Oxygen radicals in lung carcinogenesis accompanying phagocytosis of diesel exhaust particles

We sought to examine the involvement of oxygen radicals derived from phagocytosis process in lung carcinogenesis induced by diesel exhaust particles (DEP). The carcinogenic response and formation of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) were examined in the lungs of mice intratracheally injected with washed DEP (WDEP), DEP, or nontoxic control particles of titanium dioxide (TiO2). After 10 weekly treatments with these particles, the formation of 8-OHdG in the lungs of mice treated with WDEP or DEP showed a significant increase, but not in those treated with TiO2. After 12 months, the incidence of lung tumors in mice treated with WDEP or DEP was higher than that of mice treated with vehicle by 2.3- and 3.1-fold, respectively. A significant difference in the incidence of tumors was found between the vehicle group and DEP-treated group. Treatment with TiO2 had no effect on the incidence of lung tumors. The formation of 8-OHdG in mice treated with these particles was significantly correlated with the development of lung tumors. These results suggest that the induction of DNA damage by oxygen radicals may be an important factor in the initiation of WDEP- and DEP-induced lung carcinogenesis, and that oxygen radicals derived from the phagocytic process may play a role in 8-OHdG formation induced by DEP.

Formation of a multiscale aggregate structure through spontaneous blebbing of an interface

The motion of an oil-water interface that mimics biological motility was investigated in a Hele-Shaw-like cell where elastic surfactant aggregates were formed at the oil-water interface. With the interfacial motion, millimeter-scale pillar structures composed of the aggregates were formed. The pillars grew downward in the aqueous phase, and the separations between pillars were roughly equal. Small-angle X-ray scattering using a microbeam X-ray revealed that these aggregates had nanometer-scale lamellar structures whose orientation correlated well with their location in the pillar structure. It is suggested that these hierarchical spatial structures are tailored by the spontaneous interfacial motion.

Long Absence from Work Due to Sickness among Psychiatric Outpatients in Japan, with Reference to a Recent Trend for Perfectionism

BACKGROUND

Sick leave from work due to psychiatric disorders is a major public health problem, not only in Japan but also worldwide. As males and females in Japan tend to differ in their approach to work, a gender difference in perfectionism might be expected. We investigated the background factors leading to long-term absence from work due to sickness among psychiatric outpatients in Japan.

METHODS

We surveyed 73 psychiatric outpatients who were absent from work for a long time (POAWs) and 228 employees without long-term sickness absence as controls. GHQ-30, NEO-FFI, MPS, RSS and questionnaires inquiring about background factors, including relationships with others, was used, and the data were compared between males and females.

RESULTS

Male POAWs had a significantly higher tendency for depression and perfectionism than the controls, but in females this difference was not significant. With regard to personal relationships of POAWs, males had worse relationships with superiors and colleagues, whereas females had worse relationships with superiors, colleagues, and family.

CONCLUSIONS

The data suggested that male workers exhibiting perfectionism tend to undertake too much work and become exhausted when trying to cope with complex human relationships in the workplace. Female workers having the double burden of family commitment and perfectionism tend to be isolated in terms of personal relationships, leading to exhaustion both in and outside the workplace.

Gelation effect on the synthesis of high-aspect-ratio gold nanorods

The growth process of high-aspect-ratio gold nanorods in gelled surfactant solution was studied. As for the application of gold nanorods, the surface plasmon is quite useful, whose absorption depends on their aspect ratio. Hence it is important to synthesize gold nanorods with favorable aspect ratio in high yield. For shorter nanorods (aspect ratio < -10), the synthesis and the growth mechanism have been studied well. For the longer nanorods (aspect ratio > -30), however, the growth mechanism has not yet been understood well, although it has been known that the high-aspect-ratio gold nanorods could be synthesized in high yield in gelled surfactant solution. In this paper, we studied the relationship between the growth process of high-aspect-ratio gold nanorods and the gelation of surfactant growth-solution. Small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) revealed the microscopic feature of gelation as the structural transition of self-assembly of surfactant molecules from micellar to lamellar. These results will be helpful for better understanding on the growth mechanism of high-aspect-ratio gold nanorods.

Topical and intermittent application of parathyroid hormone recovers alveolar bone loss in rat experimental periodontitis

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Periodontitis is characterized by periodontal tissue inflammation and alveolar bone loss. The intermittent administration of parathyroid hormone (PTH), a major regulator of bone remodeling, has been demonstrated to stimulate osteoblastic activity. Although the systemic administration of PTH has been reported to protect against periodontitis-associated bone loss, the effect of the topical administration of PTH is unclear. In this study, the effect of intermittent administration of PTH on osteoblastic differentiation was examined in cultured calvaria cells and then the effect of topical and intermittent administration of PTH was determined by measuring the recovery of alveolar bone loss after inducing experimental periodontitis in rats.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Alkaline phosphatase activity and bone nodule formation were measured in fetal rat calvaria cells. Experimental periodontitis was induced by placing nylon ligature around rat maxillary molars for 20 d. After ligature removal (day 0), PTH was topically injected into buccal gingiva three times a week for 10 wk. Micro-computed tomography analysis and histological examination were performed on days 35 and 70.

