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OBJECTIVE: Conventional diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis contains some controversial points. To understand accurately the relationship between clinical stages and the microbiotas, the intravaginal microbial flora was analyzed by the clone library method. STUDY DESIGN: Vaginal fluid samples from 31 patients were examined. Lactobacillary grade, Nugent score, culture-based method, and clone library analysis using the 16SrRNA gene sequencing were performed and were compared with each other. RESULTS: Patients were categorized by Lactobacillary grade as I (normal) (n = 6), II (intermediate) (n = 11), and III (bacterial vaginosis) (n = 14). The clone library analysis detected 36 bacterial genera and 60 species from all 31 samples. A principal component analysis of the microbial proportions revealed a novel classification, which suggested the significance of the relative ratio of Lactobacillus iners, Atopobium vaginae and anaerobes in bacterial vaginosis. CONCLUSION: Clone library analysis in combination with the conventional method provides substantial information for diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pork and beef containing NaCl were stored at 0 °C and changes in 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE) content were analyzed after 0, 3, 7 and 10 days. As an index of the lipid peroxidation level, malonaldehyde (MA) content was also analyzed. In pork, HNE content in samples with 2% NaCl increased (P<0.05) after 7 and 10 days of storage. In beef, HNE content in all samples increased during storage. The HNE content in samples with NaCl was higher than those of the control, after 7 and 10 days of storage, although the difference was not always significant. Judging from MA content, NaCl may act as a pro-oxidant in pork and beef. HNE may accumulate in pork and beef in which lipid peroxidation is progress. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: CD5-positive (CD5+) diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) shows poor prognosis and frequent central nervous system (CNS) relapses under anthracycline-containing chemotherapy. The aim of this study was to determine the prognosis and CNS relapse incidence of CD5+ DLBCL in the rituximab era.Patients and methods: We analyzed 337 patients with CD5+ DLBCL who received chemotherapy with (R-chemotherapy group; n = 184) or without (chemotherapy group; n = 153) rituximab.Results: No significant difference was found in clinical background comparisons between the two groups. In the R-chemotherapy group, 60% of the patients were older than 65 years at diagnosis. Both the complete response rate and overall survival (OS) were significantly better in the R-chemotherapy group (P = 0.0003 and P = 0.002, respectively). Multivariate analysis confirmed that chemotherapy without rituximab was associated with unfavorable OS. However, the probability of CNS relapse did not differ between the two groups (P = 0.89). The CNS relapse was strongly associated with short OS (P < 0.0001). In the R-chemotherapy group, 83% of patients who experienced CNS relapse had parenchymal disease.Conclusions: Our results indicate that rituximab improves the OS of patients with CD5+ DLBCL but does not decrease the CNS relapse rate. More effective treatments with CNS prophylaxis are needed for CD5+ DLBCL patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Influence of impurity Si on microstructure in a plutonium and uranium mixed oxide (MOX), which is used for fast breeder reactor fuel, was investigated, and phase state in 25% SiO2 – (U0.7Pu0.3)O2 was observed as a function of oxygen chemical potential. Compounds composed of Pu and Si with other elements were observed at grain boundaries of the MOX parent phase in the specimens after annealing. These compounds were not observed in the grain interior and the MOX phase was not affected significantly by impurity Si. It was found that the compounds tended to form more observably with decreasing O/M ratio and with increasing annealing temperatures. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The kinetics of the oxidation in hypo-stoichiometric MOX with 30%Pu content was investigated using thermal gravity and differential thermal analysis to evaluate the variation of oxygen-to-metal ratio (O/M) in the fuel fabrication process. In the isothermal oxidation examination, the O/M ratio of the MOX gradually approached 2.00 at temperatures below 200°C. Therefore it was considered that the oxidation reaction below 200°C proceeded by increasing the amount of fcc phase with O/M=2.00. Finally, the oxidation rate of hypo-stoichiometric MOX was evaluated, and the effective oxygen chemical diffusion coefficient was estimated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]