Gas sorption in substituted polyacetylenes

Sorption of several gases (He, N₂, Ar, CH₄, CO₂, C₂H₆) was measured in an extended pressure range (up to 100 at m) in two glassy polyacetylenes: poly[1-phenyl-2-(p-tert-butylphenyl)acetylene] and samples of poly[1-(trimethylsilyl)-1-propyne] (PTMSP), which were partly oxidized during long term storage in the ambient atmosphere. Sorption isotherms are concave to the pressure axis and can be described by the dual mode sorption model. Both polyacetylenes are distinguished by relatively large Langmuir sorption capacity parameters C′_H. However, the C′_H values and solubility coefficients are significantly lower than those of fresh PTMSP.     

A simple colony-blot method for identification of Listeria in food samples

A method for identification of Listeria in food samples was developed. It consisted of cultivating of suspected specimen on standard agar medium, direct absorption of grown colonies onto nitrocellulose membrane and processing of the latter with rabbit serum raised against purified cell wall protein Lm79/39 of L. monocytogenes. Analysis using anti-rabbit peroxidase conjugate and 4-chloro-1-naphthol and H₂O₂ solutions allowed direct detection of Listeria colonies which remained readily available for subsequent isolation.     

Relationship between cognitive function and balance in a community-dwelling population in Japan

Background: There has been no treatment found yet that cure dementia. Hence it is important to establish the evaluation index of cognitive decline before becoming dementia.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to clarify the effective balance test indicating early cognitive decline by gender.

Methods: A total of 218 volunteers (60 years of age and above) who participated in the Iwaki promotion health project in 2015 were recruited. We performed three balance tests: one leg standing test, functional reach test and static posturography, and we used mini-mental state examination (MMSE) to investigate cognitive function.

Results: As a result of analysis of covariance, there was a statistically significant trend in only men that the more the MMSE score declined, the longer became the path length with both eyes opened and closed. In the result of multiple regression analysis, there was a significant negative association with MMSE score and path length with eyes opened or closed in men. There was no significant association with MMSE scores and balance tests in women.

Conclusion: The study suggests that static posturography might be a useful balance test to assess early cognitive decline in men.     

Longitudinal Assessment of the Relationships Between Geriatric Conditions and Loneliness

ObjectivesIn response to the lack of longitudinal evidence, this study aims to disentangle time sequence and directionality between the severity of geriatric conditions (GCs) and loneliness.DesignLongitudinal panel study.Setting and ParticipantsThe working sample had 4680 participants of 2006, 2010, and 2014 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). All participants were at least 65 years old at baseline. Proxy responded cases and individuals who suffered from moderate to severe cognitive impairment were excluded from the analysis.MethodsLoneliness was measured with the 3-item UCLA loneliness scale. Five GCs were included: falls, incontinence, vision impairment, hearing impairment, and pain. Severity indicators were the number of times fallen in the past 2 years, number of days experiencing loss of bladder control in the past month, self-rated eyesight, self-rated hearing, and participants' perceived level of pain.ResultsRandom-intercept cross-lagged panel models were run to analyze the relationship between the severity of each individual GC and loneliness. All models were controlled for baseline demographics, social isolation, self-rated health, physical function, comorbidities, and hospitalization. The longitudinal association between loneliness and fall was bidirectional: a higher loneliness score predicted an increased number of falls and vice versa. Incontinence, vision impairment, hearing impairment, and pain were not significantly associated with loneliness longitudinally. The association between the random intercept of loneliness and some GCs (vision and pain) were significant, indicating the severity of these GCs were related to loneliness at the between-person level at baseline.Conclusion and ImplicationsFindings of the longitudinal analysis suggest a reciprocal relationship between fall and loneliness. Fall prevention programs could be integrated with social service for addressing loneliness, and alleviating loneliness might be beneficial for preventing falls. Results of this study highlight the importance of integrating clinical management of falls with social services addressing loneliness in long term care.     