RESULTS

Intermittent exposure of PTH in calvaria cells increased alkaline phosphatase activity and bone nodule formation by 1.4- and 2.4-fold, respectively. Ligature procedures induced marked alveolar bone loss around the molars on day 0 and greater bone recovery was observed in the PTH-treated rats on day 70. An increase in osteoid formation on the surface of alveolar bone was detected in the PTH-treated rats.

CONCLUSION

Intermittent treatment with PTH stimulated osteoblastic differentiation in fetal rat calvaria cell cultures, and topical and intermittent administration of PTH recovered alveolar bone loss in rat experimental periodontitis.

Growth of gold nanorods in gelled surfactant solutions

Gold nanorods have been actively studied for new nanotechnological materials and industrial applications. It is well known that gold nanorods grow spontaneously in surfactant solutions, and a number of procedures for their preparation have been reported; however, the factors that determine the morphology have not been well understood. In this study, we observed the time series of the growth process of gold nanorods in gelled surfactant solutions by completely stopping the growth reaction. This growth process was compared to that in solution without gelation. The comparison indicates that the self-assembly of surfactant molecules affected the resulting shape, especially the short-axis length, of the nanorods. Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) experiments revealed that the gelled solutions form lamellar structures, whereas nongelled systems form spherical micelles. On the bases of these results, we present a model showing that the short-axis length of gold nanorods is affected by a decrease in the spontaneous curvature of the outer surfactant layer and/or an increase in the bending modulus of the surfactant membrane neighboring the gold surface.

Intracranial dural arteriovenous fistula with retrograde cortical venous drainage: use of susceptibility-weighted imaging in combination with dynamic susceptibility contrast imaging

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

SWI is a new MR imaging method that maximizes sensitivity to magnetic susceptibility effects with phase information for visualizing small cerebral veins. The purpose of this study was to report the use of SWI in combination with DSC in examining related RCVD in patients with intracranial DAVFs.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Ten patients with angiographically confirmed DAVFs with RCVD underwent conventional MR imaging, SWI, and DSC. The ability of SWI to depict dilated cerebral veins was evaluated and then compared with DSC. The hemispheres of patients with DAVFs were grouped into affected (with RCVD) or nonaffected (without RCVD) categories by angiography. Four patients had bilaterally affected hemispheres. A total of 14 affected hemispheres in patients with DAVFs with RCVD were evaluated.

RESULTS

SWI showed dilated cerebral veins on the surface of the brain in all (100%) of the 14 affected hemispheres in patients with DAVFs with RCVD and deep in the brain in 9 (64%). T2-weighted imaging showed prominent flow-voids on the surface of the brain in 10 (71%) of the 14 affected hemispheres in patients with DAVFs with RCVD and deep in the brain in 5 (36%). DSC showed increased cerebral blood volume in all of the 14 affected hemispheres. The SWI findings regarding dilated veins on the surface of the brain corresponded well with the areas of increased cerebral blood volume.

CONCLUSIONS

SWI in combination with DSC could be used to characterize the presence of RCVD in patients with DAVFs.

Morphological development of multilamellar phospholipid film depending on drying kinetics

The mechanism for the formation of solid-supported phospholipid membranes during a drying process was investigated. Terracelike multilamellar structures were found to develop from a micellar solution with either spinodal decompositionlike process or nucleation growth, depending on the evaporation rate of an organic solvent. In contrast to the well-known kinetics of phase separation, fast drying induces nucleation while slow drying induces spinodal decompositionlike lipid-film formation. The existing models for the interpretation of phase separation are not sufficient to understand this unexpected kinetics. We suggest a schematic model with which this kinetic feature can be interpreted in terms of a self-assembly pathway in a three-component phase diagram for a phospholipid, organic solvent, and water.

Multilamellar structures induced by hydrophilic and hydrophobic ions added to a binary mixture of D2O and 3-methylpyridine

A phase transition is observed between a one-phase disordered phase and an ordered phase with multilamellar (onion) structures in an off-critical mixture of D2O and 3-methylpyridine (3MP) containing 85 mM of a salt in the absence of a surfactant. The salt consists of hydrophilic cations and hydrophobic anions that interact asymmetrically with the solvent composition fluctuations inducing mesophases. The structure factor of the composition distribution obtained from small-angle neutron scattering has a peak at an intermediate wave number in the disordered phase and multiple peaks in the ordered phase. Lamellar layers forming onions are composed of solvation-induced charged membranes swollen by D2O. The onion phase is realized only for small volume fractions of 3MP (in D2O-rich solvent).

