Peripheral nerve crushing to relieve chronic pain in diabetic and ischaemic foot ulcers.

OBJECTIVE: We retrospectively assessed the effectiveness of peripheral nerve crushing (Smithwick operation) in relieving intractable chronic pain associated with foot ulcers caused by diabetes mellitus (DM) or atherosclerosis. METHOD: From April 2009 to April 2012, patients underwent peripheral nerve crushing in the leg affected by foot ulceration. The cause of ulceration was either DM alone, atherosclerosis alone, or both DM and atherosclerosis. Because sensation in the foot is associated with five nerves: the tibial, deep peroneal, superficial peroneal, sural, and saphenous, one or more of these nerves were crushed over a length of 1.5cm by using a 'pean' in the distal third of leg the where there are no major motor nerves. RESULTS: There were 36 patients recruited with ulcers grade 3-5 according to the Wagner ulcer classification system that affected the toes, dorsum pedis, or any part of the plantar surface or the heel. The mean duration of foot ulcerations before the nerve crushing was 22.3±9.7 weeks. In all 36 patients, the nerve crushing was performed successfully without any perioperative surgical complication. Of the 36 patients, 34 (94.4%) had substantial pain relief immediately after nerve crushing. While the mean pain level before the procedure was 86.6±0.51mm on visual analogue scale (VAS), pain level dropped significantly after the operation to 18.6 ± 5.4mm at one week, 14.8±4.8mm at one month, 13.7±4.1mm at two months, 9.8±4.1mm at three months, 11.8±5.7mm at four months, 10.1±4.7mm at five months and 8.8±3.3mm at six months. The time to regeneration of the sensory nerves was 121±6.5 days (range: 80-181 days). The surgical complications were wound infection (6 patients) and temporary toe paralysis (three patients). The foot ulcers in 20 of the 36 patients (55.6%) were resolved by debridement or minor amputation. In seven patients (19.4%), a major amputation (five below and two above the knee) was required because of ischemia or infection. No patient died within 30 days of the operation, while nine patients died during the observation period because of comorbid conditions. CONCLUSION: Peripheral nerve crushing could be the alternative procedure for achieving analgesia in patients with intractable chronic pain from foot ulcers caused by DM or atherosclerosis.

Molecular basis of non-syndromic hypospadias: systematic mutation screening and genome-wide copy-number analysis of 62 patients.

STUDY QUESTION: What percentage of cases with non-syndromic hypospadias can be ascribed to mutations in known causative/candidate/susceptibility genes or submicroscopic copy-number variations (CNVs) in the genome? SUMMARY ANSWER: Monogenic and digenic mutations in known causative genes and cryptic CNVs account for >10% of cases with non-syndromic hypospadias. While known susceptibility polymorphisms appear to play a minor role in the development of this condition, further studies are required to validate this observation. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: Fifteen causative, three candidate, and 14 susceptible genes, and a few submicroscopic CNVs have been implicated in non-syndromic hypospadias. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: Systematic mutation screening and genome-wide copy-number analysis of 62 patients. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: The study group consisted of 57 Japanese and five Vietnamese patients with non-syndromic hypospadias. Systematic mutation screening was performed for 25 known causative/candidate/susceptibility genes using a next-generation sequencer. Functional consequences of nucleotide alterations were assessed by in silico assays. The frequencies of polymorphisms in the patient group were compared with those in the male general population. CNVs were analyzed by array-based comparative genomic hybridization and characterized by fluorescence in situ hybridization. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE: Seven of 62 patients with anterior or posterior hypospadias carried putative pathogenic mutations, such as hemizygous mutations in AR, a heterozygous mutation in BNC2, and homozygous mutations in SRD5A2 and HSD3B2. Two of the seven patients had mutations in multiple genes. We did not find any rare polymorphisms that were abundant specifically in the patient group. One patient carried mosaic dicentric Y chromosome. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION: The patient group consisted solely of Japanese and Vietnamese individuals and clinical and hormonal information of the patients remained rather fragmentary. In addition, mutation analysis focused on protein-altering substitutions. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS: Our data provide evidence that pathogenic mutations can underlie both mild and severe hypospadias and that HSD3B2 mutations cause non-syndromic hypospadias as a sole clinical manifestation. Most importantly, this is the first report documenting possible oligogenicity of non-syndromic hypospadias. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTERESTS: This study was funded by the Grant-in-Aid from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; by the Grant-in-Aid from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science; by the Grants from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, from the National Center for Child Health and Development and from the Takeda Foundation. The authors have no competing interests to disclose. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: Not applicable.

