A Prospective Comparison of EUS-Guided FNA Using 25-Gauge and 22-Gauge Needles

Background and Aims. There are limited data on the differences in diagnostic yield between 25-gauge and 22-gauge EUS-FNA needles. This prospective study compared the difference in diagnostic yield between a 22-gauge and a 25-gauge needle when performing EUS-FNA. Methods. Forty-three patients with intraluminal or extraluminal mass lesions and/or lymphadenopathy were enrolled prospectively. EUS-FNA was performed for each mass lesion using both 25- and 22-gauge needles. The differences in accuracy rate, scoring of needle visibility, ease of puncture and quantity of obtained specimen were evaluated. Results. The overall accuracy of 22- and 25-gauge needle was similar at 81% and 76% respectively (N.S). Likewise the visibility scores of both needles were also similar. Overall the quantity of specimen obtained higher with the 22-gauge needle (score: 1.64 vs. P < .001). However the 25-gauge needle was significantly superior to the 22-gauge needle in terms of ease of puncture (score: 1.9 vs. 1.29, P < .001) and in the quantity of specimen in the context of pancreatic mass EUS-FNA (score: 1.8 vs. 1.58, P < .05). Conclusion. The 22-gauge and 25-gauge needles have similar overall diagnostic yield. The 25-gauge needle appeared superior in the subset of patients with hard lesions and pancreatic masses

Evolutionary inactivation of a sialidase in group B Streptococcus

Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a leading cause of bacterial sepsis and meningitis in newborns. GBS possesses a protein with homology to the pneumococcal virulence factor, NanA, which has neuraminidase (sialidase) activity and promotes blood-brain barrier penetration. However, phylogenetic sequence and enzymatic analyses indicate the GBS NanA ortholog has lost sialidase function – and for this distinction we designate the gene and encoded protein nonA/NonA. Here we analyze NonA function in GBS pathogenesis, and through heterologous expression of active pneumococcal NanA in GBS, potential costs of maintaining sialidase function. GBS wild-type and ΔnonA strains lack sialidase activity, but forced expression of pneumococcal NanA in GBS induced degradation of the terminal sialic acid on its exopolysaccharide capsule. Deletion of nonA did not change GBS-whole blood survival or brain microvascular cell invasion. However, forced expression of pneumococcal NanA in GBS removed terminal sialic acid residues from the bacterial capsule, restricting bacterial proliferation in human blood and in vivo upon mouse infection. GBS expressing pneumococcal NanA had increased invasion of human brain microvascular endothelial cells. Thus, we hypothesize that nonA lost enzyme activity allowing the preservation of an effective survival factor, the sialylated exopolysaccharide capsule

Coincidence analysis to search for inspiraling compact binaries using TAMA300 and LISM data

Japanese laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors, TAMA300 and LISM, performed a coincident observation during 2001. We perform a coincidence analysis to search for inspiraling compact binaries. The length of data used for the coincidence analysis is 275 hours when both TAMA300 and LISM detectors are operated simultaneously. TAMA300 and LISM data are analyzed by matched filtering, and candidates for gravitational wave events are obtained. If there is a true gravitational wave signal, it should appear in both data of detectors with consistent waveforms characterized by masses of stars, amplitude of the signal, the coalescence time and so on. We introduce a set of coincidence conditions of the parameters, and search for coincident events. This procedure reduces the number of fake events considerably, by a factor $\sim 10^{-4}$ compared with the number of fake events in single detector analysis. We find that the number of events after imposing the coincidence conditions is consistent with the number of accidental coincidences produced purely by noise. We thus find no evidence of gravitational wave signals. We obtain an upper limit of 0.046 /hours (CL $= 90$) to the Galactic event rate within 1kpc from the Earth. The method used in this paper can be applied straightforwardly to the case of coincidence observations with more than two detectors with arbitrary arm directions.Comment: 28 pages, 17 figures, Replaced with the version to be published in Physical Review

Results of the search for inspiraling compact star binaries from TAMA300's observation in 2000-2004

We analyze the data of TAMA300 detector to search for gravitational waves from inspiraling compact star binaries with masses of the component stars in the range 1-3Msolar. In this analysis, 2705 hours of data, taken during the years 2000-2004, are used for the event search. We combine the results of different observation runs, and obtained a single upper limit on the rate of the coalescence of compact binaries in our Galaxy of 20 per year at a 90% confidence level. In this upper limit, the effect of various systematic errors such like the uncertainty of the background estimation and the calibration of the detector's sensitivity are included.Comment: 8 pages, 4 Postscript figures, uses revtex4.sty The author list was correcte

Observation results by the TAMA300 detector on gravitational wave bursts from stellar-core collapses

