Intraoperative evaluation of sentinel lymph nodes in breast carcinoma by imprint cytology,frozen section and rapid immunohistochemistry

Sentinel lymph nodes (SLN) isolated in 40 patients of breast carcinoma (stage T₁/T₂) were evaluated intraoperatively by imprint cytology and frozen section. Rapid immunohistochemistry (IHC) was done in cases where both imprint smears and frozen sections were negative for any metastatic tumor deposits. The results of these different techniques were compared with postoperative paraffin sections taken as “Gold Standard.” Nottingham modification of Bloom Richardson scoring system was used for grading the tumors. Further, the correlation of the SLN status with tumor size, grade, and lymphovascular invasion was studied. The sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy of imprint cytology were 91.7, 100, and 95% respectively, and those of the frozen section were 95.8, 100, and 97.5% respectively. Examination of multiple serial sections improved the sensitivity and overall accuracy of frozen section. Results of intraoperative rapid IHC were equivalent to final paraffin sections. Histological grade and lymphovascular invasion were in direct correlation with SLN metastasis (P < 0.05). The risk of lymphovascular invasion increased from 22.2% in grade I tumors to 85.7% in grade III tumors. SLN biopsy is a reliable method to evaluate the status of the axillary lymph nodes. Imprint cytology can be used reliably where the facility of frozen section is not available. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Healing of Fatigue Crack by High-Density Electropulsing in Austenitic Stainless Steel Treated with the Surface-Activated Pre-Coating

A technique to heal a fatigue crack in austenitic stainless steel SUS316 by applying a controlled, high-density pulsed current was developed. A surface-activated pre-coating (SAPC), which eliminates the oxide layer and coats a Ni film on the crack surface, was used to improve the adhesion between crack surfaces. Cracks were observed by scanning electron microscopy before and after the application of high-density electropulsing. To evaluate the healing effect of the SAPC during crack propagation, fatigue tests were conducted under a constant stress intensity factor. The fatigue crack treated with the SAPC was found to be effectively healed as a result of electropulsing, and also showed a slower rate of crack propagation.     

Tensile properties of a morphologically split supraspinatus tendon

The supraspinatus tendon consists morphologically of two sub‐regions, anterior and posterior. The anterior sub‐region is thick and tubular while the posterior is thin and strap‐like. The purpose of this study was to compare the structural and mechanical properties of the anterior and posterior sub‐regions of the supraspinatus tendon. The supraspinatus tendons from seven human cadaveric shoulders were morphologically divided into the anterior and posterior sub‐regions. Length, width, and thickness were measured. A servo‐hydraulic testing machine (MTS Systems Corporation, Minneapolis, MN) was used for tensile testing. The maximal load at failure, modulus of elasticity and ultimate tendon stress were calculated. Repeated measures were used for statistical comparisons. The mean anterior tendon cross‐sectional area was 47.3 mm² and the posterior was 32.1 mm². Failure occurred most often at the insertion site: anterior (5/7) and posterior (6/7). All parameters of the anterior sub‐region were significantly greater than those of the posterior sub‐region. The moduli of elasticity at the insertion site were 592.4 MPa in the anterior sub‐region and 217.7 MPa in the posterior (P = 0.01). The ultimate failure loads were 779.2 N in the anterior sub‐region and 335.6 N in the posterior (P = 0.003). The ultimate stresses were 22.1 MPa in the anterior sub‐region and 11.6 MPa in the posterior (P = 0.008). We recognized that the anterior and posterior sub‐regions of the SSP tendon have significantly different mechanical properties. In a future study, we need to evaluate how best to repair an SSP tendon considering these region‐specific properties. Clin. Anat. 27:702–706, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor ligand activity of polycyclic aromatic ketones and polycyclic aromatic quinones

Polycyclic aromatic ketones (PAKs) and polycyclic aromatic quinones (PAQs) are oxygenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and reports about the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) ligand activities of these compounds are few. In this study, activation of AhR by 41 polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs), focusing especially on PAKs and PAQs, was determined by measuring beta-galactosidase activity from a reporter plasmid in yeast engineered to express human AhR and the AhR nuclear translocator proteins and by measuring luciferase activity from mouse hepatoma (H1L1) cells (chemical-activated luciferase expression [CALUX] assay). The PACs used in these experiments included 11 PAKs, seven PAQs, and 21 PAHs. In this study, the PAKs 11H-benzo[a]fluoren-11-one (B[a]FO), 11H-benzo[b]fluoren-11-one (B[b]FO) and 7H-benzo[c]fluoren-7-one and the PAQs 5,12-naphthacenequinone, 1,4-chrysenequinone, and 7,12-benz[a]anthracenequinone showed high AhR activities in H1L1 cells, although these values were not as high as that for benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P). These PAKs and PAQs showed significantly stronger activities in yeast cells relative to B[a]P. It was predicted that PAKs such as B[a]FO and B[b]FO occupied 0.06% to 1.3% of the total induction equivalents, and each contribution matched the contribution of PAHs such as B[a]P, chrysene, and benz[a]anthracene in gasoline exhaust particulates and airborne particulates using data of CALUX assay.     

Effect of intradialytic exercise on geriatric issues in older patients undergoing hemodialysis: a single-center non-randomized controlled study

International Urology and Nephrology - This study investigated the effect of 1&nbsp;year of intradialytic exercise on older hemodialysis patients with geriatric issues. Forty-six patients...     

Transcriptome Analysis for Cytoprotective Actions of Rebamipide against Indomethacin-Induced Gastric Mucosal Injury in Rats

We have reported that rebamipide, a gastroprotective drug, suppresses indomethacin-induced gastric mucosal injury in humans and rats. However, the mechanisms of the cytoprotective actions of rebamipide have not been fully addressed. In the present study, we determined mRNA expression profile of the gastric mucosa treated with indomethacin in rats, and investigated the cytoprotective effects of rebamipide against indomethacin-induced injury with a high-density oligonucleotide array (Rat Toxicology U34 GeneChip array). Gastric epithelial cells were obtained by laser-assisted microdissection. Data analysis was performed with a GeneChip Operating Software, GeneSpring software 7.0, and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis. Among 1,031 probes, the expression of 160 probes (15.5%) showed at least 2.0-fold up-regulation (158 probes) and down-regulation (2 probes) 2 h after indomethacin administration in comparison with the vehicle-treated rats. The pathway analysis of the up-regulated 123 probes identified the network with a highly significant score, which consisted of known clusters of cell death, cancer, and endocrine system disorders. We succeeded in listing 10 genes that were up-regulated by the treatment with indomethacin and that were down-regulated by rebamipide, including growth arrest and DNA damage-induced 45alpha. In conclusion, we demonstrated that cell death, especially apoptosis, pathway is involved in the pathogenesis of indomethacin-induced gastric mucosal injury, and that inhibition of apoptosis-related genes is possibly important for the cytoprotective effect of rebamipide against this injury.