Immunohistochemical Examination for the Distribution of Podoplanin-Expressing Cells in Developing Mouse Molar Tooth Germs

We recently reported the expression of podoplanin in the apical bud of adult mouse incisal tooth. This study was aimed to investigate the distribution of podoplanin-expressing cells in mouse tooth germs at several developing stages. At the bud stage podoplanin was expressed in oral mucous epithelia and in a tooth bud. At the cap stage podoplanin was expressed on inner and outer enamel epithelia but not in mesenchymal cells expressing the neural crest stem cell marker nestin. At the early bell stage nestin and podoplanin were expressed in cervical loop and odontoblasts. At the root formation stage both nestin and podoplanin were weakly expressed in odontoblasts generating radicular dentin. Podoplanin expression was also found in the Hertwig epithelial sheath. These results suggest that epithelial cells of developing tooth germ acquire the ability to express nestin, and that tooth germ epithelial cells maintain the ability to express podoplanin in oral mucous epithelia. The expression of podoplanin in odontoblasts was induced as tooth germ development advanced, but was suppressed with the completion of the primary dentin, suggesting that podoplanin may be involved in the cell growth of odontoblasts. Nestin may function as an intermediate filament that binds podoplanin in odontoblasts

Prevention of Image Quality Degradation in Wider Field Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Images Via Image Averaging

Purpose: To evaluate the mutual effect of widening the field of view and multiple en face image averaging on the quality of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) images. Methods: This prospective, observational, cross-sectional case series included 20 eyes of 20 healthy volunteers with no history of ocular or systemic disease. OCTA imaging of a 3 × 3-mm, 6 × 6-mm, and 12 × 12-mm area centered on the fovea was performed nine times using the PLEX Elite 9000. We acquired averaged OCTA images generated from nine en face OCTA images. The corresponding areas in the three scan sizes were evaluated for the original single-scanned OCTA images and averaged OCTA images both qualitatively and quantitatively. Quantitative measurements included vessel density (VD), vessel length density (VLD), fractal dimension (FD), and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). Results: Significant differences in VD, VLD, FD, and CNR (P < 0.001) were observed due to the mutual effect of averaging and differences in scan size. Both qualitative and quantitative evaluations indicated that the quality of 6 × 6-mm averaged images was equal to or better than that of 3 × 3-mm single-scanned images. However, the quality of 12 × 12-mm averaged images did not reach that of 3 × 3-mm single-scanned images. Conclusions: To some extent, multiple en face OCTA image averaging can compensate for the deterioration in image quality caused by widening the field of view. Translational Relevance: Multiple en face OCTA image averaging can be a technique for acquiring wider field OCTA images with good quality

Role of CFTR in Campylobacter jejuni infection

Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) is gastroenteritis inducible food-born pathogen. Invasion and adhesion process are essential for leading gastroenteritis in C. jejuni infection process. As against bacterial strategy for efficacy invasion and adhesion, mucosal layer play a key role in defense systems, which modulated by several ion channels and transporters mediated water flux on the intestine. Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) play the main role in waterfulux in intestine, and it closely related with bacterial clearance. We previously reported that C. jejuni infection suppresses CFTR channel activity in intestinal epithelial cells, however the mechanism and importance of this suppression is unclear. This study seeks to elucidate the role of CFTR in C. jejuni-infection. Using HEK293 cells that stably express wild type and mutated CFTR, we found that CFTR attenuated C. jejuni invasion, it was not involved bacterial adhesion or intracellular survival but associated with microtubule-dependent cellular transport. Moreover we revealed that CFTR attenuated function of microtubule motor protein but not microtubule stability, which causes inhibition of C. jejuni-invasion. Meanwhile, the CFTR mutant G551D-CFTR, which has defects in channel activity, suppressed C. jejuni-invasion, whereasΔF508-CFTR, which has defects in maturation, did not suppress, suggesting that CFTR suppression of C. jejuni-invasion is related to CFTR maturation but not channel activity. Taken together, mature CFTR inhibited C. jejuni invasion by regulating microtubule-mediated pathways. We suggest that CFTR plays a critical role in cellular defenses against C. jejuni-invasion, and CFTR suppression may be an initial step in promoting cellular invasion during C. jejuni-infection

