EFFICACY OF INTERFERON THERAPY FOR CHRONIC HEPATITIS C ： A COOPERATIVE STUDY IN ELEVEN HOSPITALS

We investigated the influences of liver histology，serum levels of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HCV genotypes on responsiveness to interferon (IFN) therapy in 342 patients with chronic hepatitis C. Either 9 million units (MU) of lymphoblastoid alpha IFN or 3 MU of recombinant IFN-alpha was administered daily for 2 weeks and then three times a week for 22 weeks. IFN responses were divided into three groups on the basis of the results of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay detecting HCV-RNA in serum. Complete response (CR) was defined as sustained elimination of HCV for at least 6 months after treatment，partial response (PR) as HCV elimination for a limited period，non-response (NR) as continuously positive for HCV-RNA in serum. Quantitation of pre-treament HCV-RNA amount in serum was determined by competitive PCR assay in 47 patients. HCV genotyping was performed in 114 patients by PCR with genotype-specific primers. CR was obtained in 97 patients (28.4%)，PR in 104 (30.4%) and NR in 141 (41.2%). IFN responses，represented by CR/PR/NR，were 15/18/11 in 44 patients with chronic persistent hepatitis (CPH)，72/65/73 in 210 patients with chronic aggressive hepatitis (CAH) 2a，and 10/21/57 in 88 patients with CAH2b. CR rate was lower in patients with CAH2b (11.4%) compared to those with CPH (34.1%) or CAH2a (34.3%). Averages of pre-treatment serum HCV-RNA amount (copies/50μl) were 10³·⁵⁵ in 13 CRs，10⁴·⁵⁶ in 17 PRs，and 10⁵·⁹⁵ in 17 NRs. There was a positive correlation between pre-treatment HCV-RNA levels and IFN unresponsiveness. HCV genotyping in 114 patients revealed that HCV type Ⅰ infection was observed in one，type Ⅱ in 94，type Ⅲ in 11，type Ⅳ in 6 and mixed (types Ⅱ and Ⅳ) in 2 patients，and their IFN responses (CR/PR/NR) were 0/0/1，28/26/40，3/5/3，1/3/2 and 0/1/1，respectively

Text mining meets workflow: linking U-Compare with Taverna

Summary: Text mining from the biomedical literature is of increasing importance, yet it is not easy for the bioinformatics community to create and run text mining workflows due to the lack of accessibility and interoperability of the text mining resources. The U-Compare system provides a wide range of bio text mining resources in a highly interoperable workflow environment where workflows can very easily be created, executed, evaluated and visualized without coding. We have linked U-Compare to Taverna, a generic workflow system, to expose text mining functionality to the bioinformatics community

Macroscopic tribological properties of thick concentrated polymer brush on rough steel under lubrication with ionic liquid

Concentrated polymer brush (CPB) is the polymer film with a structure that possesses greatly extended polymer chains densely grafted to substrate. CPB is known to swell in good solvents, which have high affinity for the polymer. Swollen CPB by a good solvent shows excellent micro-tribological properties such as super lubrication with the extremely low friction coefficient (μ~10-4). However, macro-tribological properties of CPB surface on steel have not been explored sufficiently. In this study, macroscopic tribological properties of a CPB on rough steel were evaluated using a block-on-ring type tribo-tester under lubrication with an ionic liquid. The CPB showed a significant friction reduction effect with the low friction coefficient of 0.005 on macroscale

THYROID DYSFUNCTION FOLLOWING ALPHA-INTERFERON TREATMENT FOR CHRONIC HEPATITIS C

In order to evaluate the influnces of IFNα on thyroid function, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), total thyroxine (T4), free T4, tri-iodothyronine (T3), and thyroxine-binding globulin were examined in IFNα-treated 351 patients with chronic hepatitis C before and during therapy. As therapy, either 3 million units (MU) of human lymphoblastoid IFNα or 9MU of recombinant IFNα2a was administrated daily for the initial two weeks followed by three times a week for 22 weeks. There were nine patients showing thyroid dysfunction during IFNα therapy. They consist of one relapse of Graves' disease, one relapse of Hashimoto thyroiditis, one development of apparent thyroid insufficiency from subclinical hypothyroidism, five cases with transient hyperthyroidism and one case with transient hypothyroidism. T4 and T3 levels in most patients who transiently developed thyroid dysfunction were normalized spontaneously after the discontinuation of IFNα. Thyroid-related autoantibodies were positive in 4 patients before IFNα therapy and newly developed in one patient during therapy. Attention should be paid first to the previous histories of autoimmune thyroid diseases and the existence of thyroid-related autoantibodies for the prediction of development of thyroid dysfunction during IFNα therapy. In addition, serial examinations of TSH, T3 and T4 should be also necessary for early detection of transient thyroid dysfunction during IFNα therapy

