T-705 (Favipiravir) suppresses tumor necrosis factor α production in response to influenza virus infection: A beneficial feature of T-705 as an anti-influenza drug

Influenza virus infection induces the production of various cytokines, which play important roles in the pathogenesis of infection. Among the cytokines induced by influenza, tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) production has been correlated with the severity of lung lesions. We investigated the effects of T-705 (Favipiravir, 6-fluoro-3-hydroxy-2-pyrazinecarboxamide) on cytokine production due to influenza virus infection in vitro and in vivo, compared with oseltamivir or GS 4071, an active form of oseltamivir. TNF-α production in mouse macrophage-derived P388D1 cells infected with the influenza virus was lower following treatment with T-705 at concentrations of 0.3 to 100 µg/ml than treatment with GS 4071 at the same concentrations. The effect of treatment with T-705 on the cytokine production induced by the influenza virus infection was investigated in mouse influenza virus infection model. At 48 h post-infection (p.i.) T-705 significantly suppressed the viral load in the lungs and TNF-α production in the airways of infected mice even when viral loads were high. Furthermore, T-705 suppressed only TNF-α production from the early phase of infection. In this study, T-705 showed the antiviral activity of reducing pulmonary viral load compared with oseltamivir, thereby suppressing the TNF-α production. This feature of T-705 is benefit against severe influenza infection.

New functions and graphical user interface attached to powder indexing software CONOGRAPH

The present status of powder indexing software CONOGRAPH as an integrated system with a graphical user interface is reported. The improvements to the peak search method and the other available functions are introduced. Computational results and times for CONOGRAPH are compared with those for ITO13, N-TREOR and DICVOL14 to clarify their differences.

Large in-plane deformation of RuO6octahedron and ferromagnetism of bulk SrRuO3

Glazer tilting system with tilting and rotation of oxygen octahedron, can describe ABO3 perovskite structure effectively. In highest symmetry, Pm-3m(No. 221) crystal structure is a0a0a0 without tilting and rotation. If temperature is lower, the different atomic radius of A and B causes tilting and rotation of BO6 octahedron. Glazer tiling notation of Pbnm(No. 62, cab lattice) orthorhombic structure is a-a-c+ with antiphase tilting along [110]cubic and in-phase rotation along [001]cubic for neighboring octahedron. SrRuO3 is rare example of itinerant ferromagnetic among 4d oxides. It shows zero thermal expansion, so called Invar effect below ferromagnetic transition(Tc=165 K). Otherwise, paramagnetic CaRuO3 has same Pbnm crystal structure without magnetic transition. To understand Invar effect and ferromagnetism of SrRuO3, We carried out high resolution Time-of-flight powder neutron diffraction using SuperHRPD beamline in J-PARC, with the best resolution Δd/d=0.03% of backscattering bank. Itinerant ferromagnetic SrRuO3 shows 50 fetometer increase of <Ru-O> mean bond below ferromagnetic transition while paramagnetic CaRuO3 shows decrease of <Ru-O> and follows well by the usual thermal expansion. For SrRuO3, Glazer tilting with deformation of RuO6 octahedron explains Invar effect and why lattice a is larger than lattice b in Pbnm structure. The increased <Ru-O> mean bond is considered as coupled order parameter with ferromagnetic transition. The band width of CaRuO3 is almost constant in the whole temperature range whereas ones of SrRuO3 decrease at low temperature. Then more localized Ru 4d orbitals probably contribute ferromagnetic transition.

Large in-plane deformation of RuO6 octahedron and ferromagnetism of bulk SrRuO3

SrRuO3 is a ferromagnetic metal with several unusual physical properties such as zero thermal expansion below Tc, so-called Invar behavior. Another anomalous feature is that the a-axis lattice constant is larger than the b-axis lattice constant, a clear deviation from the predictions of the Glazer structural description with rigid RuO6 octahedron motion. Using high resolution neutron diffraction techniques, we show how these two structural anomalies arise from the irregular in-plane deformation, i.e. plastic behavior of the RuO6 octahedron, a weak band Jahn-Teller distortion. We further demonstrate that the ferromagnetic instability of SrRuO3 is related to the temperature-induced localization of Ru 4d bands.

