Laparoscopic herniorrhaphy for inguinal hernia with thanatophoric dysplasia: A case report.

Thanatophoric dysplasia (TD) is a rare and severe type of skeletal dysplasia. Typical clinical findings include macrocephaly, shortening of the four limbs, underdeveloped lungs, and thoracic hypoplasia. Neonates with TD develop severe respiratory problems due to thoracic hypoplasia and require respiratory management for survival. Despite the resolution of respiratory problems, long-term survival cases are rare. Previous studies have reported that surgical procedures in patients with TD are limited to those necessary for survival, including tracheostomy, laminectomy, and ventricular shunt. A 1-year-old boy with TD was treated with laparoscopic herniorrhaphy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of TD treated with laparoscopic procedure.

Tough-interface-enabled stretchable electronics using non-stretchable polymer semiconductors and conductors.

Semiconducting polymer thin films are essential elements of soft electronics for both wearable and biomedical applications1-11. However, high-mobility semiconducting polymers are usually brittle and can be easily fractured under small strains (<10%)12-14. Recently, the improved intrinsic mechanical properties of semiconducting polymer films have been reported through molecular design15-18 and nanoconfinement19. Here we show that engineering the interfacial properties between a semiconducting thin film and a substrate can notably delay microcrack formation in the film. We present a universal design strategy that involves covalently bonding a dissipative interfacial polymer layer, consisting of dynamic non-covalent crosslinks, between a semiconducting thin film and a substrate. This enables high interfacial toughness between the layers, suppression of delamination and delocalization of strain. As a result, crack initiation and propagation are notably delayed to much higher strains. Specifically, the crack-onset strain of a high-mobility semiconducting polymer thin film improved from 30% to 110% strain without any noticeable microcracks. Despite the presence of a large mismatch in strain between the plastic semiconducting thin film and elastic substrate after unloading, the tough interface layer helped maintain bonding and exceptional cyclic durability and robustness. Furthermore, we found that our interfacial layer reduces the mismatch of thermal expansion coefficients between the different layers. This approach can improve the crack-onset strain of various semiconducting polymers, conducting polymers and even metal thin films.

BRAF Mutation Analysis in Two Cases of Congenital Self-Healing Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis.

Congenital self-healing Langerhans cell histiocytosis (CSHLCH) is a rare type of Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH). Here, we report two cases of CSHLCH. The cases presented solitary and multiple skin lesions of various sizes. The diagnosis was confirmed by skin biopsies. The lesions disappeared after one to two months without therapeutic intervention. No BRAF mutations in the skin lesions were detected, and soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) was normal in both cases. Recent studies suggested that the state of differentiation of the precursor cell in which BRAF mutations occur is associated with the clinical types and prognosis of the disease. Further investigation should be needed to elucidate the association between the progression and regression of CSHLCH and BRAF mutation.

Directly Probing the Fracture Behavior of Ultrathin Polymeric Films.

Understanding fracture mechanics of ultrathin polymeric films is crucial for modern technologies, including semiconductor and coating industries. However, up to now, the fracture behavior of sub-100 nm polymeric thin films is rarely explored due to challenges in handling samples and limited testing methods available. In this work, we report a new testing methodology that can not only visualize the evolution of the local stress distribution through wrinkling patterns and crack propagation during the deformation of ultrathin films but also directly measure their fracture energies. Using ultrathin polystyrene films as a model system, we both experimentally and computationally investigate the effect of the film thickness and molecular weight on their fracture behavior, both of which show a ductile-to-brittle transition. Furthermore, we demonstrate the broad applicability of this testing method in semicrystalline semiconducting polymers. We anticipate our methodology described here could provide new ways of studying the fracture behavior of ultrathin films under confinement.

Enrichment of denitrifying methane-oxidizing microorganisms using up-flow continuous reactors and batch cultures.

