Comparative Analysis of Policosanols Related to Growth Times from the Seedlings of Various Korean Oat (Avena sativa L.) Cultivars and Screening for Adenosine 5'-Monophosphate-Activated Protein Kinase (AMPK) Activation.

The objectives of this research were to evaluate the policosanol profiles and adenosine-5'-monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) properties in the seedlings of Korean oat (Avena sativa L.) cultivars at different growth times. Nine policosanols in the silylated hexane extracts were detected using GC-MS and their contents showed considerable differences; specifically, hexacosanol (6) exhibited the highest composition, constituting 88-91% of the total average content. Moreover, the average hexacosanol (6) contents showed remarkable variations of 337.8 (5 days) → 416.8 (7 days) → 458.9 (9 days) → 490.0 (11 days) → 479.2 (13 days) → 427.0 mg/100 g (15 days). The seedlings collected at 11 days showed the highest average policosanol content (541.7 mg/100 g), with the lowest content being 383.4 mg/100 g after 5 days. Interestingly, policosanols from oat seedlings grown for 11 days induced the most prevalent phenotype of AMPK activation in HepG2 cells, indicating that policosanols are an excellent AMPK activator.

Two new secondary metabolites isolated from Avena sativa L. (Oat) seedlings and their effects on osteoblast differentiation.

Seedlings of natural crops are valuable sources of pharmacologically active phytochemicals. In this study, we aimed to identify new active secondary metabolites in Avena sativa L. (oat) seedlings. Two new compounds, avenafuranol (1) and diosgenoside (2), along with eight known compounds (3-10) were isolated from the A. sativa L. seedlings. Their chemical structures were elucidated via 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy, high-resolution ESIMS, IR spectroscopy, optical rotation analysis, and comparisons with the reported literature. The effect of each isolated compound on alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity for osteoblast differentiation induced by bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) was investigated using the C2C12 immortal mouse myoblast cell line. Compounds 1, 4, 6, 8, and 9 induced dose-dependent increases in ALP expression relative to ALP expression in cells treated with only BMP-2, and no cytotoxicity was observed. These results suggest that A. sativa L. seedlings are a natural source of compounds that may be useful for preventing bone disorders.

Automatic Derivation of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Settings: Comparison with In-Laboratory Titration.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This study was designed to investigate differences in the final recommended pressure setting between that derived from an autotitrating continuous positive airway pressure (APAP) device and manual in-laboratory continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) titration, as well as the factors that influence pressure differences in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). METHODS: This study enrolled 50 patients with OSA. All patients underwent both APAP titration and manual CPAP titration. We obtained the average device pressure ≤90% of the time (APAP90) from the downloaded manual for the APAP machine and the optimal pressure obtained by manual CPAP titration (CPAPmanual). We placed the subjects into three groups based on the pressure difference (ΔP) obtained by subtracting CPAPmanual from APAP90: 1) Prequal (ΔP=0), 2) CPAPmanual+ (ΔP ≤-1), and 3) APAP90+ (ΔP ≥1). Regression analysis was conducted to identify predictive factors associated with ΔP. RESULTS: The values of APAP90 and CPAPmanual were 9.50±3.03 cmH2O and 9.48±2.71 cmH2O (mean±SD), respectively (p=0.95). The Prequal, CPAPmanual+, and APAP90+ groups comprised 9 (18%), 23 (46%), and 18 (36%) subjects, respectively. Regression analyses revealed that male sex [ß=3.539, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.040-7.039], body mass index (BMI) (ß=0.186, 95% CI=0.020-0.352), and average usage per day (ß=0.768, 95% CI=0.077-1.459) were associated with ΔP. CONCLUSIONS: While the mean pressure in the overall cohort did not differ significantly between APAP90 and CPAPmanual, there was a discordance majority showing different single pressures obtained when applying the two titration methods. Being Male, having an increased BMI, and having an increased average usage per day of APAP were significantly correlated with increased ΔP in this study.

