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Prostaglandins (PGs) are the physiologically active compounds synthesized from C20 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) by cyclooxygenase (COX) and a series of PG synthases, and are utilized as pharmaceuticals. Currently, commercialized PGs are mainly produced by chemical synthesis under harsh conditions. By contrast, bioproduction of PGs can be an alternative, environmental-friendly, and inexpensive process with genetic engineering of model plants, although these conventional host organisms contain a limited quantity of PG precursors. In this study, we established an efficient PG production process using the genetically engineered microalga Fistulifera solaris which is rich in C20 PUFAs. A cox gene derived from the red alga Agarophyton vermiculophyllum was introduced into F. solaris. As a result, a transformant clone with high cox expression produced PGs (i.e., PGD2 , PGE2 , PGF2α , and 15-ketoPGF2α derived from arachidonic acid, and PGD3 , PGE3 , and PGF3α derived from eicosapentaenoic acid) as revealed by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. The total content of PGs was 1290.4 ng/g of dry cell weight, which was higher than that produced in the transgenic plant reported previously. The results obtained in this study indicate that the C20 PUFA-rich microalga functionally expressing COX is a promising host for PG bioproduction.

We previously demonstrated that prehabilitation by running on a treadmill leads to improved survival after gut ischemia reperfusion (I/R) in mice. The purpose of this research was to examine whether prehabilitation attenuates inflammatory responses after gut I/R in mice.Male C57BL/6J mice (n = 92) were assigned to the sedentary (n = 46) or the exercise (n = 46) group. The exercise group ran on a treadmill for 4 wk, while the sedentary mice did not exercise. After the 4-week pretreatment, all mice underwent gut I/R and the blood, urine, small intestine, lung, liver, and gastrocnemius were harvested prior to ischemia or at 0, 3, 6, or 24 h after reperfusion. Histologically demonstrated organ damage, cytokine levels in the blood, gut and gastrocnemius, myeloperoxidase activity in the gut, 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine levels in urine and the gut, and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and ATP + ADP + adenosine monophosphate levels in the gut and gastrocnemius were evaluated.The treadmill exercise reduced gut and lung injuries at 3 h and liver injury at 6 h after reperfusion. Running on the treadmill also decreased proinflammatory cytokine levels in the blood at 6 h, gut at 3 h and gastrocnemius at 6 h after reperfusion, myeloperoxidase activity in the gut prior to ischemia, and 6 h after reperfusion and the urinary 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine level at 24 h after reperfusion, while ATP levels in exercised mice prior to ischemia and 3 h after reperfusion were increased in the intestine as compared to the levels in sedentary mice.Prehabilitation with treadmill exercise reduces inflammatory responses after gut I/R and may exert protective actions against gut I/R.

