A surgical case of liposarcoma in the chest wall within the thoracic cavity of a young patient

A 21-year-old man presented to our hospital on June 7, 1990, asymptomatic but with an abnormal shadow in his chest roentgenogram. A well-demarcated tumorous shadow was seen in the left hilum of the lung in the frontal view of the chest X-ray, and adjacent to the posterior chest wall in the lateral view. A percutaneous needle biopsy was performed, and since there were no malignant findings, the tumor was left untreated for future examinations. However, since the tumor was observed to be enlarging gradually in subsequent chest X-rays, it was resected surgically on June 18, 1991. The tumor was fist-sized and its surface smooth, and was protruding into the thoracic cavity. At surgery, the tumor was separated from the chest wall. The tumor, weighing 170 grams, was diagnosed pathologically as a liposarcoma (myxoid type). It was confirmed that there was no infiltration into the surrounding tissue and that total resection had been performed. There are few reports of liposarcomas within the thoracic cavity developing in the extra-mediastinal chest wall. As our case is the second in Japan occurring in a young patient, we present it here together with a review of the literature.     

A novel strategy of cell targeting based on tissue-specific expression of the ecotropic retrovirus receptor gene

Gene transfer into specific tissues or cell types is a key technique in the development of gene therapy. Modification of vector particles such that they selectively bind to the target cells has been attempted, but the limitation of this approach is the low transduction efficiency. Here, we show that a two-step gene transfer system can be used for efficient cell targeting. With this strategy, and using a high-titer adenoviral vector containing a tissue-specific promoter, we have engineered a system in which only target cells become susceptible to retrovirus-mediated transduction. In a model experiment, we constructed an adenoviral vector (Ad.AFPEcoRec) containing the ecotropic retrovirus receptor (EcoRec) gene under the control of the alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) promoter. A binding assay showed that after transduction with AD.AFPEcoRec, EcoRec molecules were efficiently expressed in AFP+HepG2 cells, but not in AFP-HeLa and AFP-HLE cells. The EcoRec-expressing HepG2 cells could be stably transduced with ecotropic retroviral vectors, whereas HeLa and HLE cells remained highly resistant to retrovirus-mediated gene transfer. The apparent titer on HepG2 cells was greater than 2 x 10(5) CFU/ml. Because various tissue-specific promoter/enhancer elements are available, the two-step system could be used as a general strategy for both ex vivo and in vivo targeted gene transfer.     

Thin-film transistors based on liquid-crystalline tetrafluorophenylter thiophene derivatives: thin-film structure and carrier transport

The authors fabricated thin films by solution processes using liquid-crystalline (LC) semiconductors, 5-alkyl-5’’-(4-hexyltetrafluorophenyl)-2,2’:5’,2’’-terthiophene (2–5). Films of 5-propyl-5’’-(4-hexyltetrafluorophenyl)-2,2’:5’,2’’-terthiophene (2) show similar molecular packing as their non-fluorinated counterparts. However, the degree of molecular packing ordering from X-ray diffraction measurement is higher, and the films exhibit a more crystal-like structure. Moreover, fluorination has a remarkable effect on their mesomorphic behaviors. Films of 2 consist of large size LC domains (in the range of 100 μm) at room temperature. Thin-film transistors (TFTs) of 2 show p-type operation with good hole mobility up to 0.027 cm²/Vs as well as improved operation stability under ambient conditions and high on/off ratio. Tetrafluorophenyl substitution leads to lowering of HOMO energy by 0.15 eV for 2 and 0.35 eV for 5, resulting in operation stability. Variable-temperature current-voltage measurements indicate intrinsic carrier transport in films of 2.     

Synthesis,Liquid‐Crystalline Properties,and Photo‐optical Studies of Photoresponsive Oligomeric Mesogens as Dopants in a Chiral Glassy Liquid Crystal

We have prepared photoresponsive oligomers that have molecular weights of ca. 4500, 8000, and 16 000 g mol^–1 via the free‐radical polymerization of 4‐[4‐alkylphenylazo]phenoxyalkyl acrylates. All of the oligomers possess bilayer smectic A (SmA) and smectic B (SmB) phases. Increasing the concentration of these oligomeric dopants in a glass‐forming cholesteric liquid crystal causes a dramatic red‐shift in the reflection wavelength. The pitch shifts are very dependent on the alkyl chain lengths and molecular weights of the dopants. The oligomer that contains octyl chains and an octyl spacer, and that has a molecular weight of 4500 g mol^–1 exhibits the largest shift in the reflection wavelength. UV exposure has been used to control the cholesteric reflection pitch of the oligomer‐cholesteric glassy liquid‐crystal mixture over the entire visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum and vitrifies the samples by rapid cooling from their cholesteric temperatures to 0 °C. Extremely stable, even at 70 °C, erasable, full‐color images have been created using this host–guest mixture.     