Water Extracts of Hull-less Waxy Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Cultivar 'Boseokchal' Inhibit RANKL-induced Osteoclastogenesis.

Osteoporosis is a disease that leads to reduced bone mineral density. The increase in patient and medical costs because of global aging is recognized as a problem. Decreased bone mass is a common symptom of bone diseases such as Paget's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple myeloma. Osteoclasts, which directly affect bone mass, show a marked increase in differentiation and activation in the aforementioned diseases. Moreover, these multinucleated cells made from monocytes/macrophages under the influence of RANKL and M-CSF, are the only cells capable of resorbing bones. In this study, we found that the water extracts of Boseokchal (BSC-W) inhibited osteoclast differentiation in vitro and investigated its inhibitory mechanism. BSC-W was obtained by extracting flour of Boseokchal using hexane and water. To osteoclast differentiation, bone marrow-derived macrophage cells (BMMs) were cultured with the vehicle (0.1% DMSO) or BSC-W in the presence of M-CSF and RANKL for 4 days. Cytotoxicity was measured by CCK-8. Gene expression of cells was confirmed by real-time PCR. Protein expression of cells was observed by western blot assay. Bone resorption activity of osteoclast evaluated by bone pit formation assay using an Osteo Assay Plate. BSC-W inhibited RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis in a dose-dependent manner without exerting a cytotoxic effect on BMMs. BSC-W decreased the transcriptional and translational expression of c-Fos and NFATc1, which are regulators of osteoclastogenesis and reduced the mRNA expression level of TRAP, DC-STAMP, and cathepsin K, which are osteoclast differentiation marker. Furthermore, BSC-W reduced the resorption activity of osteoclasts. Taken together, our results indicate that BSC-W is a useful candidate for health functional foods or therapeutic agents that can help treat bone diseases such as osteoporosis.

Inhibitory Effect of Oat Bran Ethanol Extract on Survival and Gemcitabine Resistance of Pancreatic Cancer Cells.

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most aggressive malignancies in the world. Gemcitabine (Gem), a nucleoside pyrimidine analogue, is a first-line chemotherapeutic drug for PC, but the tumor response rate of Gem is very low and resistance to Gem has emerged as a major problem in the treatment of PC. Oat bran, used as animal and human food, has been found to be beneficial to health. In this study, effects of oat bran ethanol extract (OBE) on PC cells and Gem-resistant PC cells were investigated in vitro. OBE decreased cell survival and colony forming ability of PC cells, without any cytotoxicity on the normal pancreatic cells. Flow cytometry analysis and TUNEL assay showed that the OBE reduced G1/S phase transition and induced death in PC cells through AMPK activation and downregulation of JNK. Additionally, OBE could overcome Gem resistance through reduction in RRM1/2 expression and showed synergistic effect by combinatorial treatment with Gem on Gem-resistant PC cells. Additionally, LC-MS data showed that avenacoside A was a component of OBE. Thus, this study elucidated the anti-proliferative effect of OBE and synergistic effect of OBE with Gem on PC cells and Gem-resistant cells.

Segmenting and classifying activities in robot-assisted surgery with recurrent neural networks.

PURPOSE: Automatically segmenting and classifying surgical activities is an important prerequisite to providing automated, targeted assessment and feedback during surgical training. Prior work has focused almost exclusively on recognizing gestures, or short, atomic units of activity such as pushing needle through tissue, whereas we also focus on recognizing higher-level maneuvers, such as suture throw. Maneuvers exhibit more complexity and variability than the gestures from which they are composed, however working at this granularity has the benefit of being consistent with existing training curricula. METHODS: Prior work has focused on hidden Markov model and conditional-random-field-based methods, which typically leverage unary terms that are local in time and linear in model parameters. Because maneuvers are governed by long-term, nonlinear dynamics, we argue that the more expressive unary terms offered by recurrent neural networks (RNNs) are better suited for this task. Four RNN architectures are compared for recognizing activities from kinematics: simple RNNs, long short-term memory, gated recurrent units, and mixed history RNNs. We report performance in terms of error rate and edit distance, and we use a functional analysis-of-variance framework to assess hyperparameter sensitivity for each architecture. RESULTS: We obtain state-of-the-art performance for both maneuver recognition from kinematics (4 maneuvers; error rate of [Formula: see text]; normalized edit distance of [Formula: see text]) and gesture recognition from kinematics (10 gestures; error rate of [Formula: see text]; normalized edit distance of [Formula: see text]). CONCLUSIONS: Automated maneuver recognition is feasible with RNNs, an exciting result which offers the opportunity to provide targeted assessment and feedback at a higher level of granularity. In addition, we show that multiple hyperparameters are important for achieving good performance, and our hyperparameter analysis serves to aid future work in RNN-based activity recognition.

