A Case of Tinea Faciei due to Trichophyton indotineae with Steroid Rosacea Related to Topical Over-The-Counter Drugs Purchased Outside of Japan.

A Filipino woman in her forties had facial erythema that was being self-treated with over-the-counter (OTC) drugs purchased outside of Japan. The drugs included clobetasol propionate, antibiotic, and antifungal components. Her facial erythema symptoms were worse during summertime. KOH direct examination of annular erythema was positive for fungal hyphae and negative for Demodex folliculorum. Fungal culture revealed Trichophyton indotineae based on internal transcribed spacer sequence analysis. Minimal inhibitory concentration for terbinafine was 0.06 µg/mL. We made a diagnosis of tinea faciei with steroid rosacea. We treated the patient with oral itraconazole. Physicians should be aware of increasing T. indotineae infections and increasing self-medication using topical OTC steroids combined with antifungals and antibiotics not only in India but also among foreign people living in other countries such as Japan.

A Case of Nail Yellow Discoloration due to Topical Treatment of Onychomycosis with Luliconazole 5% Nail Solution.

A woman in her 70s had onychomycosis that was treated with topical luliconazole solution. Her nails changed color to yellow due to the treatment and exposure to sunlight. Avoidance of sunlight and continuous application of luliconazole resolved the discoloration and were effective for the treatment of onychomycosis one year after the first visit.

[Validation Study on Migration Test for Plastic Food Utensils, Containers, and Packaging].

Migration test of food utensils, containers, and packaging is an important test method for confirming the safety and their compliance to the standards. However, there is little report on inter-laboratory study which was performed to evaluate the entire migration test, including migration operations and quantification. An interlaboratory study was performed participating 22 laboratories using 8 types of model synthetic resin samples containing 10 substances with a wide range of Log Pow values to evaluate the accuracy of the entire migration test. As a result, most of HorRat (r) values met the target criteria (0.3

A Case of an Ex Vivo Onychomycosis Model Introduced with a Cultured Colony of Kocuria koreensis from a Diabetic Ingrown Toenail.

A 57-year-old male patient with >10-year history of type 2 diabetes presented with a left big toenail deformity and pain. A physical examination revealed a white and yellow-to-brown patch on the nail as well as thickening and ingrowth of the nail plate. The nail plate was opened using nippers, and a fungal culture revealed Trichophyton interdigitale with yellow yeast. The yeast isolate was identified as Kocuria koreensis, a Gram-positive aerobic coccoid with keratinolytic properties that is part of the normal flora of the skin. We created an ex vivo onychomycosis model of T. interdigitale infection of the human nail by placing a sterilized normal nail on the cultured slant. K. koreensis initially spread over the normal nail, and T. interdigitale then penetrated the nail plate. After one year and six months, a spiral ingrown nail developed. A histopathological examination of the spiral revealed onychomycosis with superficial and deep abscesses of Gram-positive cocci infection. We performed PCR from paraffin-embedded material, and the sequences obtained were identical to those of T. interdigitale and K. koreensis. These results suggest that the development of onychomycosis by T. interdigitale is introduced and accelerated by K. koreensis, and the symbiosis of these microorganisms is suspected in the nail. This ex vivo model has a number of limitations. Therefore, further research on co-infected cases is needed to confirm this hypothesis.

Histopathological Analysis of Decellularized Porcine Small Intestinal Submucosa after Treatment of Skin Ulcer.

BACKGROUND: Decellularized porcine small intestinal submucosa (SIS), commercialized as an extracellular matrix rich in cell-inducing substrates and factors, has been clinically applied to treat intractable skin ulcers and has shown therapeutic effects. The SIS reportedly induces cell infiltration and integrates with the ulcer bed after 3-7 days of application. The attached SIS degenerates over time, and the remaining mass appears as slough, below which is granulation tissue that is essential for healing. This study aimed to determine whether the slough should be removed in clinical settings. METHODS: Five patients with intractable skin ulcers were included in this case series. Seven days after applying a two-layer fenestrated-type SIS to the ulcer, the removed slough was histopathologically examined. RESULTS: The collagen fibers of the SIS somewhat degenerated, and inflammatory cell infiltration was observed from the ulcer side to the surface side of the SIS. Neovascularization was similarly observed on the ulcer side. The degree of inflammatory cell infiltration decreased from the ulcer side to the surface side, whereas pus (ie, aggregates of neutrophils) was observed on the surface and ulcer edges. Additionally, the removed slough contained regenerative epithelium on the ulcer side of the remaining collagen fibers. CONCLUSIONS: After treating intractable skin ulcers using SIS, we recommend removal of the upper surface and ulcer edge of the degenerated SIS or slough to prevent infection and preservation of the lower side of the degenerated SIS to maintain the granulation tissue and regenerative epithelium.

