Identification of crude-oil components and microorganisms that cause souring under anaerobic conditions.

Oil souring has important implications with respect to energy resources. Understanding the physiology of the microorganisms that play a role and the biological mechanisms are both important for the maintenance of infrastructure and mitigation of corrosion processes. The objective of this study was to identify crude-oil components and microorganisms in oil-field water that contribute to crude-oil souring. To identify the crude-oil components and microorganisms that are responsible for anaerobic souring in oil reservoirs, biological conversion of crude-oil components under anaerobic conditions was investigated. Microorganisms in oil field water in Akita, Japan degraded alkanes and aromatics to volatile fatty acids (VFAs) under anaerobic conditions, and fermenting bacteria such as Fusibacter sp. were involved in VFA production. Aromatics such as toluene and ethylbenzene were degraded by sulfate-reducing bacteria (Desulfotignum sp.) via the fumarate-addition pathway and not only degradation of VFA but also degradation of aromatics by sulfate-reducing bacteria was the cause of souring. Naphthenic acid and 2,4-xylenol were not converted.

[Important factors surrounding chest surgery for the patients complicated with digestive disease].

OBJECTIVE: Important factors surrounding chest surgery for the patients complicated with digestive disease were discussed according to the experiences of clinical settings. METHODS: Check points regarding each context, preoperative, perioperative, postoperative, and outpatient care were considered independently. RESULTS: If digestive diseases are uncontrolled, the operation should be postponed until they are appropriately cared. Dental problems such as teeth caries or denture insufficiency should be cleared preoperatively. Dysphagia after the head and neck surgery must be evaluated and alternative feeding methods should be established. The patients with digestive tract disorder have malabsorption and are prone to malnutrition. According to the appropriate assessments of digestion and absorption, an enteral nutrition or a total parenteral nutrition should be considered before and after operation, to improve nutrition status. Immunonutrition is particularly beneficial to reduce the postoperative infection or various stresses of invasive operations in the chest surgery. Chronic pancreatitis is characterized by absorption impairment and pancreatic diabetes. They should also be controlled before the operation using digestive enzymes and an exogenous insulin. CONCLUSION: Teeth problems, dysphagia, malabsorption, malnutrition and pancreatic diabetes should be assessed and cared appropriately before and after the chest surgery using compensative therapy.

Loss of multidrug and toxin extrusion 1 (MATE1) is associated with metformin-induced lactic acidosis.

BACKGROUNDS AND PURPOSE: Lactic acidosis is a fatal adverse effect of metformin, but the risk factor remains unclear. Multidrug and toxin extrusion 1 (MATE1) is expressed in the luminal membrane of the kidney and liver. MATE1 was revealed to be responsible for the tubular and biliary secretion of metformin. Therefore, some MATE polymorphisms, that cause it to function abnormally, are hypothesized to induce lactic acidosis. The purpose of this study is to clarify the association between MATE dysfunction and metformin-induced lactic acidosis. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: Blood lactate, pH and bicarbonate ion (HCO(3) (-) ) levels were evaluated during continuous administration of 3 mg·mL(-1) metformin in drinking water using Mate1 knockout (-/-), heterozygous (+/-) and wild-type (+/+) mice. To determine the tissue accumulation of metformin, mice were given 400 mg·kg(-1) metformin orally. Furthermore, blood lactate data were obtained from diabetic patients given metformin. KEY RESULTS: Seven days after metformin administration in drinking water, significantly higher blood lactate, lower pH and HCO(3) (-) levels were observed in Mate1(-/-) mice, but not in Mate1(+/-) mice. The blood lactate levels were not affected in patients with the heterozygous MATE variant (MATE1-L125F, MATE1-G64D, MATE2-K-G211V). Sixty minutes after metformin administration (400 mg·kg(-1) , p.o.) the hepatic concentration of metformin was markedly higher in Mate1(-/-) mice than in Mate1(+/+) mice. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS: MATE1 dysfunction caused a marked elevation in the metformin concentration in the liver and led to lactic acidosis, suggesting that the homozygous MATE1 variant could be one of the risk factors for metformin-induced lactic acidosis.

