Application of the Time Perspective Test for Depressed Patients

Depressed patients often feel anxiety and have suicidal ideations. Such feelings are closely related to the concept of time perspective. The aims of the present study were to clarify time perspective in depressed patients using the Time Perspective Test （TPT） and to verify the effectiveness of the TPT as an assessment tool. In the present study, depressed patients （n＝15） and healthy volunteers （n＝40） were administered the TPT, and their responses regarding time perspective were compared. Depressed patients had negative present and past time perspectives, and no future time perspective. In addition to poor responses to the TPT, the test revealed dichotomous thinking and poor interpersonal relationships in depressed patients. These findings suggest that the TPT is useful for gaining an understanding of the condition of depressed patients, and is an effective assessment tool that can be used by physicians, nurses, and other health professionals to obtain important information about depressed patients

Combination chemotherapy with anticancer agents and OK-432

Antitumor effects of the combination chemotherapy with hemolytic streptococcus preparation, OK-432, and various anticancer agents were observed on experimental tumors and human cancers. Experimental studies revealed that combined use of OK-432 with Mitomycin C, Nitrogen mustard N-Oxide or Bleomycin was remarkably effective on rodent transplantable tumors such as Ehrlich carcinoma, sarcoma-lOO and rat ascitic hepatoma AH-66. As for the mode of action of OK-432, besides a direct action on cancer cells, a host-mediated action appears to be also involved. Clinical trials were made on 14 cases with various advanced cancers, and favorable response was obtained in 5 with lung cancer. Fever was the major side effect of OK-432 and there was no evidence of bone marrow suppression.</p

Vascular Senescence in Chronic kidney Disease; Association of Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Activated by Indoxyl Sulfate

The impact of chronic kidney disease (CKD) on the occurrence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major concern and this reciprocal relation is currently so called "cardio-renal syndrome". More detailed understanding in its mechanism may have a possibility to reduce the global burden of CVD. Of note, uremic toxins have been known to accumulate in the progression of CKD and play an important role for worsening renal function, on the other hand, recent studies suggest that they also negatively affect cardiovascular system. In this review, we delve into the role of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) in uremic toxicities, as highlighted in our latest work and give a new insight for the mechanism of cardio-renal syndrome

Increase in claudin-2 expression by an EGFR/MEK/ERK/c-Fos pathway in lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells

AbstractIn human adenocarcinoma, claudin-2 expression is higher than that in normal lung tissue, but the regulatory mechanism of its expression has not been clarified. In human adenocarcinoma A549 cells, claudin-2 level time-dependently increased under the control conditions. In contrast, claudin-1 expression remained constant for 24h. The concentration of epidermal growth factor (EGF) in medium time-dependently increased, which was inhibited by matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) inhibitor II, an inhibitor of MMP-1, 3, 7, and 9. MMP inhibitor II decreased claudin-2 and phosphorylated ERK1/2 (p-ERK1/2) levels, which were recovered by EGF. Both claudin-2 and p-ERK1/2 levels were decreased by EGF neutralizing antibody, EGF receptor (EGFR) siRNA, AG1478, an inhibitor of EGFR, U0126, an inhibitor of MEK, and the exogenous expression of dominant negative-MEK. These results suggest that EGF is secreted from A549 cells by MMP and increases claudin-2 expression mediated via the activation of an EGFR/MEK/ERK pathway. The inhibition of the signaling pathway decreased phosphorylated c-Fos and nuclear c-Fos levels. The introduction of c-Fos siRNA decreased claudin-2 level without affecting claudin-1. The promoter activity of human claudin-2 was decreased by AG1478 and U0126. Furthermore, the activity was decreased by the deletion or mutation of the AP-1 binding site of claudin-2 promoter. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and avidin–biotin conjugated DNA assays showed that c-Fos binds to the AP-1 binding site. We suggest that a secreted EGF up-regulates the transcriptional activity of claudin-2 mediated by the activation of an EGFR/MEK/ERK/c-Fos pathway in A549 cells

Enforced Granulocyte/Macrophage Colony-stimulating Factor Signals Do Not Support Lymphopoiesis, but Instruct Lymphoid to Myelomonocytic Lineage Conversion

We evaluated the effects of ectopic granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) signals on hematopoietic commitment and differentiation. Lineage-restricted progenitors purified from mice with the ubiquitous transgenic human GM-CSF receptor (hGM-CSFR) were used for the analysis. In cultures with hGM-CSF alone, hGM-CSFR–expressing (hGM-CSFR+) granulocyte/monocyte progenitors (GMPs) and megakaryocyte/erythrocyte progenitors (MEPs) exclusively gave rise to granulocyte/monocyte (GM) and megakaryocyte/erythroid (MegE) colonies, respectively, providing formal proof that GM-CSF signals support the GM and MegE lineage differentiation without affecting the physiological myeloid fate. hGM-CSFR transgenic mice were crossed with mice deficient in interleukin (IL)-7, an essential cytokine for T and B cell development. Administration of hGM-CSF in these mice could not restore T or B lymphopoiesis, indicating that enforced GM-CSF signals cannot substitute for IL-7 to promote lymphopoiesis. Strikingly, >50% hGM-CSFR+ common lymphoid progenitors (CLPs) and >20% hGM-CSFR+ pro-T cells gave rise to granulocyte, monocyte, and/or myeloid dendritic cells, but not MegE lineage cells in the presence of hGM-CSF. Injection of hGM-CSF into mice transplanted with hGM-CSFR+ CLPs blocked their lymphoid differentiation, but induced development of GM cells in vivo. Thus, hGM-CSF transduces permissive signals for myeloerythroid differentiation, whereas it transmits potent instructive signals for the GM differentiation to CLPs and early T cell progenitors. These data suggest that a majority of CLPs and a fraction of pro-T cells possess plasticity for myelomonocytic differentiation that can be activated by ectopic GM-CSF signals, supporting the hypothesis that the down-regulation of GM-CSFR is a critical event in producing cells with a lymphoid-restricted lineage potential

Control of all the transitions between ground state manifolds of nitrogen vacancy centers in diamonds by applying external magnetic driving fields

We demonstrate control of all the three transitions among the ground state sublevels of NV centers by applying magnetic driving fields. To address the states of a specific NV axis among the four axes, we apply a magnetic field orthogonal to the NV axis. We control two transitions by microwave pulses and the remaining transition by radio frequency (RF) pulses. In particular, we investigate the dependence of Rabi oscillations on the frequency and intensity of the RF pulses. In addition, we perform a π pulse by the RF pulses and measured the coherence time between the ground state sublevels. Our results pave the way for control of NV centers for the realization of quantum information processing and quantum sensing