Emotional state and coping style among gynecologic patients undergoing surgery

The aim of the present study was to investigate changes in emotional state and the relationship between emotional state and demographic/clinical factors and coping style among gynecologic patients undergoing surgery. Using the Japanese version of the Profile of Mood States (POMS), 90 patients (benign disease: 32, malignancy: 58) were examined on three occasions: before surgery, before discharge, and 3 months after discharge. They were also examined using the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) on one occasion before discharge. The scores for the subscales depression, anger, and confusion were the highest after discharge while those for anxiety were the highest before surgery. The average scores of the POMS subscales for all subjects were within the normal range. With regard to the relationship between these emotional states and other factors, multiple regressions showed that the principal determinants of anxiety before surgery were religious belief, psychological symptoms during hospitalization and emotion-oriented (E) coping style; further, it was found that depression after discharge could be explained by chemotherapy, duration of hospitalization, and E coping style. The principal determinants of anger after discharge and vigor before surgery were length of education and E coping style, and severity of disease, chemotherapy, E coping style and task-oriented coping style, respectively. Those of post-discharge fatigue and confusion were length of education, psychological symptoms, and E coping style. In summary it is suggested that the following should be taken into account in patients undergoing gynecologic surgery: anxiety before surgery, depression, anger, and confusion after surgery, including coping styles.     

Immunohistochemical expression of epidermal growth factor receptor in breast cancer

Background  

Molecular-targeting drugs able to treat breast cancer expressing epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) would be clinically valuable. The aim of the current study was to determine the further significance of immunohistochemical expression of EGFR in breast cancer.     

Encapsulated follicular thyroid tumor with equivocal nuclear changes, so-called well-differentiated tumor of uncertain malignant potential: a morphological, immunohistochemical, and molecular appraisal

There is a continuous debate regarding the classification of thyroid follicular lesions and the term "well-differentiated tumor of uncertain malignant potential (WDT-UMP)" was recently introduced to cover this problematic spectrum of tumors. The objective of this study was to reappraise WDT-UMP using morphological, immunochemical, and molecular analysis and to shed more light on encapsulated thyroid follicular-patterned tumors. A total of 30 cases of WDT-UMP with equivocal papillary thyroid carcinoma-type nuclear changes (PTC-N) or focal unequivocal PTC-N were examined. As a control, follicular adenoma (n = 29), follicular carcinoma (n = 8), hyalinizing trabecular adenoma (n = 5), and PTC (n = 48) were included. HBME-1, cytokeratin 19, and galectin-3 were positive in 12 (40.0%), 10 (33.3%) and 11 (36.7%) cases of WDT-UMP, respectively. According to the positivity of those markers, significant differences were obtained between WDT-UMP and PTC encapsulated common type (P = 0.028, 0.010, and 0.004, respectively), infiltrative follicular variant (P = 0.020, 0.026, and 0.008, respectively), and infiltrative common type (P = 0.004, 0.001, and 0.005, respectively), but not between WDT-UMP and follicular adenoma or follicular carcinoma. BRAF(V600E) mutation was absent but RET/PTC1 rearrangement was found in only two (6.7%) cases of WDT-UMP. None of the 20 patients with WDT-UMP developed recurrence, with an average follow-up of 80 months. These findings indicate that WDT-UMP has a favorable outcome and is distinct from PTC in morphological, immunohistochemical, and molecular characteristics. We propose that WDT-UMP should be classified as "well-differentiated tumor with uncertain behavior".     

3D and 4D sonographic imaging of amniotic band syndrome in early pregnancy

We present a case of amniotic band syndrome diagnosed with two-dimensional (2D), three-dimensional (3D), and four-dimensional (4D) sonography at 14 weeks and 5 days of gestation. Conventional 2D sonography revealed multiple amniotic bands, fetal acrania, deformed hand, gastroschisis, kyphoscoliosis, and club foot. 3D and 4D sonography revealed multiple amniotic bands swinging in the amniotic cavity with 1 of them attached to the fetal head, and the severe deformity of the fetal face.     