A recent clinical trial showed prolonged progression-free survival in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive advanced stage and recurrent endometrial serous carcinomas when trastuzumab was added to traditional chemotherapy. Approximately one third of these tumors are HER2-positive and have been described to show unique characteristics of HER2 protein expression and gene amplification, including significant intratumoral heterogeneity, in recent studies. However, currently, there are no standard protocols for the selection of optimal specimen type or algorithm for HER2 testing in endometrial serous carcinomas. The current study aimed to evaluate the concordance of HER2 status between endometrial biopsy/curettage and subsequent hysterectomy specimens in endometrial serous carcinoma. A total of 57 patients with endometrial serous carcinoma with available HER2 status were identified during the study period, 14 of which (14/57, 25%) were HER2-positive by immunohistochemistry and/or fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). The final study cohort consisted of 40 paired endometrial biopsies/curettings and hysterectomies to include all 14 HER2-positive tumors and 26 selected HER2-negative tumors to represent an equal distribution of HER2 immunohistochemical scores. HER2 FISH was performed on all tumors with an immunohistochemical score of 2+. HER2 immunohistochemical scores, heterogeneity of HER2 expression, FISH results, and the overall HER2 status were compared between the 2 specimen types. HER2 status was successfully assigned in both specimen types in 37 cases, as three specimens showed inadequate FISH signals. Concordant HER2 status was observed in 84% of cases (31/37), with identical HER2 immunohistochemical scores in 65% (26/40) of tumors. Among the 6 tumors with a discordant HER2 status, 2 were HER2 negative in the biopsy and positive in the hysterectomy, and 4 were HER2-positive in the biopsy and negative in the hysterectomy. The false-negative rate would be 15.4% and 26.7% if only the biopsy or only the hysterectomy would be the basis for the result, respectively. Intratumoral heterogeneity of HER2 protein expression was present in 22 tumors (55%), including all cases with a discordant HER2 status. The concordance rate of HER2 status between paired endometrial biopsies/curettings and hysterectomies of endometrial serous carcinoma is lower than the reported rates of breast cancer, and comparable to those of gastric carcinomas. Frequent heterogeneity of HER2 protein expression combined with the possibility of a spatially more heterogenous sampling of endometrial cavity in biopsies and curettings, and the potential differences in specimen handling/fixation between the 2 specimen types may explain our findings. HER2 testing of multiple specimens may help identify a greater proportion of patients eligible for targeted trastuzumab therapy and should be taken into account in future efforts of developing endometrial cancer-specific HER2 testing algorithm.

It is difficult to identify patients with isolated dizziness caused by cerebrovascular events. The estimated risk of cerebrovascular events in isolated dizziness patients is not completely understood. We aimed to evaluate the association of the finger-to-nose test (FNT) in diagnosing cerebrovascular events in isolated dizziness patients in emergency departments (EDs). We combined 2 datasets from a single center for consecutive isolated dizziness patients, with the same inclusion and exclusion criteria. Those who met any of the following criteria were excluded: no FNT data, age16 years, and psychological trauma. The primary outcome was cerebrovascular event, which was defined as cerebral stroke due to cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, vertebral artery dissection, or transient ischemic attack. In the combined dataset, there were 357 patients complaining of isolated dizziness and 31 cerebrovascular events. After adjusted by 5 previously reported risk factors for cerebrovascular event, (age, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, nystagmus), a multivariable logistic model analysis showed that the existence of FNT abnormalities was significantly associated with cerebrovascular events (odds ratio, 25.3; 95% confidence interval, 7.3-88.2; p0.001). There was a significant increase in predictive accuracy, with an AUC increase of 0.116 in the in a ROC analysis (p = 0.023). The existence of FNT abnormalities is considered as a strong risk factor that could be useful for predicting cerebrovascular events in isolated dizziness patients. We recommend the FNT for screening isolated dizziness patients in EDs to judge whether they need to undergo further diagnostic evaluation.

Medial degeneration is a common histopathological finding in aortopathy and is considered a mechanism for dilatation. We investigated if medial degeneration is specific for sporadic thoracic aortic aneurysms versus nondilated aortas. Specimens were graded by pathologists, blinded to the clinical diagnosis, according to consensus histopathological criteria. The extent of medial degeneration by qualitative (semi-quantitative) assessment was not specific for aneurysmal compared to nondilated aortas. In contrast, blinded quantitative assessment of elastin amount and medial cell number distinguished aortic aneurysms and referent specimens, albeit with marked overlap in results. Specifically, the medial fraction of elastin decreased from dilution rather than loss of protein as cross-sectional amount was maintained while the cross-sectional number, though not density, of smooth muscle cells increased in proportion to expansion of the media. Furthermore, elastic lamellae did not thin and interlamellar distance did not diminish as expected for lumen dilatation, implying a net gain of lamellar elastin and intralamellar cells or extracellular matrix during aneurysmal wall remodeling. These findings support the concepts that: (1) medial degeneration need not induce aortic aneurysms, (2) adaptive responses to altered mechanical stresses increase medial tissue, and (3) greater turnover, not loss, of mural cells and extracellular matrix associates with aortic dilatation.