Development and effects of a self-management efficacy promotion program for adult patients with congenital heart disease.

BACKGROUND: With the recent advances in medicine, patients with congenital heart disease are surviving to adulthood. Adults with congenital heart disease must practice self-management to recognize the symptoms of complications and the appropriate response. AIMS: The purpose of this study was to develop a self-management efficacy promotion program for adults with congenital heart disease and to test the effects of the developed program on disease-related knowledge, self-management implementation and health-related quality of life. METHODS: A non-equivalent, control group, pre-post test design was used. The intervention group received the self-management efficacy promotion program for six weeks. The control group received only the usual care. RESULTS: The study results showed that disease-related knowledge ( F=91.095, p<0.001) was significantly different between the two groups, as was the self-management performance ( F=11.846, p<0.001). However, health-related quality of life (generic core scale: F=0.023, p=0.881, cardiac module scale: F=0.174, p=0.678) was not significantly different between groups. CONCLUSION: The self-management efficacy promotion program for adults with congenital heart disease had a significant effect on disease-related knowledge and self-management implementation, but did not affect health-related quality of life.

The Dual Role of Oat Bran Water Extract in Bone Homeostasis Through the Regulation of Osteoclastogenesis and Osteoblast Differentiation.

The number of patients with bone metabolic disorders including osteoporosis is increasing worldwide. These disorders often facilitate bone fractures, which seriously impact the patient's quality of life and could lead to further health complications. Bone homeostasis is tightly regulated to balance bone resorption and formation. However, many anti-osteoporotic agents are broadly categorized as either bone forming or anti-resorptive, and their therapeutic use is often limited due to unwanted side effects. Therefore, safe and effective therapeutic agents are needed for osteoporosis. This study aims to clarify the bone protecting effects of oat bran water extract (OBWE) and its mode of action. OBWE inhibited RANKL (receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand)-induced osteoclast differentiation by blocking c-Fos/NFATc1 through the alteration of I-κB. Furthermore, we found that OBWE enhanced BMP-2-stimulated osteoblast differentiation by the induction of Runx2 via Smad signaling molecules. In addition, the anti-osteoporotic activity of OBWE was also evaluated using an in vivo model. OBWE significantly restored ovariectomy-induced bone loss. These in vitro and in vivo results showed that OBWE has the potential to prevent and treat bone metabolic disorders including osteoporosis.

Can a virtual reality surgical simulation training provide a self-driven and mentor-free skills learning? Investigation of the practical influence of the performance metrics from the virtual reality robotic surgery simulator on the skill learning and associated cognitive workloads.

