A case of eosinophilic fasciitis and generalized morphea overlap

A 60-year old man developed skin hardening and edema on his extremities. Although he had been treated with oral prednisolone at another hospital, skin stiffness relapsed during tapering of prednisolone. At the initial visit to our department, physical examination showed skin hardening of the extremities and also symmetric erythematous macules on the back. Histological examination revealed fasciitis on the forearm and morphea on the back. Eosinophilic fasciitis is occasionally associated with morphea. However, cases of concurrent eosinophilic fasciitis and generalized morphea are rare. In the present case, CD34 was differentially expressed in both lesions, suggesting eosinophilic fasciitis and morphea are separate diseases with different origin of mesenchymal cells

Statistical Modeling of Ultrawideband Body-Centric Wireless Channels Considering Room Volume

This paper presents the results of a statistical modeling of onbody ultrawideband (UWB) radio channels for wireless body area network (WBAN) applications. Measurements were conducted in five different rooms. A measured delay profile can be divided into two domains; in the first domain (04 ns) has multipath components that are dominant and dependent on room volume. The first domain was modeled with a conventional power decay law model, and the second domain with a modified Saleh-Valenzuela model considering the room volume. Realizations of the impulse responses are presented based on the composite model and compared with the measured average power delay profiles

大学図書館・研究図書館

http://www.sfjbd.sakura.ne.jp/03_main/sub/40_kinen_tosho_index.htmフランス大学組織の特殊性から、大学総合図書館と大小さまざまな専門図書館が共存してきた現象を振り返り、大学の図書館の今後を展望する

A cross-metathesis approach to the stereocontrolled synthesis of the AB ring segment of ciguatoxin

Synthesis of the AB ring segments of ciguatoxin is described. The present synthesis includes a Lewis acid mediated cyclization of allylstannane with aldehyde, cross-metathesis reaction introducing the side chain, and Grieco-Nishizawa dehydration on the A ring.</p

The meninges is a source of retinoic acid for the late-developing hindbrain

One general function for retinoic acid (RA) is pattern organization in the CNS. This regulatory factor has an essential role in spinal cord motor neuron and early posterior hindbrain development. In the anterior CNS, however, there is only a limited number of foci of RA synthesis, and less attention has been placed on regions such as the anterior hindbrain where RA synthesizing enzymes are absent. This study shows that a rich source of RA lies around the hindbrain from the RA synthetic enzyme retinaldehyde dehydrogenase-2 (RALDH2) present in the surrounding meninges and mesenchyme by embryonic day 13. RALDH2 is not distributed uniformly throughout the meninges but is restricted to territories over the developing hindbrain, suggesting that RA signaling may be localized to those regions. Further regulation of RA signaling is provided by the presence of a RA sink in the form of the CYP26B1 RA catabolic enzyme expressed in deeper regions of the brain. As a guide to the neural anatomy of hindbrain RA signaling, we used a mouse transgenic for a lacZ reporter gene driven by a RA response element (RAREhsplacZ) to identify regions of RA signaling. This reporter mouse provides evidence that RA signaling in the hindbrain after embryonic day 13 occurs in the regions of the cerebellum and precerebellar system adjacent to sources of RA, including the inferior olive and the pontine nuclei

Comparison of the Choice Effect and the Distance Effect in a Number-Comparison Task by fMRI

Behavioral and neurophysiological studies of numerical comparisons have shown a “distance effect,” whereby smaller numerical distances between two digits are associated with longer response times and higher activity in the parietal region. In this experiment, we introduced a two-choice condition (between either the smaller/lower or the larger/higher of two digits) and examined its effect on brain activity by fMRI. We observed longer response times and greater activity with the choice of smaller numbers (“choice effect”) in several brain regions including the right temporo–parietal region, (pre)cuneus, superior temporal sulcus, precentral gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, bilateral insula, and anterior cingulate cortex. These regions correspond to areas that have been suggested to play a role in attentional shift and response conflict. However, brain activity associated with the distance effect disappeared even though the behavioral distance effect remained. Despite the absence of the distance effect on brain activity, several areas changed activity in relation to response time, including regions that were reported to change activity in both a distance effect and a reaction-time-related manner. The result suggested that the level of task load may change the activity of regions that are responsible for magnitude detection

Effect of composition and stereoregularity on phase-transition behavior of aqueous N-ethylacrylamide/N-n-propylacrylamide copolymer solutions

Radical copolymerizations of N-ethylacrylamide and N-n-propylacrylamide (NNPAAm) at various ratios were carried out at -40°C, in toluene in the presence of 3-methyl-3-pentanol, or in N-ethylacetamide. Syndiotactic-rich copolymers with racemo diad contents of 67.1–70.2%, and isotactic-rich copolymers with meso diad contents of 60.9–64.5% were prepared. Syndiotactic-rich copolymers with NNPAAm compositions of ≥92.9 mol% exhibited large hystereses in the phase-transition temperatures of their aqueous solutions. Isotactic-rich copolymers with NNPAAm compositions of 39.2–67.6 mol% exhibited large hystereses in the phase-transition temperatures of their aqueous solutions. Those of composition >67.6 mol% were insoluble in water. Stereosequence analysis suggested that isotactic sequences favored intramolecular hydrogen bonding between contiguous NNPAAm units, more than syndiotactic sequences. Enhanced intramolecular hydrogen bonding in isotactic sequences was responsible for the large hystereses and insolubility of isotactic-rich copolymers with high NNPAAm compositions

