This study describes an evaluation of the sonographic, cholangiographic, pathological, and immunological findings, and the protective effect shown by rats reinfected with Clonorchis sinensis. Eight experimental rat groups were, namely, a normal control, a primary infection control, a reinfection I (reinfection 7 week after treatment following 3-week infection), a reinfection II (reinfection 2 week after treatment following 8-week infection), a reinfection III (exploration of the intrahepatic bile ducts 1 week after reinfection 4 week after treatment following 4-week infection), a superinfection, a secondary infection control, and an infection following immunization group. Sonographic and cholangiographic findings showed moderate or marked dilatation of the bile duct confluence in the primary infection control, reinfection II, and secondary infection control groups. Juvenile worms survived in the intrahepatic bile ducts 1 week after reinfection following treatment in the reinfection III group. It was concluded that reinfecting juvenile worms found during the first week following reinfection failed to survive or grow further. Anatomical, pathophysiological, or immunological changes may induce protection from reinfection in rats.
Animals ; Anthelmintics/administration & dosage/therapeutic use ; Antibodies, Helminth/blood ; Antigens, Helminth/administration & dosage/immunology ; Bile Duct Diseases/parasitology/*pathology/ultrasonography ; Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic/parasitology/*pathology/ultrasonography ; Cholangiography ; Clonorchiasis/parasitology/*pathology/ultrasonography ; Clonorchis sinensis/*pathogenicity ; Immunization ; Praziquantel/administration & dosage/therapeutic use ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Sound Spectrography ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Potato cultivar Atlantic is widely grown for potato chips in the world. However, this economically important potato cultivar exhibits very poor yields and traits under severe environmental stress. To develop an efficient plant transformation system that could be used to produce large scale transgenic potato plants with enhanced tolerance to environmental stress and therefore would be beneficial for potato processing industry, Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of internodal stem explants using both superoxide dismutase (SOD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) genes under the control of an oxidative stress-inducible SWPA2 promoter was performed. Comparing to leaf explants, stem internodal explants were less liable to damage during manipulation, more amenable to in vitro conditions. The addition of silver thiosulfate to the selection medium considerably promoted the shoot induction from explant-derived callus. Seven to nine shoots per stem explant were obtained. By combining the best treatments, this system yielded shoot induction frequency of 94.2% and transformation frequency of 80% of internodal stem explants. Stable integration of the transgenes was confirmed by PCR and Southern blot analyses. In conclusion, short duration (7～8 weeks), high efficiency and easy process make this system well suited for wider commercial applications of transgenic Atlantic potato plants.

In plants, oxidative stress is one of the major causes of damage as a result of various environmental stresses and it is primarily due to the excessive accumulation of reactive oxygen species. To develop transgenic potato plants with enhanced tolerance to environmental stress, transgenic potato plants (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Atlantic) expressing the Cu/ZnSOD and APX genes in chloroplasts were generated under the control of the oxidative stress-inducible promoter. To investigate oxidative stress tolerance, transgenic plants were evaluated at the level of leaf discs and plantlets after methyl viologen (MV) and salt treatment. Leaf discs from transgenic potato plants showed 13% less membrane damage compared to non-transgenic (NT) plants suffering 10 μmol/L MV treatment of 48 h, and showed 1.6-fold higher chlorophyll contents than those of NT plants at 1.0mol/L NaCl treatment (31% vs. 19%). In addition, transgenic potato plants maintained higher rooting rates (75%) during 100mmol/L NaCl treatment than those (12%) from NT plants. Moreover, the tolerance to salt stress in transgenic plants was consistent to increased transcript levels and higher activities of SOD and APX compared to NT plants. These results suggest that expression of Cu/ZnSOD and APX in chloroplasts could be used in plants to enhance the tolerance to environmental stresses.