BACKGROUND: While it is often claimed that virtual reality (VR) training system can offer self-directed and mentor-free skill learning using the system's performance metrics (PM), no studies have yet provided evidence-based confirmation. This experimental study investigated what extent to which trainees achieved their self-learning with a current VR simulator and whether additional mentoring improved skill learning, skill transfer and cognitive workloads in robotic surgery simulation training. METHODS: Thirty-two surgical trainees were randomly assigned to either the Control-Group (CG) or Experiment-Group (EG). While the CG participants reviewed the PM at their discretion, the EG participants had explanations about PM and instructions on how to improve scores. Each subject completed a 5-week training using four simulation tasks. Pre- and post-training data were collected using both a simulator and robot. Peri-training data were collected after each session. Skill learning, time spent on PM (TPM), and cognitive workloads were compared between groups. RESULTS: After the simulation training, CG showed substantially lower simulation task scores (82.9 ± 6.0) compared with EG (93.2 ± 4.8). Both groups demonstrated improved physical model tasks performance with the actual robot, but the EG had a greater improvement in two tasks. The EG exhibited lower global mental workload/distress, higher engagement, and a better understanding regarding using PM to improve performance. The EG's TPM was initially long but substantially shortened as the group became familiar with PM. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrated that the current VR simulator offered limited self-skill learning and additional mentoring still played an important role in improving the robotic surgery simulation training.

Does a robotic surgery approach offer optimal ergonomics to gynecologic surgeons?: a comprehensive ergonomics survey study in gynecologic robotic surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To better understand the ergonomics associated with robotic surgery including physical discomfort and symptoms, factors influencing symptom reporting, and robotic surgery systems components recommended to be improved. METHODS: The anonymous survey included 20 questions regarding demographics, systems, ergonomics, and physical symptoms and was completed by experienced robotic surgeons online through American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists (AAGL) and Society of Robotic Surgery (SRS). RESULTS: There were 289 (260 gynecology, 22 gynecology-oncology, and 7 urogynecology) gynecologic surgeon respondents regularly practicing robotic surgery. Statistical data analysis was performed using the t-test, χ² test, and logistic regression. One hundred fifty-six surgeons (54.0%) reported experiencing physical symptoms or discomfort. Participants with higher robotic case volume reported significantly lower physical symptom report rates (p<0.05). Gynecologists who felt highly confident about managing ergonomic settings not only acknowledged that the adjustments were helpful for better ergonomics but also reported a lower physical symptom rate (p<0.05). In minimizing their symptoms, surgeons changed ergonomic settings (32.7%), took a break (33.3%) or simply ignored the problem (34%). Fingers and neck were the most common body parts with symptoms. Eye symptom complaints were significantly decreased with the Si robot (p<0.05). The most common robotic system components to be improved for better ergonomics were microphone/speaker, pedal design, and finger clutch. CONCLUSION: More than half of participants reported physical symptoms which were found to be primarily associated with confidence in managing ergonomic settings and familiarity with the system depending on the volume of robotic cases. Optimal guidelines and education on managing ergonomic settings should be implemented to maximize the ergonomic benefits of robotic surgery.

Comparison of nutritional components (isoflavone, protein, oil, and fatty acid) and antioxidant properties at the growth stage of different parts of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill].

This is the first study to investigate antioxidant capacities of isoflavones prepared using microwave-assisted hydrolysis method from different parts (seeds, leaves, leafstalks, pods, stems and roots) of soybean at growth stages. In addition, the fluctuations in the isoflavone, protein, fatty acid, and oil contents in R6-R8 (R6: beginning; R7: beginning maturity; R8: full maturity) seeds were confirmed. The R7 seeds exhibited the most predominant contents of isoflavones (1218.1±7.3 µg/g) in the following order: daidzein (48%)>genistein (35%)>glycitein (17%). The second highest isoflavone content was found in the leaves (1052.1±10.4 µg/g), followed by R8 seeds>roots>R6 seeds>leafstalks> pods; the stems exhibited the lowest isoflavone content (57.2±1.7 µg/g). Interestingly, daidzein showed the highest individual isoflavone content with remarkable variations (57.2-766.8 µg/g), representing 46-100% of the total isoflavone content. R8 exhibited higher protein, fatty acid, and oil contents than R6 or R7. Moreover, the antioxidant capacities against two radicals in different parts of soybean plant showed considerable differences depending upon the isoflavone content. Our results suggested that soybean leaves and seeds might be useful materials for functional foods.