U-Compare bio-event meta-service: compatible BioNLP event extraction services

AbstractBackgroundBio-molecular event extraction from literature is recognized as an important task of bio text mining and, as such, many relevant systems have been developed and made available during the last decade. While such systems provide useful services individually, there is a need for a meta-service to enable comparison and ensemble of such services, offering optimal solutions for various purposes.ResultsWe have integrated nine event extraction systems in the U-Compare framework, making them inter-compatible and interoperable with other U-Compare components. The U-Compare event meta-service provides various meta-level features for comparison and ensemble of multiple event extraction systems. Experimental results show that the performance improvements achieved by the ensemble are significant. ConclusionsWhile individual event extraction systems themselves provide useful features for bio text mining, the U-Compare meta-service is expected to improve the accessibility to the individual systems, and to enable meta-level uses over multiple event extraction systems such as comparison and ensemble.This research was partially supported by KAKENHI 18002007 [YK, MM, JDK, SP, TO, JT]; JST PRESTO and KAKENHI 21500130 [YK]; the Academy of Finland and computational resources were provided by CSC -- IT Center for Science Ltd [JB, FG]; the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) [SVL]; UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences, Research Council (BBSRC project BB/G013160/1 Automated Biological Event Extraction from the Literature for Drug Discovery) and JISC, National Centre for Text Mining [SA]; the Spanish grant BIO2010-17527 [MN, APM]; NIH Grant U54 DA021519 [AO, DRR]Peer Reviewe

高分子系における光誘起ラジカルイオンの安定化に関する研究

本文データは平成22年度国立国会図書館の学位論文(博士)のデジタル化実施により作成された画像ファイルを基にpdf変換したものである京都大学0048新制・課程博士工学博士甲第4683号工博第1159号新制||工||826(附属図書館)UT51-91-C101京都大学大学院工学研究科高分子化学専攻(主査)教授 山本 雅英, 教授 東村 敏延, 教授 宮本 武明学位規則第5条第1項該当Kyoto UniversityDFA

Preface

This Annual Report covers from 1 January to 31 December 202

Mechanism and Kinetics of Nitroxide-Controlled Free Radical Polymerization (ORGANIC MATERIALS CHEMISTRY-Polymeric Materials)

In the nitroxide-mediated free radical polymerization, the rate of polymerization is determined by the balance of the rates of thermal initiation and bialkyl termination, just like in the conventional system, while the polydispersity is determined by the dissociation-combination frequency of the polymer-nitroxyl adduct and the rate of decomposition of the adduct. These mechanisms were quantitatively confirmed by both experiments and computer simulations

Conformational characteristics of regioselectively PEG/PS-grafted cellulosic bottlebrushes in solution: cross-sectional structure and main-chain stiffness

Cellulosic bottlebrushes with polystyrene (PS) and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) side chains at the O-6 and O-2, 3 positions, respectively (PEG-PS-cellulose), were synthesized and characterized in diluted solution to reveal the second structure of heterografted bottlebrushes. The regioselectivity and degree of substitution were evaluated by 1H- and 13C-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and size-exclusion chromatography (SEC). The cross-sectional structure of PEG-PS-cellulose was evaluated from the cross-sectional radius of gyration determined by the small angle X-ray scattering technique as a function of the molecular weight of the PS side chain. As a result, PEG-PS-cellulose was found to show a core-shell-corona structure, in which PEG and PS side chains formed a homogeneous shell layer surrounding the cellulosic core and the outer segments of PS chains formed an outer corona layer. The stiffness parameter (λ−1) of the main chain was analyzed by the SEC–multiangle light scattering technique along with the Kratky-Porod wormlike chain model. In comparison with a previously reported cellulosic bottlebrush with a PS side chain at the O-6 position, it is suggested that the observed increase in λ−1 with increasing molecular weight of PS is mainly derived from the interaction among PS side chains located in an outer layer, while the PEG side chains at the O-2, 3 position effectively suppressed the internal rotation of the cellulosic main chain

Mechanism and Kinetics of RAFT-Based Living Radical Polymerizations of Styrene and Methyl Methacrylate (ORGANIC MATERIALS CHEMISTRY-Polymeric Materials)

The bulk polymerizations of styrene and methyl methacrylate in the presence of model polymerdithiocarbonate adducts as mediators and benzoyl peroxide (BPO) as a conventional initiator were kinetically studied. The polymerization rate, hence the concentration of polymer radical P , was proportional to [BPO]1/2. The pseudo-first-order activation rate constants kact were determined by the GPC peak-resolution method. The results showed that kact is directly proportional to [P ], indicating that reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) is the only important mechanism of activation. The magnitude of the exchange rate constant kex (= kact/[P ]) was strongly dependent on both the structures of the dithiocarbonate group and the polymer. The kex values for the three RAFT systems examined in this work were all very large, explaining why these systems can provide low-polydispersity polymers from an early stage of polymerization