhibited a nidus. We believe that calcaneal osteoid osteoma should be considered as a differential diagnosis in patients undergoing MRI 3 months after symptom presentation; early computed tomography is critical in diagnosis

Intra-articular osteoid osteoma of the calcaneus: A case report and review

Osteoid osteoma of the calcaneus is rare and frequently misdiagnosed as arthritis because of similar symptoms. In addition, radiographic findings may be nonspecific, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may show a bone marrow edema and changes in adjacent soft tissue. A 19-year-old man presented with a 6-month history of persistent pain and swelling in the left hind foot; diagnostic computed tomography and MRI analyses revealed lesions suggesting an intra-articular osteoid osteoma of the calcaneus. Initial MRI did not show specific findings. On operation, the tumor was removed by curettage; pathologic findings demonstrated woven bone trabeculae surrounded by connective tissue, confirming the diagnosis. To the best of our knowledge, MRI scans in all cases of calcaneal osteoid osteoma reported till 3 months after the injury exhibited a nidus. We believe that calcaneal osteoid osteoma should be considered as a differential diagnosis in patients undergoing MRI 3 months after symptom presentation; early computed tomography is critical in diagnosis. © 2016 The Authors.Embargo Period 12 month

Serum Apolipoprotein M Levels are Correlated with Biomarkers of Coagulation

Background:Apolipoprotein M (ApoM) is bound to high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in plasma, and HDL has anticoagulation effects. However, the association between ApoM and biomarkers of coagulation was unclear. Therefore, we investigated relationships between ApoM and biomarkers of coagulation. Methods: Serum samples from 233 Japanese participants including with diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia, or healthy controls were analyzed. Serum ApoM levels were measured using Enzyme-Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay(ELISA). Results:Analysis of all 233 participants showed that ApoM levels were positively correlated with age (r＝0.284, p＜0.001), total cholesterol (TC;r＝0.477, p＜0.001), HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C;r＝0.234, p＜0.001) and lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C;r＝0.331, p＜0.001). Higher ApoM levels were correlated with shorter activated partial thromboplastin time(APTT;r＝－0.226,p＝0.001) and prothrombin time(PT,％;r＝0.326,p＜ 0.001). Separate analysis of the 115 healthy controls showed that ApoM levels were positively correlated with age, TC, HDL-C and LDL-C, and higher ApoM levels were correlated with shorter PT. Conclusion:Serum levels of ApoM may influence biomarkers of coagulation

Association between interstitial lung abnormality and mortality in patients with esophageal cancer

The version of record of this article, first published in Japanese Journal of Radiology, is available online at Publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-024-01563-x.Purpose: To investigate the relationship between interstitial lung abnormalities (ILAs) and mortality in patients with esophageal cancer and the cause of mortality. Materials and methods: This retrospective study investigated patients with esophageal cancer from January 2011 to December 2015. ILAs were visually scored on baseline CT using a 3-point scale (0 = non-ILA, 1 = indeterminate for ILA, and 2 = ILA). ILAs were classified into subcategories of non-subpleural, subpleural non-fibrotic, and subpleural fibrotic. Five-year overall survival (OS) was compared between patients with and without ILAs using the multivariable Cox proportional hazards model. Subgroup analyses were performed based on cancer stage and ILA subcategories. The prevalences of treatment complications and death due to esophageal cancer and pneumonia/respiratory failure were analyzed using Fisher’s exact test. Results: A total of 478 patients with esophageal cancer (age, 66.8 years ± 8.6 [standard deviation]; 64 women) were evaluated in this study. Among them, 267 patients showed no ILAs, 125 patients were indeterminate for ILAs, and 86 patients showed ILAs. ILAs were a significant factor for shorter OS (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.68, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.10–2.55, P = 0.016) in the multivariable Cox proportional hazards model adjusting for age, sex, smoking history, clinical stage, and histology. On subgroup analysis using patients with clinical stage IVB, the presence of ILAs was a significant factor (HR = 3.78, 95% CI 1.67–8.54, P = 0.001). Subpleural fibrotic ILAs were significantly associated with shorter OS (HR = 2.22, 95% CI 1.25–3.93, P = 0.006). There was no significant difference in treatment complications. Patients with ILAs showed a higher prevalence of death due to pneumonia/respiratory failure than those without ILAs (non-ILA, 2/95 [2%]; ILA, 5/39 [13%]; P = 0.022). The prevalence of death due to esophageal cancer was similar in patients with and without ILA (non-ILA, 82/95 [86%]; ILA 32/39 [82%]; P = 0.596). Conclusion: ILAs were significantly associated with shorter survival in patients with esophageal cancer

Validation studies of gyrokinetic ITG and TEM turbulence simulations in a JT-60U tokamak using multiple flux matching

