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Background: The saline-induced distal coronary pressure/aortic pressure ratio predicted fractional flow reserve (FFR). The resting full-cycle ratio (RFR) represents the maximal relative pressure difference in a cardiac cycle. Therefore, the present study aimed to compare the results of saline-induced RFR (sRFR) with FFR., Methods: Seventy consecutive lesions with only moderate stenosis were included. The FFR, RFR, and sRFR values were compared. The sRFR was assessed using an intracoronary bolus infusion of saline (2  mL/s) for five heartbeats. The FFR was obtained after an intravenous injection of papaverine., Results: Overall, the FFR, sRFR, and RFR values were 0.78 ± 0.12, 0.79 ± 0.13, and 0.83 ± 0.14, respectively. With regard to anatomical morphology were 40, 18, and 12 cases of focal, diffuse, and tandem lesion. There was a significant correlation between the sRFR and FFR ( R  = 0.96, p < 0.01). There were also significant correlations between the sRFR and FFR in the left coronary and right coronary artery ( R  = 0.95, p < 0.01 and R  = 0.98, p < 0.01). Furthermore, significant correlations between sRFR and FFR were observed in not only focal but also in nonfocal lesion including tandem and diffuse lesions ( R  = 0.93, p < 0.01 and R  = 0.97, p < 0.01). A close agreement on FFR and sRFR was shown using the Bland-Altman analysis (95% CI of agreement: -0.08-0.07). In the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the cutoff value of sRFR to predict an FFR of 0.80 was 0.81 (area under curve, 0.97; sensitivity 90.6%; and specificity 98.2%)., Conclusion: The sRFR can accurately and safely predict the FFR and might be effective for diagnosing ischemia., Competing Interests: All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Takao Sato et al.)

Objective: Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute vasculitis of childhood, predominantly affecting the coronary arteries. S100A12, a granulocyte-derived agonist of both the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) and Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4), is strongly up-regulated in KD. This study was undertaken to investigate the potential contributions of S100A12 to the pathogenesis of KD., Methods: Serum samples from patients with KD (n = 30) at different stages pre- and post-intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment were analyzed for the expression of S100A12, cytokines, chemokines, and soluble markers of endothelial cell activation. Primary human coronary artery endothelial cells (HCAECs) were analyzed for responsiveness to direct stimulation with S100A12 or lipopolysaccharide (LPS), as assessed by real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis of cytokine and endothelial cell adhesion molecule messenger RNA expression. Alternatively, HCAECs were cultured in conditioned medium obtained from primary human monocytes that were stimulated with LPS or S100A12 in the absence or presence of IVIG or cytokine antagonists., Results: In the serum of patients with KD, pretreatment S100A12 levels were associated with soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 titers in the course of IVIG therapy (r s = -0.6, P = 0.0003). Yet, HCAECs were not responsive to direct S100A12 stimulation, despite the presence of appropriate receptors (RAGE, TLR-4). HCAECs did, however, respond to supernatants obtained from S100A12-stimulated primary human monocytes, as evidenced by the gene expression of inflammatory cytokines and adhesion molecules. This response was strictly dependent on interleukin-1β (IL-1β) signaling (P < 0.001)., Conclusion: In its role as a highly expressed mediator of sterile inflammation in KD, S100A12 appears to activate HCAECs in an IL-1β-dependent manner. These data provide new mechanistic insights into the contributions of S100A12 and IL-1β to disease pathogenesis, and may therefore support current IL-1-targeting studies in the treatment of patients with KD., (© 2018, American College of Rheumatology.)

Backgrounds: New-generation bioresorbable polymer-everolimus eluting stents (BP-EES) are available. This study aimed to compare the clinical outcomes for BP-EES compared to more established stent designs, namely the platinum chromium-EES (PtCr-EES) and cobalt chrome-EES(CoCr-EES) in patients with the end-stage chronic kidney disease (CKD) including hemodialysis (HD)., Methods: One-hundred-forty-one consecutive stents (BP-EES [n = 44], PtCr-EES [n = 45], and CoCr-EES [n = 52]) were implanted in 104 patients with CKD. All patients underwent a follow-up coronary angiography at 12 months after implantation. End-stage CKD was defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <30 mL/min/1.73 m 2 , or the need for HD. The following outcome variables were compared among the three stent groups after implantation and the 12-month follow-up: target lesion revascularization (TLR), stent thrombosis (ST), and major adverse cardiac event (MACE). Minimal stent diameter (MSD) and %diameter-stenosis (%DS) were measured using quantitative coronary angiography., Results: The overall rate of TLR and MACE was 14.6% and 30.8%, respectively, with no incidence of ST. Immediately after implantation, the MSD (P = 0.22) and %DS (P = 0.42) were equivalent among the three groups. However, at the 12-month follow-up, a tendency towards higher TLR was observed for the BP-EES group (22.7%) compared with the PtCr-EES (8.8%) and CoCr-EES (9.6%) groups (P = 0.07). Late loss in lumen diameter was also significantly greater for the BP-EES (0.51 ± 0.64 mm) group than either the PtCr-EES (0.20 ± 0.61 mm) and CoCr-EES (0.25 ± 0.70 mm) groups (P = 0.03)., Conclusions: BP-EES might increase the risk of in-stent restenosis in patients with end-stage of CKD or the need for HD., (© 2017, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Polypterus senegalus Cuvier, 1829 is one of the most basal living actinopterygian fish and a member of the Actinopterygii. We analyzed the spatial and temporal pattern of cranial muscle development of P. senegalus using whole-mount immunostaining and serial sectioning. We described the detailed structure of the external gill muscles which divided into dorsal and ventral parts after yolk exhaustion. The pattern of the division is similar to that of urodeles. We suggest that, the external gill muscles of P. senegalus are involved in spreading and folding of the external gill stem and the branches. The fibers of the external gill muscles appear postero-lateral to the auditory capsule. In addition, the facial nerve passes through the external gills. Therefore, the external gill muscles are probably derived from the m. constrictor hyoideus dorsalis. In contrast to previous studies, we described the mm. interhyoideus and hyohyoideus fibers as independent components in the yolk-sac larvae. The m. hyohyoideus fibers appear lateral to the edge of the ventral portion of the external gill muscles, which are probably derived from the m. constrictor hyoideus dorsalis. These findings suggest that the m. hyohyoidues is derived from the m. constrictor hyoideus dorsalis in P. senegalus. In other actinopterygians, the m. hyohyoideus is derived from the m. constrictor hyoideus ventralis; therefore, the homology of the m. hyohyoidues of P. senegalus and other actinopterygians remains unclear. J. Morphol. 278:450-463, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., (© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Heart development has long served as a model system of left-right asymmetrical morphogenesis, and many key laterality genes have been shown to be involved in the process of asymmetrical heart looping. We established a time-lapse imaging system to observe the process of C-looping during chick heart development, and our observations showed that the C-looping is a very complicated process that involves several local changes in shape: the process can be divided into dextral rotation of the rostral and caudal segments with ventral bending in the rostral part and horizontal anti-clockwise rotation with enlargement of the left part in the caudal segment. Further experimental manipulations revealed characteristics of these morphological changes and regional interactions for the events, and we propose that asymmetrical enlargement of the caudal part is one of the targets of the laterality genes in the C-looping process., ((c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

