Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK)-Rearranged Lung Cancer That Showed Exclusively Scattered Isolated Cells Devoid of Mucin Production in Cytology.

We present a rare case of Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK)-rearranged lung cancer characterized by isolated scattered mucin-free cancer cells forming no clusters in the cytology of endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) samples from a paratracheal lymph node. A female patient in her late 40s underwent chest and abdominal CT scan, revealing a 6 cm diameter tumor in the upper lobe of the left lung along with enlargement of mediastinal and hilar lymph nodes, bilateral pleural effusion, and an additional 5.5 cm diameter tumor in the right greater psoas muscle. EBUS-TBNA was performed to obtain samples for cytological and histological examination. Cytology showed exclusively solitary cancer cells that were negative for Periodic Acid-Schiff (PAS) and Alcian blue staining, without clusters. Immunohistochemical analysis of cell block and histology specimens demonstrated positive expression of TTF-1, ALK, and vimentin, while E-cadherin expression was absent. Genetic analysis of samples obtained by EBUS-TBNA confirmed the presence of EML4-ALK fusion. The tumor in the right greater psoas muscle was identified as a metastatic tumor from the lung tumor based on ALK-positivity and the EML4-ALK fusion. The absence of E-cadherin expression and the presence of vimentin expression suggest that this ALK-rearranged lung cancer may have undergone epithelial-mesenchymal transition, resulting in the loss of cellular adhesiveness.

[Validity of hypotheses about the father/mother interpretation of Rorschach cards: tested by using a card selecting method].

This study tests the validity of hypotheses about the interpretations of Rorschach father/mother cards by having subjects select the cards. The results showed that regardless of the subject's gender, Card IV is far more often selected as the father card. However Card VII is not more often chosen as the mother card, if anything, the Color Cards are usually selected. The result of a correspondence analysis suggest that a certain combination of father and mother cards is more often selected. When the frequency of card selection is applied to the cluster of cards obtained in the study of Fukui et al (2008), the mother card is predominantly selected from the feminine/maternity-cards cluster. However, the father card was selected equally often from three clusters, indicating variation of the father figure. The results indicate the predominance of Card IV as the father card, and also confirm the lack of individuality with Card VII. Therefore, Card IV fulfills prerequisites for the father card hypothesis, while Card VII does not meet the criteria. The results do not support the validity of the hypothesis about the mother card interpretation.

Cholesterol-armed cyclens for helical metal complexes offering chiral self-aggregation and sensing of amino acid anions in aqueous solutions.

Cholesterol-armed cyclens worked as octadentate receptors for Na+, Ca2+, and Y3+ complexes in which four chiral cholesterol-functionalized sidearms were bundled and asymmetrically twisted above cyclen-metal complex platforms. Since the resulting helical metal complexes included chiral, hydrophobic cholesterol residues and charged, hydrophilic metal sites as well as asymmetric coordination geometries, they exhibited unique amphiphilic properties and provided chiral self-aggregates in aqueous solutions. Light scattering, fluorescence, and TEM characterizations demonstrated that Na+ complex with cholesterol-armed cyclen gave a particularly stable self-aggregate in aqueous solution and offered supramolecular environments effective for sensing and detection of amino acid anions. Various dansylamino acid derivatives (dansyl = 5-(dimethylamino)-1-naphthalenesulfonyl) were nicely accommodated in the helicate aggregates to give highly enhanced fluorescence signals, which could be detected by the naked eye at 10(-7) mol/L level. Their inclusion behaviors were analyzed by a Langmuir-type equation, indicating that enantiomer-selective inclusion occurred. MM/MD calculations and circular dichroism (CD) studies further suggested that cholesterol-armed cyclen helicates have chiral and hydrophobic cavities upon self-aggregation, in which the dansylamino acid anions were specifically accommodated. Since these helicates exhibited nonselective binding abilities in solvent extraction experiments of dansylamino acid anions, uncommon chiral recognition and sensing functions were generated by supramolecular alignments of the chiral metal helicates in the aqueous solutions.

Synovial sarcoma of the mediastinum: report of a case.

We report a case of synovial sarcoma of the mediastinum, a very rare tumor, in a 50-year-old man hospitalized with anterior chest pain. Chest X-ray and computed tomography (CT) on admission showed a 10 x 8-cm mass in the right anterior mediastinal space, compressing the superior vena cava. A diagnosis of sarcoma was established by a CT-guided percutaneous needle biopsy. Systemic examination revealed no metastasis to the contralateral pleural cavity or other distant organs, and we resected the mediastinal sarcoma. Pathological and immunohistochemical analyses confirmed a diagnosis of monophasic synovial sarcoma. The patient is alive with recurrence 9 months after his operation, and is receiving chemotherapy with ifosfamide.

Operation for lung cancer in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: surgical contraindication?

BACKGROUND: Patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis have an increased incidence of lung cancer. The purpose of this study was to determine the outcome of surgical treatment of lung cancer with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. METHODS: From January 1992 through December 2001, 64 patients who had simultaneous lung cancer and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis were treated. Twenty-one (33%) of them underwent surgical resection of lung cancer, and their data were reviewed. RESULTS: There were 56 men and 8 women with an average age of 69 years (range, 43 to 85 years). In the surgical group, there were no early postoperative deaths, and nonfatal complications occurred in 2 patients (10%). Among the 14 patients with stage I cancer, a second primary lung cancer developed in 5 (36%). The causes of death in the surgical group were cancer related in 7 patients, exacerbation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in 7, and other in 2. Five of the 7 patients who died of a cancer-related cause had development of a second primary lung cancer. The actuarial 2-year survival rate of the surgical group was 52% overall, 58% for patients with N0 or N1 disease and 25% for those with N2 disease (p = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The long-term results in one surgical group were poor partly because of the high incidence of a second primary lung cancer and partly because of the poor natural history of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. These patients require intensive surveillance even after curative resection of lung cancer.

Side Arm Effects on Cyclen-Alkali Metal Cation Complexation: Highly Selective and Three-Dimensional Encapsulation of Na(+) Ion.

A variety of armed cyclens were prepared in which ester, amide, nitrile, and pyridine moieties were attached as cation-ligating side arms to a 12-membered ring. Ester-, amide-, and pyridine-armed cyclens nicely accommodated a Na(+) ion in a three-dimensional fashion and clearly discriminated the cation from Li(+) and K(+) ions. They extracted Na(+) ion more efficiently and selectively than common Na(+) ion-selective ligands. X-ray diffraction, FAB-MS, (23)Na NMR binding studies, and computer modeling experiments demonstrated that the cyclens having ester-, amide-, and pyridine-functionalized side arms formed highly selective encapsulated Na(+) complexes via a cooperative action of parent cyclen and side arms.