Effects of HLA-DRB1 alleles on susceptibility and clinical manifestations in Japanese patients with adult onset Still’s disease

BackgroundHLA-DRB1 alleles are major determinants of genetic predisposition to rheumatic diseases. We assessed whether DRB1 alleles are associated with susceptibility to particular clinical features of adult onset Still’s disease (AOSD) in a Japanese population by determining the DRB1 allele distributions.MethodsDRB1 genotyping of 96 patients with AOSD and 1,026 healthy controls was performed. Genomic DNA samples from the AOSD patients were also genotyped for MEFV exons 1, 2, 3, and 10 by direct sequencing.ResultsIn Japanese patients with AOSD, we observed a predisposing association of DRB1*15:01 (p = 8.60 × 10−6, corrected p (Pc) = 0.0002, odds ratio (OR) = 3.04, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 1.91–4.84) and DR5 serological group (p = 0.0006, OR = 2.39, 95% CI = 1.49–3.83) and a protective association of DRB1*09:01 (p = 0.0004, Pc = 0.0110, OR = 0.34, 95% CI = 0.18–0.66) with AOSD, and amino acid residues 86 and 98 of the DRβ chain were protectively associated with AOSD. MEFV variants were identified in 49 patients with AOSD (56.3%). The predisposing effect of DR5 was confirmed only in patients with AOSD who had MEFV variants and not in those without MEFV variants. Additionally, DR5 in patients with AOSD are associated with macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) and steroid pulse therapy.ConclusionThe DRB1*15:01 and DR5 are both associated with AOSD susceptibility in Japanese subjects. A protective association between the DRB1*09:01 allele and AOSD was also observed in these patients. Our data also highlight the effects of DRB1 alleles in susceptibility to AOSD

Unique Temporal Expression of Triplicated Long-Wavelength Opsins in Developing Butterfly Eyes

Following gene duplication events, the expression patterns of the resulting gene copies can often diverge both spatially and temporally. Here we report on gene duplicates that are expressed in distinct but overlapping patterns, and which exhibit temporally divergent expression. Butterflies have sophisticated color vision and spectrally complex eyes, typically with three types of heterogeneous ommatidia. The eyes of the butterfly Papilio xuthus express two green- and one red-absorbing visual pigment, which came about via gene duplication events, in addition to one ultraviolet (UV)- and one blue-absorbing visual pigment. We localized mRNAs encoding opsins of these visual pigments in developing eye disks throughout the pupal stage. The mRNAs of the UV and blue opsin are expressed early in pupal development (pd), specifying the type of the ommatidium in which they appear. Red sensitive photoreceptors first express a green opsin mRNA, which is replaced later by the red opsin mRNA. Broadband photoreceptors (that coexpress the green and red opsins) first express the green opsin mRNA, later change to red opsin mRNA and finally re-express the green opsin mRNA in addition to the red mRNA. Such a unique temporal and spatial expression pattern of opsin mRNAs may reflect the evolution of visual pigments and provide clues toward understanding how the spectrally complex eyes of butterflies evolved

〈Originals〉Glycemic variability and insufficient lipid control as predictors for mid-term progression of coronary atherosclerosis in patients with early diabetes: Analysis with serial continuous glucose monitoring

[Abstract] Background: The incidence of coronary events is higher in patients with diabetes, even after statin therapy. Recently, glycemic variability assessed by continuous glucose monitoring (CGM)has been suggested to be associated with the progression of coronary atherosclerosis in these patients. Therefore, we prospectively followed patients using serial CGM and coronary angiography(CAG)over 10 months. Methods and Results: This was a prospective observational study of 27 patients with coronary artery disease(CAD)and early stage diabetes (including impaired glucose tolerance). The progression of coronary artery percent stenosis by CAG was observed in 12 patients(the progression group). Assessment of baseline characteristics indicated that a higher mean amplitude of glycemic excursion (MAGE),an index of glycemic variability, was associated with disease progression (P＝0.023). Although low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C) levels were significantly decreased during the 10 months, the progression group showed higher LDL-C at follow-up(P＝0.037).In addition, only patients without progression showed increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C)during the 10 months. Consequently, a high LDL-C/HDLC ratio at follow-up was associated with progression(P＝0.012). However, these were not associated with changes in plaque burden or necrotic core volume on virtual histology-intravascular ultrasound. Conclusions: In Japanese patients with CAD and early stage diabetes receiving statin therapy, both glycemic variability (MAGE) at baseline and a high LDL-C/HDL-C ratio at follow-up were predictors for mid-term progression of coronary atherosclerosis. The strategies for modifying these predictors, and the effects on the progression of coronary atherosclerosis need to be explored further

Improvement of insulation performance of solid/gas composite insulation with embedded electrode

Solid insulated switchgear (SIS) has been developed as a substitution for medium voltage sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) gas insulated switchgears. Its main circuit including a vacuum interrupter is coated with epoxy resin. Therefore, a solid/gas insulation system is composed. For further miniaturization and higher stress design of SIS, improvement of the insulation performance is required. In the solid/gas insulation system, the breakdown strength along the surface is lower than that of solid. Then, the authors investigated the surface insulation performance of the solid/gas insulation system containing an embedded electrode. In the present study, the sizes of the embedded electrode and the solid insulation material were varied and the partial discharge inception voltage and the surface breakdown voltage were measured. As a result, it was found that the surface breakdown voltage varied considerably with the radius of the embedded electrode. From the result, it was deduced that the surface insulation performance could be improved by choosing the size of the embedded electrode appropriately. Moreover, the effects of the thickness of the insulation material and of the surface distance on the surface insulation performance were clarified