Retroperitoneal hemorrhage due to bilateral adrenal metastases from lung adenocarcinoma.

A 56-yr-old man was admitted to our university hospital for severe back pain one month after a resection for lung adenocarcinoma (stage IIIA) without evidence of the adrenal mass. Computed tomography (CT) of the abdomen showed bilateral bleeding of adrenal tumors. Endocrinological laboratory studies showed high plasma ACTH and normal serum cortisol levels with the loss of circadian rhythm. Although plasma ACTH levels increased, there was no cortisol response to administration of human corticotropichormone (hCRH). Core-needle biopsy was performed on the right adrenal tumor and revealed adenocarcinoma cells mimicking a primary lung tumor previously examined. We diagnosed retroperitoneal hemorrhage due to bilateral adrenal gland metastasis from lung adenocarcinoma with adrenal insufficiency. Adrenal metastases most commonly originate from a primary lung tumor, followed by stomach, esophagus and liver/bile ducts. Bilateral adrenal metastases were noted in approximately half of all adrenal metastases patients. Clinically significant adrenal hemorrhage by metastasis is exceedingly rare and non-specific symptoms, such as abdominal, chest or back pain, nausea and vomiting, confusion, weakness, hypotension, shock and high fever, are often observed in these patients. We present a case of massive retroperitoneal hemorrhage and adrenal insufficiency due to adrenal gland metastasis from adenocarcinoma of lung.

The cerebellar transcriptome during postnatal development of the Ts1Cje mouse, a segmental trisomy model for Down syndrome.

The central nervous system of persons with Down syndrome presents cytoarchitectural abnormalities that likely result from gene-dosage effects affecting the expression of key developmental genes. To test this hypothesis, we have investigated the transcriptome of the cerebellum of the Ts1Cje mouse model of Down syndrome during postnatal development using microarrays and quantitative PCR (qPCR). Genes present in three copies were consistently overexpressed, with a mean ratio relative to euploid of 1.52 as determined by qPCR. Out of 63 three-copy genes tested, only five, nine and seven genes had ratios >2 or <1.2 at postnatal days 0 (P0), P15 and P30, respectively. This gene-dosage effect was associated with a dysregulation of the expression of some two-copy genes. Out of 8258 genes examined, the Ts1Cje/euploid ratios differed significantly from 1.0 for 406 (80 and 154 with ratios above 1.5 and below 0.7, respectively), 333 (11 above 1.5 and 55 below 0.7) and 246 genes (59 above 1.5 and 69 below 0.7) at P0, P15 and P30, respectively. Among the two-copy genes differentially expressed in the trisomic cerebellum, six homeobox genes, two belonging to the Notch pathway, were severely repressed. Overall, at P0, transcripts involved in cell differentiation and development were over-represented among the dysregulated genes, suggesting that cell differentiation and migration might be more altered than cell proliferation. Finally, global gene profiling revealed that transcription in Ts1Cje mice is more affected by the developmental changes than by the trisomic state, and that there is no apparent detectable delay in the postnatal development of the cerebellum of Ts1Cje mice.

Wiener filter-magnetoencephalography of visual cortical activity.

This paper reports a revised Wiener filter to resolve the inverse problem for magnetoencephalograms (MEGs) according to the structural and functional constraints based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Wiener filter-MEG imaging for half field stimulation with the chromatic stimulus resolved fast, slow and late responses in V1, V4 and the inferotemporal cortex, respectively. The time courses of these responses were roughly comparable with those reported by unit recording studies of the corresponding monkey visual cortical areas. Wiener filter-MEG imaging had comparable spatial resolution and better signal to noise ratio than fMRI. The background noise was robust in fMRI responses, but became virtually eliminated in Wiener filter responses. Wiener filter-MEG imaging with upper and lower quadrant field stimulation demonstrated V1 responses differentially distributed respectively in the lower and upper banks of the calcarine sulcus. These results demonstrate that responses in two cortical areas facing close to each other can be resolved by Wiener filter-MEG. The present method provides a way to image brain activities with millisecond- and millimeter-order spatiotemporal resolution.

