Rectal carcinoid tumor associated with the Peutz-Jeghers syndrome

A 59-year-old female underwent mastectomy for right breast cancer in November 1992. She received tamoxifen and anthracycline-containing chemotherapy as adjuvant therapy. In and after September 1994, she developed loco-regional recurrences five times in total, each of which was treated with surgery and conventional combination chemotherapy. In April 1997, she developed liver metastasis, which was refractory to biochemical modulation therapy (low-dose cisplatin + 5-FU). We, therefore, treated her six times with docetaxel 80 mg, which resulted in partial response of the liver metastasis and brought about a marked decrease in serum CA15-3 levels. Adverse effects of docetaxel were grade 3 alopecia and leucocytopenia. She has been well without re-growth of the liver metastasis for over five months.     

Computer vision for interactive computer graphics

Vision can be a powerful interface device for computers because of its potential for sensing body position, head orientation, direction of gaze, pointing commands, and gestures. Such unencumbered interaction can make computers easier to use. We describe vision algorithms for interactive graphics and present vision-controlled graphics applications using these algorithms. Some applications employ an artificial retina chip for image detection or preprocessing     

Bax and Bcl-2 expressions predict response to radiotherapy in human cervical cancer

PURPOSE: The ratio of Bcl-2 to Bax expression determines survival or death following an apoptotic stimulus. In order to establish a new predictor of the outcome of treatment for human cervical carcinoma, we investigated the relationship between the expressions of the Bax and Bcl-2 proteins and the response to radiotherapy after the administration of 10.8 Gy. METHODS: A total of 44 patients with histologically proven carcinoma of the uterine cervix, including three with recurrent cervical stump carcinomas, were treated with definitive radiotherapy. The presence of mutations in exons 5-8 of the p53 gene was analyzed by a single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis and DNA sequencing. RESULTS: Forty patients were found to have wild-type p53, and the remaining four had mutant p53. The Bax and Bcl-2 protein expressions prior to radiotherapy did not correlate with response and survival. However, the Bax and Bcl-2 protein expressions after radiotherapy correlated with both response and survival. Bax-positive tumors showed significantly better responses than the Bax-negative tumors after 10.8 Gy radiation (P = 0.0002). In contrast, the Bcl-2-positive tumors showed significantly poorer responses than the Bcl-2-negative tumors after radiation (P = 0.002). Increased Bax expression after the 10.8 Gy radiotherapy was found to be correlated with good survival (P = 0.04). In contrast, increased Bcl-2 expression after such radiotherapy was correlated with poor survival (P = 0.002). CONCLUSION: The levels of Bax and Bcl-2 expression after 10.8 Gy radiotherapy are useful prognostic markers in patients with human cervical carcinoma.     

Adaptive response in embryogenesis: I. Dose and timing of radiation for reduction of prenatal death and congenital malformation during the late period of organogenesis

BACKGROUND: Coexistent primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and coeliac disease has been recorded but the association has not been systematically studied. AIMS: To determine relative prevalences of PBC and coeliac disease in a defined population over a 12 year period. PATIENTS AND METHODS: All patients with PBC or coeliac disease in a stable population of 250,000 in South Wales were identified from a clinical register and laboratory records. RESULTS: Sixty seven patients with PBC and 143 patients with coeliac disease have been diagnosed and followed over a median of 86 (4-135) months; point prevalences in 1996 were 20 per 100,000 for PBC and 54 per 100,000 for coeliac disease. PBC in patients with coeliac disease was sought by investigating abnormal liver function tests. Ten (7%) had persistent abnormalities and three had PBC. Coeliac disease in patients with PBC was sought by investigating malabsorption, haematinic deficiency, positive antigliadin antibody, or coeliac disease family history. Eleven patients underwent duodenal biopsy revealing one further coeliac disease case. Four patients (three women have both conditions giving a point prevalence for patients with both conditions of 1.6 per 100,000 (95% confidence limits 0.44 to 4.1 per 100,000). Prevalence of PBC in patients with coeliac disease was 3% and of coeliac disease in patients with PBC was 6%. CONCLUSION: A 12 year study of a stable 250,000 population revealed a relative prevalence of PBC in 3% of 143 patients with coeliac disease and of coeliac disease in 6% of 67 patients with PBC. PBC and coeliac disease are therefore associated. Screening for PBC in patients with coeliac disease using antimitochondrial antibody testing and screening for coeliac disease in patients with PBC with antigliadin antibody testing or duodenal biopsy are recommended.     