We investigated the run-to-run fluctuation in growth conditions of physical vapor transport growth of 4H-SiC boules through observations of surface morphology on the (000-1) facet of the boules. The boules, which were grown under the same macroscopic growth conditions, exhibited slightly different surface morphologies. This indicates that some microscopic growth parameters that influence the surface morphology fluctuate between growth runs. We have considered the C/Si ratio of the vapor sublimed from the source material as a major parameter and discussed the associated variations in the physical and surface properties of the grown crystals.

The relationship of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been well characterized with a wide range of lymphoproliferative lesions and lymphomas of B-cell, T-cell, and NK-cell origin. However, the association of EBV with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is exceedingly rare and not well established. We report a case of classic MCL which transformed to pleomorphic MCL after a clinical course of 19 years. Particularly, EBV infection was detected in the transformed high-grade pleomorphic MCL. Molecular and genetic analyses confirmed the clonal relationship between the original and transformed lymphomas. To the best of our knowledge, there has only been one case reported in 2003 which documented an EBV-associated high-grade transformation of MCL. Therefore, our case report further expanded the spectrum of EBV in the pathogenesis of B-cell lymphoma transformation.

The stacking fault formation during physical vapor transport growth of heavily nitrogen-doped (mid-1019 cm−3) 4H-SiC crystals was investigated. Low-voltage scanning electron microscopy (LVSEM) observations detected the stacking fault formation on the (000-1) facet of heavily nitrogen-doped 4H-SiC crystals. Stacking faults showed characteristic morphologies, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies revealed that these morphologies of stacking faults stemmed from the interaction between surface steps and stacking faults. Based on these results, the stacking fault formation mechanism in heavily nitrogen-doped 4H-SiC crystals is discussed.

Aim The present study was carried out to clarify tube feeding utilization and the prevalence of swallowing difficulty among residents in geriatric long-term settings, and to elucidate the implementation of swallowing assessment at four different types of facilities in Japan. Methods We mailed a questionnaire to a total of 4334 facilities. Results We received responses from 1137 (26.2%) facilities, including 440 (29.0%) from 1517 nursing homes, 275 (29.2%) from 941 long-term care facilities, 205 (18.1%) from 1134 sanatorium medical facilities and 217 (29.2%) from 742 rehabilitation hospitals. The number of tube-fed residents per 100 beds in each facility was 11.6 at the nursing homes, 7.4 at the long-term care facilities, 36.3 at the sanatorium medical facilities and 7.9 at the rehabilitation facilities. The number of residents per 100 beds with swallowing difficulty was 23.7 in the nursing homes, 15.6 in the long-term care facilities, 19.2 in the sanatorium medical facilities and 15.4 in the rehabilitation hospitals. The percentages of facilities that assessed swallowing difficulty were 31.8% of the nursing homes, 63.0% of the long-term care facilities, 77.9% of the sanatorium medical facilities and 91.7% of the rehabilitation hospitals. Conclusion A large number of residents using a feeding tube and with difficult swallowing were observed in geriatric long-term settings without adequate evaluation of swallowing function. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2014; 14: 577–581.

The external surface of all insects is covered by a species-specific complex mixture of highly stable, very long chain cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs). Gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry was used to identify CHCs from four species of Sarcophagidae, Peckia (Peckia) chrysostoma, Peckia (Pattonella) intermutans, Sarcophaga (Liopygia) ruficornis and Sarcodexia lambens. The identified CHCs were mostly a mixture of n-alkanes, monomethylalkanes and dimethylalkanes with linear chain lengths varying from 23 to 33 carbons. Only two alkenes were found in all four species. S. lambens had a composition of CHCs with linear chain lengths varying from C23 to C33, while the other three species linear chain lengths from 24 to 31 carbons. n-Heptacosane, n-nonacosane and 3-methylnonacosane, n-triacontane and n-hentriacontane occurred in all four species. The results show that these hydrocarbon profiles may be used for the taxonomic differentiation of insect species and are a useful additional tool for taxonomic classification, especially when only parts of the insect specimen are available.