Distinguishing adrenal adenomas from non-adenomas on dynamic enhanced CT: a comparison of 5 and 10 min delays after intravenous contrast medium injection

AIM

To evaluate the usefulness of several parameters of 5 min compared to 10 min delayed contrast-enhanced CT in distinguishing adenomas from non-adenomas.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study population consisted of 94 patients (52 men and 42 women; mean age 62 years) with 103 adrenal lesions (75 adenomas and 28 non-adenomas). In each patient, unenhanced CT was followed by early, 5 and 10 min enhanced CT. Diagnostic parameters included delayed enhanced attenuation at 5 and 10 min, washout attenuation (WO) at 5 and 10 min, absolute percentage washout (APW) at 5 and 10 min, and relative percentage washout (RPW) at 5 and 10 min. The accuracy of each parameter for diagnosing adenomas from non-adenomas was calculated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis.

RESULTS

Upon comparison between 5 and 10 min delayed contrast-enhanced CT for differentiating total adenomas or lipid-poor adenomas from non-adenomas, there was no significant difference in the area under the binomial ROC curve (Az) values of delayed enhanced attenuation (total adenomas versus non-adenomas, p = 0.164; lipid-poor adenomas versus non-adenomas, p = 0.178), WO (total adenomas versus non-adenomas, p = 0.216; lipid-poor adenomas versus non-adenomas, p = 0.230), APW (total adenomas versus non-adenomas, p = 0.401; lipid-poor adenomas versus non-adenomas, p = 0.870), or RPW (total adenomas versus non-adenomas, p = 0.160; lipid-poor adenomas versus non-adenomas, p = 0.780).

CONCLUSION

Five minute contrast-enhanced CT was as useful as 10 min contrast-enhanced CT for differentiation of adrenal adenomas from non-adenomas.

Primary hepatic carcinoid tumor

We report the case of primary hepatic carcinoid tumor of which diagnosis was made by fine needle biopsy of a liver mass. The patient was treated successfully by left hepatic trisegmentectomy. This patient presented with complaints of generalized fatigue, but denied the presence of flushing, diarrhea, or other endocrine symptoms. Physical examination was unremarkable. A biopsy specimen revealed Grimelius stained cells that were immunoreactive for chromogranin A. Careful pre- and intraoperative examinations revealed no other primary lesions. Argyrophilia of the tumor cells suggested that the tumor was of fore five cases of primary hepatic carcinoid tumors previously reported in the literature are also reviewed.

Luminal membrane expression of mesothelin is a prominent poor prognostic factor for gastric cancer

Background:

Mesothelin is expressed in various types of malignant tumour, and we recently reported that expression of mesothelin was related to an unfavourable patient outcome in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. In this study, we examined the clinicopathological significance of the mesothelin expression in gastric cancer, especially in terms of its association with the staining pattern.

Methods:

Tissue specimens from 110 gastric cancer patients were immunohistochemically examined. The staining proportion and intensity of mesothelin expression in tumour cells were analysed, and the localisation of mesothelin was classified into luminal membrane and/or cytoplasmic expression.

Results:

Mesothelin was positive in 49 cases, and the incidence of mesothelin expression was correlated with lymph-node metastasis. Furthermore, luminal membrane staining of mesothelin was identified in 16 cases, and the incidence of luminal membrane expression was also correlated with pT factor, pStage, lymphatic permeation, blood vessel permeation, recurrence, and poor patient outcome. Multivariate analysis showed that luminal membrane expression of mesothelin was an independent predictor of overall patient survival.

Conclusion:

We described that the luminal membrane expression of mesothelin was a reliable prognostic factor in gastric cancer, suggesting the functional significance of membrane-localised mesothelin in the aggressive behaviour of gastric cancer cells.

Application of matrix decomposition algorithms for singular matrices to the Pawley method inZ-Rietveld

Z-Rietveldis a program suite for Rietveld analysis and the Pawley method; it was developed for analyses of powder diffraction data in the Materials and Life Science Facility of the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex. Improvements have been made to the nonlinear least-squares algorithms ofZ-Rietveldso that it can deal with singular matrices and intensity non-negativity constraints. Owing to these improvements,Z-Rietveldsuccessfully executes the Pawley method without requiring any constraints on the integrated intensities, even in the case of severely or exactly overlapping peaks. In this paper, details of these improvements are presented and their advantages discussed. A new approach to estimate the number of independent reflections contained in a powder pattern is introduced, and the concept of good reflections proposed by Sivia [J. Appl. Cryst.(2000),33, 1295–1301] is shown to be explained by the presence of intensity non-negativity constraints, not the intensity linear constraints.

Characterization of the Asian myopathy patients with VCP mutations

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Mutations in the valosin-containing protein (VCP) gene are known to cause inclusion body myopathy with Paget's disease of bone and frontotemporal dementia (IBMPFD) and familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Despite an increasing number of clinical reports, only one Asian family with IBMPFD has been described.