We present data-analysis schemes and results of observations with the TAMA300 gravitational-wave detector, targeting burst signals from stellar-core collapse events. In analyses for burst gravitational waves, the detection and fake-reduction schemes are different from well-investigated ones for a chirp-wave analysis, because precise waveform templates are not available. We used an excess-power filter for the extraction of gravitational-wave candidates, and developed two methods for the reduction of fake events caused by non-stationary noises of the detector. These analysis schemes were applied to real data from the TAMA300 interferometric gravitational wave detector. As a result, fake events were reduced by a factor of about 1000 in the best cases. The resultant event candidates were interpreted from an astronomical viewpoint. We set an upper limit of 2.2x10^3 events/sec on the burst gravitational-wave event rate in our Galaxy with a confidence level of 90%. This work sets a milestone and prospects on the search for burst gravitational waves, by establishing an analysis scheme for the observation data from an interferometric gravitational wave detector

Stable Operation of a 300-m Laser Interferometer with Sufficient Sensitivity to Detect Gravitational-Wave Events within our Galaxy

TAMA300, an interferometric gravitational-wave detector with 300-m baseline length, has been developed and operated with sufficient sensitivity to detect gravitational-wave events within our galaxy and sufficient stability for observations; the interferometer was operated for over 10 hours stably and continuously. With a strain-equivalent noise level of $h\sim 5 \times 10^{-21} /\sqrt{\rm Hz}$, a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 30 is expected for gravitational waves generated by a coalescence of 1.4 $M_\odot$-1.4 $M_\odot$ binary neutron stars at 10 kpc distance. %In addition, almost all noise sources which limit the sensitivity and which %disturb the stable operation have been identified. We evaluated the stability of the detector sensitivity with a 2-week data-taking run, collecting 160 hours of data to be analyzed in the search for gravitational waves.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

A fertility-restoring genotype of beet (Beta vulgaris L.) is composed of a weak restorer-of-fertility gene and a modifier gene tightly linked to the Rf1 locus

Abstract: Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is a plant trait that involves interactions between nuclear- and mitochondrial genomes. In CMS, the nuclear restorer-of-fertility gene (Rf), a suppressor of male-sterility inducing mitochondria, is one of the best known genetic factors. Other unidentified genetic factors may exist but have not been well characterized. In sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.), CMS is used for hybrid seed production, but few male-sterility inducing nuclear genotypes exist. Such genotypes could be introduced from a closely related plant such as leaf beet, but first the fertility restoring genotype of the related plant must be characterized. Here, we report the discovery of a Japanese leaf beet accession ‘Fukkoku-ouba’ that has both male-sterility inducing and fertility restoring genotypes. We crossed the leaf beet accession with a sugar beet CMS line, developed succeeding generations, and examined the segregation of two DNA markers that are linked to two sugar beet Rfs, Rf1 and Rf2. Only the Rf2 marker co-segregated with fertility restoration in every generation, implying that the Rf1 locus in leaf beet is occupied by a non-restoring allele. Fertility restoration was incomplete without a genetic factor closely linked to Rf1, leading to the assumption that the Rf1 locus encodes a modifier that cannot restore fertility by itself but perhaps strengthens another Rf. We sequenced the apparently non-restoring ‘Fukkoku-ouba’ rf1 gene-coding region and found that it closely resembles a restoring allele. The protein product demonstrated its potential to suppress CMS in transgenic suspension cells. In contrast, ‘Fukkoku-ouba’ rf1 transcript abundance was highly reduced compared to that of the restoring Rf1. Consistently, changes in protein complexes containing CMS-associated mitochondrial protein in anthers were very minor. Accordingly, we concluded that ‘Fukkoku-ouba’ rf1 is a hypomorph that acts as a non-restoring allele but has the potential to support another Rf, i.e. it is a modifier candidate

Contribution of Streptococcus pyogenes M87 protein to innate immune resistance and virulence.

Streptococcus pyogenes is a pre-eminent human pathogen, and classified by the hypervariable sequence of the emm gene encoding the cell surface M protein. Among a diversity of M/emm types, the prevalence of the M/emm87 strain has been steadily increasing in invasive S. pyogenes infections. Although M protein is the major virulence factor for globally disseminated M/emm1 strain, it is unclear if or how the corresponding M protein of M/emm87 strain (M87 protein) functions as a virulence factor. Here, we use targeted mutagenesis to show that the M87 protein contributes to bacterial resistance to neutrophil and whole blood killing and promotes the release of mature IL-1β from macrophages. While deletion of emm87 did not influence epithelial cell adherence and nasal colonization, it significantly reduced S. pyogenes-induced mortality and bacterial loads in a murine systemic infection model. Our data suggest that emm87 is involved in pathogenesis by modulating the interaction between S. pyogenes and innate immune cells

Comparison of the genomic organization between ‘Fukkoku-ouba’ <i>rf1</i> and NK-198 <i>Rf1</i>.

<p>‘Fukkoku-ouba’ has a single copy of an <i>orf20</i>-like gene whereas homologs are clustered in NK-198. Boxes indicate genes (introns are not shown). Brackets denote the most similar regions. A single nucleotide substitution in exon 2 of <i>orf20</i>_{<i>fukkoku</i>} is shown by a lollipop. The scale bar is shown below. The NK-198 <i>Rf1</i> sequences correspond to DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank accession numbers AB646135 and AB646133.</p