Functional Coupling of Biohybrid Photosynthetic Antennae and Reaction Center Complexes: Quantitative Comparison with Native Antennae.

Light-harvesting (LH) complexes in photosynthetic organisms absorb photons within limited wavelength ranges over a broad solar spectrum. Extension of the LH wavelength has been realized by attaching artificial fluorophores to LH complexes (biohybrid LH complexes) for complementing the limited-wavelength regions. However, how efficiently such fluorophores in biohybrid LH complexes function to drive the photocatalytic reaction center (RC) has not been quantitatively evaluated, specifically in comparison with native LH antenna complexes. In this study, we prepared various biohybrid LH1-RC complexes (from Rhodopseudomonas palustris), to quantitatively evaluate the LH activity of the attached external chromophores through a photocurrent generation reaction by LH1-RC on an electrode. For a direct comparison of the LH activity among the LH chromophores that were examined, we introduced the k1 term, which represents the extent of the functional coupling of LH and the photochemical reactions in the RC. We determined that the hydrophobic fluorophore ATTO647N attached to LH1 possesses the highest LH activity among the examined hydrophilic fluorophores such as Alexa647, and its activity is comparable to that of native LH1(-RC). The LH activity of LH2 (from Rhodoblastus acidophilus strain 10050) and its biohybrid LH2s were examined for the comprehensive assessment of their LH activity.

Ultrasonographic patterns, clinical findings, and prognostic variables in dogs from Asia with gallbladder mucocele.

BACKGROUND: Gallbladder mucocele (GBM) is a common biliary disorder in dogs that can be categorized into 6 types, but the value of this classification scheme remains unknown. Cholecystectomy is associated with high death rates and warrants additional interrogation. OBJECTIVES: Investigate the clinical value of ultrasonographic diagnosis of type of GBM and identify prognostic factors in dogs with GBM undergoing cholecystectomy. ANIMALS: Two hundred sixteen dogs. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study. Dogs with GBM diagnosed from 2014 to 2019 at 6 veterinary referral hospitals in Asia. Ultrasonogram images were reviewed and a GBM type (ie, types I-VI) assigned. RESULTS: Dogs with GBM type V as compared to I (OR, 8.6; 95% CI, 2.6-27.8; P < .001) and III (OR, 10.0; 95% CI, 2.5-40.8; P = .001), and dogs with type VI compared to I (OR, 10.5; 95% CI, 1.8-61.2; P = .009) and III (OR, 12.3; 95% CI, 1.8-83.9; P = .01) were more likely to exhibit signs of biliary tract disease. Independent predictors of death after cholecystectomy included age (OR, 2.81; 95% CI, 1.41-5.59; P = .003) and intraoperative systolic blood pressure (SBP) nadir. There was an interaction between SBP nadir and gallbladder rupture; SBP nadir in dogs with (OR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.89-0.94; P < .001) and without (OR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.82-0.93; P < .001) gallbladder rupture. CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Increasing developmental stage of GBM could be associated with an increased likelihood of biliary tract related clinical signs. Nadir SBP deserves further investigation as a prognostic or potentially modifiable variable, particularly in the presence of gallbladder rupture.

Prenatally diagnosed accessory scrotum: A case report and review of the literature on prenatal features.

Accessory scrotum (AS) is rarely diagnosed antenatally, and its prenatal features remain unknown. Here, we report a case of a prenatally diagnosed accessory scrotum with perineal lipoma. A 33-year-old woman was referred to our hospital at 35 weeks of gestation to evaluate a mass in the fetal perineal region. Prenatal ultrasonography showed a 2.0 × 2.0 cm sized, echogenic, and circular mass located posterior to the left scrotum in a male fetus. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a mass containing adipose tissue. A 6.5 cm elastic mass (AS and protruding lipoma) was observed in the perineal region, and surgical excision was performed at 8 months of age. Histological examination confirmed the diagnosis of AS with perineal lipoma, and there was no recurrence at follow-up. The typical prenatal presentation of AS was a circular perineal mass located posterior to the normal scrotum and was associated with perineal lipoma. The prenatal detection of AS was feasible with careful observation via ultrasonography, and prenatal MRI was useful in characterizing perineal tumors and evaluating associated anomalies.

Parg deficiency confers radio-sensitization through enhanced cell death in mouse ES cells exposed to various forms of ionizing radiation.

Poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase (Parg) is the main enzyme involved in poly(ADP-ribose) degradation. Here, the effects of Parg deficiency on sensitivity to low and high linear-energy-transfer (LET) radiation were investigated in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells. Mouse Parg(-/-) and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 deficient (Parp-1(-/-)) ES cells were used and responses to low and high LET radiation were assessed by clonogenic survival and biochemical and biological analysis methods. Parg(-/-) cells were more sensitive to γ-irradiation than Parp-1(-/-) cells. Transient accumulation of poly(ADP-ribose) was enhanced in Parg(-/-) cells. Augmented levels of phosphorylated H2AX (γ-H2AX) from early phase were observed in Parg(-/-) ES cells. The induction level of p53 phophorylation at ser18 was similar in wild-type and Parp-1(-/-) cells and apoptotic cell death process was mainly observed in the both genotypes. These results suggested that the enhanced sensitivity of Parg(-/-) ES cells to γ-irradiation involved defective repair of DNA double strand breaks. The effects of Parg and Parp-1 deficiency on the ES cell response to carbon-ion irradiation (LET13 and 70 keV/µm) and Fe-ion irradiation (200 keV/µm) were also examined. Parg(-/-) cells were more sensitive to LET 70 keV/µm carbon-ion irradiation than Parp-1(-/-) cells. Enhanced apoptotic cell death also accompanied augmented levels of γ-H2AX in a biphasic manner peaked at 1 and 24h. The induction level of p53 phophorylation at ser18 was not different between wild-type and Parg(-/-) cells. The augmented level of poly(ADP-ribose) accumulation was noted after carbon-ion irradiation compared to γ-irradiation even in the wild-type cells. An enhanced poly(ADP-ribose) accumulation was further observed in Parg(-/-) cells. Both Parg(-/-) cells and Parp-1(-/-) cells did not show sensitization to Fe-ion irradiation. Parg deficiency sensitizes mouse ES cells to a wide therapeutic range of LET radiation through the effects on DNA double strand break repair responses and enhanced cell death.

Rapid degradation of poly(ADP-ribose) after injection into the mouse bloodstream.

Extensive DNA damage leads to the activation of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase and subsequently to the formation of poly(ADP-ribose). When the damage is severe or leads to cell death, poly(ADP-ribose) may leak into the blood circulation. The metabolism of poly(ADP-ribose) in the bloodstream is not well understood. Thus, in the present study, the metabolism of P-labeled poly(ADP-ribose) was followed in mice after injection of this labeled compound into the tail vein. The results showed that 5 min after injection more than half of the radioactivity was concentrated in acid-soluble fractions, namely in low molecular weight compounds in the blood, liver, and kidneys. Most of this radioactivity was in the form of inorganic phosphate, detected 5 min post-injection in the blood, kidneys, and urine. By contrast, the metabolites ADP-ribose and phosphoribosyl-AMP were not detected in any of the tissues nor in blood or urine. Taken together, these findings suggest that once poly(ADP-ribose) enters the bloodstream it is rapidly degraded, thereby preventing its accumulation in the blood.

Mammary lipid-rich carcinoma with extensive amyloid deposition in a dog.

A 6-year-old female Labrador retriever presented with a mass in the right mammary gland, and swollen right inguinal and axillary lymph nodes. Fine needle aspiration biopsy suggested a malignant lipid-producing tumor, such as liposarcoma. Histopathologically, the neoplasms were solid, lobulated nests of atypical epithelial cells with a large amount of extracellular deposits of amyloid in both mammary gland and lymph nodes. The proliferating cells contained large cytoplasmic vacuoles, positive for oil red-O. These cells were immunopositive for cytokeratin (AE1/AE3) and ß-casein and negative for SMA. The amyloid deposits were immunopositive for ß-casein. These findings suggested that the proliferating cells secreted ß-casein forming amyloid deposits. This is the first report of mammary lipid-rich carcinoma with extensive amyloid deposition derived from ß-casein.

Parkinson's disease showing progressive conduction aphasia.

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) may develop progressive dementia late in their clinical course. Dementia in PD is mostly related to neuropathological findings of extensive Lewy bodies (LBs), with or without the coexistence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology. Aphasia has been reported in patients with LB diseases with AD pathology; however, there have been no reports of typical PD patients developing progressive aphasia during their clinical course. We describe a female PD patient who later developed progressive conduction aphasia characterized by phonemic paraphasia and disturbance in repetition of short sentences without disturbance in writing or auditory comprehension. No episodes of fluctuations of attention, memory complaints, or planning errors were observed. She experienced episodes of visual hallucination. Her low scores on the Mini-Mental State Examination suggested impairment of orientation and attention, and her scores on Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices test indicated impaired visuospatial functions. However, her cognitive deficits were not sufficiently severe to impair her daily life. Brain magnetic resonance images revealed atrophy of the left superior temporal gyrus and widening of the left sylvian fissure. [(18)F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography revealed glucose hypometabolism in the left cerebral hemisphere. These findings may be related to conduction aphasia. During the progression of PD lesions, the brainstem LB is assumed to take an upward course, extend to the limbic system, and then extend to the neocortex. Conduction aphasia observed in our patient may be associated with an unusual progression of the LB pathology from the brainstem to the left temporoparietal lobe.

Cutaneous nocardiosis in a cat.

A 4-year-old spayed female domestic shorthair cat was presented to us for swelling of all foot pads. The skin lesions were histopathologically diagnosed as suppurative pyogranulomatous panniculitis. The lesions did not respond to cephalexin, prednisolone or itraconazole. However, complete resolution of the skin lesions was obtained with doxycycline. A littermate living in the same household developed similar skin lesions that were also successfully treated with doxycycline. Polymerase chain reaction analysis detected the 16S ribosomal RNA gene of Nocardia spp. in DNA extracted from lesion pus, and direct nucleotide sequencing analysis revealed 100% homology with Nocardia elegans. We diagnosed this case as nocardiosis.

