Indication of electron neutrino appearance from an accelerator-produced off-axis muon neutrino beam

The T2K experiment observes indications of ν(μ) → ν(e) appearance in data accumulated with 1.43×10(20) protons on target. Six events pass all selection criteria at the far detector. In a three-flavor neutrino oscillation scenario with |Δm(23)(2)| = 2.4×10(-3)  eV(2), sin(2)2θ(23) = 1 and sin(2)2θ(13) = 0, the expected number of such events is 1.5±0.3(syst). Under this hypothesis, the probability to observe six or more candidate events is 7×10(-3), equivalent to 2.5σ significance. At 90% C.L., the data are consistent with 0.03(0.04) < sin(2)2θ(13) < 0.28(0.34) for δ(CP) = 0 and a normal (inverted) hierarchy.

Comparisons of serum sclerostin levels among patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis, primary hyperparathyroidism and osteomalacia

Wnt-β-catenin signaling is important for bone formation. Sclerostin inhibits bone formation mainly by suppressing this signal, and several studies suggest that the suppression of sclerostin expression contributes to the bone anabolic action of parathyroid hormone (PTH). We therefore examined serum sclerostin levels using enzyme-linked immunosolvent assay in 18 patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis, 9 postmenopausal women with primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT) and 7 patients with osteomalacia. Serum levels of sclerostin were significantly lower in the group with pHPT, compared with those with postmenopausal osteoporosis. Moreover, serum sclerostin levels were significantly lower in the group with tumor-induced osteomalacia, but not in the group with osteomalacia without tumor, compared with those with postmenopausal osteoporosis. In patients with pHPT, serum sclerostin levels were significantly and negatively correlated to serum calcium and PTH levels. In patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis, serum levels of sclerostin levels were significantly and positively related to serum calcium and creatinine levels. In conclusion, we showed that serum sclerostin levels are decreased presumably through endogenous PTH elevation in postmenopausal women with pHPT, compared with the patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis.

Menin interacts with β-catenin in osteoblast differentiation

Menin promotes the commitment of pluripotent mesenchymal stem cells to the osteoblast lineage by interacting with the BMP-2 signaling molecules Smad1/5, and Runx2. However, the relationship between menin and the Wnt-β-catenin pathway in bone is unclear. Reduction of menin expression by transfection of a menin antisense construct did not alter the levels of β-catenin in mouse mesenchymal C2C12 and osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells. However, menin co-immunoprecipitated with β-catenin as well as LEF-1 in C2C12 and MC3T3-E1 cells. Reduction of menin expression by antisense menin transfection antagonized β-catenin-induced transcriptional activity of the pGL3-OT luciferase reporter construct in C2C12 and MC3T3-E1 cells. Antisense menin transfection antagonized the BMP-2 and β-catenin-stimulated increases in Runx2 and alkaline phosphatase levels in C2C12 cells. The data show that menin interacts with β-catenin in mouse mesenchymal and osteoblastic cells, and suggest that the interaction is important for osteoblast differentiation.

Urinary deoxypyridinoline is a BMD-independent marker for prevalent vertebral fractures in postmenopausal women treated with glucocorticoid

SUMMARY

Urinary deoxypyridinoline (DPD) level was associated with prevalent vertebral fractures in glucocorticoid (GC)-treated postmenopausal women independently of lumbar spine bone mineral density (BMD).

INTRODUCTION

Bone metabolic indices are the potential predictors of bone fragility. However, their diagnostic efficiency for identifying the risk of GC-induced vertebral fractures is still unclear. We therefore evaluated whether bone metabolic indices would assess the risk of vertebral fractures in GC-treated women.

METHODS

One hundred seventy-five women treated with GC for more than 6 months were enrolled in this study.

RESULTS

Both premenopausal and postmenopausal women with vertebral fractures had significantly higher urinary DPD levels than those without vertebral fractures. When multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed with the presence of vertebral fractures as a dependent variable and each of DPD or osteocalcin level adjusted for age, weight, height, current and maximum doses of GC, duration of GC treatment, as well as lumbar spine BMD as an independent variable, DPD level was identified as a factor associated with the presence of vertebral fractures in postmenopausal women but not in premenopausal women.

CONCLUSION

Urinary DPD level was significantly associated with prevalent vertebral fractures in GC-treated postmenopausal women independently of lumbar spine BMD.

