Leukemia developing after 131I treatment for thyroid cancer in a patient with Werner's syndrome: molecular and cytogenetic studies

A 40-year-old female patient with Werner's syndrome (WS) suffering from thyroid cancer and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is reported. She had been diagnosed as having WS complicated with thyroid cancer seven years previously. Total thyroidectomy and radioactive iodine (131I, 100 mCi/year) therapy for seven years had slowed the progression of thyroid cancer. She suffered a sudden onset of MDS at the age of 40 years. After six months she died from overt leukemia. We found an additional chromosome aberration of chromosome 10 in the progression of leukemia from MDS.     

CoCl(2) inhibits neural differentiation of retinoic acid-treated embryoid bodies

The effects of CoCl(2) on retinoic acid (RA)-treated embryoid bodies (EBs) were investigated. Four-day EBs were treated with 5x10(-6) M of RA for 4 d, then subjected to attached culturing for 7 d in the presence of CoCl(2) at 0, 20, and 100 microM. Differentiation into MAP2- and GFAP-immunopositive cells was inhibited by CoCl(2) in a dose-dependent manner. Next, RA-treated EBs were dissociated into single cells and cultured for 7 d at an initial cell density of 1x10(3)/cm(2). The number of cells increased in a CoCl(2)-dose dependent fashion. In cultures with 100 microM of CoCl(2), more than 90% of the cells were immunopositive for nestin and nestin-immunopositive cells formed clusters, while there were few cells immunopositive for MAP2 or GFAP. These results suggest that CoCl(2) inhibits neural differentiation of RA-treated EB cells and promotes the proliferation of nestin-immunopositive cells, i.e., embryonic stem (ES)-derived neural stem-like cells.     

Fully analytical solution to discrete behavior of hybrid zero dynamics in limit cycle walking with constraint on impact posture

This paper proposes a fully analytical solution to the discrete behavior of hybrid zero dynamics (HZD) in limit cycle walking with constraint on impact posture. First, we introduce a passive rimless wheel and explain the stability principle through derivations of the analytical transition functions of the state error for the stance and collision phases. Second, we consider an active rimless wheel driven by a steady control input for investigating the stability of semi-passive dynamic walking, and propose a method for analytically deriving the transition function for the stance phase without including unknown parameters. We then numerically investigate the solution accuracy and discuss how the discrete behavior of the HZD changes according to the control parameters. Furthermore, we extend the analysis to level walking of an underactuated rimless wheel with a torso and show that the discrete behavior of the HZD can be determined in the same manner.     

Efficiency analysis of telescopic-legged bipedal robots

This paper investigates the stability of underactuated bipedal walking incorporating telescopic-leg actuation. In human walking, knee joints of swing and support legs are bent and stretched. The telescopic legs mimic the motion of the center of mass of human legs via their telescopic motion during the stance phase. First, underactuated telescopic-legged biped robot models are introduced. Second, an output-following control law is applied to the linearized equation of motion of the robot, and the controlled robot’s equation is then specified as a linear time-varying system. The error transition equation is developed to evaluate the stability during the stance phase. Numerical calculations are performed to show the influences of leg telescopic motion on the stability.     

Online concentration and affinity separation of biomolecules using multifunctional particles in capillary electrophoresis under magnetic field

To overcome several problems in affinity capillary electrophoresis (ACE), i.e., low detectability, need for sample derivatization, and difficulty in the fixation of affinity ligands (ALs), multifunctional magnetic particles (MFMPs) were prepared by immobilizing both fluorescent molecules and ALs for low-density lipoproteins onto the surface of magnetic polymer microspheres with a polyelectrolyte multilayer coating technique and applied to the ACE analysis. The prepared MFMPs showed a remarkable change in the electrophoretic mobility (mu ep) by the addition of low-density lipoproteins (LDL), whereas for high-density lipoproteins (HDL), mu ep of the MFMPs kept constant, so that it was confirmed that the MFMPs possess an affinity with LDL. On the other hand, the MFMPs can be trapped by the magnetic field even under a higher electric field for electrophoresis. By a successive on-off control of the magnetic field, online preconcentration of the LDL bound MFMPs and the selective separation of LDL from HDL were successfully achieved. In the ACE analysis of LDL employing UV detection, an 82-fold increase in the sensitivity was obtained by the on-capillary sample preconcentration using the MFMPs. When laser induced-fluorescence detection was employed, furthermore, the limit of detection for LDL was improved to the order of subpicomolar.     