Bladder and male sexual functions after autonomic nerve-sparing TME with or without lateral node dissection for rectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: We evaluated to what extent lateral lymph node dissection (LND) interferes with bladder and male sexual functions after radical rectal excision with adoption of careful total autonomic nerve preservation. METHODS: The study comprised 77 patients resected for mid-rectal or lower rectal cancer. Bladder and male sexual functions were studied by means of a questionnaire more than one year after surgery. Outcomes were compared between patients who received lateral LND (group 1, 65 patients) and those who did not (group 2, 12 patients). RESULTS: Only minor disturbances of bladder function were reported in 10 patients (15%) of group 1, and in 3 patients (25%) of group 2. Ten out of 37 preoperatively sexually active patients (27%) in group 1 males and one of 5 patients (20%) in group 2 males had partial or total impotency after surgery and retrograde ejaculation occurred in 3 of 27 patients (11%) and one of 4 patients (25%), respectively. Erectile impotency occurred less frequently when patients were operated during the period 1993-1996 than during 1988-1992 (11% vs. 42%, p<0.05). The age was significantly greater among patients who had loss of ejaculation. CONCLUSIONS: If lateral lymph node dissection should be used with the aim of improving radicality in rectal excision for cancer, it should be combined with careful nerve-preserving technique--which may reduce the risk of bladder and male sexual dysfunctions.

Prenatal development of neural excitation in rat thalamocortical projections studied by optical recording.

To elucidate the formation of early thalamocortical synapses we recorded optical images with voltage-sensitive dyes from the cerebral cortex of prenatal rats by selective thalamic stimulation of thalamocortical slice preparations. At embryonic day (E) 17, thalamic stimulation elicited excitation that rapidly propagated through the internal capsule to the cortex. These responses lasted less than 15 ms, and were not affected by the application of glutamate receptor antagonists, suggesting that they might reflect presynaptic fiber responses. At E18, long-lasting (more than 300 ms) responses appeared in the internal capsule and in subplate. By E19, long-lasting responses increased in the cortical subplate. By E21, shortly before birth, the deep cortical layers were also activated in addition to the subplate. These long-lasting responses seen in the internal capsule and subplate were blocked by the antagonist perfusion, but the first spike-like responses still remained. The laminar location of the responses was confirmed in the same slices by Nissl staining and subplate cells were labeled by birthdating with bromodeoxyuridine at E13. Our results demonstrate that there is a few days delay between the arrival of thalamocortical axons at the subplate at E16 and the appearance of functional thalamocortical synaptic transmission at E19. Since thalamocortical connections are already functional within the subplate and in the deep cortical plate at embryonic ages, prenatal thalamocortical synaptic connections could influence cortical circuit formation before birth.

Determination of probability distribution of diplotype configuration (diplotype distribution) for each subject from genotypic data using the EM algorithm.

Haplotype analysis is important for mapping traits. Recently, methods for estimating haplotype frequencies from genotypes of unrelated individuals based on the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm have been developed. Our program estimates haplotype frequencies in the population and determines the posterior probability distribution of diplotype configuration (diplotype distribution) for each subject based on the estimated haplotype frequencies. Samples from three ethnic groups for the smoothelin gene (SMTN) and those from three Japanese groups for serum amyloid A genes (SAA@) were analyzed. The estimated diplotype distribution for each individual was concentrated, in most cases, in a single diplotype configuration. The diplotype configuration thus determined was the same as that determined in in vitro experiments, with one exception. Thus, the diplotype configurations determined using the estimated haplotype frequencies from unrelated individuals are reliable. Using this method, the risk of a subject developing a phenotype may be estimated from the diplotype distribution when the phenotype is associated with diplotype configurations.

Brain perfusion measured by flow-sensitive alternating inversion recovery (FAIR) and dynamic susceptibility contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging: comparison with nuclear medicine technique.

