Angiopoietins and angiopoietin-like proteins in angiogenesis.

Vascular network formation requires several endothelial cell growth factors. These factors have a potent angiogenic effect, and their precise coordination is essential for vascular development. Among them, angiopoietins function through the Tie2 receptor, whose signaling is critical to regulate vascular stabilization and remodeling. It has been reported that the angiopoietin/Tie2 signal is involved in survival and migration of endothelial cells and regulates vascular remodeling and maintenance of vascular integrity. More recent studies demonstrate that angiopoietin/Tie2 signaling is also required for lymphangiogenesis. The authors and several other groups have identified six angiopoietin-like proteins (Angptls) containing a coiled-coil domain and a fibrinogen-like domain, both of which are characteristic of angiopoietins. Interestingly, Angptls also function in angiogenesis through regulating survival and migration of endothelial cells, although Angptls do not bind the angiopoietin receptor Tie2. Currently, Angptls are orphan ligands, but they have been reported to have pleiotropic effects not only on vascular cells but also on metabolism and tumor biology. Here, the authors review current findings relating to the roles of angiopoietins and Angptls in vascular biology and discuss molecular mechanisms relevant to these factors and angiogenesis.     

Gastric juvenile polyposis associated with germline SMAD4 mutation

We treated a 39-year-old woman with hypoproteinemia and anemia who had profuse gastric polyposis. Radiographic and endoscopic examination showed numerous polyps restricted to the stomach. The patient had pulmonary arteriovenous malformations in the left lung. Histological examination of the resected stomach revealed the gastric polyposis to be composed of cystic dilatation of the glands with small areas of adenocarcinoma. These findings were compatible with gastric juvenile polyposis (GJP) accompanied by gastric cancer. Analysis of genomic DNA revealed that the patient had truncating mutation of SMAD4, a responsible gene for juvenile polyposis (JP). Our case suggests that SMAD4 is possibly a responsible gene for GJP.     

Association between HLA and Japanese patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Japanese patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were observed to have a statistical association with HLA-DR4, MT3. Strong association between the clinical severity of RA and HLA was also observed. Male patients had a stronger association with HLA than female patients. Males are more resistant to RA than females. This suggested that the threshold of liability for RA is higher in males than in females. Japanese patients with RA with systemic vasculitis were negative for HLA-Bw44 and had antilymphocytotoxic autoantibody, indicating that RA with systemic vasculitis is different in etiology from RA without systemic vasculitis.     

Crossmodal attention between vision and touch in temporal order judgment task

Four experiments investigated the effects of cross-modal attention between vision and touch in temporal order judgment tasks combined with spatial cueing paradigm. In Experiment 1, two vibrotactile stimuli with simultaneous or successive onsets were presented bimanually to the left and right index fingers and participants were asked to judge the temporal order of the two stimuli. The tactile stimuli were preceded by a spatially uninformative visual cue. Results indicated that shift of spatial attention yielded by visual cueing resulted in the modulation of accuracy of the subsequent tactile temporal order judgment. However, this cueing effect disappeared when participants judged simultaneity of the two stimuli, instead of their temporal order (Experiment 2) or when the cue lead time between the visual cue and the stimuli was relatively long (Experiment 3). Experiment 4 replicated an effect of crossmodal attention on the direction of visual illusory line motion induced by a somatosensory cue (Shimojo, Miyauchi, & Hikosaka, 1997). These results demonstrate that substantial crossmodal links exist between vision and touch for covert exogenous orienting of attention.     

Detection of the Epstein-Barr virus in primary gastric lymphoma by in situ hybridization

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been shown to be associated with numerous human malignancies including Burktt's lymphoma and nasopharyngeal lymphoepithelioma. In addition, some typical gastric adenocarcinomas were also recently reported to demonstrate EBV relevance. The present study was designed to detect EBV in primary gastric lymphoma, using the in situ hybridization (ISH) method, in which oligo-nucleotide probes for the EBERl RNA and the EBV DNA W region have been used. Of the 49 cases of primary gastric lymphoma studied, which all showed B cell immunopheno-type, EBER1 sequences could only be found in four cases, including two low-grade cases and two high-grade cases of histological subtypes while the number of positive cells was less than 50% of the tumor cells. In one case of low-grade mucosa associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma, the EBER1 -positive neoplastic cells were found in the regional lymph node, but the primary site of the stomach showed no positive signals. The EBV presence was further confirmed by the EBV DNA ISH. Using the ISH method, rare or occasional positive lymphoid cells (probably non-tumorous bystander cells) could be detected in 10 other cases including all histological subtypes. The present study shows that only a small proportion of primary gastric lymphoma is associated with EBV, and such positive cases could be found in both high- and low-grade histological subtypes. It is also suggested that the EBV presence in the neoplastic cells of some cases of primary gastric lymphoma is most likely a secondary phenomenon.     