Quantitative evaluation of blood flow distribution to exercising and resting skeletal muscles in patients with cardiac dysfunction using whole-body thallium-201 scintigraphy

BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS

Decreased blood flow to working muscles makes an important contribution to exercise intolerance in patients with chronic heart failure. This study was undertaken to examine whether maldistribution of skeletal muscle blood flow is closely related to exercise intolerance in patients with cardiac dysfunction.

METHODS

Whole-body thallium scintigraphy was performed during one-leg exercise in 11 patients with left ventricular (LV) dysfunction (LV ejection fraction < 45%). Blood flow distribution to the exercising and resting legs was quantified by expressing regional thallium counts as a percentage of the whole-body counts at rest, at the level of anaerobic threshold, and at peak exercise.

RESULTS

At anaerobic threshold, the thallium activity of exercising muscle increased from 4.2 +/- 0.7 to 14.0 +/- 2.5% (p < 0.05) in the thigh and from 1.7 +/- 0.3 to 4.1 +/- 0.9% (p < 0.05) in the calf, compared with the resting value. Consequently, the ratio of thallium activity between exercising and resting legs increased to 2.7 +/- 0.7 (p < 0.05) in the thigh and to 2.3 +/- 0.7 (p < 0.05) in the calf. When plotted as a function of anaerobic threshold, thallium activity of the exercising thigh (r = 0.78, p < 0.05) and the thallium ratio between exercising and resting thigh (r = 0.69, p < 0.05) declined with the reduction of exercise tolerance. These correlations were not observed in calves.

CONCLUSION

Whole-body thallium scintigraphy demonstrated a maldistribution of leg blood flow in patients with reduced aerobic exercise capacity, suggesting that this abnormality could play an important role in exercising intolerance in these patients.

Rhythmic oscillation and dynamic instability of micrometer-size phase separation under continuous photon flux by a focused laser

We report the dynamical behavior of microm-sized phase separation for a homogeneous mixture of D2O and 3-methylpyridine (3MP) induced under continuous photon-flux by a focused YAG laser. At a water-rich composition, stable rhythmic oscillation of the emergence-growth escape of a 3MP-rich droplet is generated. In contrast, at a near-critical composition, an emergent droplet exhibits significant nonequilibrium fluctuation. Such dynamic phenomena are interpreted in terms of the effect of a local dielectric field and a dissipative system generated by a focused laser on the binary mixture.

How does the mobility of phospholipid molecules at a water/oil interface reflect the viscosity of the surrounding oil?

The mobility of phospholipid molecules at a water/oil interface on cell-sized phospholipid-coated microdroplets was investigated through the measurement of diffusion constants by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching. It is found that the diffusion constant of phospholipids showed the relation D approximately (eta water + eta oil) -0.85, where D is the diffusion constant, eta water is the viscosity of water, and eta oil is the viscosity of oil. This observation indicates that the viscosity of the surrounding oil is the primary factor that determines the diffusibility of phospholipids at a water/oil interface.

Concentration dependence of shape and structure fluctuations of droplet microemulsions investigated by neutron spin echo spectroscopy

We describe dynamic modes that originate from shape and structure fluctuations in a droplet microemulsion system. The modes are decoupled by a contrast variation neutron scattering technique using the relative intermediate form factor method. The strategy of the method is analogous to the relative form factor method, which decouples the form and structure factors from the small-angle neutron scattering intensity [M. Nagao, Phys. Rev. E 75, 061401 (2007)]. First, we will briefly explain theoretical and experimental approaches to understanding neutron spin echo (NSE) data from droplet microemulsion systems. Then we will introduce the relative intermediate form factor method, which decouples shape and structure fluctuations. The concentration dependence of the droplet dynamics in a microemulsion system is used to elucidate the strengths of this method. The intermediate form and structure factors are successfully decoupled from an observed intermediate scattering function by NSE. The decay rate of the shape fluctuation modes linearly decreases, while the fluctuation amplitude increases as the droplet concentration increases. The first cumulant of the obtained intermediate structure factor shows a clear de Gennes narrowing behavior at a length scale corresponding to the interdroplet distance. However, in the high-momentum-transfer and longer-time regions, the first cumulant deviates from the intermediate structure factor. This result suggests the existence of other dynamic modes of structure fluctuations rather than the center-of-mass diffusion mode.