Effect of alendronate on bone metabolic indices and bone mineral density in patients treated with high-dose glucocorticoid: a prospective study

SUMMARY

This prospective study, in the very early phase after initiation of glucocorticoid (GC) treatment, showed that alendronate was effective in suppressing accelerated bone resorption and subsequent decrease in bone mineral density (BMD) at the lumbar spine of patients with high-dose GC treatment.

INTRODUCTION

How bisphosphonates affect bone metabolism and BMD of patients with high-dose GC in the early phase, especially within 1 month is unclear.

METHODS

We examined the prospective effects of daily 5 mg alendronate on bone metabolism and BMD in 20 patients with high-dose GC (at least 40 mg prednisolone/day) and compared them to 34 high-dose GC-treated patients without alendronate.

RESULTS

Serum levels of calcium decreased at day 28 in the alendronate group. Urinary calcium excretion significantly increased after day 7 in both groups. The increase in serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) level at day 7 in the control group was not observed in the alendronate group, but PTH levels increased at day 28 and month 3 in the alendronate group. As for the bone turnover markers, the serum osteocalcin level decreased in both alendronate and control groups, but serum bone-type alkaline phosphatase levels did not show significant changes. Although the urinary type I collagen cross-linked N-telopeptide (NTX) level showed significant increases on days 7 and 28 in the control group; such early increases in urinary NTX were not observed in the alendronate group. Thereafter, the urinary NTX levels fell slowly in the alendronate group significantly. BMD at the lumbar spine significantly decreased from month 1 in the control group, whereas in the alendronate group, BMD at the lumbar spine maintained almost the same level at all time points observed.

CONCLUSION

Alendronate was effective in suppressing bone resorption and subsequent BMD decrease at the lumbar spine in patients with high-dose GC treatment.

Alendronate induces mineralization in mouse osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells: regulation of mineralization-related genes

Alendronate, an aminobisphosphonate, is an effective reagent to reduce fracture risk in osteoporotic patients. Although several studies suggest that bisphosphonates affect osteoblast differentiation, how they affect the genes relating to the mineralization step remains unknown. The present study was performed to clarify the effects of alendronate on mineralization and its related genes in mouse osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells. Alendronate at 10 (-8) and 10 (-7) M induced mineralization in MC3T3-E1 cells. As for the genes that suppress mineralization, alendronate enhanced the level of PC-1 mRNA in a dose-dependent manner in 7-day cultures in semiquantitative RT-PCR, although it reduced the levels of PC-1 mRNA in 21-day cultures. On the other hand, alendronate did not affect the levels of ANK, osteopontin and matrix Gla protein mRNA in both 7- and 21-day cultures. Moreover, alendronate reduced the level of osteocalcin mRNA at 10 (-7) and 10 (-6) M in 14-day cultures of these cells. As for the expression of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), an important positive regulator of mineralization in osteoblasts, alendronate enhanced the levels of ALP mRNA and protein at 10 (-7)-10 (-5) M. In conclusion, low-dose alendronate induced mineralization in mouse osteoblastic cells. The regulation of PC-1, osteocalcin and ALP by alendronate might play some role in these effects.

Bone fragility in male glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis is not defined by bone mineral density

Eighty-seven male Japanese subjects taking prednisolone > or = 5 mg for more than 6 months and 132 age- and body mass index (BMI)-matched control subjects were examined. Multiple regression analysis adjusted for age and BMI showed that spinal bone mineral density (BMD) in the prednisolone group was not associated with prevalent vertebral fractures (VFs).

INTRODUCTION

Glucocorticoid (GC) treatment is known to increase the risk for bone fractures. However, the association between VFs and BMD in GC-treated male patients remains unclear.

METHODS

Eighty-seven male subjects taking prednisolone > or = 5 mg for more than 6 months and 132 age- and BMI-matched control subjects were examined using lateral thoracic and lumbar spine radiographs and spine dual energy X-ray absorptiometry.

RESULTS

The presence of GC use was an independent risk factor for VFs adjusted for age and BMI (odds ratio 10.93, P < 0.001). By receiver operating characteristic analysis, the absolute BMD values for detecting VFs were higher and the sensitivity and specificity were lower in the GC group than in the control group (0.936 vs 0.825 g/cm(2) and 53.5% vs 74.0%, respectively). Multiple regression analysis adjusted for age and BMI showed that spinal BMD in the GC group was not associated with prevalent VFs, even after adding current and past maximum GC doses as independent variables.