Pipeline scheduling with input port constraints for an FPGA-based biochemical simulator

This paper discusses design methodology of high-throughput arithmetic pipeline modules for an FPGA-based biochemical simulator. Since limitation of data-input bandwidth caused by port constraints often has a negative impact on pipeline scheduling results, we propose a priority assignment method of input data which enables efficient arithmetic pipeline scheduling under given input port constraints. Evaluation results with frequently used rate-law functions in biochemical models revealed that the proposed method achieved shorter latency compared to ASAP and ALAP scheduling with random input orders, reducing hardware costs by 17.57% and by 27.43% on average, respectively.The original publication is available at www.springerlink.co

The effect of cognitive behavioral therapy on future thinking in patients with major depressive disorder: A randomized controlled trial

BackgroundPessimistic thinking about the future is one of the cardinal symptoms of major depression. Few studies have assessed changes in pessimistic thinking after undergoing cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). A randomized clinical trial (RCT) was conducted with patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) to determine whether receiving a course of CBT affects pessimistic future thinking using a future thinking task.MethodsThirty-one patients with MDD were randomly assigned to either CBT (n = 16) or a talking control (TC) (n = 15) for a 16-week intervention. The main outcomes were the change in response time (RT) and the ratio of the responses for positive valence, measured by the future thinking task. Secondary outcomes included the GRID-Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition (BDI-II), the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS), and the word fluency test (WFT).ResultsRegarding the main outcomes, the CBT group showed reduced RT for the positive valence (within-group Cohen’s d = 0.7, p = 0.012) and negative valence (within-group Cohen’s d = 0.6, p = 0.03) in the distant future condition. The ratio of positive valence responses in both groups for all temporal conditions except for the distant past condition increased within group (distant future: CBT: Cohen’s d = 0.5, p = 0.04; TC: Cohen’s d = 0.8, p = 0.008; near future: CBT: Cohen’s d = 1.0, p &lt; 0.001; TC: Cohen’s d = 1.1, p = 0.001; near past: CBT: Cohen’s d = 0.8, p = 0.005; TC: Cohen’s d = 1.0, p = 0.002). As for secondary outcomes, the CBT group showed greater improvement than the TC group regarding the need for social approval as measured by the DAS (p = 0.012).ConclusionPatients with MDD who received CBT showed a reduced RT for the positive and negative valence in the distant future condition. RT in the future thinking task for depressed patients may be a potential objective measure for the CBT treatment process. Because the present RCT is positioned as a pilot RCT, a confirmatory trial with a larger number of patients is warranted to elucidate the CBT treatment process that influences future thinking.Clinical trial registrationhttps://center6.umin.ac.jp/cgi-open-bin/icdr_e/ctr_view.cgi?recptno=R000021028, identifier UMIN000018155

Prevalence, definition, and etiology of cesarean scar defect and treatment of cesarean scar disorder : A narrative review

Background: Cesarean scar defects (CSD) are caused by cesarean sections and cause various symptoms. Although there has been no previous consensus on the name of this condition for a long time, it has been named cesarean scar disorder (CSDi). Methods: This review summarizes the definition, prevalence, and etiology of CSD, as well as the pathophysiology and treatment of CSDi. We focused on surgical therapy and examined the effects and procedures of laparoscopy, hysteroscopy, and transvaginal surgery. Main findings: The definition of CSD was proposed as an anechoic lesion with a depth of at least 2 mm because of the varied prevalence, owing to the lack of consensus. CSD incidence depends on the number of times, procedure, and situation of cesarean sections. Histopathological findings in CSD are fibrosis and adenomyosis, and chronic inflammation in the uterine and pelvic cavities decreases fertility in women with CSDi. Although the surgical procedures are not standardized, laparoscopic, hysteroscopic, and transvaginal surgeries are effective. Conclusion: The cause and pathology of CSDi are becoming clear. However, there is variability in the prevalence and treatment strategies. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct further studies using the same definitions.journal articl