METHODS

To characterize patients with VCP mutations, we screened a total of 152 unrelated Asian families who were suspected to have rimmed vacuolar myopathy.

RESULTS

We identified VCP mutations in seven patients from six unrelated Asian families. Five different missense mutations were found, including a novel p.Ala439Pro substitution. All patients had adult-onset progressive muscle wasting with variable involvement of axial, proximal, and distal muscles. Two of seven patients were suggested to have mild brain involvement including cerebellar ataxia, and only one showed radiological findings indicating a change in bone. Findings from skeletal muscle indicated mixed neurogenic and myogenic changes, fibers with rimmed vacuoles, and the presence of cytoplasmic and nuclear inclusions. These inclusions were immunopositive for VCP, ubiquitin, transactivation response DNA-binding protein 43, and also histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6), of which function is regulated by VCP. Evidence of early nuclear and mitochondrial damage was also characteristic.

CONCLUSIONS

  Valosin-containing protein mutations are not rare in Asian patients, and gene analysis should be considered for patients with adult-onset rimmed vacuolar myopathy with neurogenic changes. A wide variety of central and peripheral nervous system symptoms coupled with rare bone abnormalities may complicate diagnosis.

Local structural properties of CuI at low temperatures

This study examined the local structural properties of CuI at low temperatures of 10-300 K by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) measurements at the Cu K edge. The XRD data were refined using two models, split (distorted zinc-blende structure) and non-split (zinc-blende structure), using a conventional Rietveld refinement combined with a maximum entropy method (MEM). MEM/Rietveld analyses showed that both the split and non-split models could fit the data. EXAFS revealed the split model fit to be better than the non-split model. The split distance of Cu-I pairs was approximately 0.03 Å at 15 K and increased to 0.07 Å at 300 K. XRD and EXAFS combined together suggested that the CuI crystal was in a metastable state with a distorted zinc-blende structure at low temperatures.

Evaluation of a microplate agglutination test (MAT) for serological diagnosis of canine brucellosis

A microplate agglutination test (MAT) was compared with the tube agglutinin test (TAT), a standard test for the diagnosis of Brucella canis, in terms of the sensitivity and specificity. The results showed that MAT was more sensitive, simpler to perform and easier to read the results than TAT. On top of that the MAT allows us to handle a larger number of samples at once. Using this method we conducted sero-surveillance of the prevalence of B. canis in dogs kept in an Animal Shelter located in Kanagawa Prefecture. Twelve of 485 (2.5%) showed seropositive against B. canis. These results indicate that B. canis infection in dogs is still occurring in Japan.

Detection of Streptobacillus spp. in feral rats by specific polymerase chain reaction

Streptobacillus moniliformis is an etiological agent of rat-bite fever and Haverhill fever in human infection. As the currently available methods for identifying the causative bacteria are not satisfactory, we attempted to establish them by PCR using newly designed primers for the 16S rRNA gene of S. moniliformis. We then determined the prevalence of Streptobacillus spp. in two species of feral rats that inhabit an urban region in Japan, because information on the prevalence of the bacteria in feral rats is obscure. The use of PCR with newly designed primers showed that an extremely high proportion of R. norvegicus harbored the bacteria (61/66, 92%), whereas the prevalence was only 58% in R. rattus (30/52). The nucleotide sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA gene of Streptobacillus spp. isolated from oral swabs of feral rats showed at least two different types of bacteria among isolates from R. norvegicus and R. rattus.

Giant magneto-elastic coupling in multiferroic hexagonal manganites

The motion of atoms in a solid always responds to cooling or heating in a way that is consistent with the symmetry of the given space group of the solid to which they belong. When the atoms move, the electronic structure of the solid changes, leading to different physical properties. Therefore, the determination of where atoms are and what atoms do is a cornerstone of modern solid-state physics. However, experimental observations of atomic displacements measured as a function of temperature are very rare, because those displacements are, in almost all cases, exceedingly small. Here we show, using a combination of diffraction techniques, that the hexagonal manganites RMnO3 (where R is a rare-earth element) undergo an isostructural transition with exceptionally large atomic displacements: two orders of magnitude larger than those seen in any other magnetic material, resulting in an unusually strong magneto-elastic coupling. We follow the exact atomic displacements of all the atoms in the unit cell as a function of temperature and find consistency with theoretical predictions based on group theories. We argue that this gigantic magneto-elastic coupling in RMnO3 holds the key to the recently observed magneto-electric phenomenon in this intriguing class of materials.