Analysis of Indian urban policies to identify their potential of achieving inclusive urban growth

India’s approach to development has always been a combination of ‘pro-poor growth’ strategies. In spite of that, majority urban population has remained deprived from basic necessity of human life. In an effort to overhaul this stagnation, the country has consciously shifted its development ideology to inclusive growth in 11th Five-Year Plan 2007. Although the plan did not define inclusive growth, but initiates a debate on the significance of inclusive growth with earlier policy approaches. Initiating a policy argument, this paper records an overview of Indian policy approaches up to year 2014 and analyses its possibilities of achieving inclusive urban growth.     

Production of high-purity medical radio isotope 64Cu with accelerator-based neutrons generated with 9 and 12 MeV deuterons

We conducted a feasibility study for producing a high-purity medical radioisotope ⁶⁴Cu from natural zinc with accelerator-based neutrons. ⁶⁴Cu isotopes were produced via the ⁶⁴Zn(n,p) reaction. The accelerator-based neutrons were generated via the C(d,n) reaction using low-energy deuterons of 9 and 12 MeV on a 1-mm-thick carbon target. First, the production purity was estimated using the evaluated nuclear data library JENDL-4.0 and our previously measured thick target neutron yield. We found that even when natural zinc was used as the starting material, significantly high-purity ⁶⁴Cu could be obtained. Next, irradiation experiments for producing ⁶⁴Cu using natural zinc were conducted at Kyushu University Tandem Laboratory, with the amounts of ⁶⁴Cu isotopes and other gamma-emission nuclides measured by a high-purity germanium detector. As a result, high-purity ⁶⁴Cu isotopes of 1.11(49) × 10⁰ and 3.70 (17) × 10⁰ Bq/g/μC were produced with incident deuteron energies of 9 and 12 MeV, respectively.     

Preparation and Characterization of Highly Fluorescent, Glutathione-coated Near Infrared Quantum Dots for in Vivo Fluorescence Imaging

Fluorescent probes that emit in the near-infrared (NIR, 700–1,300 nm) region are suitable as optical contrast agents for in vivo fluorescence imaging because of low scattering and absorption of the NIR light in tissues. Recently, NIR quantum dots (QDs) have become a new class of fluorescent materials that can be used for in vivo imaging. Compared with traditional organic fluorescent dyes, QDs have several unique advantages such as size- and composition-tunable emission, high brightness, narrow emission bands, large Stokes shifts, and high resistance to photobleaching. In this paper, we report a facile method for the preparation of highly fluorescent, water-soluble glutathione (GSH)-coated NIR QDs for in vivo imaging. GSH-coated NIR QDs (GSH-QDs) were prepared by surface modification of hydrophobic CdSeTe/CdS (core/shell) QDs. The hydrophobic surface of the CdSeTe/CdS QDs was exchanged with GSH in tetrahydrofuran-water. The resulting GSH-QDs were monodisperse particles and stable in PBS (phosphate buffered saline, pH = 7.4). The GSH-QDs (800 nm emission) were highly fluorescent in aqueous solutions (quantum yield = 22% in PBS buffer), and their hydrodynamic diameter was less than 10 nm, which is comparable to the size of proteins. The cellular uptake and viability for the GSH-QDs were examined using HeLa and HEK 293 cells. When the cells were incubated with aqueous solutions of the GSH-QDs (10 nM), the QDs were taken into the cells and distributed in the perinuclear region of both cells. After 12 hrs incubation of 4 nM of GSH-QDs, the viabilities of HeLa and HEK 293 cells were ca. 80 and 50%, respectively. As a biomedical utility of the GSH-QDs, in vivo NIR-fluorescence imaging of a lymph node in a mouse is presented.