Protection of mice against Plasmodium yoelii sporozoite challenge with P. yoelii merozoite surface protein 1 DNA vaccines

Immunization of mice with DNA vaccines encoding the full-length form and C and N termini of Plasmodium yoelii merozoite surface protein 1 provided partial protection against sporozoite challenge and resulted in boosting of antibody titers after challenge. In C57BL/6 mice, two DNA vaccines provided protection comparable to that of recombinant protein consisting of the C terminus in Freund's adjuvant.     

Blocking N-cadherin function disrupts the epithelial structure of differentiating neural tissue in the embryonic chicken brain

The cell adhesion molecule N-cadherin is ubiquitously expressed in the early neuroepithelium, with strongest expression in the ependymal lining. We blocked the function of N-cadherin during early chicken brain development by injecting antibodies against N-cadherin into the tectal ventricle of embryos at 4-5 d of incubation [embryonic day 4 (E4)-E5]. N-cadherin blockage results in massive morphological changes in restricted brain regions. At approximately E6, these changes consist of invaginations of pieces of the ependymal lining and the formation of neuroepithelial rosettes. The rosettes are composed of central fragments of ependymal lining, surrounded by an inner ventricular layer and an outer mantle layer. Radial glia processes are radially arranged around the ependymal centers of the rosettes. The normal layering of the neural tissue is thus preserved, but its coherent epithelial structure is disrupted. The observed morphological changes are restricted to specific brain regions such as the tectum and the dorsal thalamus, whereas the ventral thalamus and the pretectum are almost undisturbed. At E10-E11, analysis of late effects of N-cadherin blockage reveals that in the dorsal thalamus, gray matter is fragmented and disorganized; in the tectum, additional layers have formed at the ventricular surface. Together, these results indicate that N-cadherin function is required for the maintenance of a coherent sheet of neuroepithelium in specific brain regions. Disruption of this sheet results in an abnormal morphogenesis of brain gray matter.     

Ion-exchangeable layered niobates as photocatalysts

Silica pillared-niobates were prepared from a, so called, layered perovskite, KCa₂Nb₃O₁₀, by using alkylammonium ions as swelling reagents.A product with the interlayer spacing expanded by ca. 1.2 nm and the BET surface area of ca. 200 m²/g was obtained when an octylammonium intercalated precursor was used. The photocatalytic activities of these silica pillared-niobates were compared with those of the original KCa₂Nb₃O₁₀ and the proton-exchanged derivative. It was revealed that silica pillared-niobates showed a high and characteristic photocatalytic activity.     

Scaling theory for double-gate SOI MOSFET's

A scaling theory for double-gate SOI MOSFETs, which gives guidance for device design (silicon thickness t_si; gate oxide thickness t_ox) that maintains a subthreshold factor for a given gate length is discussed. According to the theory, a device can be designed with a gate length of less than 0.1 μm while maintaining the ideal subthreshold factor. This is verified numerically with a two-dimensional device simulator     

MR imaging of the uterus: findings from high-resolution multisection dynamic imaging with a surface coil

MR imaging of the female pelvis with a local coil (multiple phased array coils) has been reported. With this method, the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) is improved so that high-resolution images can be obtained. Dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging has been reported to be useful in diagnosing uterine neoplasms. However, dynamic MR imaging is done in only limited imaging planes. When multisection dynamic MR imaging with fast gradient-echo sequences is combined with the use of a local coil, high-resolution images can be obtained throughout the entire uterus during a single breath-hold. This pictorial essay illustrates the appearance of the normal uterus and malignant uterine neoplasms on high-resolution multisection dynamic MR images obtained with a Helmholtz-type surface coil.