Characterization of a retroreflector array for 320-GHz interferometer system in Heliotron J.

A retroreflector array, composed of a cluster of small retroreflectors, is experimentally studied for application to a Michelson-type interferometer system in the fusion plasma experiment. Such a new-type reflector has the potential to be a vital and effective tool at a spatially limited location, such as on the vacuum chamber wall of plasma experimental devices. To investigate the effect of retroreflector array on the reflected beam properties, a tabletop experiment is performed with the retroreflector array composed of 4 mm corner-cube retroreflectors and with a 320-GHz (λ ∼ 0.937 mm) submillimeter wave source. An imaging camera is utilized to measure the submillimeter wave beam profile and is scanned perpendicularly to the beam propagation direction if necessary. The experimental result exhibits a diffraction effect on the reflected beam, resulting in the emergence of discrete peaks on the reflected beam profile, as predicted in the past numerical study; however, the most reflected beam power converges on the one reflected into the incident direction, resulting from a property as a retroreflector. Furthermore, the dependence of the reflected beam on the incident beam angle is characterized while fixing the detector position, and the retroreflection beam intensity is found to vary due to the diffraction effect. Such an undesired variation of beam intensity induced by the diffraction can be suppressed with a focusing lens placed in front of the detector in the practical application to an interferometer.

Measurement of Paα line from pellet ablation cloud in Heliotron J.

The Paα line (1875.13 nm) in the near-infrared (NIR) region was evaluated to apply Stark broadening of the line spectrum to the electron density measurement of the small-pellet ablation cloud in Heliotron J, a medium-sized helical-axis heliotron device. Paα is three-to-four times broader than the visible Hß line (486.13 nm) for the same electron density. Using a portable NIR spectrometer, preliminary proof-of-concept experiments determined the marginal density, below which the broadening was undetectable. The lower detection density limit can be decreased using a narrower entrance slit or a denser grating.

The Bone Sialoprotein RGD Domain Modulates and Maintains Periodontal Development.

Bone sialoprotein (gene: Ibsp; protein: BSP) is a multifunctional extracellular matrix protein present in bone, cementum, and dentin. Accumulating evidence supports BSP as a key regulator of mineralized tissue formation via evolutionarily conserved functional domains, including a C-terminal integrin-binding Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) domain implicated in extracellular matrix-cell signaling. Ablation of Ibsp in mice (Ibsp-/-) results in impaired bone growth and mineralization and defective osteoclastogenesis, with effects in the craniofacial region including reduced acellular cementum formation, detachment of the periodontal ligament (PDL), alveolar bone hypomineralization, and severe periodontal breakdown. We hypothesized that BSP-RGD plays an important role in cementum and alveolar bone formation and mineralization, as well as periodontal function. This hypothesis was tested by replacing the RGD motif with a nonfunctional Lys-Ala-Glu (KAE) sequence in (IbspKAE/KAE) mice and OCCM.30 murine (IbspKAE) cementoblasts. The RGD domain was not critical for acellular or cellular cementum formation in IbspKAE/KAE mice. However, PDL volume and thickness were increased, and significantly more tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase-positive osteoclasts were found on alveolar bone surfaces of IbspKAE/KAE mice versus wild type mice. PDL organization was disrupted as indicated by picrosirius red stain, second harmonic generation imaging, dynamic mechanical analysis, and decreased asporin proteoglycan localization. In vitro studies implicated RGD functions in cell migration, adhesion, and mineralization, and this was confirmed by an ossicle implant model where cells lacking BSP-RGD showed substantial defects as compared with controls. In total, the BSP-RGD domain is implicated in periodontal development, though the scale and scope of changes indicated by in vitro studies indicate that other factors may partially compensate for and reduce the phenotypic severity of mice lacking BSP-RGD in vivo.

Three-dimensional dynamics of fluctuations appearing during pellet ablation process around a pellet in a fusion plasma experiment.

