Health assessment of rice cultivated and harvested from plasma-irradiated seeds.

This study provides the health effects assessment of rice cultivated from plasma-irradiated seeds. The rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivated from seeds with plasma irradiation showed a growth improvement (slope-ratios of with plasma to without plasma were 1.066, 1.042, and 1.255 for tiller, and earing, and ripening periods, respectively) and an 4% increase in yield. The cultivated rice was used for repeated oral administrations to mice for 4-week period. Distilled water and rice cultivated from seeds without plasma irradiation were also used as control. The weights of the lung, kidney, liver, and spleen, with corresponding average values of 0.22 g, 0.72 g, 2.1 g, and 0.17 g for w/ plasma group and 0.22 g, 0.68 g, 2.16 g, and 0.14 g for w/o plasma group, respectively, showing no effect due to the administration of rice cultivated from plasma-irradiated seeds. Nutritional status, liver function, kidney function, and lipid, neutral fat profiles, and glucose metabolism have no significant difference between with and without plasma groups. These results show no obvious subacute effects were observed on rice grains cultivated and harvested from the mother plant that experienced growth improvement by plasma irradiation. This study provides a new finding that there is no apparent adverse health effect on the grains harvested from the plasma-irradiated seeds.

Novel mutation in FZD4 gene in a Japanese pedigree with familial exudative vitreoretinopathy.

PURPOSE: To identify the genetic defect in the FZD4 gene responsible for familial exudative vitreoretinopathy (FEVR) in a Japanese family. DESIGN: Interventional case report. METHODS: Complete ophthalmologic examinations were performed, and the FZD4 gene was analyzed by direct genomic sequencing. RESULTS: Fundus examination of a 13-year-old Japanese girl who had had esotropia and exudative retinal detachment at 3 years exhibited peripheral avascular areas bilaterally, a dragged disk, and retinal holes unilaterally. In contrast, her asymptomatic father had only bilateral avascular areas in the peripheral retina. Molecular genetic analysis revealed that both the proband and her father had a heterozygous missense mutation of A to G at 1026 bp of the FZD4 gene (Met342Val). CONCLUSIONS: A novel mutation in the FZD4 gene was identified in Japanese patients with FEVR. Our observations support the hypothesis that the FZD4-associated FEVR might represent a milder form than that associated with other genetic origins.