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The generation of rotational twins in the growth of GaAs and GaSb on Ge(111) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy has been characterized by X-ray diffraction. Rotational twins are shown to be less generated in GaSb than in GaAs. It has been demonstrated that the generation of rotational twins in GaAs can be suppressed by inserting GaSb as a buffer layer. It has also been demonstrated that the use of the As 2 beam and vicinal surfaces is effective for suppressing twin generation in GaAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Previous studies showed that 5 μg of ramosetron, a serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine: 5- HT)-3 receptor antagonist, is only effective in male patients with irritable bowel syndrome ( IBS) with diarrhea ( IBS-D). We hypothesized that either dose 1.25, 2.5, or 5 μg of ramosetron would be effective in female patients with IBS-D. Methods This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase II dose-finding exploratory trial included 409 female outpatients with IBS-D treated in Japan. They were administered oral placebo ( n=102), or 1.25 μg ( n=104), 2.5 μg ( n=104), or 5 μg ( n=99) of ramosetron once daily for 12 weeks after a 1-week baseline period. The primary endpoint was monthly responder rates of global improvement of IBS symptoms in the first month. Secondary endpoints included global improvement in the other months, abdominal pain/discomfort, weekly mean changes in the Bristol Stool Form Scale ( BSFS), and IBS- QOL. Key Results Middle dose (2.5 μg) of ramosetron significantly improved abdominal pain/discomfort at second month (62.5%, P=.002), third month (60.6%, P=.005), and the last evaluation point (63.5%, P=.002) and weekly BSFS ( P<.05) except at Week 8, 11, and 12 than placebo. IBS- QOL did not change. Ramosetron induced more constipation than placebo. Conclusions & Inferences The trial suggested that 2.5 μg of ramosetron is the most effective and least harmful option for treating female patients with IBS-D (Clinicaltrials.gov ID: NCT01274000). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Cell therapy is thought to have a central role in restorative therapy, which aims to restore function to the damaged nervous system. The purpose of this study was to establish an autologous neural stem cell (NSC) transplantation model using adult rats and to compare survival, migration, and differentiation between this system and allogeneic NSC transplantation. Furthermore, we compared the immunologic response of the host tissue between autologous and allogeneic transplantation. NSCs were removed from the subventricular zone of adult Fischer 344 rats using stereotactic methods. NSCs were expanded and microinjected into normal hippocampus in the autologous brain. Allogeneic NSC (derived from adult Wistar rats) transplantation was performed using the same procedure, and hippocampal sections were analyzed immunohistologically 3 weeks post-transplantation. The cell survival and migration rate were higher for autologous transplantation than for allogeneic transplantation, and the neuronal differentiation rate in the autologous transplanted cells far exceeded that of allogeneic transplantation. Furthermore, there was less astrocyte and microglia reactivity in the host tissue of the autologous transplantation compared with allogeneic transplantation. These findings demonstrate that immunoreactivity of the host tissue strongly influences cell transplantation in the CNS as the autologous transplantation did not induce host tissue immunoreactivity; the microenvironment was essentially maintained in an optimal condition for the transplanted cells. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Recently, there have been reports of postnatal vasculogenesis in cases of ischaemia models. The aim of the present study is to provide evidence of postnatal vasculogenesis in breast-cancer-bearing mice. Based on cell surface antigen expression, we isolated endothelial precursor cells from bone marrow, peripheral blood and tumour-infiltrating cells from mice that had received six human breast cancer xenografts. In all three areas (bone marrow, peripheral blood and tumour-infiltrating cells), endothelial precursor cell population was elevated in all transplanted mice. Differentiation and migration activities of endothelial precursor cells were measured by comparing levels of the endothelial precursor cell maturation markers Flk-1, Flt-1, Tie2, VE-cadherin and CD31 among these three areas. The endothelial precursor cell population was 14% or greater in the gated lymphocyte-size fraction of the inflammatory breast cancer xenograft named WIBC-9, which exhibits a hypervascular structure and de novo formation of vascular channels, namely vasculogenic mimicry (Shirakawa et al, 2001). In vitro, bone marrow-derived endothelial precursor cells from four human breast cancer xenografts proliferated and formed multiple clusters of spindle-shaped attaching cells on a vitronectin-coated dish. The attaching cells, which incorporated DiI-labelled acetylated low-density lipoprotein (DiI-acLDL) and were negative for Mac-1. The putative bone marrow derived endothelial precursor cell subset, which was double positive of CD34 and Flk-1, and comparative bone marrow derived CD34 positive with Flk-1 negative subset were cultured. The former subset incorporated DiI-acLDL and were integrated with HUVECs. Furthermore, they demonstrated significantly higher levels of murine vascular endothelial growth factor and interleukin-8 in culture supernatant on time course by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. These findings constitute direct evidence that breast cancer induces postnatal vasculogenesis in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]