Thermodynamic Control of Domain Swapping by Modulating the Helical Propensity in the Hinge Region of Myoglobin.

Domain swapping is an exception to Anfinsen's dogma, and more than one structure can be produced from the same amino acid sequence by domain swapping. We have previously shown that myoglobin (Mb) can form a domain-swapped dimer in which the hinge region is converted to a helical structure. In this study, we showed that domain-swapped dimerization of Mb was achieved by a single Ala mutation of Gly at position 80. Multiple Ala mutations at positions 81 and 82 in addition to position 80 facilitated dimerization of Mb by stabilization of the dimeric states. Domain swapping tendencies correlated well with the helical propensity of the mutated residue in a series of Mb mutants with amino acids introduced to the hinge region. These findings demonstrate that a single mutation in the hinge loop to modify helical propensity can control oligomer formation, providing new ideas to create high-order protein oligomers using domain swapping.

[Surveillance of Chromium (VI) Concentrations in Mineral Water Products in 2018].

We used ion chromatography with post column derivatization to measure chromium (VI) concentrations in 155 mineral water (MW) products purchased from markets in Japan in 2018. Chromium (VI) recovery in spiked samples of the 155 MW products ranged from 95 to 106%, suggesting that this method is well suited for ensuring that MW products meet the requisite health and food safety standards. Chromium (VI) levels were above detection limits in 54 of the MW products, giving a total detection rate of 35%. The minimum and maximum chromium (VI) concentrations in all of the MW products were 0.0001 mg/L and 0.045 mg/L, respectively. The median chromium (VI) concentration was 0.0003 mg/L, with most MW products having chromium (VI) concentrations in the range of 0.0001 to 0.0002 mg/L. None of the MW products had chromium (VI) concentrations that exceeded the current standard value (0.05 mg/L) for MW in Japan.

[Interlaboratory Study on Evaporation Residue Test for Food Contact Products (Report 1)].

An interlaboratory study was performed to evaluate the equivalence between an official method and a modified method of evaporation residue test using three food-simulating solvents (water, 4% acetic acid and 20% ethanol), based on the Japanese Food Sanitation Law for food contact products. Twenty-three laboratories participated, and tested the evaporation residues of nine test solutions as blind duplicates. For evaporation, a water bath was used in the official method, and a hot plate in the modified method. In most laboratories, the test solutions were heated until just prior to evaporation to dryness, and then allowed to dry under residual heat. Statistical analysis revealed that there was no significant difference between the two methods, regardless of the heating equipment used. Accordingly, the modified method provides performance equal to the official method, and is available as an alternative method.

[Interlaboratory Study on Evaporation Residue Test for Food Contact Products (Report 2)].

An interlaboratory study was performed to evaluate the equivalence between an official method and a modified method of evaporation residue test using heptane as a food-simulating solvent for oily or fatty foods, based on the Japanese Food Sanitation Law for food contact products. Twenty-three laboratories participated, and tested the evaporation residues of nine test solutions as blind duplicates. In the official method, heating for evaporation was done with a water bath. In the modified method, a hot plate was used for evaporation, and/or a vacuum concentration procedure was skipped. In most laboratories, the test solutions were heated until just prior to dryness, and then allowed to dry under residual heat. Statistical analysis revealed that there was no significant difference between the two methods. Accordingly, the modified method provides performance equal to the official method, and is available as an alternative method. Furthermore, an interlaboratory study was performed to evaluate and compare two leaching solutions (95% ethanol and isooctane) used as food-simulating solvents for oily or fatty foods in the EU. The results demonstrated that there was no significant difference between heptane and these two leaching solutions.

Interlaboratory Study on Caprolactam Test for Food-Contact Nylon Products.

The Japanese Food Sanitation Law sets a limit on the migration level of caprolactam for food-contacting nylon products. Here, we carried out an interlaboratory study in twenty laboratories to evaluate the performance of the official GC-FID test method and a GC-MS method as an alternative test method to the official method. Each laboratory quantified caprolactam in three test solutions in 20% ethanol as blind duplicates using GC-FID or GC-MS. The official method (GC-FID with absolute calibration) gave trueness, repeatability (RSDr) and reproducibility (RSDr) values of 96-97%, 3.3-5.4% and 4.0-6.7%, respectively. These values met the target criteria (trueness: 80-110%, RSDr: 10%, RSDr: 25%). The performance of the method was further improved by the introduction of heptalactam as an internal standard. As for GC-MS method, some values of the RSDr exceeded 10% when absolute calibration was used. However, when an internal standard was introduced, the trueness, RSDr and RSDr of GC-MS method were all acceptable at 94-96%, 2.0-4.4% and 7.0-9.4%, respectively. Therefore, GC-MS with an internal standard is available as an alternative test method to the official method.

