Does anatomic resection improve the postoperative outcomes of solitary hepatocellular carcinomas located on the liver surface?

Background

It is unclear whether anatomic resection achieves better outcomes than nonanatomic resection in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. This study aimed to compare the outcomes of anatomic resection and nonanatomic resection for hepatocellular carcinoma located on the liver surface via one-to-one propensity score-matching analysis.

Upregulation of CD80 on glomerular podocytes plays an important role in development of proteinuria following pig‐to‐baboon xeno‐renal transplantation – an experimental study

We have previously reported that co‐transplantation of the kidney with vascularized donor thymus from α‐1,3‐galactosyltransferase gene knockout pigs with an anti‐CD154 with rituximab‐based regimen led to improved xenograft survival in baboons with donor‐specific unresponsiveness. However, nephrotic syndrome emerged as a complication in which the glomeruli showed mild mesangial expansion with similarities to minimal change disease (MCD) in humans. Since MCD is associated with CD80 expression in glomeruli and elevated urinary excretion, we evaluated a potential role for CD80 in xenograft nephropathy. Study 1 confirmed high urinary CD80 excretion in nephrotic animals with renal xenografts showing CD80 expression in glomeruli. In Study 2, baboons receiving xenografts received CTLA4‐Ig once a week from the second postoperative week or no CTLA4‐Ig. The non‐CTLA4‐Ig group developed severe proteinuria with modest mesangial expansion with high urinary excretion of CD80 and documented CD80 expression in glomerular podocytes. All of the recipients in non‐CTLA4‐Ig groups had to be euthanized before POD 60. In contrast, CTLA4‐Ig group showed a marked reduction in proteinuria and survived significantly longer, up to 193 days. These results demonstrate that anti‐CD80 targeted therapy represents a promising strategy for reduction of proteinuria following renal xeno‐transplantation with improved survival.     

Determination of the 5′-terminal sequence of subgenomic RNA of hepatitis E virus strains in cultured cells

Using RNA preparations extracted from PLC/PRF/5 cells transfected with infectious genotype 3 hepatitis E virus (HEV) cDNA clones or inoculated with a fecal suspension containing a genotype 4 HEV, the 5′-terminal sequence of a 2.2-kb subgenomic RNA of genotype 3 and 4 HEVs was determined. Despite an insertion of T after nucleotide 5116 or an ORF3-null mutation in genotype 4 HEV and/or one of the genotype 3 variants, it was found that the subgenomic RNA of genotype 3 and 4 HEVs initiates exclusively at nucleotide 5122 with the common sequence of 5′-GC, which is identical to that of the prototype genotype 1 HEV.     

Reaction time to peripheral visual stimuli during exercise under normoxia and hyperoxia

The purpose of this study was to test if increased oxygen availability affected simple reaction time (RT) to peripheral visual stimuli during exercise. Twelve male participants performed RT tasks at rest, during cycling with three different workloads (100, 150, and 200 W), and after exercise. We fractionated RT into Premotor time and Motor time. Under normoxia, Premotor time significantly increased during exercise at 200 W (mean ± SD, 224.7 ± 34.8 ms) relative to that at rest (213.3 ± 34.1 ms) (P < 0.05). In contrast, we found no difference in Premotor time between at rest (214.0 ± 27.0 ms) and at 200 W (213.0 ± 21.6 ms) under hyperoxia. Furthermore, Premotor time significantly decreased at 150 W (201.3 ± 22.4 ms) relative to that at rest under hyperoxia (P < 0.05). These results suggest that increased oxygen availability during exercise has beneficial effects on perceptual performance.     

Variable number of tandem repeat polymorphisms of DRD4: re-evaluation of selection hypothesis and analysis of association with schizophrenia

Associations have been reported between the variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphisms in the exon 3 of dopamine D4 receptor gene gene and multiple psychiatric illnesses/traits. We examined the distribution of VNTR alleles of different length in a Japanese cohort and found that, as reported earlier, the size of allele ‘7R'' was much rarer (0.5%) in Japanese than in Caucasian populations (∼20%). This presents a challenge to an earlier proposed hypothesis that positive selection favoring the allele 7R has contributed to its high frequency. To further address the issue of selection, we carried out sequencing of the VNTR region not only from human but also from chimpanzee samples, and made inference on the ancestral repeat motif and haplotype by use of a phylogenetic analysis program. The most common 4R variant was considered to be the ancestral haplotype as earlier proposed. However, in a gene tree of VNTR constructed on the basis of this inferred ancestral haplotype, the allele 7R had five descendent haplotypes in relatively long lineage, where genetic drift can have major influence. We also tested this length polymorphism for association with schizophrenia, studying two Japanese sample sets (one with 570 cases and 570 controls, and the other with 124 pedigrees). No evidence of association between the allele 7R and schizophrenia was found in any of the two data sets. Collectively, this study suggests that the VNTR variation does not have an effect large enough to cause either selection or a detectable association with schizophrenia in a study of samples of moderate size.