Kinetics of hepatic transport of 4-methylumbelliferone in rats. Analysis by multiple indicator dilution method

Hepatic elimination of 4-methylumbelliferone (4MU), which has been used as a model compound for conjugative metabolism, was studied by means of a multiple indicator dilution (MID) method in the isolated perfused rat liver. Using this method, three intrinsic hepatic clearances, CL _int,inf , CL _{int,eff, and} CL _{int,seq, which represent the influx, efflux, and sequestration processes, respectively, were obtained. When the dose was increased from a low dose (50 g/rat liver) to a high dose (3000 g/rat liver), the hepatic availability of 4MU increased from 0.11 to 0.73. With increasing dose, the} CL _{int,eff value increased approximately two times, while the} CL _{int,seq value decreased to approximately one-third. The remarkable dose dependence of hepatic availability was due to nonlinearity in both} CL _{int,eff and} CL _{int,seq values. However, the} CL_int,inf value was almost independent of dose. The dose-dependent change in CL_int,seq might be explained by the saturation of conjugative metabolism of 4-MU, while the increase in the CL _{int,eff value with increasing dose might be partly explained by the nonlinear tissue binding of 4-MU, since the tissue unbound fraction determined by an ultrafiltration method using liver homogenate increased approximately 1.5 times at higher concentration of 4-MU compared to that at lower concentrations. In addition, based on a comparison of the individual intrinsic clearances, i.e.}, CL _int,inf , CL _{int,eff, and} CL _{int,seq, the major determining process of the apparent hepatic intrinsic clearance of 4MU is thought to be the sequestration process at the high dose. However, at the low dose, the membrane transport process (influx and efflux processes) as well as the sequestration process also determine the apparent hepatic intrinsic clearance}.     

Importance of Hydrostatic Pressure and Irrigation for Hemostasis in Neuroendoscopic Surgery

Recently neurosurgical operations have been carried out with water irrigation such as endoscopic third ventriculostomy and tumor resections in ventricles. Water irrigation is one of several published methods that promote hemostasis; however, not enough experimental evidence exists on its efficacy. In this study, we investigate whether hydrostatic pressure and persistent irrigation promote hemostasis in neuroendoscopic surgery. We dissected tails of 12–16-week-old C57BL/6 male mice at 5 mm proximal from the tip and checked for bleeding times under dry and wet conditions at pressures of 0 cmH₂O, 10 cmH₂O, 15 H₂O, and 20 cmH₂O without persistent irrigation to bleeding point and 10 cmH₂O with persistent irrigation. We then examined the dissected edge with hematoxylin–eosin staining and measured the size of vessels. The average bleeding time of each group is as follows: dry: 203.4 sec, wet: 164.4 sec, 5 cmH₂O: 138.6 sec, 10 cmH₂O: 104.6 sec (P <0.001), 20 cmH₂O: 56 sec (P <0.001), and 10 cmH₂O with persistent irrigation: 72.8 sec (P <0.01 compared to 10 cmH₂O without persistent irrigation). The maximum caliber of mice’s tail artery was 50–60 μm. Hydrostatic pressure and irrigation are important factors contributing to hemostasis.     

High HNRNPA3 expression is associated with lymph node metastasis and poor prognosis in patients treated with radical cystectomy

ObjectiveWe sought to identify heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A3 (HNRNPA3) expression in bladder cancer and its relationship to clinicopathological findings and prognosis.MethodsImmunohistochemical staining for HNRNPA3 was performed on 122 archived radical cystectomy specimens, with immunoreactivity being stratified on a 0 to 3 scale. The percentage of HNRNPA3 expressing tumor cells was calculated and multiplied by the staining score over an average of 5 areas to obtain a semiquantitative H-score (maximum value: 300). HNRNPA3 expression was categorized as high (≥80) or low (<80).ResultsThe patients’ median age was 70 years, and the median follow-up period was 39.4 months. High HNRNPA3 expression was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis (P= 0.014) and S100A8, S100A9 and uroplakin III expression (P= 0.028, 0.002, and 0.047, respectively). Log-rank tests indicated that high HNRNPA3 expression was significantly associated with disease progression and cancer-specific death (P= 0.013 and 0.006, respectively). In the Cox proportional hazards regression analysis, only lymph node metastasis was associated with disease progression and cancer-specific survival.ConclusionHNRNPA3 may be a new biomarker to predict biologically aggressive cancers and determine the appropriate treatment modality in patients after radical cystectomy.     

Anti-pruritic effect of nemolizumab in hemodialysis patients with uremic pruritus: a phase II,randomized, double-blind,placebo-controlled clinical study

Clinical and Experimental Nephrology - The pathophysiology of uremic pruritus (UP), which is characterized by systemic and intractable itching, remains unclear. As interleukin (IL)-31 may be...