Interlaboratory Study on Volatiles Test for Food-Contacting Polystyrene Products.

Using polystyrene, acrylonitrile-styrene resin and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resin pellets as samples, an interlaboratory study was performed to evaluate the volatiles test method, based on the specifications described in the Japanese Food Sanitation Law for food-contacting polystyrene products. The study was conducted with the participation of twenty-one laboratories. Each laboratory quantified the contents of styrene, toluene, ethylbenzene, isopropylbenzene and propylbenzene in three test pellets using GC-FID, GC-MS or headspace-GC-FID. Statistical analysis revealed that the repeatability (RSDr) and reproducibility (RSDr) were 1.0-2.6 and 2.5-5.5% for the GC-FID method. The values of the performance parameters fulfilled the requirements (RSDr: 10%, RSDr: 25%), and the performance is sufficient for specifications testing. The RSDr and RSDr of results obtained using the GC-MS and HS-GC methods were 1.4-7.8 and 4.9-13%(GC-MS), and 2.0-2.6 and 3.3-6.9%(HS-GC-FID), respectively. The quantified levels were similar to those obtained with GC-FID. The study suggests that the GC-MS and HS-GC methods can be employed as alternative methods to the GC-FID method.

Characterization of the Cytochrome†c Membrane-Binding Site Using Cardiolipin-Containing Bicelles with NMR.

Cytochrome (cyt) c transports electrons from Complex III to Complex IV in mitochondria. Cyt c is ordinarily anchored to the mitochondrial membrane through interaction with cardiolipin (CL), however its release into the cytosol initiates apoptosis. The cyt c interaction site with CL-containing bicelles was characterized by NMR spectroscopy. Chemical shift perturbations in cyt c signals upon interaction with bicelles revealed that a relatively wide region, which includes the A-site, the CXXCH motif, and the N- and C-terminal helices, and contains multiple Lys residues, interacts cooperatively with CL. The specific cyt c-CL interaction increased with increasing CL molecules in the bicelles. The location of the cyt c interaction site for CL was similar to those for Complex III and Complex IV, thus indicating that cyt c recognizes lipids and partner proteins in a similar way. In addition to elucidating the cyt c membrane-binding site, these results provide insight into the dynamic aspect of cyt c interactions in mitochondria.

[Interlaboratory Study on Zinc Test for Food-Contact Rubber Products].

Using six kinds of zinc solution in water and 4% acetic acid as samples, an interlaboratory study was performed to evaluate a zinc (Zn) test method for food-contact rubber products, based on the Japanese Food Sanitation Law. Eighteen laboratories participated, and quantified Zn in six test solutions as blind duplicates using flame atomic absorption spectrometry, induced coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry or induced coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Statistical analysis revealed that the trueness, repeatability (RSDr) and reproducibility (RSDr) were 97-103%, 0.7-4.9% and 1.7-8.9% by all measuring methods. The values of the performance parameter fulfilled the target value (trueness: 80-110%, RSDr: 10%, RSDr: 25%). The performance of these methods is sufficient for testing the adherence of samples to the specifications.

[Interlaboratory study on migration test of antimony and germanium for food-contact polyethylene terephthalate].

An interlaboratory study was performed to evaluate a migration test method of antimony (Sb) and germanium (Ge), based on the Japanese Food Sanitation Law for food- contact polyethylene terephthalate. Eighteen laboratories participated, and quantified Sb and Ge in three test solutions as blind duplicates using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GF-AAS), inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) or induced coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Statistical analysis revealed that the trueness, repeatability and reproducibility were 98-107%, 1.7-7.5% and 2.0-18.8% by using GF-AAS and ICP-OES. The performance of these methods is sufficient for testing the specifications. The performance parameters of ICP-MS were 99-106%, 0.7-2.2% and 2.2-10.5%, respectively. ICP-MS is available as an alternative measuring method. However, in some laboratories, the quantitative values of Sb were higher than the addition levels. We found that Sb in working solutions is absorbed on glass vessels. Careful control of concentration in working solutions is required for Sb analysis.

Multiwavelength-integrated local model fitting method for interferometric surface profiling.

The local model fitting (LMF) method is a useful single-shot surface profiling algorithm that features fast measurement speed and robustness against vibration. However, the measurement range of the LMF method (i.e., measurable height difference between two neighboring pixels) is limited up to a quarter of the light source wavelength. To cope with this problem, the multiwavelength-matched LMF(MM-LMF) method was proposed, where the plain LMF method is first applied individually to interference images obtained from multiple light sources with different wavelengths, and then the LMF solutions are matched to obtain a range-extended solution. Although the MM-LMF method was shown to provide high measurement accuracy under moderate noise, phase unwrapping errors can occur if individual LMF solutions are erroneous. In this paper, we propose the multiwavelength-integrated LMF (MI-LMF) method, which directly computes a range-extended solution from multiple interference images in an integrated way. The effectiveness of the proposed MI-LMF method is demonstrated through simulations and actual experiments.

