Revised version of the Cenozoic Collision along the Zagros Orogen, Insights from Cr-spinel and Sandstone Modal Analyses.

Geoscientists have always considered the Neyriz region, located along the Zagros Suture Zone, an important area of interest because of the outcrops of Neotethys ophiolitic rocks. We carried out a modal analysis of the Cenozoic sandstones and geochemistry of the detrital Cr-spinels at Neyriz region in order to determine their provenance and tectonic evolution in the proximal part of Zagros Basin. Our data shows a clear change in provenance from the Late Cretaceous onwards. As from the Late Cretaceous to Eocene, lithic grains are mostly chert and serpentinite; and higher Cr# values of the detrital Cr-spinel compositions indicate that they originate from the fore-arc peridotites and deposited in an accretionary prism setting during this period. From the Late Oligocene to the Miocene periods, volcaniclastic and carbonate lithic grains show an increasing trend, and in the Miocene, metasedimentary lithic grains appear in the sediments. Ophiolite obduction caused a narrow trough sub-basin to be formed parallel to the general trend of the Zagros Orogeny between the Arabian and Iranian plates in Oligocene. From the Miocene onwards, the axial metamorphic complex belt was uplifted in the upper plate. Therefore, the collision along the Zagros Suture Zone must have occurred in the Late Oligocene.

Bone mineral density in children and adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa in Japan.

BACKGROUND: The correlation between reduced bone mineral density (BMD) and the disease anorexia nervosa (AN) has long been established. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship in more detail, particularly focusing on the increasing incidence of the disease occurring in adolescent patients. METHOD: Twenty-four girls diagnosed with AN were enrolled in the study. All subjects ranged in age from 11.1 to 15.5 years, with an average age of 13.5 years. The BMD of lumbar spines and femoral necks were measured. All the values for BMD at admission were expressed as means +/- SD and patients with and without menarche were separately investigated. RESULTS: The average BMD of lumbar spines at the time of admission was -0.51 SD in total. However, the average BMD of patients without menarche was -1.28 SD, which was significantly lower than the -0.16 SD on average in patients with menarche. As a whole the BMD of femoral necks at admission tended to be lower than that of lumbar spines. Similarly, it was lower in patients without menarche (-1.7 SD on average) than in those with menarche (-0.77 SD on average). CONCLUSIONS: BMD was lower in children and adolescent AN patients without menarche, and such a tendency was more significant at the femoral neck region. In child AN cases without menarche, the BMD, especially at the femoral neck, needs to be measured, and later recovery should be monitored closely over a long period.

The relationship between the concentration of dextran sodium sulfate and the degree of induced experimental colitis in weanling rats.

BACKGROUND: Although a dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis is commonly used as an ulcerative colitis (UC) model in adult rodents, there are no studies using this model in young animals. We examined differences in the severity of DSS-induced colitis as a function of the concentration of DSS administered and sought to establish a DSS-induced colitis model in young rats. METHODS: We administrated different concentrations of DSS solution (2%, 3%, and 4%) to 4-week-old weanling rats and compared their clinical findings, colonic histologic findings, mucosal leukotriene B4 (LTB4) production, and mucosal blood flow with control weanling rats and 8-week-old adult rats given 4% DSS for induced colitis. RESULTS: Clinical symptoms, such as diarrhea and rectal bleeding, histologic findings, and disturbance of mucosal microcirculation in weanling rats given 4% DSS were significantly more severe than those in adult rats given the same treatment. Three of 10 rats given 2% DSS had no bloody stool and 2 of 10 rats given 4% DSS died during the experimental periods. Clinical symptoms, hemoglobin levels, histologic damage scores, mucosal LTB4 production, and mucosal blood flow became more severely deranged as the concentration of DSS increased from 2% to 4%. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that we can adjust disease severity in UC model for young children by giving different concentrations of DSS to weanling rats.

[Dietary calcium and VDR gene polymorphism's interaction].

The fundamental role of vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphisms have been reviewed. The VDR gene polymorphisms are associated with the intestinal calcium absorption , rate of bone gain and loss. The observed variability in younger and elderly people in the response of bone mass to calcium intake and supplementation may be explained partly by the interaction between environmental and genetic factors.

[Bone disease with vitamin D receptor abnormality].

In humans, the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene has been localized to the chromosomal locus 12q13-14. The gene is composed of a minimum of nine exons. Hereditary 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D resistant rickets (HVDRR) known as vitamin D dependent rickets type II is a rare autosomal recessive disease that arises as a result of mutations in the gene encoding the VDR. Genetic factors play a key role in determining bone mass, which is an important predictor of osteoporosis. Recently, polymorphism at the VDR locus has been implicated as a genetic marker for bone mineral density. Vitamin D receptor gene start codon polymorphisms, and 3'-end region polymorphisms may modulate bone density.