Characteristics of Lake Biwa from stable isotopic viewpoints

Article信州大学理学部附属諏訪臨湖実験所報告 9: 43-45(1995)departmental bulletin pape

Physiological pathway of differentiation of hematopoietic stem cell population into mural cells

Endothelial cells (ECs), which are a major component of blood vessels, have been reported to develop in adulthood from hematopoietic cell populations, especially those of the monocyte lineage. Here we show that mural cells (MCs), another component of blood vessels, develop physiologically during embryogenesis from a hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) population, based on the in vitro culture of HSCs and histological examination of acute myeloid leukemia 1 mutant embryos, which lack HSCs. As in the embryo, HSCs in adult bone marrow differentiate into CD45+CD11b+ cells before differentiating into MCs. Moreover, CD45+CD11b+ cells are composed of two populations, CD11bhigh and CD11blow cells, both of which can differentiate into MCs as well as ECs. Interestingly, in a murine ischemia model, MCs and ECs derived from the CD11blow population had a long-term potential to contribute to the formation of newly developed blood vessels in vivo compared with the CD11high population, which could not. Moreover, injection of the CD11bhigh population induced leaky blood vessels, but the CD11blow population did not. With respect to the permeability of vessels, we found that angiopoietin 1, which is a ligand for Tie2 receptor tyrosine kinase expressed on ECs and is suggested to induce cell adhesion between ECs and MCs, is produced by the CD11blow population and plays a critical role in the formation of nonleaky vessels. These observations suggested that the CD11low cell population serves as a good source of cells for in vivo blood vessel regeneration

Myanmar migrant laborers in Ranong, Thailand

Thailand is the major destination for migrants in mainland Southeast Asia, and Myanmar (Burmese) migrants account for the dominant share. This paper sheds light on the actual working conditions and the life of Myanmar migrants in Thailand, based on our intensive survey in Ranong in southern Thailand in 2009. We found a wide range of serious problems that Myanmar migrants face in everyday life: very harsh working conditions, low income, heavy indebtedness, risk of being human-trafficking victims, harassment by the police and military (especially of sex workers), high risk of illness including malaria and HIV/AIDS and limited access to affordable medical facilities, and a poor educational environment for their children.Myanmar, Thailand, Migrant labor, Migration, Household

Three-Dimensional Imaging of Lymphatic System in Lymphedema Legs Using Interstitial Computed Tomography-lymphography

As a new trial, we used interstitial computed tomography-lymphography (CT-LG) in 10 patients with lower extremity lymphedema (n=20 limbs) at stage 0, 1, 2, or 3 under the International Society of Lymphology (ISL) classification. In all cases, CT-LG, lymphoscintigraphy, and indocyanine green fluorescence-lymphography (ICG-LG) were performed. In the examination of the ascending level of depicted lymphatic vessels, we measured the diameters of lymphatic vessels detected with CT-LG and conducted an image analysis of dermal backflow of lymph (DB). CT-LG had better resolution than lymphoscintigraphy and enabled the clear visualization of lymphatic vessels with a minimum lumen size of 0.7 mm. CT-LG also showed the three-dimensional architecture of the DB, which originated from deep lymphatic collectors via branched small lymphatic vessels. Our findings are quite valuable not only for detailed examinations of lymphedematous sites and for the lymphedema surgery, but also for investigations of the pathogenesis of lymphedema which has not yet been established. We observed that lymphoscintigraphy could show the lymphatic vessels up to the thigh level in all cases, whereas CT-LG enabled the vessels’ visualization up to the leg level at maximum. In conclusion, CT-LG provided adequate and detailed three-dimensional imaging of the lymphatic system in lymphedema patients