A study on the body water level of female Schizophrenic patients : A measurement by the impedance method

水中毒は精神科のあらゆる障害において見られるが,原因としては未だ明らかになっていない.しかしながら水中毒は重篤な合併症を生じ,生命の危険性も高いことからも,早期に発見し,予防していくことが重要である.本研究では,バイオインピーダンス法を用いて精神障害者の体内水分量を知り,その貯留の程度をアセスメントする事で水中毒の予防に役立てないかと考え,精神分裂病患者と健康な一般女性,病的多飲水患者とそうでない患者のインピーダンス値を比較し,それぞれの間にどのような差が生じているのかを検証した.その結果,精神分裂病患者の細胞内水分量,細胞外水分量の両者とも,一般女性のそれより少なかった.また,病的多飲水患者は細胞外水分量が非多飲水患者に比べて多いが,細胞内水分量は細胞外水分量に比べて増加しておらず,水分量のバランスが悪いといえる.また,精神障害者においてしばしば肥満も問題となるが,今回インピーダンス法を用いて測定した結果,体脂肪率も高値を示していることが明らかになった.まとめ: 1) 精神障害者の体内水分量は健康な人に比べて有意に低い. 2)バイオインピーダンス法は精神障害者の水中毒予防の指標として応用可能である.We find cases of water intoxication among patients of every sort of mental disorder. However, its cause is still unknown. Water intoxication causes serious complications, placing patients' life in danger. It is, therefore, important that its symptoms be identified at its early stage and its occurrence be prevented. In this study, we used the bio-impedance method in order to find out the level of water retained in the schizophrenic patients' body and examined ways to prevent water intoxication. The impedance values were compared between the schizophrenic patients and healthy women as well as between polydipsia and non-polydipsia patients. As a result, we found that both the extra-cellular and the intra-cellular water levels of the schizophrenic patients were significantly less than those of the healthy women. The extra-cellular water level of the polydipsia patients was significantly greater than that of the non-polydipsia patients. On the other hand, the polydipsia patients intra-cellular water level was not as high as their extra-cellular water level, indicating imbalance of water levels within the polydipsia patients body. Obesity is frequently an issue among mental disorder patients : the impedance method showed that body fat rate of these mental disorder patients was rather high. Summary 1)The amount of the body water level of the schizophrenic patients is significantly low compared with the healthy women. 2)The bio-impedance method can be applied as an index of the water intoxication prevention of the schizophrenic patients

Variantes genéticas en el locus 9p21 contribuyen al desarrollo de arteriosclerosis a través de la modulación de ANRIL y CDKN2A/B

Registro creado en correspondencia al grado de doctora de Ada Congrains Castillo.Los estudios de asociación de todo el genoma (GWAS) han identificado variantes genéticas que contribuyen al riesgo de enfermedad cardiovascular (ECV) en el locus del cromosoma 9p21. La región asociada a CVD es adyacente a los dos inhibidores de quinasas dependientes de ciclina (CDKN) 2A y 2B y los últimos exones del ARN no codificante, ANRIL. Todavía no está claro cuál de estas transcripciones o cómo están involucradas en la patogénesis de la aterosclerosis.Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified genetic variants contributing to the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) at the chromosome 9p21 locus. The CVD-associated region is adjacent to the two cyclin dependent kinase inhibitors (CDKN)2A and 2B and the last exons of the non-coding RNA, ANRIL. It is still not clear which of or how these transcripts are involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis.Japón. Programa de Promoción de Estudios Fundamentales en el Instituto Nacional de Innovación Biomédica de Japón (HR: 22-2-5), el Ministerio de Educación, Cultura, Deportes, Ciencia y Tecnología de Japón (KK: 22510211) y la Fundación NOVARTIS para la Investigación Gerontológica (KK).Tesi

The Expression of TALEN before Fertilization Provides a Rapid Knock-Out Phenotype in Xenopus laevis Founder Embryos.

Recent advances in genome editing using programmable nucleases have revolutionized gene targeting in various organisms. Successful gene knock-out has been shown in Xenopus, a widely used model organism, although a system enabling less mosaic knock-out in founder embryos (F0) needs to be explored in order to judge phenotypes in the F0 generation. Here, we injected modified highly active transcription activator-like effector nuclease (TALEN) mRNA to oocytes at the germinal vesicle (GV) stage, followed by in vitro maturation and intracytoplasmic sperm injection, to achieve a full knock-out in F0 embryos. Unlike conventional injection methods to fertilized embryos, the injection of TALEN mRNA into GV oocytes allows expression of nucleases before fertilization, enabling them to work from an earlier stage. Using this procedure, most of developed embryos showed full knock-out phenotypes of the pigmentation gene tyrosinase and/or embryonic lethal gene pax6 in the founder generation. In addition, our method permitted a large 1 kb deletion. Thus, we describe nearly complete gene knock-out phenotypes in Xenopus laevis F0 embryos. The presented method will help to accelerate the production of knock-out frogs since we can bypass an extra generation of about 1 year in Xenopus laevis. Meantime, our method provides a unique opportunity to rapidly test the developmental effects of disrupting those genes that do not permit growth to an adult able to reproduce. In addition, the protocol shown here is considerably less invasive than the previously used host transfer since our protocol does not require surgery. The experimental scheme presented is potentially applicable to other organisms such as mammals and fish to resolve common issues of mosaicism in founders.K.M. was a Research Fellow at Wolfson College and was supported by the Herchel Smith Postdoctoral Fellowship.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from PLOS via http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.014294