Spotted fever group rickettsiosis and vectors in Kanagawa prefecture

Primer pairs for PCR were designed from the gene encoding the 17,000-molecular-weight genus-common antigen of Rickettsia japonica, Rickettsia rickettsii, Rickettsia conorii, Rickettsia typhi and Rickettsia prowazekii. Primers R1, R2 were designed for amplifying the genomic DNA from spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsiae and epidemic typhus rickettsiae. Primers Rj5, Rj10 were designed for amplifying the genomic DNA from only R. japonica. Using the primers R1, R2, about a 540-bp fragment was observed by amplifying the genomic DNA from R. japonica, R. rickettsii, R. conorii, Thai tick typhus TT-118, Rickettsia sibirica, Rickettsia montana, Rickettsia askari, R. typhi, R. prowazekii and Katayama strain isolated from the patient infected with SFG rickettsiae. Using the primers Rj5, Rj10, the 357-bp fragment was observed by amplifying the genomic DNA from R. japonica and Katayama strain. Therefore, the Katayama strain was identified to belong to R. japonica. With primers R1, R2 and Rj5, Rj10, 537 bp and 357 bp bands were amplified from blood of the patients infected with SFG rickettsiae in Kanagawa prefecture. These findings indicate that the causative agent of SFG rickettsiosis in these two patients was R. japonica. The ticks, Ixodes ovatus and Haemaphysalis flava, were collected by out field research in Kanagawa prefecture. With primers R1, R2 and Rj5, Rj10, 537 bp and 357 bp were amplified from these ticks. This indicates that I. ovatus and H. flava were the vector of R. japonica in Kanagawa prefecture. Also, with the primers R1, R2, about a 540 bp fragment was amplified but with primers Rj5, Rj10, no fragments were amplified from I. ovatus and H. flava. Therefore, these ticks may have SFG rickettsiae other than R. japonica and epidemic typhus rickettsiae.     

Technetium-99m tetrofosmin and technetium-99m sestamibi imaging of multiple metastases from differentiated thyroid carcinoma

A 79-year-old male with follicular thyroid carcinoma metastasizing to the lung, bone and lymph nodes was subjected to whole-body scintigraphy using technetium-99m tetrofosmin and 99mTc-sestamibi. Both agents delineated the metastatic lesions and the two image qualities were comparable. We believe that 99mTc-tetrofosmin and 99mTc-sestamibi images may be helpful in localizing metastatic foci and substitute for thallium-201 in the follow-up of patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma.     

Long-term study of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis sequelae after bilateral thoracoplasty-airway obstruction and its causes

Chest roentgenograms and results of pulmonary-function tests in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis sequelae 30 years after bilateral thoracoplasty were studied retrospectively to detect airway obstruction in these patients and to determine its causes. For periods of more than 10 years, vital capacity (VC) changed at a rate of 15.5 +/- 5.0 ml/year, and forced expiratory volume in one second as a percent of VC (FEV1%) changed at a rate of 0.546% +/- 0.380% per year (n = 13). Thirty years after thoracoplasty, the VC was 920 +/- 180 ml (%VC = 28.4% +/- 5.3%), and the FEV1% was 66.2% +/- 13.7% (n = 21). Thus, mild airway obstruction was found in about half of the cases. For each patient, the distance from the hilum to the diaphragm was measured along the mid-clavicular line on the side with fewer ribs resected, and this distance was divided by the patient's height. The results of that computation was found to be significantly and negatively related to FEV1% (r = -0.681, which suggests that longer bronchi in the lower and middle lobes on that side were associated with lower values of FEV1%. These findings are similar to those in patients with pulmonary tuberculous sequelae after total pneumonectomy. Over an average of 26 years, scoliosis, the vertebra showing the most bending, the intrapulmonary lesion, and the position of the diaphragm did not change, but the cardio-thoracic ratio increased.     

A case of eosinophilic pustular folliculitis (Ofuji's disease) induced by patch and challenge tests with indeloxazine hydrochloride

A 73-year-old male developed disseminated erythema over his entire body after exposure to indeloxazine hydrochloride, a cerebral activator. Patch testing with indeloxazine hydrochloride showed a positive reaction, and plaques, vesicles and pustules developed on the face after the patch test. These had the pathologic feature of eosinophilic pustular folliculitis (EPF, Ofuji's disease). A challenge test also provoked eruptions on the face, trunk, arms and legs, which were compatible with EPF. Moreover, both the patch and challenge tests with indeloxazine hydrochloride induced eosinophilia. This is the first report of drug allergy-induced EPF, where drug sensitivity induced an abnormal eosinophilic response mimicking EPF.     