Understanding pellet ablation physics is crucial to realizing efficient fueling into a high temperature plasma for the steady state operation of ITER and future fusion reactors. Here we report the first observation of the formation of fluctuation structures in the pellet plasmoid during the pellet ablation process by a fast camera in a medium-sized fusion device, Heliotron J. The fluctuation has a normalized fluctuation level of ~ 15% and propagates around the moving pellet across the magnetic field. By comparing the fluctuation structures with the shape of magnetic field lines calculated with the field line tracing code, we successfully reconstruct the spatio-temporal structure of the fluctuations during the pellet ablation process. The fluctuations are located at the locations displaced toroidally from the pellet and propagate in the cross-field direction around the pellet axis along the field line, indicating a three-dimensional behavior and structure of fluctuations. The fluctuation would be driven by a strong inhomogeneity formed around the pellet and invoke the relaxation of the gradient through a cross-field transport induced by the fluctuations, which could affect the pellet ablation and pellet fueling processes. Such fluctuations can be ubiquitously present at the inhomogeneity formed around a pellet in the pellet ablation process in fusion devices.

Development and initial results of 320 GHz interferometer system in Heliotron J.

A new 320 GHz solid-state source interferometer is installed in the Heliotron J helical device to explore the physics of high-density plasmas (ne > 2-3 × 1019 m-3, typically) realized with advanced fueling techniques. This interferometry system is of the Michelson type and is based on the heterodyne principle, with two independent solid-state sources that can deliver an output power of up to 50 mW. A high time resolution measurement of <1 µs can be derived by tuning the frequency of one source in the frequency range of 312-324 GHz on the new system, which can realize the fluctuation measurement. We successfully measured the line-averaged electron density in high-density plasma experiments. The measured density agreed well with a microwave interferometer measurement using a different viewing chord, demonstrating that the new system can be used for routine diagnostics of electron density in Heliotron J.

Delivery of Alkaline Phosphatase Promotes Periodontal Regeneration in Mice.

Factors regulating the ratio of pyrophosphate (PPi) to phosphate (Pi) modulate biomineralization. Tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNAP) is a key promineralization enzyme that hydrolyzes the potent mineralization inhibitor PPi. The goal of this study was to determine whether TNAP could promote periodontal regeneration in bone sialoprotein knockout mice (Ibsp-/- mice), which are known to have a periodontal disease phenotype. Delivery of TNAP was accomplished either systemically (through a lentiviral construct expressing a mineral-targeted TNAP-D10 protein) or locally (through addition of recombinant human TNAP to a fenestration defect model). Systemic TNAP-D10 delivered by intramuscular injection at 5 d postnatal (dpn) increased circulating alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels in Ibsp-/- mice by 5-fold at 30 dpn, with levels returning to normal by 60 dpn when tissues were evaluated by micro-computed tomography and histology. Local delivery of recombinant human TNAP to fenestration defects in 5-wk-old wild type (WT) and Ibsp-/- mice did not alter long-term circulating ALP levels, and tissues were evaluated by micro-computed tomography and histology at postoperative day 45. Systemic and local delivery of TNAP significantly increased alveolar bone volume (20% and 37%, respectively) and cementum thickness (3- and 42-fold) in Ibsp-/- mice, with evidence for periodontal ligament attachment and bone/cementum marker localization. Local delivery significantly increased regenerated cementum and bone in WT mice. Addition of 100-µg/mL bovine intestinal ALP to culture media to increase ALP in vitro increased media Pi concentration, mineralization, and Spp1 and Dmp1 marker gene expression in WT and Ibsp-/- OCCM.30 cementoblasts. Use of phosphonoformic acid, a nonspecific inhibitor of sodium Pi cotransport, indicated that effects of bovine intestinal ALP on mineralization and marker gene expression were in part through Pi transport. These findings show for the first time through multiple in vivo and in vitro approaches that pharmacologic modulation of Pi/PPi metabolism can overcome periodontal breakdown and accomplish regeneration.

Development of a multi-channel 320 GHz interferometer for high density plasma measurement in Heliotron J.

We report the development of a new interferometer with two stable, high-power, 320 GHz solid-state sources in Heliotron J. A heterodyne Michelson interferometer optical scheme is employed. Two solid-state oscillators are utilized as sources with a fixed frequency at 320 GHz and frequency tunable of 312-324 GHz. Quasi-optical techniques are used for beam transmission. The beam is elongated in the vertical direction with two off-axis parabolic mirrors and injected into the plasma as a sheet beam for the multi-channel measurement (>5 ch.). Passing through the plasma, the beam is reflected at a retroreflector-array installed at the vacuum chamber wall. The retroreflector-array is a bunch of retroreflector structures, which can suppress the beam refraction caused by plasma without much space inside a vacuum chamber unlike a single retroreflector and can facilitate the system design. The source, detectors, and the retroreflector-array are tested to evaluate their basic performance on a tabletop experiment.