[Comparison of Tosoh TRCRapid M.TB assay by transcription-reverse transcription concerted reaction (TRC) with Roche COBAS AMPLICOR assay by PCR and with culture for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex].

The aim of this study was to test the performance of a new reagent kit Tosoh TRCRapid M.TB using by transcription-reverse transcription concerted reaction(TRC) for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC) by comparing both its sensitivity and specificity for detecting MTC with those of Roche COBAS AMPLICOR Mycobacterium assay using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and comparing with culture. TRC is a novel method, that is rapid and provides real-time monitoring of the isothermal sequence of RNA amplification without any post-amplification procedure, and the resulting detection time was about 30 min. A total of 157 clinical samples from patients were tested. Of the 74 MTC culture-positive samples, TRC was positive in 59(sensitivity, 80%), whereas PCR was positive in 47(sensitivity, 63%). The 26 samples that were positive for Mycobacteria other than tuberculosis (MOTT) were negative by TRCRapid M.TB assay, and the 50 samples that were negative for smear, culture and Roche PCR were also negative by TRCRapid M.TB. The percent agreement between Tosoh TRCRapid M.TB and Roche COBAS AMPLICOR was 90% (142 of 157 samples). These results indicate that Tosoh TRCRapid M.TB may be more useful than Roche COBAS AMPLICOR for detecting MTC because of its higher sensitivity and shorter detection time.

Clinical usefulness of In-111 chloride and Tc-99m Sn colloid scintigraphy in the diagnosis of intrathoracic extramedullary hematopoiesis.

We report a case of intrathoracic extramedullary hematopoiesis associated with hemolytic anemia. While the paravertebral localization of the lesions demonstrated on CT and MRI was suspicious of intrathoracic extramedullary hematopoiesis, In-111 chloride and Tc-99m Sn colloid bone marrow scintigraphies showing a bone marrow element of the lesion were useful to confirm the diagnosis.

Role of KL-6 in evaluating the disease severity of rheumatoid lung disease: comparison with HRCT.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the role of KL-6 (Krebs von den Lungen-6) in evaluating the disease severity of pulmonary lesions in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared with high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) findings. METHODS: Fifty serum KL-6 levels and HRCT images were prospectively obtained from 47 RA patients. Eight HRCT findings were classified into five grades. Patients were also divided into two groups according to the KL-6 threshold level and HRCT findings were evaluated. RESULTS: There was a positive correlation between the serum KL-6 level and the total CT score (r = 0.83). Reticular opacity most closely related to the serum KL-6 levels (r = 0.84). In the high KL-6 group (n = 10), the average CTscore was markedly increased (64.6 points) and severe honeycombing expanded into the whole lung. One case revealed diffuse ground glass opacity. In 12 of 40 cases in the normal KL-6 group, CT scores mildly increased compared with the other cases (over 20 points). The predominant finding of these cases could be classified into four types: (1) narrow spread honeycombing; (2) subtle fibrosis; (3) airway diseases; and (4) dense consolidation. CONCLUSION: KL-6 is a useful marker to detect severe RA lung disease. It is also useful to distinguish non-fibrosis from fibrosis predominant cases. However, it sometimes could not detect early stage RA lung disease.

123I-Metaiodobenzylguanidine myocardial scintigraphy in panic disorder.

UNLABELLED: Although autonomic function has been investigated in panic disorder, previous studies have not yet revealed a consistent autonomic change in this disease. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cardiac sympathetic function in panic disorder using (123)I-metaiodobenzylguanidine ((123)I-MIBG). METHODS: Myocardial imaging using (123)I-MIBG was performed on 9 patients with panic disorder (7 men, 2 women; mean age, 37.4 +/- 13.2 y) and 11 control subjects (11 men; mean age, 37.6 +/- 9.3 y). Early (30 min) and delayed (4 h) planar images were taken after the injection of 111 MBq (123)I-MIBG. The mean counts in the whole heart and the mediastinum were obtained from the early and delayed images to calculate the heart-to-mediastinum count ratios (H/M ratios) and the myocardial washout rate. RESULTS: The (123)I-MIBG H/M ratios of the patients with panic disorder were 1.80 +/- 0.16 for the early images and 1.86 +/- 0.30 for the delayed images, which were significantly lower than those of the control subjects (2.15 +/- 0.15 [P = 0.001] and 2.26 +/- 0.21 [P = 0.009], respectively). The (123)I-MIBG washout rate from the heart in the patients with panic disorder (33.8% +/- 6.9%) was significantly higher than that in the control subjects (27.8% +/- 3.5%) (P = 0.02). CONCLUSION: (123)I-MIBG myocardial scintigraphy demonstrated impairment of cardiac sympathetic function in panic disorder. The results suggest that (123)I-MIBG imaging could become a useful tool for analyzing the pathophysiology of panic disorder.