Does the permanent portacaval shunt for a small-for-size graft in a living donor liver transplantation do more harm than good?

In order to obviate a small-for-size graft syndrome (SFSGS), a portacaval (PC) shunt had been considered in a case of adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation (AA-LDLT). In a recent AA-LDLT case, we adopted the PC shunt to resolve SFSGS; however, graft atrophy was observed in the late period of LDLT, thereby resulting in liver dysfunction. Due to the surgical closure of the PC shunt at 11 months post-LDLT, the graft regenerated gradually and resulted in the recovery of the liver function. This experience indicates that the portacaval shunt would overcome SFSGS in the early period of LDLT, while it would cause the graft atrophy and the graft dysfunction in the late period of LDLT.

Simultaneous detection of the genus Brucella by combinatorial PCR

We have developed a combinatorial polymerase chain reaction (PCR) procedure to identify four major species of the genus Brucella simultaneously. Four pairs of primers targeting the genes encoding a cell surface protein (BCSP31) and outer membrane proteins (omp2b, omp2a and omp31) were prepared. PCR using these primers gave rise to specific patterns of amplification for each Brucella spp. examined in this study. B. abortus could be identified when fragments of BCSP31 and omp2b/2a were amplified by B. abortus-specific primers. B. melitensis could be identified by the amplification of fragments of BCSP31, omp2b/2a and omp31 using pair of primers B4/B5, JRF/JPR-ab and omp31. Identification of B. canis could be achieved when the amplicons of omp2b/2a were detected by B. canis-specific primers, as could the identification of BCSP31 and omp31. If specific amplifications occurred using all pairs of primers, the strain was identified as B. suis. Combinatorial PCR reported here thus appeared to be an ideal method of identifying Brucella spp., the causative pathogen of human brucellosis.

Management and algorithm for focal nodular hyperplasia of the liver in children

PURPOSE

The aim of this study was to determine an appropriate management plan for childhood and adolescent FNH, in particular to establish an algorithm for preoperative diagnosis and treatment.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Between 1985 and 2003, 4 children with FNH were diagnosed. Of these 4 patients, 3 (Group A) underwent tumor resection, and 1 (Group B) was treated by conservative management. Clinical data, pathological findings and follow-up were evaluated retrospectively.

RESULTS

The 3 patients in Group A were symptomatic, while the 1 patient in Group B was asymptomatic. In 3 of 4 patients, a homogeneous tumor with a central stellate area was noted on abdominal ultrasonography, CT scan and MR imaging. In case 2, SPIO-enhanced MR imaging was useful for differentiating FNH from hepatocellular carcinoma. Though percutaneous needle biopsy was performed in case 3, a pathologically definitive diagnosis was impossible. An open biopsy was performed in case 4 and FNH was diagnosed. In case 4 treated by conservative management, the tumor size did not change during the 7 years after the diagnosis of FNH.

CONCLUSION

FNH is usually treated conservatively because of the good evolutionary outcome of the lesion. Surgery is indicated in cases of complications, compressed adjacent organs, lesion progression, or for symptomatic patients. We advocate the use of less invasive SPIO-enhanced MR imaging instead of open biopsy when the diagnosis of focal liver lesions is not clear after contrast-enhanced CT scan and non-enhanced MR imaging.

Infection route-independent accumulation of splenic abnormal prion protein

The accumulation kinetics of the abnormal form of prion protein (PrP(Sc)) in spleens and brains of scrapie (Obihiro-1)-infected mice at various times after intracerebral (i.c.), intraperitoneal (i.p.), or oral inoculation were studied. PrP(Sc) was first detected by Western blotting with anti-prion protein antibodies on days 70 and 116 after i.c. (3 microg) in spleens and brains, respectively. Although the amount of cerebral PrP(Sc) gradually increased to the maximum level on day 152 after i.c. inoculation, splenic PrP(Sc) established the maximum level on day 116 after i.c. inoculation then registered slight decreases up to day 152 with further incubation. The detectable levels of cerebral PrP(Sc) by Western blotting were established on day 231 or 259, whereas those of splenic PrP(Sc) were detected on day 94 or 93, after i.p. and oral infection, respectively. The splenic PrP(Sc) decreased slightly thereafter. These results indicate that splenic PrP(Sc) increased before cerebral PrP(Sc) established a detectable level in a manner independent of the inoculation route.