Infection risk in hemodialysis patient

Chronic care patients undergoing hemodialysis for treatment of end-stage renal failure experience higher rates of bloodstream-associated infection due to the patients' compromised immune system and management of the bloodstream through catheters. Staphylococcus species are a common cause of hemodialysis catheter-related bloodstream infections. We investigated environmental bacterial contamination of dialysis wards and contamination of hemodialysis devices to determine the source of bacteria for these infections. All bacterial samples were collected by the swab method and the agarose stamp method. And which bacterium were identified by BBL CRYSTAL Kit or 16s rRNA sequences. In our data, bacterial cell number of hemodialysis device was lower than environment of patient surrounds. But Staphylococcus spp. were found predominantly on the hemodialysis device (46.8%), especially on areas frequently touched by healthcare-workers (such as Touch screen). Among Staphylococcus spp., Staphylococcus epidermidis was most frequently observed (42.1% of Staphylococcus spp.), and more surprising, 48.2% of the Staphylococcus spp. indicated high resistance for methicillin. Our finding suggests that hemodialysis device highly contaminated with bloodstream infection associated bacteria. This study can be used as a source to assess the risk of contamination-related infection and to develop the cleaning system for the better prevention for bloodstream infections in patients with hemodialysis

タイトジャンクションは極性化上皮細胞においてCampylobacter jejuniの細胞側面からの効率的な侵入を妨げ炎症によるバリアの破綻は菌の侵入を促進する

Campylobacter jejuni invasion is closely related to C. jejuni pathogenicity. The intestinal epithelium contains polarized epithelial cells that form tight junctions (TJs) to provide a physical barrier against bacterial invasion. Previous studies indicated that C. jejuni invasion of non-polarized cells involves several cellular features, including lipid rafts. However, the dynamics of C. jejuni invasion of polarized epithelial cells are not fully understood. Here we investigated the interaction between C. jejuni invasion and TJ formation to characterize the mechanism of C. jejuni invasion in polarized epithelial cells. In contrast to non-polarized epithelial cells, C. jejuni invasion was not affected by depletion of lipid rafts in polarized epithelial cells. However, depletion of lipid rafts significantly decreased C. jejuni invasion in TJ disrupted cells or basolateral infection and repair of cellular TJs suppressed lipid raft-mediated C. jejuni invasion in polarized epithelial cells. In addition, pro-inflammatory cytokine, TNF-a treatment that induce TJ disruption promote C. jejuni invasion and lipid rafts depletion significantly reduced C. jejuni invasion in TNF-a treated cells. These data demonstrated that TJs prevent C. jejuni invasion from the lateral side of epithelial cells, where they play a main part in bacterial invasion and suggest that C. jejuni invasion could be increased in inflammatory condition. Therefore, maintenance of TJs integrity should be considered important in the development of novel therapies for C. jejuni infection

Decreased Fertility in Women with Cesarean Scar Syndrome Is Associated with Chronic Inflammation in the Uterine Cavity.

Chronic inflammation in cesarean scar defect contributes to secondary infertility in women with cesarean scar syndrom; however, it remains unclear about the situation of inflammation in uterine cavity in women with cesarean scar syndrome. This ambidirectional cohort study aimed to explore the effect of inflammation in the uterine cavities of women with cesarean scar syndrome on infertility at a single university hospital. The frequency of chronic endometritis in infertile patients was retrospectively compared between the cesarean scar syndrome group and non-cesarean scar syndrome group. The frequency of endometriosis was also investigated in patients with cesarean scar syndrome who underwent laparoscopy. The level of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β in the uterine cavity was prospectively evaluated in the cesarean scar syndrome group and in women with a history of cesarean section (control group) using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. There was a significant difference in the incidence of chronic endometritis between the cesarean scar syndrome and non-cesarean scar syndrome groups (65.8% and 46.0%, respectively, p = 0.0315). Endometriosis was detected in 51 (70%) patients with laparoscopy. Tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β levels in the cesarean scar syndrome group were significantly higher than those in the control group (p = 0.0002 and p = 0.0217, respectively). Our findings suggest that one cause of secondary infertility in women with cesarean scar syndrome is embryo implantation failure-associated chronic endometritis, endometriosis, and chronic inflammation in the uterine cavity