Cover Picture: Assembly and Photoinduced Organization of Mono‐ and Oligopeptide Molecules Containing an Azobenzene Moiety (Adv. Funct. Mater. 9/2007)

An illustration of the phototriggered organization and dispersion of tri‐peptide‐substituted azobenzene derivatives, as reported on p. 1507 by Yoko Matsuzawa and co‐workers. The tri‐peptide units form a beta‐sheet structure through hydrogen bonding to assemble a fibrous network system. Cis–trans photoisomerization of the azobenzene moiety leads to a large polarity change of the component molecule to break and re‐form hydrogen bonds between the tri‐peptide units. Assembled systems consisting of an azobenzene moiety as the photofunctional component and valyl units as the network backbone are investigated. The molecular ordering of these assemblies is examined by spectroscopy and theoretical calculations. The number of valyl units greatly influences the molecular order in the organized systems. Only N‐(L ‐valyl‐L ‐valyl‐L ‐valyl)azobenzene‐4‐carboxamide ( 3 ) forms a complete β‐sheet structure in this artificial assembly. Upon photoirradiation, the azobenzene moieties isomerize completely, revealing the reversibility in the structural organization through the flexibility of the β‐sheet network in this system.     

New proposal of reactivity coefficient estimation method using a gray-box model in nuclear power plants

A new method for estimating reactivity parameters, such as moderator temperature coefficient (MTC) and void reactivity coefficient (VRC), is proposed using steady-state noise data. In order to solve the ill-posed problem of reactivity parameter estimation, a concept of a gray box model is newly introduced. The gray box model includes a first principle based model and a black-box fitting model. The former model acts as a priori knowledge based constraints in a parameter estimation problem. After establishing the gray box and noise source models, the maximum likelihood estimation method based on Kalman filter is applied. Furthermore, it is shown that the frequency domain approach of the gray box model is useful in the case of VRC estimation. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithms is shown through numerical simulation and actual plant data analysis.     

Relaxation of canine pulmonary arteries caused by stimulation of atypical beta-adrenergic receptors

BACKGROUND: Although in some cases delayed hypersensitivity may be observed, beta-lactam antibiotics frequently induce immediate allergic IgE-mediated reactions with the specificity localized in the acyl-side chain structure. Generally, delayed immunologic reactions are related to sensitized T lymphocytes and major histocompatibility complex restricted. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence of HLA class I and II antigens in patients with delayed hypersensitivity to aminopenicillins in order to evaluate a relationship between major histocompatibility complex immune response genes and aminopenicillins hypersensitivity. METHODS: We assessed 24 patients with history of delayed hypersensitivity to aminopenicillins using (1) skin test with penicilloyl polylysine, minor determinant mixture, benzylpenicillin, amoxicillin, and ampicillin; (2) patch tests with benzylpenicillin, amoxicillin, and ampicillin; (3) RAST for penicilloyls G and V; and (4) oral challenges with amoxicillin, ampicillin, and penicillin V in 18/24 patients. All patients were typed by microlymphotoxicity standard test for HLA class I and II antigens. Statistical analysis by chi2 test 2 x 2 contingency tables, according to Svejgaard, were used for comparison between patients and random Italian population (522 subjects). RESULTS: In the patients group we found higher prevalence of HLA A2 (12/24 = 50%, RR = 6.76 P < .001, EF = 0.425), DRw52 (20/24 = 83.3%, RR = 9.28, P < .001, EF = 0.74), and lower frequency of DR4 (3/24 = 12% ns). CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that the immune mechanisms involved in adverse reactions to aminopenicillins in vivo are related to genetic markers of immune response and confirms that the presentation of penicillin-hapten determinants to lymphocyte is major histocompatibility complex restricted.     

Regulation of adrenergic nerve-mediated contraction of canine pulmonary artery by K+ channels

The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of certain subtypes of K+ channels in nerve-evoked contractions of pulmonary artery in vitro. The lobar or segmental pulmonary arteries were dissected from dogs, cut into ring segments, and the contractile responses to electrical field stimulation (EFS) and noradrenaline were measured under isometric conditions. Addition of iberiotoxin, a big conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channel blocker, and apamin, a small conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channel blocker, did not change the resting tension but augmented the contractile responses to EFS, so that the electric stimulus frequency required to produce a half-maximal contraction (ES50) was decreased from 18.2+/-3.5 to 7.4+/-2.3 Hz (p<0.01) and from 16.8+/-2.2 to 11.4+/-2.0 Hz (p<0.05), respectively, whereas glibenclamide, an adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-sensitive K+ channel blocker, had no effect. In contrast, none of the K+ channel blockers altered the contractile response to noradrenaline. Incubation of tissues with iberiotoxin and apamin increased the release of 3H-noradrenaline evoked by EFS. We conclude that big conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels and small conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels may play a role in the regulation of adrenergic neurotransmission in the pulmonary artery, probably by inhibiting the exocytotic release of noradrenaline from the adrenergic nerve terminals.     

Optimal alignments of biological sequences on a microcomputer

An algorithm and a program have been developed which enable optimal alignments of biological sequences on an 8-bit microcomputer. The compiled program can process sequences up to 1000 residues on a Commodore 64. Since this program was written originally in the BASIC language, it may readily be adapted to other microcomputers with small changes.