Anti-malarial activity of leaf-extract of hydrangea macrophylla, a common Japanese plant.

To find a new anti-malarial medicine derived from natural resources, we examined the leaves of 13 common Japanese plants in vitro. Among them, a leaf-extract of Hydrangea macrophylla, a common Japanese flower, inhibited the parasitic growth of Plasmodium falciparum. The IC50 of Hydrangea macrophylla leaf extract to Plasmodium falciparum was 0.18 microg/ml. The IC50 to NIH 3T3-3 cells, from a normal mouse cell line, was 7.2 microg/ml. Thus, selective toxicity was 40. For the in vivo test, we inoculated Plasmodium berghei, a rodent malaria parasite, to ddY mice and administered the leaf-extract of Hydrangea macrophylla (3.6 mg/0.2 ml) orally 3 times a day for 3 days. Malaria parasites did not appear in the blood of in the treated mice, but they did appear in the control group on day 3 or 4 after inoculation with the parasites. When leaf extract was administered to 5 mice 2 times a day for 3 days, malaria parasites did not appear in 4 of the mice but did appear in 1 mouse. In addition, the leaf-extract was administered orally 3 times a day for 3 days to Plasmodium berghei infected mice with a parasitemia of 2.7%. In the latter group, malaria parasites disappeared on day 3 after initiating the treatment, but they appeared again after day 5 or 6. Although we could not cure the mice entirely, we confirmed that the Hydrangea macrophylla leaf extract did contain an anti-malarial substance that can be administered orally.</p

Different Nutrient Availabilities of Surface and Bottom Water under Nutrient-depleted Conditions during Bloom Formation of the Toxic Dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamarense in Osaka Bay, Japan

Alexandriium tamarense is a toxic dinoflagellate known to produce neurotoxins cause paralytic shellfish poisoning to human and marine animals. To understand the growth dynamics of A.tamarense, the seasonal changes in A,tamarense vegetative cells and environmental factors were evaluated using monthly field observations at two fixed stations in Osaka Bay, Japan, from January to May 2008. Additionally, a bioassay with axenic A.tamarense clonal cultures was performed to determine the growth potentials and growth-limiting nutrients of seawater samples collected during the field observations. The density of A.tamarense increased from February to April, and depletions of dissolved phosphate and silicate were observed in the surface layer during this period. The bioassay showed that phosphorous limitation occurred at the surface water of one station during March and April, while nitrogen limitation occurred in the bottom water. Moreover, at the other station, the growth potentials of the bottom water were higher than those of the surface water during February and April. Thus, the differences of nutrient availabilities between surface and bottom water during spring in Osaka Bay potentially allow A.tamarense to grow with nutrients uptake from bottom water by vertical migration

Assessment of endovascular coil configuration for embolization of intracranial aneurysms using computational fluid dynamics

Endovascular coil embolization of arterial aneurysms is often complicated by reduced blood flow to branching arteries. To determine the optimal coil configuration for safe embolization of endovascular aneurysms without compromising blood flow in branching arteries. A 3-dimensional voxel model, built based on an unruptured vertebral artery–posterior inferior cerebellar artery (VA–PICA) aneurysm, predicted to show impairment of flow in the PICA during endovascular coil embolization (Case 0). Six different models of final coil configuration were generated and applied to this aneurysm. Case 1 was a round coil mass. Case 2 was designed with a stent assist. Cases 3, and 4 were designed with a neck remnant and Cases 5 and 6 incorporated a balloon neck remodeling technique. Computational fluid dynamics was used to analyze the flow in the PICA in each model. The average outflow to the PICA was highest in Case 0 and lowest in Case 2 (in descending order, Case 0, 5, 4, 6, 1, 3, and 2). There was better preservation of outflow to the PICA in the balloon neck remodeling models than in the neck remnant models. In a model of endovascular coil embolization, we found considerable differences in outflow to the branching artery with small changes in coil configuration. Careful preoperative planning is important to minimize the risk of thromboembolic events during and after endovascular coil embolization

Two-Dimensional Index of Departure from the Symmetry Model for Square Contingency Tables with Nominal Categories

In the analysis of two-way contingency tables, the degree of departure from independence is measured using measures of association between row and column variables (e.g., Yule’s coefficients of association and of colligation, Cramér’s coefficient, and Goodman and Kruskal’s coefficient). On the other hand, in the analysis of square contingency tables with the same row and column classifications, we are interested in measuring the degree of departure from symmetry rather than independence. Over past years, many studies have proposed various types of indexes based on their power divergence (or diversity index) to represent the degree of departure from symmetry. This study proposes a two-dimensional index to measure the degree of departure from symmetry in terms of the log odds of each symmetric cell with respect to the main diagonal of the table. By measuring the degree of departure from symmetry in terms of the log odds of each symmetric cell, the analysis results are easier to interpret than existing indexes. Numerical experiments show the utility of the proposed two-dimensional index. We show the usefulness of the proposed two-dimensional index by using real data

Two-Dimensional Index of Departure from the Symmetry Model for Square Contingency Tables with Nominal Categories

In the analysis of two-way contingency tables, the degree of departure from independence is measured using measures of association between row and column variables (e.g., Yule’s coefficients of association and of colligation, Cramér’s coefficient, and Goodman and Kruskal’s coefficient). On the other hand, in the analysis of square contingency tables with the same row and column classifications, we are interested in measuring the degree of departure from symmetry rather than independence. Over past years, many studies have proposed various types of indexes based on their power divergence (or diversity index) to represent the degree of departure from symmetry. This study proposes a two-dimensional index to measure the degree of departure from symmetry in terms of the log odds of each symmetric cell with respect to the main diagonal of the table. By measuring the degree of departure from symmetry in terms of the log odds of each symmetric cell, the analysis results are easier to interpret than existing indexes. Numerical experiments show the utility of the proposed two-dimensional index. We show the usefulness of the proposed two-dimensional index by using real data

Acute Liver Failure and Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure in COVID-19 Era

Acute liver failure (ALF) and acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF), respectively, occur in patients with normal liver and patients with chronic liver diseases, including cirrhosis [...

Risk of aneurysmal rupture: the importance of neck orifice positioning-assessment using computational flow simulation

The aim of the present study was to clarify the risk of rupture in terminal-type intracranial aneurysms using computational flow simulation analysis. First, idealized three-dimensional aneurysmal models were built from a solid voxel on the computer. We focused on round terminal-type aneurysms with the positioning of the neck orifice set according to the following three patterns in relationship to the axis of the parent artery: the Type-A neck orifice was positioned directly in line with the flow of the parent artery; the Type-B neck orifice was shifted 1.5 mm offline toward the unilateral branch; and the Type-C neck orifice was shifted 3 mm offline. Computational flow simulations were applied with Fujitsu alpha-Flow software (Fujitusu, Tokyo, Japan). We analyzed flow patterns using modified patient-specific models. We also investigated actual clinical situations to evaluate the differences in neck-orifice positioning between 20 ruptured aneurysms and 26 unruptured ones using three-dimensional angiograms. The Type-A neck orifice showed completely symmetrical stream lines in the aneurysm, whereas the Type-C orifice showed a clear round circulation. The Type-B neck orifice, on the other hand, exhibited intra-aneurysmal flow separation. The clinical research demonstrated that Type-B aneurysms were more likely to be found in the ruptured group (P < 0.05). Flow separation, recognized as one of the causes of intimal injury, could be observed only in Type-B aneurysms, a result that corresponded well with our clinical experience. From the flow-dynamics point of view, this positioning of the neck orifice may be one of the risk factors most likely to induce the rupture of unruptured aneurysms