Significance of Parafibromin Expression in Laryngeal Squamous Cell Carcinomas.

BACKGROUND: Parafibromin is a product of the tumor suppressor gene that has been studied as a potential indicator of tumor aggressiveness in the parathyroid, breast, colorectum, and stomach. However, the clinical significance and potential function of parafibromin expression in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas remain largely unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of parafibromin in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) and to verify its potential as a biomarker of tumor behavior. METHODS: Parafibromin expression was evaluated in 30 cases of LSCC using immunohistochemistry. The correlations between parafibromin expression and clinicopathologic parameters were investigated. RESULTS: Parafibromin expression was positive in 15 cases (50%) and negative in 15 cases (50%). Tumor size and T stage showed a statistically significant inverse relationship with parafibromin expression (p=.028 and p<.001, respectively). Parafibromin expression was not associated with age, sex, lymph node metastasis, tumor differentiation, or tumor location. There was no statistically significant relationship between parafibromin expression and progression-free survival in the patients (p>.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that the downregulation or loss of parafibromin expression can be employed as a novel marker of tumor progression or aggressiveness in LSCC.

Query-by-example surgical activity detection.

PURPOSE: Easy acquisition of surgical data opens many opportunities to automate skill evaluation and teaching. Current technology to search tool motion data for surgical activity segments of interest is limited by the need for manual pre-processing, which can be prohibitive at scale. We developed a content-based information retrieval method, query-by-example (QBE), to automatically detect activity segments within surgical data recordings of long duration that match a query. METHODS: The example segment of interest (query) and the surgical data recording (target trial) are time series of kinematics. Our approach includes an unsupervised feature learning module using a stacked denoising autoencoder (SDAE), two scoring modules based on asymmetric subsequence dynamic time warping (AS-DTW) and template matching, respectively, and a detection module. A distance matrix of the query against the trial is computed using the SDAE features, followed by AS-DTW combined with template scoring, to generate a ranked list of candidate subsequences (substrings). To evaluate the quality of the ranked list against the ground-truth, thresholding conventional DTW distances and bipartite matching are applied. We computed the recall, precision, F1-score, and a Jaccard index-based score on three experimental setups. We evaluated our QBE method using a suture throw maneuver as the query, on two tool motion datasets (JIGSAWS and MISTIC-SL) captured in a training laboratory. RESULTS: We observed a recall of 93, 90 and 87 % and a precision of 93, 91, and 88 % with same surgeon same trial (SSST), same surgeon different trial (SSDT) and different surgeon (DS) experiment setups on JIGSAWS, and a recall of 87, 81 and 75 % and a precision of 72, 61, and 53 % with SSST, SSDT and DS experiment setups on MISTIC-SL, respectively. CONCLUSION: We developed a novel, content-based information retrieval method to automatically detect multiple instances of an activity within long surgical recordings. Our method demonstrated adequate recall across different complexity datasets and experimental conditions.

Mangosenone F, A Furanoxanthone from Garciana mangostana, Induces Reactive Oxygen Species-Mediated Apoptosis in Lung Cancer Cells and Decreases Xenograft Tumor Growth.

Mangosenone F (MSF), a natural xanthone, was isolated form Carcinia mangotana, and a few studies have reported its glycosidase inhibitor effect. In this study we investigated the anti lung cancer effect of MSF both in vitro and in vivo. MSF inhibited cancer cell cytotoxicity and induced and induced apoptosis via reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in NCI-H460. MSF treatment also showed in pronounced release of apoptogenic cytochrome c from the mitochondria to the cytosol, downregulation of Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL, and upregulation of Bax, suggesting that caspase-mediated pathways were involved in MSF-induced apoptosis. ROS activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway was shown to play a predominant role in the apoptosis mechanism of MSF. Compared with cisplatin treatment, MSF treatment showed significantly increased inhibition of the growth of NCI-H460 cells xenografted in nude mice. Together, these results indicate the potential of MSF as a candidate natural anticancer drug by promoting ROS production.