The aim of this study was to compare cerebral perfusion images and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) of SPECT study with the images and regional intensity of relative cerebral blood flow (CBF) images acquired by contrast-enhanced perfusion MR imaging (pMRI) and flow-sensitive alternating inversion recovery (FAIR). Twelve patients with various cerebral diseases were underwent I-123-IMP SPECT, pMRI, and FAIR studies to measure rCBF. A total of 12 regions of interest (ROI) were created over cerebrum and cerebellum to acquire the corresponding rCBF from I-123-IMP study and regional average signal intensity from CBF images of pMRI and FAIR studies. Left-to-right (L/R) and cerebral-to-cerebellar (CCR) ratios were created from the rCBF of I-123-IMP and signal intensity of CBF images of pMRI and FAIR. Image quality of FAIR was the poorest among all; however, CBF images of pMRI and FAIR images show comparatively decreased intensity at the corresponding site of decreased perfusion on I-123-IMP images. Both FAIR and pMRI images showed high intensity along the sinuses, choroid plexus, and large vessels in sulci. No significant correlation was found among all imaging modalities. But L/R ratio of I-123-IMP showed significant correlation with those of pMRI and FAIR, but for CCR, significant correlation was observed only between I-123-IMP and FAIR. Perfusion images of both pMRI and FAIR may produce images comparable to SPECT study. But to calculate absolute CBF more easy-to-apply and accurate algorithms are needed to overcome the artifacts from large vessels.

Effects of a vitamin E-modified dialysis membrane on neutrophil superoxide anion radical production.

Activation of neutrophil by the dialysis membrane and peroxidative stress plays an important role on the pathogenesis of complications in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Vitamin E is one of the potent scavengers for reactive oxygen species. Recent studies suggest that a vitamin E-modified multilayer membrane (Excebrane, CL-EE dialyzer) has an inhibitory effect on serum lipids peroxidation in HD patients. To determine the effect of CL-EE on biocompatibility in clinical use, we measured the superoxide anion radical producing ability (SOPA) of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNLs), the plasma hydroxyl radical producing ability (OHPA) and superoxide anion radical scavenging activity (SSA). SOPA was measured after stimulation of PMNLs with phorbol myristate acetate using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) method. Plasma OHPA and SSA were also determined using the EPR method. In addition, the plasma concentrations of malondialdehyde (MDA) and oxidized low-density lipoprotein (LDL), as the parameters for lipid peroxidation, were measured. SOPA was decreased in patients who used conventional filter membrane compared with healthy controls. In the patients using the CL-EE membrane, SOPA gradually increased and reached control levels after six months. However, no significant increase was observed in patients who used a conventional filter membrane. OHPA of HD patients was significantly decreased compared with controls. In the CL-EE membrane patient group, OHPA was significantly increased at six months. SSA was significantly higher in the conventional filter membrane group than controls. In the CL-EE membrane patient group, SSA gradually decreased at six months. Plasma MDA and oxidized LDL levels were significantly higher in HD patients compared with controls. These values slowly decreased, and significant differences were found after nine months of using the CL-EE membrane. These findings suggest that activation of PMNLs and plasma OHPA and SSA in HD patients is attenuated by antioxidant effects of the CL-EE.

Evaluation of crossed cerebellar diaschisis in 30 patients with major cerebral artery occlusion by means of quantitative I-123 IMP SPECT.

Quantitative crossed cerebellar diaschisis (CCD) and the correlation with a reduction in supratentorial regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and cerebrovascular reserve capacity (CVR) were investigated in clinically stable patients with major cerebral artery occlusion by the iodine-123-N-isopropyl-p-iodoamphetamine (I-123 IMP) single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) method. Thirty patients with major cerebral artery occlusion underwent SPECT by the I-123 IMP autoradiographic method. Regional CBF was measured in the cerebral hemisphere, frontal and parietal lobes, temporo-parietal lobe, and cerebellum both at rest and after administration of acetazolamide. Eighteen of 30 patients (60%) had CCD. CCD was significantly related to magnetic resonance imaging evidence of infarction. Quantitative CCD was 17% and the CVR in the cerebellum was preserved in patients with CCD. There was a significant difference in CBF and CVR between the affected and normal sides in all regions of interest in the patients without CCD [CBF (ml/100 g/min): hemisphere (H), normal side (N): 31.4 +/- 6.8, affected side (A): 27.5 +/- 7.4; p < 0.05. CVR: H, N: 0.56 +/- 0.38, A: 0.42 +/- 0.18; p < 0.01]. CCD is common in patients with major cerebral artery occlusion, and quantitative I-123 IMP SPECT is helpful in detecting CCD in clinically stable patients with occlusion of major cerebral arteries.