Context-specific sensitization of cocaine-induced locomotor activity and associated neuronal ensembles in rat nucleus accumbens

Repeated cocaine administration to rats outside their home cage induces behavioral sensitization that is strongly modulated by the drug administration environment. We hypothesized that stimuli in the drug administration environment activate specific sets of striatal neurons, called neuronal ensembles, for further cocaine-enhanced activation, and that repeated activation of these neuronal ensembles underlies context-specific sensitization. In the present study, we repeatedly administered cocaine or saline to rats on alternate days in two distinct environments outside the home cage, one paired with cocaine and the other with saline. On test day, cocaine challenge injections in the cocaine-paired environment produced strongly enhanced levels of locomotor activity, while cocaine challenge injections in the saline-paired environment did not. The corresponding record of past neuronal activation in nucleus accumbens and caudate-putamen during repeated drug administration was assessed using FosB immunohistochemistry, while acute neuronal activation on test day was assessed using c-fos in situ hybridization. Although only 2% of striatal neurons were FosB labeled, 87% of these FosB-labeled neurons were co-labeled with c-fos when cocaine was injected in the cocaine-paired environment. The degree of co-labeling was significantly less following cocaine or saline challenge injections in the saline-paired environment. Furthermore, the total number of c-fos -labeled neurons was greater with either cocaine or saline challenge injections in the cocaine-paired environment than in the saline-paired environment. These findings demonstrate that the drug administration environment partly determines which striatal neuronal ensembles are activated, and to what extent, following context-specific sensitization to cocaine.     

Repopulation of cochlear macrophages in murine hematopoietic progenitor cell chimeras: the role of CX3CR1

Cochlear macrophages have been shown to accumulate in the murine cochlea following acoustic trauma. This investigation was performed to determine whether cochlear macrophages could be replaced by donor transplantation of bone marrow precursors. Lethally irradiated C57BL/6 mice were transplanted with hematopoietic precursors from CX3CR1(GFP/GFP) fetal mice. CX3CR1(GFP/GFP) mice express green fluorescent protein (GFP) in monocytes and macrophages and possess no functional CX3CR1. Donor monocytes and macrophages can be easily traced in the wild-type recipient with fluorescent microscopy. We studied mice at 2-16 weeks after transplantation to assess repopulation of cochlear macrophages. A separate group of chimeras was exposed to octave band noise (8-16 kHz for 2 hours) 2 weeks after transplantation to evaluate the migration properties of donor hematopoietic precursors. We found that macrophages derived from donor hematopoietic precursors appeared in cochlea 3-4 weeks after transplantation and increased week by week. Noise exposure induced a massive accumulation of leukocytes, particularly in the spiral ligament of the basal turn. There was no difference between CX3CR1(GFP/GFP) donor/wild-type recipient chimeras and the wild-type donor/wild-type recipient chimeras in hearing thresholds, accumulation of cochlear macrophages, or tissue injury after noise exposure. These data indicate that cochlear macrophages are derived from bone marrow precursors and that they are an exchanging and migratory population. Furthermore, CX3CR1 in hematopoietic precursors is not necessary for macrophage migration into cochlea and when deleted in this cell population, the absence of CX3CR1 does not substantially effect the outcomes after noise.     

Isolation of microsatellite loci from the millipede, Brachycybe nodulosa Verhoeff

Brachycybe nodulosa is a fungivorous millipede that distributed in Japan and Korea. This species shows patchy distributions and the exclusive paternal care of eggs, and thus is an important subject for both conservation and evolutionary biology. Thirteen polymorphic microsatellite loci were newly isolated from the taxon. Moderate to high levels of polymorphism were observed, with numbers of alleles ranged from 2 to 10. The mean observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.200 to 1.000 and 0.405 to 0.886, respectively. Two loci showed lower heterozygosities than the expectation under HWE. No linkage disequilibrium was detected for any pair of the loci. These new loci will be useful in conservation genetics and evolutionary ecology studies of this species.