Comparative assessment of physical and cognitive ergonomics associated with robotic and traditional laparoscopic surgeries.

BACKGROUND: We conducted this study to investigate how physical and cognitive ergonomic workloads would differ between robotic and laparoscopic surgeries and whether any ergonomic differences would be related to surgeons' robotic surgery skill level. Our hypothesis is that the unique features in robotic surgery will demonstrate skill-related results both in substantially less physical and cognitive workload and uncompromised task performance. METHODS: Thirteen MIS surgeons were recruited for this institutional review board-approved study and divided into three groups based on their robotic surgery experiences: laparoscopy experts with no robotic experience, novices with no or little robotic experience, and robotic experts. Each participant performed six surgical training tasks using traditional laparoscopy and robotic surgery. Physical workload was assessed by using surface electromyography from eight muscles (biceps, triceps, deltoid, trapezius, flexor carpi ulnaris, extensor digitorum, thenar compartment, and erector spinae). Mental workload assessment was conducted using the NASA-TLX. RESULTS: The cumulative muscular workload (CMW) from the biceps and the flexor carpi ulnaris with robotic surgery was significantly lower than with laparoscopy (p < 0.05). Interestingly, the CMW from the trapezius was significantly higher with robotic surgery than with laparoscopy (p < 0.05), but this difference was only observed in laparoscopic experts (LEs) and robotic surgery novices. NASA-TLX analysis showed that both robotic surgery novices and experts expressed lower global workloads with robotic surgery than with laparoscopy, whereas LEs showed higher global workload with robotic surgery (p > 0.05). Robotic surgery experts and novices had significantly higher performance scores with robotic surgery than with laparoscopy (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that the physical and cognitive ergonomics with robotic surgery were significantly less challenging. Additionally, several ergonomic components were skill-related. Robotic experts could benefit the most from the ergonomic advantages in robotic surgery. These results emphasize the need for well-structured training and well-defined ergonomics guidelines to maximize the benefits utilizing the robotic surgery.

Capsaicin-induced apoptosis is regulated by endoplasmic reticulum stress- and calpain-mediated mitochondrial cell death pathways.

Capsaicin, a pungent compound found in hot chili peppers, induces apoptotic cell death in various cell lines, however, the precise apoptosis signaling pathway is unknown. Here, we investigated capsaicin-induced apoptotic signaling in the human breast cell line MCF10A and found that it involves both endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and calpain activation. Capsaicin inhibited growth in a dose-dependent manner and induced apoptotic nuclear changes in MCF10A cells. Capsaicin also induced degradation of tumor suppressor p53; this effect was enhanced by the ER stressor tunicamycin. The proteasome inhibitor MG132 completely blocked capsaicin-induced p53 degradation and enhanced apoptotic cell death. Capsaicin treatment triggered ER stress by increasing levels of IRE1, GADD153/Chop, GRP78/Bip, and activated caspase-4. It led to an increase in cytosolic Ca(2+), calpain activation, loss of the mitochondrial transmembrane potential, release of mitochondrial cytochrome c, and caspase-9 and -7 activation. Furthermore, capsaicin-induced the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway through calpain-mediated Bid translocation to the mitochondria and nuclear translocation of apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF). Capsaicin-induced caspase-9, Bid cleavage, and AIF translocation were blocked by calpeptin, and BAPTA and calpeptin attenuated calpain activation and Bid cleavage. Thus, both ER stress- and mitochondria-mediated death pathways are involved in capsaicin-induced apoptosis.

Immunohistochemical comparison of chordoma with chondrosarcoma, myxopapillary ependymoma, and chordoid meningioma.