Ablation of Pyrophosphate Regulators Promotes Periodontal Regeneration.

Biomineralization is regulated by inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi), a potent physiological inhibitor of hydroxyapatite crystal growth. Progressive ankylosis protein (ANK) and ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase 1 (ENPP1) act to increase local extracellular levels of PPi, inhibiting mineralization. The periodontal complex includes 2 mineralized tissues, cementum and alveolar bone (AB), both essential for tooth attachment. Previous studies demonstrated that loss of function of ANK or ENPP1 (reducing PPi) resulted in increased cementum formation, suggesting PPi metabolism may be a target for periodontal regenerative therapies. To compare the effects of genetic ablation of Ank, Enpp1, and both factors concurrently on cementum and AB regeneration, mandibular fenestration defects were created in Ank knockout (Ank KO), Enpp1 mutant (Enpp1asj/asj), and double KO (dKO) mice. Genetic ablation of Ank, Enpp1, or both factors increased cementum regeneration compared to controls at postoperative days (PODs) 15 and 30 (Ank KO: 8-fold, 3-fold; Enpp1asj/asj: 7-fold, 3-fold; dKO: 11-fold, 4-fold, respectively) associated with increased fluorochrome labeling and expression of mineralized tissue markers, dentin matrix protein 1 (Dmp1/DMP1), osteopontin (Spp1/OPN), and bone sialoprotein (Ibsp/BSP). Furthermore, dKO mice featured increased cementum thickness compared to single KOs at POD15 and Ank KO at POD30. No differences were noted in AB volume between genotypes, but osteoblast/osteocyte markers were increased in all KOs, partially mineralized osteoid volume was increased in dKO versus controls at POD15 (3-fold), and mineral density was decreased in Enpp1asj/asj and dKOs at POD30 (6% and 9%, respectively). Increased numbers of osteoclasts were present in regenerated AB of all KOs versus controls. These preclinical studies suggest PPi modulation as a potential and novel approach for cementum regeneration, particularly targeting ENPP1 and/or ANK. Differences in cementum and AB regeneration in response to reduced PPi conditions highlight the need to consider tissue-specific responses in strategies targeting regeneration of the entire periodontal complex.

Reformation of the Electron Internal Transport Barrier with the Appearance of a Magnetic Island.

When realising future fusion reactors, their stationary burning must be maintained and the heat flux to the divertor must be reduced. This essentially requires a stationary internal transport barrier (ITB) plasma with a fast control system. However, the time scale for determining the position of the foot point of an ITB is not clearly understood even though its understanding is indispensable for fast profile control. In this study, the foot point of the electron ITB (eITB) was observed to be reformed at the vicinity of a magnetic island when the island started to form. In addition, the enhanced confinement region was observed to expand during the eITB formation according to the radial movement of the magnetic island toward the outer region. Compared to the time scales of the local heat transport, the faster time scales of the movement of the eITB foot point immediately after island formation (~0.5 ms) suggest the importance of the magnetic island for plasma profile control to maintain stationary burning.

Application of portable near-infrared spectrometer to Heliotron J plasma diagnostics.

A simple near-infrared (NIR) spectrometer with a wavelength range of 898-2130 nm has recently been applied to diagnose Heliotron J plasmas. It adopts a symmetrical crossed Czerny-Turner mount equipped with a thermoelectrically cooled 512 channel InGaAs linear sensor. Reciprocal linear dispersion was deduced to 96.37 nm/mm at the center of the detector. External filters can be inserted into the path of the collection optics to reject second-order spectra, as needed. Absolute intensity calibration was performed together with a visible spectrometer using a tungsten halogen lamp, and the effect of the transmittance fringe in the visible region of the applied long-pass filter on the NIR calibration was investigated. The intended application of the NIR spectrometer includes extending the wavelength region of a spectral monitor to less contaminated regions for Heliotron J plasma studies. In preliminary measurements, we observed the Paschen series for the hydrogen pellet injection plasma and two atomic helium lines, i.e., 2S-2P singlet and triplet lines, in helium gas puffing experiments. A continuum spectrum in this regime that is attributable to black-body radiation from hot spots on the plasma-facing components was identified. In addition, this may also be used to monitor background radiation in the YAG-Thomson scattering signals near 1064 nm.

