Lymph Node Dissection along the Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve in Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery (VATSE) for Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Esophageal carcinoma is the ninth most common cancer in the world, which is frequently seen in Asia and east Africa. Around 80% of all cases occurred in less-developed regions. Two major histological subtypes of esophageal carcinoma, adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, are known to differ greatly in terms of risk factor, epidemiology, male to female ratios, and incidence. Lymph node metastasis is a crucial factor in staging and prognosis is associated with surgical treatment and a major lymphatic chain into the neck. Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is mainly detected at the lower third of the thoracic esophagus or esophago-gastric-junction (EGJ) and metastasizes mainly to lymph nodes of the lesser sac, celiac regions and lower mediastinal. Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) has a predilection for metastasis to the lymph nodes of the cervical region including recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) on both sides. Lymph node dissection is vital yet difficult, left-side lymph node dissection especially requires expertise. There are some reports on lymph node dissection in the prone position by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery of the esophagus (VATS-E) along the left RLN in Japan and China. We also introduce a stripping method for lymph node dissection in this site

Boron Arylations of Subporphyrins with Aryl Zinc Reagents

Boron arylations of B‐(methoxo)triphenylsubporphyrin have been developed with a combined use of ArZnI⋅LiCl and trimethylsilyl chloride. Aryl zinc reagents bearing bromo, cyano, amide, and ester groups can be employed for the B‐arylation reaction to provide the corresponding B‐arylated subporphyrins in moderate yields. Postmodifications of B‐arylated subporphyrins have been demonstrated without loss of the B−C bond. These modifications include conversion of the cyano group into a benzoyl group with PhMgBr, hydrolysis of the ester group to give B‐(4‐carboxyphenyl)subporphyrin, and Pd‐catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura coupling of the 4‐bromophenyl group to give a 1,4‐phenylene‐bridged subporphyrin–ZnII porphyrin hybrid that displays intramolecular excitation energy transfer from the subporphyrin to the porphyrin. The newly synthesized B‐arylated subporphyrins have been fully characterized by NMR, UV/Vis absorption and fluorescence spectroscopies, mass spectrometry, electrochemical measurements, and X‐ray diffraction analysis.Bonding B to C: Boron arylations of B‐(methoxo)triphenylsubporphyrin have been developed with a combined use of ArZnI⋅LiCl and trimethylsilyl chloride (TMSCl; see scheme), which allow the synthesis of B‐aryl subporphyrins bearing bromo, cyano, amide, and ester groups. Postmodifications of the B‐aryl subporphyrins have been demonstrated without loss of the B−C bond. Newly synthesized B‐arylated subporphyrins have been fully characterized.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137618/1/chem201504719.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137618/2/chem201504719-sup-0001-misc_information.pd

MC3T3-E1 Cells on Titanium Surfaces with Nanometer Smoothness and Fibronectin Immobilization

The present study was aimed to evaluate the viability and total protein contents of osteoblast-like cells on the titanium surface with different surface mechanical treatment, namely, nanometer smoothing (Ra: approximately 2.0 nm) and sandblasting (Ra: approximately 1.0 μm), and biochemical treatment, namely, with or without fibronectin immobilization. Fibronectin could be easily immobilized by tresyl chloride-activation technique. MC3T3-E1 cells were seeded on the different titanium surfaces. Cell viability was determined by MTT assay. At 1 day of cell culture, there were no significant differences in cell viability among four different titanium surfaces. At 11 days, sandblasted titanium surface with fibronectin immobilization showed the significantly highest cell viability than other titanium surface. No significant differences existed for total protein contents among four different titanium surfaces at 11 days of cell culture. Scanning electron microscopy observation revealed that smoothness of titanium surface produced more spread cell morphologies, but that fibronectin immobilization did not cause any changes of the morphologies of attached cells. Fibronectin immobilization provided greater amount of the number of attached cells and better arrangement of attached cells. In conclusion, the combination of sandblasting and fibronectin immobilization enhanced the cell viability and fibronectin immobilization providing better arrangements of attached cells

Substellar Companions to Seven Evolved Intermediate-Mass Stars

We report the detections of substellar companions orbiting around seven evolved intermediate-mass stars from precise Doppler measurements at Okayama Astrophysical Observatory. o UMa (G4 II-III) is a giant with a mass of 3.1 M_sun and hosts a planet with minimum mass of m_2sini=4.1 M_J in an orbit with a period P=1630 d and an eccentricity e=0.13. This is the first planet candidate (< 13 M_J) ever discovered around stars more massive than 3 M_sun. o CrB (K0 III) is a 2.1 M_sun giant and has a planet of m_2sini=1.5 M_J in a 187.8 d orbit with e=0.19. This is one of the least massive planets ever discovered around ~2 M_sun stars. HD 5608 (K0 IV) is an 1.6 M_sun subgiant hosting a planet of m_2sini=1.4 M_J in a 793 d orbit with e=0.19. The star also exhibits a linear velocity trend suggesting the existence of an outer, more massive companion. 75 Cet (G3 III:) is a 2.5 M_sun giant hosting a planet of m_2sini=3.0 M_J in a 692 d orbit with e=0.12. The star also shows possible additional periodicity of about 200 d and 1880 d with velocity amplitude of ~7--10 m/s, although these are not significant at this stage. nu Oph (K0 III) is a 3.0 M_sun giant and has two brown-dwarf companions of m_2sini= 24 M_J and 27 M_J, in orbits with P=530.3 d and 3190 d, and e=0.126 and 0.17, respectively, which were independently announced by Quirrenbach et al. (2011). The ratio of the periods is close to 1:6, suggesting that the companions are in mean motion resonance. We also independently confirmed planets around k CrB (K0 III-IV) and HD 210702 (K1 IV), which had been announced by Johnson et al. (2008) and Johnson et al. (2007a), respectively. All of the orbital parameters we obtained are consistent with the previous results.Comment: 21 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in PAS