Suppressive Effect of Juzen-Taiho-To on Lung Metastasis of B16 Melanoma Cells In Vivo

Juzen-Taiho-To (JTT) is well known to be one of Kampo (Japanese herbal) medicine consisted of 10 component herbs and used for the supplemental therapy of cancer patients with remarkably success. However, the precise mechanisms by which JTT could favorably modify the clinical conditions of cancer patients are not well defined. The present study, therefore, was undertaken to examine the possible mechanisms of JTT on prevention of cancer metastasis using experimental mouse model. JTT was well mixed with rodent chow at concentrations of either 0.2 or 1.0%, and administered orally ad libitum, which was started 1 week before tumor cell injection and continue throughout the experiment. Oral administration of JTT at concentration 0.2 and 1.0% into C57BL/6 male mice significantly inhibited tumor metastasis in lungs, which was induced by the intravenous injection of 2 × 105 B16 melanoma cell. JTT at a concentration of 1.0% also significantly suppressed lung metastasis of B16 melanoma cell from hind footpad in C57BL/6 mice. In the second part of experiments, the influence of the depression of natural killer (NK) cell, natural killer T (NKT) cell and several types of cytokines on JTT-mediated inhibition of tumor cell metastasis. Intraperitoneal injection of anti asialo-GM1 antibody against NK cells and anti NK-1.1 monoclonal antibody (mAb) to NKT cells abrogated the inhibitory action of JTT on lung metastasis of B16 melanoma cells. Although intraperitoneal administration of anti-IFN-γ mAb scarcely affected the inhibitory action of JTT on tumor cell metastasis, injection of amrinone, which used for IL-12 suppression, significantly decreased the ability of JTT to prevent tumor cell metastasis. These results strongly suggest that oral administration of JTT caused increase in the production of IL-12, which is responsible for the activation of both NK cell and NKT cell, in the lungs and results in inhibition of B16 melanoma cell metastasis in the lungs

Time Dependent Magnetization of an Al-1.6%Mg₂Si Alloy

New observations of time dependent magnetization of an Al-1.6%Mg2Si alloy over a range of constant temperatures between 250 K and 310 K are presented. The post solution heat treatment time variations of magnetization at 300 and 310 K increased with time out to about 1300 minutes, whereas those at 280 and 290 K showed minima around 150 and 50 minutes, respectively. The magnetization at 250 K initially decreased slightly and then became constant with time. The observed time variations of magnetization are explained in terms of clustering reactions of the Mg, Si and vacancies

Microstructure of Erbium Oxide Thin Film on SUS316 Substrate with Y₂O₃ or CeO₂ Buffer Layers Formed by MOCVD Method

Er2O3 has been known the best candidate material for insulating coating for liquid metal breeding blanket system. The formation of Er2O3 layer by MOCVD method can be succeeded on SUS316 substrate with CeO2 and Y2O3 buffer layers (100 nm and 500 nm) fabricated by RF sputtering, and their microstructures have been confirmed by SEM, TEM and STEM. The surface morphology of their layers was smaller granular structure than the previous study without buffer layer. According to cross sectional TEM (X-TEM) observation, Er2O3, CeO2/Y2O3 buffer, unknown layers and SUS substrate can be confirmed. CeO2 buffer layer has a granular structure, while Y2O3 has a columnar structure. Er2O3 layer formed on each buffer layer had finer structure without buffer layer. It has been also detected that each element does not exist so much in each layer by diffusion during fabrication according to STEM-EDS and HAADF imaging

Dislocation after Hemiarthroplasty due to Insufficiency Fracture of the Superior Acetabulum: A Case Report

Insufficiency fracture of the superior part of the acetabulum after hemiarthroplasty has not been reported before. Here we report a case of dislocation after hemiarthroplaty due to insufficiency fracture of the acetabulum. In our patient, insufficiency fracture of the ilium immediately above the acetabulum produced obvious evidence of compression and collapse that led to dislocation of the outer head of the femoral component. This patient had subsequently been treated with a cementless socket inserted into the fractured acetabulum. We should remember the possibility of insufficiency fracture of the superior acetabulum after hemiarthroplasty, particularly in elderly patients suffering from chronic postoperative pain and disability

Early Stage Clustering Behavior in Al-Mg-Si Alloys Observed via Time Dependent Magnetization

Time dependent magnetization of Al-0.67 at.%Mg-0.73 at.%Si, Al-1.07 at.%Mg-0.33 at.%Si and Al-1.07 at.%Mg-0.53 at.%Si alloys are presented over a range of constant temperatures between 250 and 320 K. The magnetization vs. time curves for the samples show minima for temperatures near 290 K. The observed times at which the magnetization minima occur were found to depend on both the solute concentrations and the measurement temperatures. From these results the activation energies from the Si-rich clustering stage to the Mg-Si co-clustering stage were extracted. The deduced activation energies were found to be comparable to those from the positron annihilation measurements, depending on the solute concentrations

μSR study of Al-0.67%Mg-0.77%Si alloys

Zero-field muon spin relaxation measurements were carried out with Al-0.67%Mg- 0.77%Si alloys in the temperature range from 20 K to 300 K. Observed relaxation spectra were compared with the relaxation functions calculated by a Monte Carlo simulation with four fitting parameters: the dipolar width, trapping rate, detrapping rate and fraction of initially trapped muons. From the fitting, the temperature variations of the trapping rates reveal that there are three temperature regions concerning muon kinetics. In the low temperature region below 120 K, muons appeared to be trapped in a shallow potential yielded by dissolved Mg atoms, and thus little effect of heat treatment of the samples was observed, while in the mid and hightemperature regions, the trapping rates clearly depended on the heat treatment of the samples suggesting muon-cluster and/or muon-vacancy interactions

Differences in the motion of typically developing children aged 4–6 years putting on trousers in a standing position

　This study was designed to assess differences in the motion of putting on trousers in a standing position in typically developing children aged 4–6 years, and to find a relation between it and single-leg standing.　Participants in this study were 50 typically developing children (28 boys and 22 girls; 4.5±0.4 years, 5.5±0.3 years, 6.6±0.3 years). They performed two tasks: 10 s single-leg standing and putting on trousers in a standing position.　Based on the motion characteristics, the motions of putting on trousers were classified three types. Compared to types 1 and 2, type 3 showed that participants flexed their trunk, grasped the waistline of the trousers near the support leg knee, and fixed the trousers and extended swing leg to fit the trousers. These motion characteristics decreased the total time, path length, and anterior-posterior（AP）maximum displacement while putting on trousers. Moreover, the age increased as the type changing from 1 to 3. When standing on a single leg, the single-leg standing time increased, as did the path velocity, the AP and medial-lateral direction velocity and maximum displacement decreased as the type changing from 1 to 3.　These results suggested that the three types motion of putting on trousers in a standing position matured by age for typically developing children aged 4–6 years. The types were related with the ability to stand on a single leg