Development of an Index for the Inspection of Aedes aegypti Breeding Sites in Brazil: Multi-criteria Analysis

BackgroundAedes aegypti is a vector for the transmission of diseases such as dengue fever, chikungunya, Zika fever, and yellow fever. In 2016, over 1 million cases of these diseases were reported in Brazil, which is an alarming public health issue. One of the ways of controlling this disease is by inspecting and neutralizing the places where A. aegypti lays its eggs. The Ministry of Planning, Development, and Administration of Brazil maintains the inspection statistics.ObjectiveWe propose a multi-criteria analysis to create an index for A. aegypti inspections reported through the Ministry of Planning, Development, and Administration system of Brazil.MethodsBased on the repository from urban cleaning services combined with data on inspections conducted by government agencies in several Brazilian cities and municipalities, we selected and combined metrics, which we further ranked using the analytic hierarchy process methodology. We also developed risk maps based on the analytic hierarchy process ranking of the A. aegypti breeding sites.ResultsBased on our analysis and the available data, the priority for inspections should consider the number of sick people (weight 0.350), medical evaluations (weight 0.239), inspections (weight 0.201), mosquito breeding sites (weight 0.126), and days of absence from work (weight 0.096).ConclusionsThe proposed index could aid public health practitioners in preventing the appearance of new A. aegypti breeding sites. This information technology application can help solve such public health challenges.     

Renal morphology and function from childhood to adulthood in Turner syndrome

Clinical and Experimental Nephrology - Turner syndrome (TS) is a chromosomal disorder with various complications, including congenital anomaly of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT). However, its...     

Clear Cell Carcinoma of Palatal Minor Salivary Gland Harboring a Novel EWSR1-ATF1 Fusion Gene: Report of a Case and Review of the Literature

Clear cell carcinoma (CCC) is a rare low-grade malignant salivary gland carcinoma. EWSR1-ATF1 fusion has been characterized as a consistent finding in CCC, with breakpoints described between EWSR1 exon 11 and ATF1 exon 3. So far, over 100 cases of CCC harboring EWSR1 rearrangement arising from salivary gland of the oral cavity have been reported. Although EWSR1 involvement in these cases was confirmed by EWSR1 break-apart FISH indicating the translocation, sequence analysis for EWSR1-ATF1 fusion type has been reported only in three cases of CCC so far. Herein, we report a CCC case with novel EWSR1-ATF1 fusion (EWSR1 exon 15 and ATF1 exon 5) arising in minor salivary gland and review the role of the chimeric variants in some malignancies with EWSR1-ATF1 rearrangement. Current tumor was composed of the small nests of clear tumor cells and hyalized fibrous stroma. Immunohistochemically, the tumor was positive for AE1/AE3, CK5/6 and p63, negative for S100, Melan-A, SMA and CD10. After 8 months of follow-up, there are no evidence of recurrence.     

Semaphorin-5A maintains epithelial phenotype of malignant pancreatic cancer cells

Background

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a highly aggressive disease, and the lethality of this disease stems from early metastatic dissemination where surgical removal cannot provide a cure. Improvement of the therapeutic outcome and overall survival of PC patients requires to understand the fundamental processes that lead to metastasis such as the gain of cellular migration ability. One such family of proteins, which are essential players of cellular migration, is Semaphorin. Previously, we have identified one of the Semaphorin family member, Semaphorin-5A (SEMA5A) to be involved in organ-specific homing during PC metastasis. We have also demonstrated that SEMA5A has a constitutive expression in PC cell lines derived from metastatic sites in comparison with low endogenous expression in the primary tumor-derived cell line. In this study, we examined whether constitutive SEMA5A expression in metastatic PC cells regulates tumor growth and metastatic potential.

Methods

We generated SEMA5A knockdown in T3M-4 and CD18/HPAF cells and assessed their phenotypes on in vitro motility, tumor growth, and metastatic progression.

Results

In contrary to our initial expectations, orthotopic injection of SEMA5A knockdown cells into nude mice resulted in a significant increase in both tumor burden and liver metastases in comparison with the Control cells. Similarly, we observed higher in vitro migratory potential with pronounced morphological changes associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a decrease in the expression of epithelial marker E-cadherin (E-Cad), increase in the expression of mesenchymal markers N-cadherin (N-Cad) and Snail and the activation of the Wnt-signaling pathway in SEMA5A knockdown cells. Furthermore, re-establishing SEMA5A expression with a knockdown resistant mouse Sema5A in SEMA5A knockdown cells resulted in a reversion to the epithelial state (mesenchymal-epithelial transition; MET), as indicated by the rescue of E-Cad expression and a decrease in N-Cad and Snail expression.

Conclusions

Collectively, our data suggest that SEMA5A expression maintains epithelial phenotype in the metastatic microenvironment.