Transcriptome-Wide Identification of Preferentially Expressed Genes in the Hypothalamus and Pituitary Gland

To identify preferentially expressed genes in the central endocrine organs of the hypothalamus and pituitary gland, we generated transcriptome-wide mRNA profiles of the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and parietal cortex in male mice (12–15 weeks old) using serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE). Total counts of SAGE tags for the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and parietal cortex were 165824, 126688, and 161045 tags, respectively. This represented 59244, 45151, and 55131 distinct tags, respectively. Comparison of these mRNA profiles revealed that 22 mRNA species, including three potential novel transcripts, were preferentially expressed in the hypothalamus. In addition to well-known hypothalamic transcripts, such as hypocretin, several genes involved in hormone function, intracellular transduction, metabolism, protein transport, steroidogenesis, extracellular matrix, and brain disease were identified as preferentially expressed hypothalamic transcripts. In the pituitary gland, 106 mRNA species, including 60 potential novel transcripts, were preferentially expressed. In addition to well-known pituitary genes, such as growth hormone and thyroid stimulating hormone beta, a number of genes classified to function in transport, amino acid metabolism, intracellular transduction, cell adhesion, disulfide bond formation, stress response, transcription, protein synthesis, and turnover, cell differentiation, the cell cycle, and in the cytoskeleton and extracellular matrix were also preferentially expressed. In conclusion, the current study identified not only well-known hypothalamic and pituitary transcripts but also a number of new candidates likely to be involved in endocrine homeostatic systems regulated by the hypothalamus and pituitary gland

Generalized quantum subspace expansion

One of the major challenges for erroneous quantum computers is undoubtedly the control over the effect of noise. Considering the rapid growth of available quantum resources that are not fully fault-tolerant, it is crucial to develop practical hardware-friendly quantum error mitigation (QEM) techniques to suppress unwanted errors. Here, we propose a novel generalized quantum subspace expansion method which can handle stochastic, coherent, and algorithmic errors in quantum computers. By fully exploiting the substantially extended subspace, we can efficiently mitigate the noise present in the spectra of a given Hamiltonian, without relying on any information of noise. The performance of our method is discussed under two highly practical setups: the quantum subspaces are mainly spanned by powers of the noisy state $\rho^m$ and a set of error-boosted states, respectively. We numerically demonstrate in both situations that we can suppress errors by orders of magnitude, and show that out protocol inherits the advantages of previous error-agnostic QEM techniques as well as overcoming their drawbacks.Comment: 6+8 pages, 3+5 figure

Housekeeping and tissue-specific genes in mouse tissues

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

resection of oligometastases from CRC

A 74-year-old woman underwent right hemicolectomy and partial ileal resection for ascending colon cancer with synchronous peritoneal metastasis. Histopathological examination showed moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma with mucinous component, pT4b N3 M1, and Stage IV. Postoperative chemotherapy comprising 36 courses of mFOLFOX6 with bevacizumab was administered. Twenty-two months after the surgery, computed tomography (CT) revealed a 20 mm nodular lesion adjacent to the gastric wall, and laparoscopic resection of the nodule was performed. Thirty-nine months after the second surgery, CT showed a 24 mm nodular lesion involving the liver parenchyma, and partial hepatectomy involving the nodule was performed. Histopathological examination of the nodules resected by the second and third surgeries showed the same features as the primary ascending colon cancer. The nodules were diagnosed as metachronous peritoneal metastases. The patient followed up without chemotherapy after the second and third surgery, showed no recurrence for 26 months after the third surgery. Fortunately, more than 7 years have passed since the primary tumor resection. Hence, surgical resection for synchronous and repeated metachronous peritoneal oligometastases from colon cancer can offer long-term survival

Glycemic control in type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is a typical lifestyle disease. We aimed to identify the factors affecting glycemic control in 64 outpatients with type 2 diabetes over a 2-year period. We defined poor glycemic control using a change in glycosylated hemoglobin (ΔHbA1c) of ≥ 0.5% over 2 years and/or HbA1c ≥ 7.5% at the end of the study period. We used a questionnaire to collect information on oral health behavior and lifestyle, including eating and smoking habits, and analyzed the relationships between indices of diabetes control and responses to the questionnaire. The mean (SD) HbA1c of the participants was 6.87% (0.77%) at a baseline, and 6.93% (0.69%) after 2 years. Twenty-three participants (36.0%) had poor glycemic control. ΔHbA1c and the change in body mass index (ΔBMI) correlated (Spearman’s rank correlation, r = 0.350, p < 0.01). The HbA1c at baseline was associated with eating slowly / chewing well, and ΔBMI was associated with perceived oral symptoms. Binominal logistic regression analysis revealed that poor glycemic control was associated with ΔBMI and a smoking habit (odds ratio : 1.62, 95% confidence interval : 1.08–2.42 ; and 4.01, 1.12–14.36, respectively). These findings imply that weight gain and a smoking habit are associated with poor glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes

