Mycobacterium abscessus subsp. abscessus empyema complicated with subcutaneous abscess.

There have been no case reports of thoracic subcutaneous abscess after surgery for Mycobacterium abscessus complex associated empyema. We herein report a case of Mycobacterium abscessus subsp. abscessus (M. abscessus subsp. abscessus) induced subcutaneous abscesses following surgical treatment for concurrent M. abscessus subsp. abscessus -associated empyema and pneumothorax. A 75-year-old woman had M. abscessus subsp. abscessus -associated empyema and pneumothorax. She underwent surgical treatment of decortication and fistulectomy and suffered from M. abscessus subsp. abscessus -associated subcutaneous abscesses after thoracentesis/drainage. A multidisciplinary approach combined with surgical care, thermal therapy, and multidrug chemotherapy contributed to a successful result. An early multidisciplinary approach is believed to be important in cases of M. abscessus subsp. abscessus -associated empyema and subcutaneous abscess.

Extracellular vesicles from human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells repair organ damage caused by cadmium poisoning in a medaka model.

Treatment modalities for kidney disease caused by long-term exposure to heavy metals, such as cadmium (Cd), are limited. Often, chronic, long-term environmental exposure to heavy metal is not recognized in the early stages; therefore, chelation therapy is not an effective option. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from stem cells have been demonstrated to reduce disease pathology in both acute and chronic kidney disease models. To test the ability of EVs derived from human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hBM-MSCs) to treat Cd damage, we generated a Cd-exposed medaka model. This model develops heavy metal-induced cell damage in various organs and tissues, and shows decreased overall survival. Intravenous injection of highly purified EVs from hBM-MSCs repaired the damage to apical and basolateral membranes and mitochondria of kidney proximal tubules, glomerular podocytes, bone deformation, and improved survival. Our system also serves as a model with which to study age- and sex-dependent cell injuries of organs caused by various agents and diseases. The beneficial effects of EVs on the tissue repair process, as shown in our novel Cd-exposed medaka model, may open new broad avenues for interventional strategies.

[What Should We Do in the Department of Clinical Laboratory in the Future?--Chairmen's Introductory Remarks].

The Japanese Society of Laboratory Medicine and Japanese Association of Medical Technologists symposium was held at the 60th National Congress of the Japanese Society of Laboratory Medicine. The theme of this symposium was "What should we do in the Department of Clinical Laboratory in the future?" In this symposium, we discussed the future of the Department of Clinical Laboratory. Three speakers talked about this theme: a laboratory doctor, a laboratory technician, and a laboratory technician training school teacher. The speed and accuracy of routine laboratory work and delivery of the results to medical staff have been evaluated. It is important for medical technologists to improve their ability to estimate laboratory data based on anatomical, pathological, and physiological knowledge. Medical technologists receive many requests. We have to respond to the questions from medical staff and provide patients with appropriate explanations. Our objective is to educate human resources who can support the overall process. We maintain the environment, and nurture various personnel who work in clinical, research, educational, and industrial fields. It is very important for medical technologists to perform their duties as medical staff. Medical technologists contribute to patients' diagnoses and treatments and they participate in hospital administration. Mutual cooperation within the clinical laboratory group may be necessary for future activity.

Effects of immunization with natural and recombinant lysine decarboxylase on canine gingivitis development.

Periodontal disease, gingival inflammation (gingivitis) and periodontal attachment loss (periodontitis), causes tooth loss and susceptibility to chronic inflammation. Professionally scaling and cleaning the teeth regularly controls the disease, but is expensive in companion animals. Eikenella corrodens is common in canine oral cavities where it is a source of lysine decarboxylase (LDC). In human dental biofilms (plaques), LDC converts lysine to cadaverine and impairs the gingival epithelial barrier to bacteria. LDC vaccination may therefore retard gingivitis development. Year-old beagle dogs provided blood samples, and had weight and clinical measurements (biofilm and gingivitis) recorded. After scaling and cleaning, two dogs were immunized subcutaneously with 0.2mg native LDC from E. corrodens and 2 sets of four dogs with 0.2mg recombinant LDC purified from Escherichia coli. A third set of 4 dogs was immunized intranasally. Rehydragel(®), Emulsigen(®), Polygen™ or Carbigen™ were used as adjuvant. Four additional pairs of dogs were sham-immunized with each adjuvant alone (controls). Immunizations were repeated twice, 3 weeks apart, and clinical measurements were obtained after another 2 weeks, when the teeth were scaled and cleaned again. Tooth brushing was then stopped and the diet was changed from hard to soft chow. Clinical measurements were repeated after 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 weeks. Compared with sham-immunized dogs, gingivitis was reduced over all 8 weeks of soft diet after subcutaneous immunization with native LDC, or after intranasal immunization with recombinant LDC in Carbigen™, but for only 6 of the 8 weeks after subcutaneous immunization with recombinant LDC in Emulsigen(®) (repeated measures ANOVA). Subcutaneous vaccination induced a strong serum IgG antibody response that decreased during the soft diet period, whereas intranasal immunization induced a weak serum IgA antibody response that did not decrease. Immunization with recombinant LDC may provide protection from gingivitis if procedures are optimized.