Chordoma originates from embryonic notochordal remnants in the midline along the spinal axis and is characterized by cords and lobules of neoplastic cells arranged within myxoid matrix. Because of histologic similarities with myxoid matrix and overlapping immunohistochemical profile, chondrosarcoma, myxopapillary ependymoma, and chordoid meningioma enter in the histologic differential diagnosis at this site. Therefore, the judicious use of a panel of selected immunostains is unquestionably helpful in diagnostically challenging cases. To find useful immunohistochemical markers for assisting in differential diagnosis between chordoma and other tumors with chordoid morphology, an immunohistochemical study using D2-40, epithelial membrane antigen (EMA), pan-cytokeratin (panCK), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), S-100 protein, galectin-3, neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM), beta-catenin, E-cadherin, and carcinoembryonic antigen was performed on 14 chordomas, 7 chondrosarcomas, 9 myxopapillary ependymomas, and 4 chordoid meningiomas. Chordoma typically showed positive for EMA and panCK and negative for D2-40 and GFAP; whereas chondrosarcoma revealed positive for D2-40, and negative for EMA, panCK, and GFAP; myxopapillary ependymoma positive for GFAP and negative for EMA; and chordoid meningioma positive for EMA, and negative for panCK and GFAP. On the basis of our immunohistochemical study, a panel of D2-40, EMA, panCK, and GFAP allowed the correct recognition of all tumors examined. Other immunohistochemical markers including S-100 protein, galectin-3, NCAM, beta-catenin, E-cadherin, and carcinoembryonic antigen were of little value in differential diagnosis. In summary, the best immunohistochemical markers useful for the evaluation of tumors with chordoid morphology were D2-40, EMA, cytokeratin, and GFAP. D2-40 was a true chondroid marker to be useful for the differential diagnosis with chordoma.

A novel protein, MUDENG, induces cell death in cytotoxic T cells.

A screening system comprised of a randomized hybrid-ribozyme library has previously been used to identify pro-death genes in Fas-mediated apoptosis, and short sequence information of candidate genes from this system was previously reported by Kawasaki and Taira [H. Kawasaki, K. Taira, A functional gene discovery in the Fas-mediated pathway to apoptosis by analysis of transiently expressed randomized hybrid-ribozyme libraries, Nucleic Acids Res. 30 (2002) 3609-3614]. In this study, we have cloned the full-length of the candidate's open reading frames and found that one of the candidates, referred to as MUDENG (Mu-2 related death-inducing gene), which is composed of 490 amino acids that contain the adaptin domain found in the mu2 subunit of APs related to clathrin-mediated endocytosis, is able to induce cell death by itself. Ectopic expression of MUDENG induced cell death in Jurkat T cells and HeLa cells. In addition, when MUDENG expression was evaluated by immnuohistochemical staining, it was found in most tissues, including the intestine and testis. Furthermore, MUDENG appears to be evolutionary conserved from mammals to amphibians, suggesting that it may have a common role in cell death. Taken together, these results suggest that MUDENG is likely to play an important role in cell death in various tissues.

OEIS complex with glomerulocystic kidney disease: a case report.

We present a case of OEIS complex (omphalocele, exstrophy of bladder, imperforated anus, spinal defect) combined with colonic agenesis and glomerulocystic kidney disease (GCKD). The baby was born at 35.2 weeks of gestational age, weighing 2.51 kg. A prenatal ultrasound examination showed spina bifida, hydroureter, and a unilateral polycystic kidney. The postdelivery examination, which included a physical examination, simple X-ray, and pelvic MRI, showed a lower abdominal wall defect through which a small pouch with a segment of bowel protruded, imperforated anus, ambiguous external genitalia, spina bifida with meningomyelocele at the lumbosacral junction, and nonunion of pubic symphysis. The baby underwent surgery, including nephrectomy, colostomy, and repair of the abdominal wall defect. In addition to the abnormalities mentioned, a tailgut as a result of colonic agenesis and 2 appendices were identified in the course of surgery. The result of histopathological examination confirmed the polycystic kidney identified as GCKD. These radiological, surgical, and histopathologic findings are consistent with the OEIS complex. The postoperative course was uneventful during a period of 4 months of follow up. We herein report a case of the very rare OEIS complex in a newborn male baby and review the available literature.