Parathyroid hormone-related protein in tumor tissues obtained from patients with humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy.

We assessed the relationship between the parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) and the development of humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy (i.e., hypercalcemia due to the production by solid tumors of hypercalcemic factors) by assaying tumor extracts from hypercalcemic and normocalcemic patients with cancer for immunoreactive PTHrP contents. Immunoreactive PTHrP was demonstrated in extracts of 21 of 22 tumor tissues obtained from 22 patients with humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy. Immunoreactive PTHrP was rarely seen in tumor tissue extracts obtained from 34 normocalcemic patients with cancer and two hypercalcemic patients with cancer with severe bone metastases. Gel filtration studies of tumor extracts revealed a molecular-size heterogeneity of immunoreactive PTHrP. These radioimmunoassay data indicate a close relationship between detection of PTHrP in tumor tissues and the development of humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy.

Cancer cachexia syndrome developed in nude mice bearing melanoma cells producing leukemia-inhibitory factor.

Melanoma-derived lipoprotein lipase inhibitor (MLPLI) is a factor purified from the conditioned medium of a human melanoma cell line, SEKI, which induced severe cachexia in tumor-bearing nude mice. Amino acid sequencing revealed that the amino-terminal portion was identical to that of leukemia-inhibitory factor (LIF). To determine whether MLPLI is actually LIF, the expression of LIF mRNA was examined in the SEKI melanoma cell line. Northern blot analyses revealed that the cell line displayed an intense hybridizable band with a molecular size of 3.8 kilobases, suggesting that MLPLI is identical to LIF. The relationship between the development of the cancer cachexia syndrome and the expression of LIF mRNA was examined in four melanoma xenografts, SEKI, G361, A375 and MEWO, in nude mice. SEKI- and G361-bearing nude mice developed cancer cachexia syndrome, and their body weights decreased by the 25th day after the transplantation to 73.6% and 73.8% of the control, respectively. A375- and MEWO-bearing nude mice, however, did not develop the syndrome. Northern blot analyses revealed that G361 as well as SEKI expressed a large amount of LIF mRNA, but A375 and MEWO did not, suggesting a close relationship between the expression of LIF mRNA and the development of the syndrome. These data support the concept that MLPLI, or LIF, plays an important role in the development of the cancer cachexia syndrome observed in melanoma-bearing nude mice.

Identification of genes showing differential expression in antisense K-ras-transduced pancreatic cancer cells with suppressed tumorigenicity.

K-ras point mutation occurs in >80% of pancreatic cancer. We reported previously that the transduction of an antisense K-ras RNA expression vector suppressed the growth of pancreatic cancer cells with K-ras point mutations in vitro and in vivo. The RNA differential display method (DD) was used to compare the mRNA expression profile of the pancreatic cancer cell line AsPC-1 and that of the antisense K-ras-transduced, growth-retarded AsPC-1 cells. cDNA fragments were isolated from 20 bands on the DD gel, and their differential expression between the two cell lines was confirmed. A sequence analysis revealed that all of the 11 clones up-regulated in the antisense-transduced cells were mitochondrial genes. The other nine cDNA clones that were down-regulated in the antisense-transduced AsPC-1 cells included an oncogene PTI-1 (prostate tumor inducing gene-1), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-7, the beta3 chain of laminin-5, lysosome-associated membrane protein-2, the H chain of apoferritin, ribosomal protein S6, proteasome subunit XAPC7, and two cDNA fragments with no homology to the GenBank database. In addition to the AsPC-1 cells, reverse transcription-PCR analysis on surgical specimens of pancreatic cancer revealed that the PTI-1 and MMP-7 genes were overexpressed in three and four cases, respectively, of five cases examined. This method offers a unique opportunity to identify a set of genes that may be modulated by K-ras activation, at least in a subset of the pancreatic cancer. The information on such genes may facilitate our understanding of the spectrum of the functional genetic changes in pancreatic cancer.

Production of endothelin in human cancer cell lines.