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma(MFH) is well known as a soft tissue tumor of the extremities and retroperitoneum, but MFH of the skull is very rare. We report a case of MFH arising from the temporal bone in a 27-year-old male. This tumor presented as an osteolytic lesion and soft tissue mass on the left temporal bone without obvious invasion of the underlying brain parenchyma. The patient underwent tumor and bone removal, follwed by radiation therapy. Hostologic examination disclosed pleomorphic spindle cells in a storiform pattern and tumor cells showed positive reaction for vimentin, lysozyme, alpha 1-antitrypsin and (1-antichymotrypsin in immunohistochemical stain.
Adult ; alpha 1-Antitrypsin ; Brain ; Extremities ; Histiocytoma, Malignant Fibrous* ; Humans ; Male ; Muramidase ; Skull ; Temporal Bone* ; Vimentin

Introduction: This research was conducted to extend the theoretical construct of positive orientation (PO) to psychiatric outpatients. This research also examined the effect of PO on alleviating stress, anxiety, and depression among psychiatric outpatients. Methods: This cross-sectional survey recruited 301 psychiatric outpatients online. As these respondents have a short attention span, short measures were used to measure PO-related variables (life satisfaction, optimism, self-esteem) and indicators of psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and stress). These outpatients are at the legal age to provide consent for themselves (M = 30.12, SD= 8.11). The majority of them have been identified as male (80.07%). Similarly, the ethnic distribution was unequal, with the majority of these outpatients identified as Malay (85.05%), followed by those who were identified as Chinese (7.31%), Indian (4.32%), and from other ethnic groups (3.32%). Results: Generalized structured component analysis (GSCA) supported that satisfaction with life, optimism, and self-esteem reflect the construct of PO. Furthermore, PO predicted depression, anxiety, and depression negatively. Conclusion: It is possible to replicate the construct of PO with psychiatric outpatients using single item measures for life satisfaction, optimism, and self-esteem. PO is beneficial to psychiatric outpatients as it reduces the severity of depression, anxiety, and stress.

Objectives: This study was conducted to analyze associations between the volume of the fusion mass and clinical outcomes 1 year after posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF).Summary of Literature Review: No study has investigated associations between the size of the fusion mass and clinical outcomes after PLIF. Materials and Methods: The volume of the fusion mass and its clinical correlations after PLIF were analyzed in all patients and in subgroups. When a sufficient amount of local bone was available for grafting, only local bone without a graft extender was used (LbG group, n=20). If an inadequate amount of local bone was present for grafting, a local bone graft with porous hydroxyapatite bone chips was used (LbHa group, n=20). The same amount of demineralized bone matrix was used in both groups. The primary outcome was the relationship between the size of the fusion mass and clinical outcomes in all patients 1 year after surgery. The secondary outcome was a comparison of the size of the fusion mass and clinical outcomes by group. Results: The volume of the fusion mass was not correlated with any clinical outcomes 1 year after surgery, either in the overall group of patients or in the subgroup analysis. Conclusions The volume of the interbody fusion mass was not related to any clinical outcomes 1 year after surgery. Furthermore, in cases with an insufficient amount of local bone for grafting, porous hydroxyapatite could be a relatively good alternative as a graft extender.

PURPOSE: To evaluate radiation sensitivity of dendritic cells in comparison with lymphocytes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: T lymphocytes captured from peripheral blood were irradiated by 0 Gy, 10 Gy, 30 Gy. Apoptosis was measured by flowcytometry for staining of Annexin V 4 hours after irradiation. Immature and mature dendritic cells processed from blood hematopoietic stem cell were irradiated by 0 Gy, 10 Gy, 30 Gy, 100 Gy respectively and apoptosis was measured by flowcytometry with time difference as 4h, 24h and 48h after irradiation. Morphometric analysis by percent nucleus was measured in three cell groups, also. RESULTS: Lymphocytes showed radiation sensitivity by increasing apoptotic fraction according to radiation dose. However, both mature and immature dendritic cells showed consistent fraction of apoptosis in spite of increasing radiation dose. Percent nucleus ratio is significantly higher in lymphocytes than that of mature or immature dendritic cells. Stimulation of T-cell by dendritic cells was not changed after irradiation. CONCLUSION: Dendritic cells showed radioresistance which was associated with small size of nucleus in comparison with lymphocytes and this result would be used as a basal data of radio-labelling for the cellular trafficking studies in nuclear medicine fields.
Annexin A5 ; Apoptosis ; Dendritic Cells* ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells ; Lymphocytes ; Nuclear Medicine ; Radiation Tolerance ; T-Lymphocytes