CONCLUSIONS

These results show that lumbar BMD values are not associated with prevalent VFs in GC-treated male patients, suggesting that bone fragility in male GC users is affected by bone quality rather than by BMD.

Measurement of the differential branching fraction and forward-backward asymmetry for B --> K(*)l+l-

We study B --> K(*)l+l- decays (l = e, mu) based on a data sample of 657 x 10(6) BB pairs collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB e+e- collider. We report the differential branching fraction, isospin asymmetry, K* polarization, and the forward-backward asymmetry (A(FB)) as functions of q2 = M(ll)(2)c2. The fitted A(FB) spectrum exceeds the standard model expectation by 2.7 standard deviations. The measured branching fractions are B(B --> K*l+l-) = (10.7(-1.0)(+1.1) +/- 0.9) x 10(-7) and B(B --> Kl+l-) = (4.8(-0.4)(+0.5) +/- 0.3) x 10(-7), where the first errors are statistical and the second are systematic, with the muon to electron ratios R(K*) = 0.83 +/- 0.17 +/- 0.08 and R(K) = 1.03 +/- 0.19 +/- 0.06.

Low density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels affect vertebral fracture risk in female patients with primary hyperparathyroidism

Although increased arterial sclerosis and dyslipidemia were observed in primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT) patients in previous studies, it still remains unclear about the relationships between lipid and bone metabolism in pHPT patients, especially about fracture risk. The present study was performed to examine the relationships between lipid metabolism parameters including body composition and bone metabolism in 116 female patients with pHPT and 116 age-matched control subjects. Bone mineral density (BMD) and body composition were measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Serum low density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol (Chol) levels were negatively related to only z-score of BMD at femoral neck and serum creatinine levels. Serum levels of LDL-Chol were significantly lower in the group with vertebral fractures in pHPT patients, although body composition parameters were not significantly different. In univariate logistic regression analyses, age, height, BMD at lumbar spine and radius, serum levels of creatinine, total-Chol and LDL-Chol were significantly selected as a predictor of vertebral fractures. LDL-Chol was related to vertebral fractures independently of the other parameters. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that lower serum LDL-Chol levels were related to vertebral fracture risk independent of renal function, age, body size, bone metabolism parameters and the severity of the disease in pHPT women.

Effect of retinoic acid on the proliferation and alkaline phosphatase activity of osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells by modulating the release of local regulators from monocytes

There has been some evidence suggesting an important role of mononuclear cells at bone remodeling sites in the coupling of bone formation to bone resorption. Since cells of the monocyte-macrophage lineage produce important local regulators of bone remodeling, we examined effects of human monocytes-conditioned medium (CM) treated with retinoic acid on [3H] thymidine incorporation (TdR) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity of osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells. Treatment of MC3T3-E1 cells with retinoic acid (10(-8) to 10(-6) M) caused an inhibition of TdR in a dose-dependent manner and an inhibition of ALP activity at 10(-6) M. Conditioned medium from monocytes untreated with retinoic acid caused a stimulation of TdR and an inhibition of ALP activity in these cells. In contrast, treatment of monocytes with retinoic acid (10(-8) or 10(-6) M) abolished both stimulation of DNA synthesis and inhibition of ALP activity induced by CM. The present study suggested that retinoic acid modulated osteoblast proliferation and ALP activity not only directly but also indirectly, presumably through modulating the release of local regulators as to bone remodeling from monocytes.

Red blood cell motions in high-hematocrit blood flowing through a stenosed microchannel

We investigated the behavior of red blood cells (RBCs) in a microchannel with stenosis using a confocal micro-PTV system. Individual trajectories of RBCs in a concentrated suspension of up to 20% hematocrit (Hct) were measured successfully. Results indicated that the trajectories of healthy RBCs became asymmetric before and after the stenosis, while the trajectories of tracer particles in pure water were almost symmetric. The asymmetry was greater in 10% Hct than in 20% Hct. We also investigated the effect of deformability of RBCs on the cell-free layer thickness by hardening RBCs using a glutaraldehyde treatment. The results indicated that deformability is the key factor in the asymmetry of cell-free layer thickness. Therefore, the motions of RBCs are influenced strongly by the Hct, the deformability, and the channel geometry. These results give fundamental knowledge for a better understanding of blood flow in microcirculation and biomedical microdevices.