[Improvement of carbon monoxide analysis in fish meat].

Carbon monoxide (CO) treatment of fish meat of tuna, yellowtail, tilapia etc. is not allowed in Japan, since it can maintain the red color for a longer period than the microbiological shelf life of fish meat. The official method for quantification of CO has a problem, in that a part of the CO is lost during the preparation of the fish sample. To solve this problem, we modified the official method in this study. We also applied this modified method to survey the contents of CO in tuna, yellowtail, young yellowtail, and tilapia. As a result, the modified method was found to be more suitable for CO quantification than the official method. An inter-laboratory study by 4 laboratories confirmed that the CO content of many samples of tilapia exceeded the regulation value, apparently due to the higher recovery of CO, compared to the official method. Therefore, it was suggested that the regulation value in the case of tilapia should be changed if this method is introduced as an official method.

Advantages of open treatment for syndactyly of the foot: defining its indications.

For the repair of syndactyly of the foot, skin grafting is often used to close the skin defect, but open treatment is not common. However, with grafting, an additional scar at the donor site and patchwork-like scar at the recipient site are inevitable. Our aim was to describe the process of epithelialisation and define the indications for open treatment of syndactyly of the foot. The open treatment was used on 16 webs. The texture of epithelialised surface resembled volar skin; the visible scar was mainly at the dorsal edge; and web creep occurred predominantly on the volar side and resembled the natural slope of the commissure. Open treatment is better than skin grafting because of better match of texture without a patchwork-like scar, and it is indicated in cases of simple incomplete syndactyly of the foot that extends proximal to the distal interphalangeal joint.

Comparison of diffusion-weighted MRI and 2-[fluorine-18]-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) for detecting primary colorectal cancer and regional lymph node metastases.

PURPOSE: To examine the usefulness of diffusion-weighted MRI (DW-MRI) for the detection of both primary colorectal cancer and regional lymph node metastases, and compare its performance with 2-[fluorine-18]-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) in the same patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied 25 patients with known colorectal cancer. All underwent both DW-MRI and FDG-PET studies. The images were retrospectively assessed by visual inspection and the imaging findings were compared with histopathological findings on surgical specimens. RESULTS: Of the 27 primary colorectal lesions surgically excised in 25 patients, 23 (85.2%) were true-positive on both DW-MRI and FDG-PET. Two cancers were false-negative on DW-MRI but true-positive on FDG-PET, and two were false-negative on both DW-MRI and FDG-PET. With respect to the detectability of metastatic lymph nodes, DW-MRI and FDG-PET manifested a sensitivity of 80% (8/10) and 30.0% (3/10), a specificity of 76.9% (10/13) and 100% (13/13), and an accuracy of 78.3% (18/23) and 69.6% (16/23), respectively. CONCLUSION: DW-MRI is inferior to FDG-PET for the detection of primary lesions, but superior for the detection of lymph node metastases.

Full-thickness reconstruction of the eyelid with rotation flap based on orbicularis oculi muscle and palatal mucosal graft: long-term results in 12 cases.

BACKGROUND: Numerous techniques have been proposed for full-thickness eyelid reconstruction. Previously, we reported full-thickness eyelid reconstruction with a rotation flap based on the orbicularis oculi muscle and palatal mucosal graft. Here, we report long-term results in 12 cases. METHODS: After confirmation of defect size, the mucosal defect was covered with a split-thickness palatal mucosal graft. The rotation flap was elevated at the lateral orbital region and the skin defect was covered. Seven cases were reconstructions after tumour excision and five cases were for lagophthalmos after trauma. In cases of tumour excision, five cases had full defects of the lower eyelid and two cases had defect of the lower eyelid lateral to the punctum. In the cases of lagophthalmos, four cases had upper eyelid contracture and one had lower eyelid contracture. RESULTS: Postoperatively, one case showed severe venous congestion of the flap, which led to scleral show. In the other 11 cases, there were no complications, and cosmetic results were excellent. CONCLUSIONS: With our method, cosmetically good results can be obtained in either upper or lower eyelids. In the rotation flap based on the orbicularis oculi muscle, the undermined area is small, invasion is minimal, and the effects of scar contracture can be minimised. Minimal shrinkage of palatal mucosal grafts prevents the reconstructed eyelid from sagging. In only one case, poor design of the flap led to flap congestion. However, this complication can be avoided with the proper design.