Endothelin (ET)-1 is a vasoconstrictor peptide derived from endothelial cells and now known to be a local regulator of vascular tonus. Recent studies, however, have revealed that ET-1 functions also as growth factor in various cells. By using a specific ET-1 radioimmunoassay, immunoreactive (IR) ET-1, ranging from 4.2 to 150 pM (minimum detectable amount, 4.0 pM), was detected in 13 of 42 human cancer cell lines. The frequencies of IR-ET-1 production and its concentrations were high in mammary, pancreatic, and colon carcinoma cell lines. IR-ET-1 produced by cancer cells possessed the same molecular size as synthetic ET-1 and also had ET-1-like biological activity. Moreover, Northern blot analysis revealed bands corresponding to ET-1 mRNA in cancer cell lines, indicating that IR-ET-1 produced by cancer cells is a product of the ET-1 gene. Since ET-1 in the spent media is present in a sufficient amount to stimulate cellular growth, we sought ET-1 receptors in four pancreatic carcinoma cell lines and human skin fibroblasts. No ET-1 receptors were detected in the pancreatic carcinoma cell lines. However, human skin fibroblasts possessed a large number of ET-1 receptors. This finding raises the possibility that ET-1 produced by cancer cells plays a modulatory role in the growth of stromal cells surrounding cancer cells.

Injection barrel with a tapered structure for a low speed and small size cryogenic hydrogen pellet in medium-sized plasma fusion devices.

An injection barrel was designed and fabricated for a small size 0.8 mm cryogenic pellet with a low speed of 200-300 m/s in medium-sized plasma fusion devices. Pellet injection with pneumatic acceleration was examined using a conventional in situ technique. A tapered structure was applied in the downstream side of the injection barrel to satisfy the requirement of pellet speed reduction by expansion of the propellant gas. Shadowgraph and light gate measurements show that the intact pellets have speeds of 260 ± 30 m/s and a typical size of 1.1-1.2 mm. The pellet ablation code based on a neutral gas shielding model shows that the penetration depth of the measured pellet parameters does not cross the plasma center, even in medium-sized plasma devices such as the Heliotron J helical device. The injection barrel with a tapered structure developed in this study is feasible for low speed pellet injection.

Faraday-cup-type lost fast ion detector on Heliotron J.

A Faraday-cup type lost-fast ion probe (FLIP) has been designed and installed in Heliotron J for the purpose of the studies of interaction between fast ions and MHD instabilities. The FLIP can measure the co-going fast ions whose energy is in the range of 1.7-42.5 keV (proton) and pitch angle of 90∘-140∘, especially for fast ions having the injection energy of neutral beam injection (NBI). The FLIP successfully measured the re-entering passing ions and trapped lost-fast ions caused by fast-ion-driven energetic particle modes in NBI heated plasmas.

Development of beam emission spectroscopy for turbulence transport study in Heliotron J.

This paper describes the development study of the beam emission spectroscopy (BES) for the turbulent transport study in Heliotron J. Modification of the sightlines (10 × 4 for edge and 10 × 2 for edge) enables us to obtain 2-dimensional BES imaging. The cooling effect on the reduction in the electrical noise of avalanche photodiode (APD) assembly has been investigated using a refrigerant cooling system. When the temperature of the APD element has set to be -20 °C, the electrical noise can be reduced more than 50%. The measurement error of the phase difference in the case of low signal level has been tested by two light-emitting diode lamps. The APD cooling has an effect to improve the measurement error at the low signal level of APD.

Expression of the tumor suppressor gene Maspin in human pancreatic cancers.

The tumor suppressor gene maspin, a unique member of the serpin superfamily, inhibits cell motility, invasion, and metastasis in breast and prostate cancers. Maspin is expressed in normal human mammary and prostate epithelial cells but down-regulated during cancer progression. In this study, we analyzed the expression of maspin in various human cancer cells by means of Northern blot and immunohistochemistry. Maspin gene expression proved to be up-regulated in pancreatic cancer. Maspin expression was not detected in any of 6 gastric cancers, 4 melanomas, or 6 of 7 breast cancer cell lines examined. In contrast, 5 of 9 pancreatic cancer cell lines showed maspin expression, although maspin expression was not detected in normal pancreatic tissue. Furthermore, maspin was expressed in 23 of 24 tumor specimens obtained from pancreatic cancer patients as well as all high-grade precancerous lesions (PanIN3 and intraductal carcinoma extension). In contrast, no expression was observed in normal and low-grade precancerous lesions. Our results show that maspin is a new factor associated with pancreatic cancer. In addition, the detection of maspin in pancreatic tumor tissues and its lack of expression in all normal pancreatic tissues suggests that maspin may be a useful marker of primary human pancreatic cancer.