Denitrifying anaerobic methane oxidizing (DAMO) microorganisms were enriched from paddy field soils using continuous-flow and batch cultures fed with nitrate or nitrite as a sole electron acceptor. After several months of cultivation, the continuous-flow cultures using nitrite showed remarkable simultaneous methane oxidation and nitrite reduction and DAMO bacteria belonging to phylum NC10 were enriched. A maximum volumetric nitrite consumption rate of 70.4±3.4 mg-N·L(-1)·day(-1) was achieved with very short hydraulic retention time of 2.1 hour. In the culture, about 68% of total microbial cells were bacteria and no archaeal cells were detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization. In the nitrate-fed continuous-flow cultures, 58% of total microbial cells were bacteria while archaeal cells accounted for 7% of total cell numbers. Phylogenetic analysis of pmoA gene sequence showed that enriched DAMO bacteria in the continuous-flow cultivation had over 98% sequence similarity to DAMO bacteria in the inoculum. In contrast, for batch culture, the enriched pmoA gene sequences had 89-91% sequence similarity to DAMO bacteria in the inoculum. These results indicate that electron acceptor and cultivation method strongly affect the microbial community structures of DAMO consortia.

Design, synthesis and destructive dynamic effects of BODIPY-containing and curcuminoid boron tracedrugs for neutron dynamic therapy.

BACKGROUND: We previously designed the boron tracedrugs UTX-42, UTX-43, and UTX-44, which possess antioxidant potency. In order to explore their destructive dynamic effects when bombarded by weak thermal neutrons, we performed thermal neutron irradiation of bovine serum albumin (BSA) treated with the boron tracedrugs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Boron tracedrugs, including the boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY)-containing compounds UTX-42, UTX-44, and UTX-47 and the curcuminoid compounds UTX-50 and UTX-51, were designed for neutron dynamic therapy based on their molecular orbital calculation. Newly designed UTX-47, UTX-50, and UTX-51 were synthesized. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) was performed to detect decomposition by thermal neutron irradiation of BSA treated with these boron tracedrugs. RESULTS: The combination of 1.0 µM BSA with 100 µM of each of the boron tracedrugs showed a decrease in band intensity after irradiation. CONCLUSION: All boron tracedrugs tested caused destructive dynamic damage of BSA during thermal neutron irradiation, suggesting that boron tracedrugs could be used as dynamic drugs for neutron dynamic therapy.

A mobile secretory vesicle cluster involved in mass transport from the Golgi to the plant cell exterior.

Secretory proteins and extracellular glycans are transported to the extracellular space during cell growth. These materials are carried in secretory vesicles generated at the trans-Golgi network (TGN). Analysis of the mammalian post-Golgi secretory pathway demonstrated the movement of separated secretory vesicles in the cell. Using secretory carrier membrane protein 2 (SCAMP2) as a marker for secretory vesicles and tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) BY-2 cell as a model cell, we characterized the transport machinery in plant cells. A combination of analyses, including electron microscopy of quick-frozen cells and four-dimensional analysis of cells expressing fluorescent-tagged SCAMP2, enabled the identification of a clustered structure of secretory vesicles generated from TGN that moves in the cell and eventually fuses with plasma membrane. This structure was termed the secretory vesicle cluster (SVC). The SVC was also found in Arabidopsis thaliana and rice (Oryza sativa) cells and moved to the cell plate in dividing tobacco cells. Thus, the SVC is a motile structure involved in mass transport from the Golgi to the plasma membrane and cell plate in plant cells.

ARC3, a chloroplast division factor, is a chimera of prokaryotic FtsZ and part of eukaryotic phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate 5-kinase.

The arc3 (accumulation and replication of chloroplast) mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana has a small number of abnormally large chloroplasts in the cell, suggesting that chloroplast division is arrested in the mutant and ARC3 has an important role in the initiation of chloroplast division. To elucidate the role of ARC3, first we identified the ARC3 gene, and determined the location of ARC3 protein during chloroplast division because the localization and spatial orientation of such division factors are vital for correct chloroplast division. Sequencing analysis showed that ARC3 was a fusion of the prokaryotic FtsZ and part of the eukaryotic phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate 5-kinase (PIP5K) genes. The PIP5K-homologous region of ARC3 had no catalytic domain but a membrane-occupation-and-recognition-nexus (MORN) repeat motif. Immunofluorescence microscopy, Western blotting analysis and in vitro chloroplast import and protease protection assays revealed that ARC3 protein was soluble, and located on the outer surface of the chloroplast in a ring-like structure at the early stage of chloroplast division. Prokaryotes have one FtsZ as a gene for division but have no ARC3 counterparts, the chimera of FtsZ and PIP5K, suggesting that the ARC3 gene might have been generated from FtsZ as another division factor during the evolution of chloroplast by endosymbiosis.