Nodular duodenitis involving CD8+ cell infiltration in patients with ulcerative colitis.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Limited efforts have been made to determine changes in the upper gastrointestinal tract in ulcerative colitis. The aim of this study was to analyze gastroduodenal lesions in patients with ulcerative colitis. METHODOLOGY: The endoscopical appearance of lesions in the duodenum and stomach was first examined. Biopsy specimens taken from 25 patients with ulcerative colitis, as well as 21 with Crohn's disease and 16 with nonspecific gastroduodenitis who had no Helicobacter pylori infection, were then evaluated by histology and immunohistochemistry for CD8, CD68 and HLA-DR. In ulcerative colitis patients, the HLA-phenotype was also analyzed by the standard NIH complement-dependent microlymphocyte toxicity assay. RESULTS: Endoscopically evident alteration of nodularity in the descending part of duodenum was prominent in ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, but not gastroduodenitis. Histological inflammatory change of the duodenal bulb in ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease was mild as compared to gastroduodenitis cases. Endoscopic and histological change (redness and deformity of villi) in the duodenum were more prominent in ulcerative colitis patients with pancolitis than those with left-sided/proctitis. CD8+ cells infiltrating both the duodenum and stomach were increased in ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease as compared to gastroduodenitis whereas focal perifoveolar accumulation of CD68+ cells and enhanced epithelial expression of HLA-DR were characteristic of Crohn's disease. Histopathological alteration in the duodenum was particularly prevalent in ulcerative colitis patients with HLA-DR4 and Cw1. CONCLUSIONS: Nodular, histologically mild duodenitis involving CD8+ cell infiltration, the severity of which positively correlates with the extent of colitis, is characteristic of ulcerative colitis.

[A case report of pulmonary nocardiosis successfully treated with a combination of sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim (ST) and sparfloxacin].

We encountered a case of pulmonary nocardiosis that responded dramatically to combined ST and sparfloxacin treatment. A 55-year-old woman presented with fever, cough and yellowish sputum. She had been under treatment with oral prednisolone (15 mg per day) since July 1997 after a diagnosis of Evans syndrome. A high fever of 39.8 degrees C was noted on January 30, 1998. The patient was hospitalized for bloody sputum, bilateral hypochondriac pain and evidence of infiltrative opacities in the left lower lobe on chest radiography. Bacterial pneumonia was suspected, and she was treated with piperacillin, but her clinical symptoms did not improve. Sputum culture and serologic examination failed to lead to a definitive diagnosis. Nocardia farcinica was isolated by culturing tissue obtained by CT-guided transcutaneous pulmonary biopsy, leading to a diagnosis of pulmonary nocardiosis. The results of an MIC test for antimicrobial agents led to treatment with a combination of ST and sparfloxacin, and the clinical symptoms improved. These clinical observations suggest that, when pneumonia is diagnosed in patients who have been receiving oral steroids for a prolonged period, pulmonary nocardiosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis to enable selection of appropriate antimicrobial agents.

Development of NMDA and non-NMDA receptor-mediated excitatory synaptic transmission in geniculocortical and corticocortical connections in organotypic coculture preparations.

