Combined Gastrectomy with Adjacent Organs in T4 Gastric Cancer : Therapeutic Results and Indication

The postoperative morbidity, mortality and survival of 244 T4 gastric cancer patients were examined to assess the therapeutic results and to clarify the indication for combined gastrectomy with adjacent (T4) organs. A total of 190 combined and 54 simple gastrectomies were performed during the 25-year period between 1969 and 1994. Fourteen (7.4%) and 7 (13.0%) patients died of the complications after combined and simple gastrectomies respectively. No statistical significant difference was found in the mortality rates between the gastrectomies. The histological examination of 190 resected specimens by the combined gastrectomy with T4 organs revealed that gastric resections with conclusive curability A, B and C were performed in 33 (17.4%), 84 (44.2%) and 73 (38.4%) cases respectively. Significant differences (P < 0.01) among 3 survival curves of the patients with curability A, B and C were found, and the 5-year survival rates were 65.5%, 35.4% and 9.2% respectively. The survival curve of 176 patients with combined gastrectomy was significantly (P < 0.01) higher than that of 47 patients with simple gastrectomy, and the 5-year survival rates were 31.3% and 4.3%. However, the survival curve and the 5-year survival rate of the patients with simple gastrectomy were not statistically different from those of the patients with curability C. These results suggest that combined gastrectomy with T4 organs in T4 gastric cancer may be indicated for the patients with surgical curability B, but not surgical curability C

Low-temperature photoreaction cycle of phoborhodopsin (sensory rhodopsin II) from Halobacterium salinarium

There are four types of retinal proteins in the membrane of Halobacterium salinarum. Bacteriorhodopsin (BR) and halorhodopsin (HR) convert light energy into electrostatic gradients that can be used by the cell as an energy source to produce ATP. Sensory rhodopsin I (SR I) and phoborhodopsin (pR) enable the cells to migrate toward an environment optimal for light energy harvesting while avoiding potentially damaging shorter wavelength light. In the present work, low temperature photoreaction cycle of pR expressed in E. coli was studied. Comparing to the previous results, the new findings in the present work are: (i) The K-like intermediate was found to be a mixture of two photoproducts. (ii) Formation of an L-like intermediate (P482) was observed. (iii) Upon light irradiation, formation of a long lived shorter wavelength photoproduct (P370) was observed at 20 ℃.特集 : 「資源、新エネルギー、環境、防災研究国際セミナー

An aposymbiotic primary coral polyp counteracts acidification by active pH regulation

Corals build their skeletons using extracellular calcifying fluid located in the tissue–skeleton interface. However, the mechanism by which corals control the transport of calcium and other ions from seawater and the mechanism of constant alkalization of calcifying fluid are largely unknown. To address these questions, we performed direct pH imaging at calcification sites (subcalicoblastic medium, SCM) to visualize active pH upregulation in live aposymbiotic primary coral polyps treated with HCl-acidified seawater. Active alkalization was observed in all individuals using vital staining method while the movement of HPTS and Alexa Fluor to SCM suggests that certain ions such as H+ could diffuse via a paracellular pathway to SCM. Among them, we discovered acid-induced oscillations in the pH of SCM (pHSCM), observed in 24% of polyps examined. In addition, we discovered acid-induced pH up-regulation waves in 21% of polyps examined, which propagated among SCMs after exposure to acidified seawater. Our results showed that corals can regulate pHSCM more dynamically than was previously believed. These observations will have important implications for determining how corals regulate pHSCM during calcification. We propose that corals can sense ambient seawater pH via their innate pH-sensitive systems and regulate pHSCM using several unknown pH-regulating ion transporters that coordinate with multicellular signaling occurring in coral tissue

アレルギー性気道炎症におけるAT II la受容体の機能解析

Chronic airway inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) are fundamental features leading to airway narrowing in bronchial asthma. Airway inflammation in asthmatics is characterized with the accumulation and activation of inflammatory cells such as eosinophils and mast cells, which is orchestrated by a network of Th2 cytokines, such as IL-4 and IL-5, released mainly from CD^+_4 T lymphocytes. The peptide hormone angiotensin II (AT II) plays an important role in the regulation of arterial blood pressure. Plasma levels of renin and AT II were reported to be elevated during acute exacerbation of asthma, and studies using type 1 AT II receptor (AT1) antagonist (ARE) suggested the involvement of the receptor in the pathogenesis of asthma. However, the pathogenic roles of AT II and AT1 in asthmatic airway inflammation remains elusive. Therefore, we investigated the effect of ATla gene deletion (ATlaKO) on allergen-induced airway inflammation using a murine model of allergic asthma. In sensitized wild type mice (WT), the numbers of inflammatory cells in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALF) were increased with a peak on 5 days after antigen challenge. In ATlaKO mice, in contrast, those were increased with two peaks on 3 and 7 days, which were significantly higher than in WT. The contents of IL-4 and IL-5 in BALF of ATlaKO mice 1 day after the challenge were significantly higher than those of WT mice. These date suggest that ATla play a pivotal role in allergic airway inflammation via, at least in part, the downregulation of Th2 cytokine expression

共焦点ライブイメージング法によるサンゴ礁石灰化生物の生物鉱化過程の可視化

博士(理学)琉球大