L(+)-Lactic acid production was enhanced in the culture of Rhizopus oryzae using mycelial flocs formed by addition of 3 g/L mineral support and 5 ppm polyethylene oxide. By addition of the mineral support, an electrostatic repulsion between mycelia increased by 3.5-fold compared to that of mycelia, which allowed a dispersed growth of R. oryzae in the early growth phase. In conventional culture the morphology of R. oryzae is that of a pellet-like cake, however, when support and polyethylene oxide are added to the culture, the morphology of R. oryzae takes on a cotton-like appearance. The formation of these cotton-like mycelial flocs was induced by the addition of 5 ppm polyethylene oxide into a 14 h culture containing the mineral support before the formation of the conventional pellet morphology. The cotton-like flocs were also formed in cultures grown in a fermentor. This morphology allowed effective mass transfer inside the flocs and effective fluidity of culture broth in the reactor. L(+)-Lactic acid concentration produced by mycelial flocs in fermentor, with the support and polyethylene oxide, was 103.6 g/L with the yield of 0.86 using 120 g/L of glucose as the substrate for this cultures without both, the concentration was 65.2 g/L. It demonstrates that cotton-like mycelial flocs are the optimal morphology in the culture of R. oryzae.

A mineral support was used for cephamycin C production in a culture using soybean oil as the sole carbon source. When the support was added into an oil-water system, the soybean oil was emulsified as fine oil droplets, which was observed by a photomicroscope. Mycelia were also twined around the support, which was observed by a scanning electron microscope. That caused the formation of an oil-mycelia complex on or around the support, which provided a larger specific surface area of oil. When 15 g/L of the support was used in a batch culture of Streptomyces sp. P6621 with 50 g/L of soybean oil, the maximum cephamycin C concentration was 2.8 g/L, which was 2.2 times higher than that without the support. This indicates that the mineral support is useful for the culture system using vegetable oil as a carbon source. (c) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The Drosophila argos gene encodes a secreted protein with an epidermal growth factor (EGF) motif, which acts as an inhibitor of cell recruitment in the developing eye and wing. Here, we have analyzed the role of argos during optic lobe development. argos expression was observed in the optic lobes throughout the developmental stages. In argos mutants, neuropiles failed to develop normally during embryonic and larval stages, and photoreceptor axons did not project properly into the lamina. Ubiquitous expression of argos, under control of the hsp70 promoter, rescued the defects in optic lobes. We have found that glial cells failed to differentiate in the larval optic lobes of argos mutants. Correspondingly, in loss-of-function repo mutants, whose glial cells also fail to differentiate, photoreceptor axons showed the impaired projection pattern similar to the argos phenotype. These results suggest that glial cells play a role for guidance of photoreceptor axons. The loss-of-function Star mutation (StarX155) dominantly suppressed the defects in the argos optic lobes, suggesting that these two genes act in an antagonistic fashion during optic lobe development.

Fed-batch culture with controlled L-amino acid composition was performed to improve production of a recombinant gene product in Bacillus brevis. The maximum recombinant protein (alpha-amylase) level and specific activity increased from 5.14 kU/mL and 0.77 kU/mg dry cell in conventional fed-batch culture to 12.01 kU/mL and 2.64 kU/mg dry cell, respectively, when L-amino acid concentration was controlled at 5 mM using an asparagine (Asn)- and isoleucine (Ile)-enriched nitrogen source. The L-amino acid concentration in the culture was monitored by an automatic biotech analyzer and controlled at 2-20 mM using a mixture of polypeptone and yeast extract. Although L-amino acid concentrations were controlled at low levels, the alpha-amylase activity increased only 1.3 times compared to an uncontrolled batch culture; accumulation of ammonium ion was not reduced. When L-amino acid was controlled at the high level, more cell mass and less recombinant gene product were produced than in those with low control level. To overcome ammonium ion inhibition, the specific amino acids Asn and Ile were substituted to improve the production of gene product. Addition of these amino acids to a flask culture led to an improvement in the enzyme production level and specific activity to 2.9 and 5.1 times, respectively, as high as that without them. Both the control of amino acids at low concentrations and the enrichment of Asn and Ile were effective for the improvement of recombinant protein production from recombinant B. brevis cells.