Development of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) and non-NMDA receptor-mediated excitatory synaptic transmission was studied in the visual cortex using organotypic slice cocultures. A slice of visual cortex (VC) dissected from newborn rats was cocultured with either a chunk of embryonic lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) or another VC. During 7-38 days in vitro (DIV), geniculocortical monosynaptic excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) were recorded from layer IV neurons in response to stimulation of the LGN in cocultures of the VC with the LGN. Similarly, corticocortical monosynaptic EPSPs were recorded from layers II/III and V/VI neurons in cocultures of two VCs when stimulating the partner VC. The initial slopes of the non-NMDA and NMDA receptor-mediated components of the EPSPs, which were dissociated pharmacologically, were assessed and compared among three different culture stages, early (7-11 DIV), middle (12-15 DIV) and late (17-38 DIV). With progression of the culture stage, the non-NMDA component tended to increase in both the geniculocortical and corticocortical connections. In contrast, the NMDA component exhibited distinct developmental changes. The NMDA component in layer IV neurons, which receive geniculate inputs, showed a transient increase in the middle stage. In the corticocortical connection, the magnitude of the NMDA component was large in the early stage and maintained through all culture stages in layer V/VI cells, whereas in layer II/III cells it decreased sharply by the late stage. Our results suggest that glutamatergic transmission in the visual cortex develops differently in the geniculocortical and corticocortical connections.

Roles of GABAergic inhibition and NMDA receptor subunits in the spatio-temporal integration in the cerebellar cortex of mice.

The cerebellar cortex consists of relatively small numbers of identified neuronal types, which form simple and well-defined layers. However, a direct high-resolution demonstration of spatio-temporal pattern of information transmission there has been lacking. Using an optical recording technique with a membrane-potential sensitive dye, we studied the spatio-temporal pattern of excitation propagation induced by white matter stimulation in the slice preparations. We focused on physiological roles of inhibitory synapses and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. White matter stimulation induced postsynaptic long-lasting depolarization in the granular layer and transient depolarization in the molecular layer, respectively. Inhibitory synapses modestly suppressed the amplitude of slow depolarization in the granular layer, whereas they exerted powerful lateral inhibition in the molecular layer. Using mutant mice deficient in NMDA receptor subunits NR2A and/or NR2C, we also demonstrated that the NR2A and NR2C subunits expressed in granule neurons contribute to the early and late components of slow depolarization respectively, and that both subunits cooperatively support the temporal summation of depolarization. Taking into account the anatomical organization of the cerebellar cortex, these results might suggest that the granular layer is specialized more in the temporal integration of input signals and the molecular layer in the spatial integration.

MEIS1 and HOXA7 genes in human acute myeloid leukemia.

Co-activation of Meisl with Hoxa7 or Hoxa9 homeobox genes by retroviral gene insertion has recently been reported to be leukemogenic in murine myeloid leukemia. In this study we determined their expression in human leukemia. Most human myeloid leukemia cell lines co-expressed MEIS1 with HOXA7 and HOXA9. Among patients with acute leukemia, 50% of AML patients expressed MEIS1, while the majority of ALL patients were negative. A total of 89.5% of patients expressing MEIS1 co-expressed HOXA7. In unadjusted models, poorer response to chemotherapy was associated with expression of HOXA7 regardless of MEIS1 status and older patients were more likely to express either gene.

Elevated levels of eotaxin and interleukin-5 in blister fluid of bullous pemphigoid: correlation with tissue eosinophilia.

BACKGROUND: Bullous pemphigoid (BP) often provokes blood and tissue eosinophilia, which suggests that some chemoattractants modulate the eosinophil infiltration in BP. Eotaxin, a CC chemokine, strongly attracts eosinophils, and interleukin (IL)-5 induces eosinophil differentiation, proliferation and colony formation in vitro. OBJECTIVES: To examine the correlation between levels of eotaxin and IL-5 and the number of lesional eosinophils, and the expression of eotaxin in BP lesions. PATIENTS/METHODS: In this study we measured eotaxin and IL-5 levels in blister fluid of BP by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. We also examined the expression of eotaxin in BP lesions by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Both eotaxin and IL-5 were detected at high levels in BP blister fluid. Blister fluid eotaxin, but not IL-5 levels, correlated significantly with the number of dermal infiltrating eosinophils. By immunohistochemistry, eotaxin was strongly expressed in epidermal keratinocytes around BP blisters. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that eotaxin and IL-5 are strongly associated with the tissue eosinophilia of BP. Therapies which aim to inhibit production of eotaxin and IL-5 may improve the inflammation and blister formation in BP.