Spontaneous Pathological Complete Regression of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Several possible mechanisms for spontaneous regression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have been reported. Spontaneous complete regression of HCC is extremely rare. We herein report a case of spontaneous pathological complete regression of HCC following decrement of elevated serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). The serum AFP of a 74-year-old man who underwent hepatic resection for HCC twice increased up to 7,529 ng/mL and then spontaneously decreased to 404 ng/mL in 2 months. Computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and angiography revealed a liver tumor in segment 7 without early enhancement. With a diagnosis of recurrent HCC, partial hepatic resection was performed. The resected specimens revealed no HCC macroscopically, and pathological examination revealed only a small area with cell dysplasia. The patient remains well with normal serum AFP and protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-II (PIVKA-II) levels for 29 months after the third hepatic resection without recurrence of HCC. We describe a case of spontaneous pathological complete regression of HCC following decrement of elevated serum AFP. Further studies are needed to identify the mechanism(s) of spontaneous regression of HCC

Simultaneous Resection for Synchronous Double Primary Cancers of the Pancreas and the Liver

Simultaneous resection of synchronous hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is extremely rare. Case 1 is a 64-year-old woman, who had undergone anterior resection for rectal cancer 3 years earlier was pointed out to have a cystic tumor in the pancreatic tail and a solitary tumor in the liver. CT revealed a hypovascular tumor in the pancreatic tail and a liver tumor with early enhancement. With a diagnosis of simultaneous HCC and PDAC, she underwent laparotomy, in which intraoperative frozen section examination of the liver was compatible with HCC. Therefore, she underwent hepatic resection as well as distal pancreatectomy and splenectomy. The patient received adjuvant chemotherapy with S-1 and remains well with no evidence of tumor recurrence as of 28 months after resection. Case 2 is a 73-year-old man with sustained viral response to antiviral treatment for hepatitis C virus, who was pointed out to have a tumor in the pancreatic head and a solitary tumor in the liver. Gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI exhibited enhancement compatible with HCC. With a diagnosis of concomitant HCC and PDAC, surgery was performed. Intraoperative frozen section examination was compatible with HCC, for which a pancreaticoduodenectomy was performed. The patient received adjuvant chemotherapy with S-1 and remains well with no evidence of tumor recurrence as of 16 months after resection. In conclusion, we describe 2 cases of hepato-pancreatectomy for synchronous double primary cancers of the pancreas and the liver, where exclusion of the liver tumor as a metastatic lesion from the pancreatic cancer is important

Statistical inference for financial engineering

This monograph provides the fundamentals of statistical inference for financial engineering and covers some selected methods suitable for analyzing financial time series data. In order to describe the actual financial data, various stochastic processes, e.g. non-Gaussian linear processes, non-linear processes, long-memory processes, locally stationary processes etc. are introduced and their optimal estimation is considered as well. This book also includes several statistical approaches, e.g., discriminant analysis, the empirical likelihood method, control variate method, quantile regression, realized volatility etc., which have been recently developed and are considered to be powerful tools for analyzing the financial data, establishing a new bridge between time series and financial engineering. This book is well suited as a professional reference book on finance, statistics and statistical financial engineering. Readers are expected to have an undergraduate-level knowledge of statistics

Statistical Inference for Financial Engineering

X, 118 p. 15 illus., 6 illus. in color.online res

Concerted Action of Lactate Oxidase and Pyruvate Oxidase in Aerobic Growth of Streptococcus pneumoniae: Role of Lactate as an Energy Source▿

Streptococcus pneumoniae was shown to possess lactate oxidase in addition to well-documented pyruvate oxidase. The activities of both H2O2-forming oxidases in wild-type cultures were detectable even in the early exponential phase of growth and attained the highest levels in the early stationary phase. For each of these oxidases, a defective mutant was constructed and compared to the parent regarding the dynamics of pyruvate and lactate in aerobic cultures. The results obtained indicated that the energy-yielding metabolism in the wild type could be best described by the following scheme. (i) As long as glucose is available, approximately one-fourth of the pyruvate formed is converted to acetate by the sequential action of pyruvate oxidase and acetate kinase with acquisition of additional ATP; (ii) the rest of the pyruvate is reduced by lactate dehydrogenase to form lactate, with partial achievement of redox balance; (iii) the lactate is oxidized by lactate oxidase back to pyruvate, which is converted to acetate as described above; and (iv) the sequential reactions mentioned above continue to occur as long as lactate is present. As predicted by this model, exogenously added lactate was shown to increase the final growth yield in the presence of both oxidases

Method To Detect Only Live Bacteria during PCR Amplification ▿

Ethidium monoazide (EMA) is a DNA cross-linking agent and eukaryotic topoisomerase II poison. We previously reported that the treatment of EMA with visible light irradiation (EMA + Light) directly cleaved chromosomal DNA of Escherichia coli (T. Soejima, K. Iida, T. Qin, H. Taniai, M. Seki, A. Takade, and S. Yoshida, Microbiol. Immunol. 51:763-775, 2007). Herein, we report that EMA + Light randomly cleaved chromosomal DNA of heat-treated, but not live, Listeria monocytogenes cells within 10 min of treatment. When PCR amplified DNA that was 894 bp in size, PCR final products from 108 heat-treated L. monocytogenes were completely suppressed by EMA + Light. When target DNA was short (113 bp), like the hly gene of L. monocytogenes, DNA amplification was not completely suppressed by EMA + Light only. Thus, we used DNA gyrase/topoisomerase IV and mammalian topoisomerase poisons (here abbreviated as T-poisons) together with EMA + Light. T-poisons could penetrate heat-treated, but not live, L. monocytogenes cells within 30 min to cleave chromosomal DNA by poisoning activity. The PCR product of the hly gene from 108 heat-treated L. monocytogenes cells was inhibited by a combination of EMA + Light and T-poisons (EMA + Light + T-poisons), but those from live bacteria were not suppressed. As a model for clinical application to bacteremia, we tried to discriminate live and antibiotic-treated L. monocytogenes cells present in human blood. EMA + Light + T-poisons completely suppressed the PCR product from 103 to 107 antibiotic-treated L. monocytogenes cells but could detect 102 live bacteria. Considering the prevention and control of food poisoning, this method was applied to discriminate live and heat-treated L. monocytogenes cells spiked into pasteurized milk. EMA + Light + T-poisons inhibited the PCR product from 103 to 107 heat-treated cells but could detect 101 live L. monocytogenes cells. Our method is useful in clinical as well as food hygiene tests