Diabetes indicators and oral health behavior

Objective : The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between diabetes-related indicators and oral health behavior among patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods : Seventy-four outpatients were included. We administered a questionnaire and divided the patients into two groups according to oral health behavior and eating habits. We then compared diabetes-related clinical records between the groups and performed logistic regression analysis. Results : Participants who brushed their teeth before bedtime every night had lower BMIs than those who did not. Participants who reported eating slowly and chewing well every day had significantly lower HbA1c than their counterparts. Participants who reported gum bleeding had significantly higher LDL-cholesterol than their counterparts. Binominal logistic regression analysis revealed that BMI < 25 was associated with not brushing teeth before bedtime every night, HbA1c < 7.5 with not eating slowly or chewing well every day, and LDL-cholesterol < 120 with gum bleeding (odds ratio : 0.140, 95% confidence interval : 0.036–0.540 ; OR : 0.085, 95% CI : 0.010.0–736, OR : 0.275, 95% CI : 0.077.0–979, respectively). Conclusions : Our findings suggest that toothbrushing before bedtime every night is associated with reduced risk of obesity and that eating slowly and chewing well are advantageous for glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes

Essential anatomy for lateral lymph node dissection

In Western countries, the gold-standard therapeutic strategy for rectal cancer is preoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) following total mesorectal excision (TME), without lateral lymph node dissection (LLND). However, preoperative CRT has recently been reported to be insufficient to control lateral lymph node recurrence in cases of enlarged lateral lymph nodes before CRT, and LLND is considered necessary in such cases. We performed a literature review on aspects of pelvic anatomy associated with rectal surgery and LLND, and then combined this information with our experience and knowledge of pelvic anatomy. In this review, drawing upon research using a 3-dimensional anatomical model and actual operative views, we aimed to clarify the essential anatomy for LLND. The LLND procedure was developed in Asian countries and can now be safely performed in terms of functional preservation. Nonetheless, the longer operative time, hemorrhage, and higher complication rates with TME accompanied by LLND than with TME alone indicate that LLND is still a challenging procedure. Laparoscopic or robotic LLND has been shown to be useful and is widely performed; however, without a sufficient understanding of anatomical landmarks, misrecognition of vessels and nerves often occurs. To perform safe and accurate LLND, understanding the landmarks of LLND is essential

The matrix vesicle cargo miR-125b accumulates in the bone matrix, inhibiting bone resorption in mice

Communication between osteoblasts and osteoclasts plays a key role in bone metabolism. We describe here an unexpected role for matrix vesicles (MVs), which bud from boneforming osteoblasts and have a well-established role in initiation of bone mineralization, in osteoclastogenesis. We show that the MV cargo miR-125b accumulates in the bone matrix, with increased accumulation in transgenic (Tg) mice overexpressing miR-125b in osteoblasts. Bone formation and osteoblasts in Tg mice are normal, but the number of bone-resorbing osteoclasts is reduced, leading to higher trabecular bone mass. miR-125b in the bone matrix targets and degrades Prdm1, a transcriptional repressor of anti-osteoclastogenic factors, in osteoclast precursors. Overexpressing miR-125b in osteoblasts abrogates bone loss in different mouse models. Our results show that the MV cargo miR-125b is a regulatory element of osteoblast-osteoclast communication, and that bone matrix provides extracellular storage of miR-125b that is functionally active in bone resorption.T.M. and Y.T. were supported in part by MEXT KAKENHI (JP16K11443, T.M.; JP26861548, Y.T.). Y.Y. was supported by MEXT KAKENHI (JP18K19647), the Raffinee International Foundation and the Ono Pharmaceutical Foundation.Supplementary information is available for this paper at https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-0754-2

Histone H3.3 sub-variant H3mm7 is required for normal skeletal muscle regeneration

Regulation of gene expression requires selective incorporation of histone H3 variant H3.3 into chromatin. Histone H3.3 has several subsidiary variants but their functions are unclear. Here we characterize the function of histone H3.3 sub-variant, H3mm7, which is expressed in skeletal muscle satellite cells. H3mm7 knockout mice demonstrate an essential role of H3mm7 in skeletal muscle regeneration. Chromatin analysis reveals that H3mm7 facilitates transcription by forming an open chromatin structure around promoter regions including those of myogenic genes. The crystal structure of the nucleosome containing H3mm7 reveals that, unlike the S57 residue of other H3 proteins, the H3mm7-specific A57 residue cannot form a hydrogen bond with the R40 residue of the cognate H4 molecule. Consequently, the H3mm7 nucleosome is unstable in vitro and exhibited higher mobility in vivo compared with the H3.3 nucleosome. We conclude that the unstable H3mm7 nucleosome may be required for proper skeletal muscle differentiation