We fortuitously observed a human neutrophil intracellular free-calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) increasing activity in the commercially available phosphodiesterase I (PDE I), which is actually dried crude venom of Crotalus atrox. As this activity was not observed with another commercially available pure PDE I, we tried to find out the causative molecule(s) present in 'crude' PDE, and identified Lys49-phospholipase A2 (Lys49-PLA2 or K49-PLA2), a catalytically inactive protein which belongs to the phospholipase A2 family, by activity-driven three HPLC (reverse phase, size exclusion, reverse phase) steps followed by SDS-PAGE and LC-MS/MS. K49-PLA2 induced Ca2+ infl ux in human neutrophils without any cytotoxic eff ect. Two calcium channel inhibitors, 2-aminoetoxydiphenyl borate (2-APB) (30 microM) and SKF-96365 (20 microM) signifi cantly inhibited K49-PLA2-induced [Ca2+]i increase. These results suggest that K49-PLA2 modulates [Ca2+]i in human neutrophils via 2-APB- and SKF-96365-sensitive calcium channels without causing membrane disruption.
Calcium Channels ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Crotalus* ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Humans* ; Membranes ; Neutrophils ; Phosphodiesterase I ; Phospholipases A2 ; S Phase ; Venoms*

Methods: Computed tomographic scans of a total of 50 male and 50 female patients were utilized. The placement of C7 laminar screws was activated employing the new and old trajectories. The success rate, the causes of failure, and the maximum allowable length of each trajectory were compared. Results: Employing the new trajectory, the success rates of the unilaminar and bilaminar screws were 93% and 83%, respectively, which were significantly better than the old trajectory (80%, p<0.0001 and 70%, p=0.0003). The most prevalent cause of failure was laminar cortical breach followed by facet joint violation. The new trajectory also offered significantly longer maximum allowable screw length in unilaminar (32.5±4.3 mm vs. 26.5±2.6 mm, p<0.001), bilaminar cephalic (29.5±3.8 mm vs. 25.9±2.6 mm, p<0.0001) and bilaminar caudal (33.1±2.6 mm vs. 25.8±3.1 mm, p<0.001) screws than the old trajectory. With the new and old trajectories, 70% vs. 6% of unilaminar, 60% vs. 2% of bilaminar caudal, and 32% vs. 4% of bilaminar cephalic screws could be protracted perfectly into the corresponding lateral mass without any laminar cortical or facet joint violation (p<0.0001). Conclusions The novel trajectory possesses a substantially higher success rate, longer maximum allowable screw length, and higher chance to be extended into the lateral mass (a condition known as a lamino-lateral mass screw) than the old trajectory.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is characterized by structural and functional changes in the lung including proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and excessive collagen synthesis. Although connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) is known to promote cell proliferation, migration, adhesion, and extracellular matrix production in various tissues, studies on the role of CTGF in pulmonary hypertension have been limited. Here, we examined CTGF expression in the lung tissues of male Sprague Dawley rats treated with monocrotaline (MCT, 60 microgram/kg), a pneumotoxic agent known to induce PH in animals. Establishment of PH was verified by the significantly increased right ventricular systolic pressure and right ventricle/left ventricle weight ratio in the MCT-treated rats. Histological examination of the lung revealed profound muscular hypertrophy in the media of pulmonary artery and arterioles in MCT-treated group. Lung parenchyma, vein, and bronchiole did not appear to be affected. RT-PCR analysis of the lung tissue at 5 weeks indicated significantly increased expression of CTGF in the MCT-treated group. In situ hybridization studies also confirmed abundant CTGF mRNA expression in VSMCs of the arteries and arterioles, clustered pneumocytes, and infiltrated macrophages. Interestingly, CTGF mRNA was not detected in VSMCs of vein or bronchiole. In saline-injected control, basal expression of CTGF was seen in bronchial epithelial cells, alveolar lining cells, and endothelial cells. Taken together, our results suggest that CTGF upregulation in arterial VSMC of the lung might be important in the pathogenesis of pulmonary hypertension. Antagonizing the role of CTGF could thus be one of the potential approaches for the treatment of PH.
Animals ; Blood Pressure/drug effects ; Bronchi/cytology/drug effects/metabolism ; Endothelial Cells/cytology/drug effects/metabolism ; Epithelial Cells/cytology/drug effects/metabolism ; Hypertension, Pulmonary/chemically induced/*metabolism ; Immediate-Early Proteins/genetics/*metabolism ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins/genetics/*metabolism ; Lung/cytology/drug effects/*metabolism ; Male ; Monocrotaline/*toxicity ; Pulmonary Alveoli/cytology/drug effects/metabolism ; Pulmonary Artery/cytology/drug effects/metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Up-Regulation