Adhesion after Y-split procedure can affect its mechanism for treating overshoots in Duane’s syndrome

Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology - To investigate the extent of adhesion and changes in the Y configuration after the Y-split procedure, compared with the posterior...     

Split liver transplantation for retroperitoneal immature teratoma masquerading as hepatoblastoma

Extragonadal teratoma originating from the retroperitoneum represents less than 5% of all teratomas and accounts for less than 10% of all pediatric retroperitoneal neoplasms. To date, there has been no report of teratoma managed with LT. This study reports an infant aged 3 months with retroperitoneal immature teratoma involving the hepatic hilum, refractory to chemotherapy and treated with LT. The patient was referred to our hospital for management of a growing abdominal mass. Histopathology of a fine needle biopsy of the lesion suggested the possibility of a hepatoblastoma with teratoid features. Cisplatin‐based chemotherapy was initiated, but rapid growth of the tumor encasing the hepatic artery proper was detected, even after two cycles of chemotherapy. A split LT was carried out, and pathological examination of the explanted liver revealed the involvement of numerous neuroepithelial components, confirming the diagnosis of a Norris grade 3 immature teratoma. The patient recovered well and was discharged on day 19 post‐LT. As on date, on postoperative day 240, he has completed seven cycles of a 12‐cycle vinblastine and doxorubicin‐based adjuvant chemotherapy.     

Brassinin,a phytoalexin in cruciferous vegetables,suppresses obesity‐induced inflammatory responses through the Nrf2‐HO‐1 signaling pathway in an adipocyte‐macrophage co‐culture system

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of brassinin (BR), a phytoalexin found in plants belonging to the Brassicaceae family, on the obesity‐induced inflammatory response and its molecular mechanism in co‐culture of 3T3‐L1 adipocytes and RAW264.7 macrophages. BR effectively suppressed lipid accumulation by down‐regulating the expression of adipogenic factors, which in turn, were regulated by early adipogenic factors such as CCAAT‐enhancer‐binding protein‐β and Kruppel‐like factor 2. Production of inflammatory cytokines and reactive oxygen species, induced by adipocyte‐conditioned medium, was significantly decreased in BR‐treated cells. This effect of BR was more prominent in contact co‐culture of adipocytes and macrophages with a 90% and 34% reduction in IL‐6 and MCP‐1 levels, respectively. BR also restored adiponectin expression, which was significantly reduced by culturing adipocytes in macrophage‐conditioned medium. In the transwell system, BR increased the protein levels of nuclear factor (erythroid‐derived 2)‐like 2 (Nrf2) and its target molecule, hemoxygenase‐1 (HO‐1), by 55%–93% and 45%–48%, respectively, and also increased Nrf2 translocation into the nucleus. However, knockdown of Nrf2 or HO‐1 in RAW264.7 cells restored this BR‐mediated inhibition of IL‐6 and MCP‐1 production. These results indicated that BR inhibited obesity‐induced inflammation via the Nrf2‐HO‐1 pathway.     

Beneficial effects of the Src inhibitor,dasatinib, on breakdown of the blood-retinal barrier

Src kinase signaling is important in the regulation of microvascular barrier function and endothelial hyperpermeability. This study was designed to evaluate the protective effect of dasatinib, a potent Src inhibitor used clinically for the treatment of cancer, against the breakdown of the blood-retinal barrier (BRB) and the retinal vascular leakage caused by vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and diabetes. We examined the effects of dasatinib on VEGF-induced endothelial hyperpermeability and the loss of vascular endothelial (VE)-cadherin, an endothelial junctional protein. Dasatinib inhibited VEGF-induced phosphorylation of Src in human retinal microvascular endothelial cells (HRMECs). In vitro and in vivo vascular permeability assays showed that dasatinib blocked the VEGF-enhanced hyperpermeability of HRMECs and decreased VEGF-mediated retinal vascular leakage in mice. Immunofluorescent staining of VE-cadherin showed that dasatinib abolished the junctional disappearance of VE-cadherin in VEGF-treated HRMECs and murine retinal vasculature. In addition, we examined the protective effect of dasatinib against diabetes-induced retinal vascular leakage in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. An intravitreal injection of dasatinib substantially inhibited the development of hyperpermeable retinal vasculature. Our results indicate that dasatinib is a promising agent for the prevention and treatment of diabetes-induced retinal vascular leakage.     

Prognostic impact of cytological fluid tumor markers in non-small cell lung cancer

Tumor Biology - The serum tumor markers CYFRA 21–1, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), and squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA) are useful in diagnosis and prognosis of non-small cell lung...     

Is preoperative staging enough to guide lymph node dissection in clinically early gastric cancer?

Gastric Cancer - Limited by the accuracy of preoperative staging, some cases of gastric cancer invading the muscularis propria (pT2) are underestimated as early gastric cancer (EGC) in the...     

The detectability of brain metastases using contrast-enhanced spin-echo or gradient-echo images: a systematic review and meta-analysis

This study aimed to compare the detectability of brain metastases using contrast-enhanced spin-echo (SE) and gradient-echo (GRE) T1-weighted images. The Ovid-MEDLINE and EMBASE databases were searched for studies on the detectability of brain metastases using contrast-enhanced SE or GRE images. The pooled proportions for the detectability of brain metastases were assessed using random-effects modeling. Heterogeneity among studies was determined using χ² statistics for the pooled estimates and the inconsistency index, I². To overcome heterogeneity, subgroup analyses according to slice thickness and lesion size were performed. A total of eight eligible studies, which included a sample size of 252 patients and 1413 brain metastases, were included. The detectability of brain metastases using SE images (89.2?%) was higher than using GRE images (81.6?%; adjusted 84.0?%), but this difference was not statistically significant (p?=?0.2385). In subgroup analysis of studies with 1-mm-thick slices and small metastases (<5 mm in diameter), 3-dimensional (3D) SE images demonstrated a higher detectability in comparison to 3D GRE images (93.7?% vs 73.1?% in 1-mm-thick slices; 89.5?% vs 59.4?% for small metastases) (p?相似文献   

The infinite sites model of genome evolution

We formalize the problem of recovering the evolutionary history of a set of genomes that are related to an unseen common ancestor genome by operations of speciation, deletion, insertion, duplication, and rearrangement of segments of bases. The problem is examined in the limit as the number of bases in each genome goes to infinity. In this limit, the chromosomes are represented by continuous circles or line segments. For such an infinite-sites model, we present a polynomial-time algorithm to find the most parsimonious evolutionary history of any set of related present-day genomes.     

Bilateral coronary artery fistula and communication between two fistulas identified on multidetector computed tomography in patient with coronary artery disease

In this case report, we describe a 59-year-old man with stentotic lesion of mid LAD and connection of bilateral coronary artery to pulmonary artery with some communications between two fistulas identified on multidetector computed tomography.