[Effects of pulpal inflammation on the activities of periodontal mechanoreceptive afferent fibers].

Response properties of periodontal single afferents were investigated in cats with inflammatory irritant-induced pulpitis. A deep dentin cavity was prepared on the right mandibular canine in order to apply an inflammatory agent and small fiber excitant, allyl-isothiocyanate (mustard oil: MO), and single afferents innervating the canine periodontal mechanoreceptor were dissected from the mandibular nerve bundle by examining impulse responses while applying mechanical stimuli to the tip of the crown. Evoked impulses by mechanical stimuli were increased in number for 15 minutes with MO application to the pulp when compared with those with mineral oil. The mechanoreceptive thresholds of single nerve fibers were decreased after the MO application to the pulp when compared with those with mineral oil. These results suggest that the alteration of responses in the periodontal afferent fiber, or the peripheral sensitization, can be produced by MO-induced pulpal inflammation probably due to the axon reflex mechanism in the furcating branches of nerve fibers innervating both the tooth pulp and periodontal ligament.

Improving the solubility and pharmacological efficacy of curcumin by heat treatment.

Lipid peroxidation has been implicated in a variety of diseases. 4-Hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE), a major oxidation by-product, is cytotoxic, mutagenic, and genotoxic, being involved in disease pathogenesis. Naturally occurring pharmacologically active small molecules are very attractive as natural nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents. Interest has greatly increased recently in the pharmacotherapeutic potential of curcumin, the yellow pigment found in the rhizomes of the perennial herb Curcuma longa (turmeric). Curcumin is efficacious against colon cancer, cystic fibrosis, and a variety of other disorders. Curcumin's full pharmacological potential is limited owing to its extremely limited water solubility. We report here that the water solubility of curcumin could be increased from 0.6 microg/ml to 7.4 microg/ml (12-fold increase) by the use of heat. Spectrophotometric (400-700 nm) and mass spectrometric profiling of the heat-extracted curcumin displays no significant heat-mediated disintegration of curcumin. Using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay that employed HNE modification of solid-phase antigen, we found that the heat-solubilized curcumin inhibited HNE-protein modification by 80%. Thus, inhibition of HNE modification may be a mechanism by which curcumin exerts its effect. We also report a simple assay to detect curcumin spectrophotometrically. Curcumin was solubilized in methanol and serially diluted in methanol to obtain a set of standards that were then read for optical density at 405 nm. Curcumin in the heat-solubilized samples was determined from this standard. Heat-solubilized curcumin should be considered in clinical trials involving curcumin, especially in the face of frustrating results obtained regarding curcumin-mediated correction of cystic fibrosis defects.

Determination of prolidase activity using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

Proline-containing peptides of the X-proline type are cleaved by the dipeptidase prolidase. The classical method of prolidase assay relied on the colorimetric estimation of the liberated proline with ninhydrin using acidic media and heat. This method, however, gave inconsistent results due to the nonspecificity of the ninhydrin color reaction. We report here a method for the detection of the liberated proline using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry. Human sera were incubated with a mixture containing the dipeptide glycyl-proline in Tris-HCl supplemented with manganese at 37 degrees C for 24h. The samples were precipitated with trifluoroacetic acid and centrifuged. An aliquot of the supernatant was mixed with an equal volume of ferulic acid solution. An aliquot from this mixture was spotted on a stainless steel mass spectrometry grid and analyzed using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. The activity of the enzyme was determined by the complete disappearance of the glycyl-proline peak with the concomitant appearance of the proline peak and can be expressed in terms of the ratio of the area beneath the proline to the area beneath the glycyl-proline peak. Subjects homozygous for prolidase deficiency had a ratio ranging from 0.006 to 0.04 while obligatory heterozygotes had a ratio ranging from around 1.1 to 2.4. Normal subjects had ratios ranging from 9 to 239. Using this method we have unambiguously identified subjects with homozygous or heterozygous prolidase deficiency. In addition to the advantage of rapid sample preparation time, this method is highly specific, reproducible, and sensitive.