Biomaterial-Assisted Regenerative Medicine

This review aims to show case recent regenerative medicine based on biomaterial technologies. Regenerative medicine has arousing substantial interest throughout the world, with “The enhancement of cell activity” one of the essential concepts for the development of regenerative medicine. For example, drug research on drug screening is an important field of regenerative medicine, with the purpose of efficient evaluation of drug effects. It is crucial to enhance cell activity in the body for drug research because the difference in cell condition between in vitro and in vivo leads to a gap in drug evaluation. Biomaterial technology is essential for the further development of regenerative medicine because biomaterials effectively support cell culture or cell transplantation with high cell viability or activity. For example, biomaterial-based cell culture and drug screening could obtain information similar to preclinical or clinical studies. In the case of in vivo studies, biomaterials can assist cell activity, such as natural healing potential, leading to efficient tissue repair of damaged tissue. Therefore, regenerative medicine combined with biomaterials has been noted. For the research of biomaterial-based regenerative medicine, the research objective of regenerative medicine should link to the properties of the biomaterial used in the study. This review introduces regenerative medicine with biomaterial.     

Analysis of Laser-Induced Plume During Disk Laser Welding at Different Speeds

During high power disk laser welding, the high-speed photography was used to measure the dynamic images of the laser-induced plume at different laser welding speeds. Various plume features (area, height and brightness) were extracted from the images by the color space clustering algorithm. Combined with observation on the surface and the cross sections of welding samples, the effect of welding speed on welding stability was analyzed. From the experimental results, it was found that these features of plume could reflect the welding state. Thus changes of the plume features corresponded to different welding speeds, which was helpful for monitoring the laser welding stability.     

Isolation and quantitative detection of tetrachloroethene (PCE)-dechlorinating bacteria in unsaturated subsurface soils contaminated with chloroethenes

The estimation of tetrachloethene (PCE) dechlorinating-activity and identification of PCE-dechlorinating bacteria were performed in 65 unsaturated subsurface soils (at a depth 30-60 cm) that were collected from 21 noncontaminated soils and 44 chloroethene-contaminated soils including four soils that dechlorinated PCE to 1,2-cis-dichloroethene (cisDCE) in situ. Sixteen out of the 44 PCE-contaminated soils and three out of the 21 noncontaminated soils dechlorinated PCE to trichloroethene and cisDCE but not vinyl chloride or ethene after a month of incubation with 0.1% yeast extract at 30 degrees C. Desulfitobacterium sp. strain B31e3 that can dechlorinate PCE to cisDCE was isolated from a soil that dechlorinated PCE to cisDCE in situ. 16S rRNA gene of this strain showed the closest similarity of 99.1% with that of Desulfitobacterium hafniense (formally frappieri) strain DP7. Real-time PCR using specific primer sets targeted to the 16S rRNA genes of the representative PCE-dechlorinating bacteria, Dehalococcoides spp., Desulfitobacterium spp., and Dehalobacter spp. were performed using five unsaturated subsurface soils that dechlorinated PCE and three that did not dechlorinate PCE. In two out of the five soils that dechlorinated PCE, Desulfitobacterium spp. (0.12, 0.38% of total bacteria) and Dehalobacter spp. (0.0045, 0.0061% of total bacteria) were detected, and in one of the five soils, only Desulfitobacterium spp. (0.042% of total bacteria) was detected. None of these representative PCE-dechlorinating bacteria were detected in two out of the five soils that dechlorinated PCE and in all of the three soils that did not dechlorinate PCE. Dehalococcoides spp. were not detected in any unsaturated subsurface soils used in this study. These results suggested the involvement of Desulfitobacterium spp. and probably Dehalobacter spp. rather than Dehalococcoides spp. in the dechlorination of PCE to cisDCE in unsaturated subsurface soils.     

A procedure to analyze surface profiles of the protein molecules visualized by quick-freeze deep-etch replica electron microscopy

Quick-freeze deep-etch replica electron microscopy gives high contrast snapshots of individual protein molecules under physiological conditions in vitro or in situ. The images show delicate internal pattern, possibly reflecting the rotary-shadowed surface profile of the molecule. As a step to build the new system for the "Structural analysis of single molecules", we propose a procedure to quantitatively characterize the structural property of individual molecules; e.g. conformational type and precise view-angle of the molecules, if the crystallographic structure of the target molecule is available. This paper presents a framework to determine the observed face of the protein molecule by analyzing the surface profile of individual molecules visualized in freeze-replica specimens. A comprehensive set of rotary-shadowed views of the protein molecule was artificially generated from the available atomic coordinates using light-rendering software. Exploiting new mathematical morphology-based image filter, characteristic features were extracted from each image and stored as template. Similar features were extracted from the true replica image and the most likely projection angle and the conformation of the observed particle were determined by quantitative comparison with a set of archived images. The performance and the robustness of the procedure were examined with myosin head structure in defined configuration for actual application.