Quantitative validation studies of flux-tube gyrokinetic Vlasov simulations on ion and electronheat transport are carried out for the JT-60U tokamak experiment. The ion temperaturegradient (ITG) and/or trapped electron modes (TEM) driven turbulent transport and zonalflow generations are investigated for an L-mode plasma in the local turbulence limit with asufficiently small normalized ion thermal gyroradius and weak mean radial electric fields.Nonlinear turbulence simulations by the GKV code successfully reproduce radial profilesof the ion and electron energy fluxes in the core region. The numerical results show that theTEM-driven zonal flow generation in the outer region is more significant than that in the coreregion with ITG- and ITG–TEM-dominated turbulence, leading to moderate transport shortfallof the ion energy flux. Error levels in the prediction of the ion and electron temperaturegradient profiles in the core region are estimated as less than ±30%, based on a multiple fluxmatching technique, where the simulated ion and electron energy fluxes are simultaneouslymatched to the experimental values

紫外線発光ダイオード照射は宿主細胞内でのウイルスRNAの複製と転写を抑制することでA型インフルエンザウイルスを不活化する

Influenza A viruses (IAVs) pose a serious global threat to humans and their livestock, especially poultry and pigs. This study aimed to investigate how to inactivate IAVs by using different ultraviolet-light-emitting diodes (UV-LEDs). We developed sterilization equipment with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) those peak wavelengths were 365 nm (UVA-LED), 310 nm (UVB-LED), and 280 nm (UVC-LED). These UV-LED irradiations decreased dose fluence-dependent plaque-forming units of IAV H1N1 subtype (A/Puerto Rico/8/1934) infected Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells, but the inactivation efficiency of UVA-LED was significantly lower than UVB- and UVC-LED. UV-LED irradiations did not alter hemagglutination titer, but decreased accumulation of intracellular total viral RNA in infected MDCK cells was observed. Additionally, UV-LED irradiations suppressed the accumulation of intracellular mRNA (messenger RNA), vRNA (viral RNA), and cRNA (complementary RNA), as measured by strand-specific RT-PCR. These results suggest that UV-LEDs inhibit host cell replication and transcription of viral RNA. Both UVB- and UVC-LED irradiation decreased focus-forming unit (FFU) of H5N1 subtype (A/Crow/Kyoto/53/2004), a highly pathogenic avian IAV (HPAI), in infected MDCK cells, and the amount of FFU were lower than the H1N1 subtype. From these results, it appears that IAVs may have different sensitivity among the subtypes, and UVB- and UVC-LED may be suitable for HPAI virus inactivation

Establishment of Novel High-Standard Chemiluminescent Assay for NTPase in Two Protozoans and Its High-Throughput Screening

Toxoplasma gondii is a major protozoan parasite and infects human and many other warm-blooded animals. The infection leads to Toxoplasmosis, a serious issue in AIDS patients, organ transplant recipients and pregnant women. Neospora caninum, another type of protozoa, is closely related to Toxoplasma gondii. Infections of the protozoa in animals also causes serious diseases such as Encephalomyelitis and Myositis-Polyradiculitis in dogs or abortion in cows. Both Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum have similar nucleoside triphosphate hydrolases (NTPase), NcNTPase and TgNTPase-I in Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii, respectively. These possibly play important roles in propagation and survival. Thus, we targeted the enzymes for drug discovery and tried to establish a novel high-standard assay by a combination of original biochemical enzyme assay and fluorescent assay to determine ADP content. We then validated whether or not it can be applied to high-throughput screening (HTS). Then, it fulfilled criterion to carry out HTS in both of the enzymes. In order to identify small molecules having inhibitory effects on the protozoan enzyme, we also performed HTS using two synthetic compound libraries and an extract library derived from marine bacteria and then, identified 19 compounds and 6 extracts. Nagasaki University collected many extracts from over 18,000 marine bacteria found in local Omura bay, and continues to compile an extensive collection of synthetic compounds from numerous drug libraries established by Japanese chemists

Novel Reporter System Monitoring IL-18 Specific Signaling Can Be Applied to High-Throughput Screening

Very recently, the immunotherapies against cancer, autoimmune diseases, and infection have been feasible and promising. Thus, we have examined the possibility whether or not human gamma delta T cells can be applied for the novel immunotherapies. We previously established the cells stably maintaining NFkB-driven human secreted embryonic alkaline phosphatase (SEAP) expression. The cells can be used to determine the transcription activity of NFkB with high-standard dynamic range and accuracy. Because IL-18 is a kind of cytokines that enhances cytotoxicity and activity of human gamma delta T cells through NFkB activation, we have focused on the activity and signaling of IL-18. In this study, we modified the previous reporter cell that can determine the transcription activity of NFkB to express two subunits consisted of human IL-18 receptor. The modified cells secreted SEAP in response to treatment with human recombinant IL-18 in a concentration-dependent manner. We also observed the concentration-dependently enhancement of NFkB activity in the cells treated with mouse recombinant IL-18 although the affinity was lower compared to human recombinant IL-18. We also previously established the cells stably expressing and secreting human recombinant IL-18 and then validated whether or not the conditioned medium from the cells activate NFkB transcription activity using this assay. Our university has kept collecting many extracts from over 18,000 marine bacteria in our local sea around Omura bay-fungi, plants for Chinese herbal medicine, and so on-and also have kept gathering synthetic compounds from many Japanese chemists as drug libraries. Finally, in order to identify drugs mimicking IL-18 biological activity or possessing inhibitory effects on IL-18-induced NFkB, we demonstrated drug screening using number of extracts derived from marine bacteria and synthetic compounds