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Submarine Groundwater Discharge (SGD), as a way through which solutes and nutrients travel from terrestrial areas towards coastal areas, is part of the hydrological cycle. Various methods are used to locate SGD at different scales. Among them, 222Rn has been developed with the viewpoint of accurate local estimations of SGD points indirectly. This research aims to identify SGD areas in the Yatsushiro Sea, southwest Japan, using the 222Rn method, while considering rivers with high 222Rn concentration in the study area. The area is an inland sea with high tidal fluctuations and there is a large contribution between the sea and groundwater, which are greatly affected by rivers. A multi-detector 222Rn survey has been carried out simultaneously with sea water electrical conductivity (EC) and temperature. In addition, several river grab samples were analysed for 222Rn concentration. Considering the sea water radon distribution and river characteristics, several points were selected for future SGD volume estimations.

A chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay evaluates the blood vessel reaction and damage to the CAM of a fertilized hen's egg. Two types of CAM assays, the hen's egg test–chorioallantoic membrane (HET–CAM) method and the chorioallantoic membrane–trypan blue staining (CAM–TB) method, were evaluated as alternative methods to the Draize eye irritation test (Draize test). The validation project was composed of three test phases in which 10, 15 and 14 test chemicals, respectively, were evaluated. The test procedure of the five independent laboratories was controlled under the same standard operating procedure (SOP). The interlaboratory variation was relatively high for both methods. However, the rank correlation was relatively high among the values obtained by the five laboratories. The variation associated with the CAM–TB method was smaller than that of the HET–CAM method, which requires macroscopic observation, suggesting that the objectivity and quantitativeness differs between the assay systems. The average values using these two methods were compared with the maximum average Draize total score (MAS). The correlation coefficient (r) between the HET–CAM scores and the MAS was 0.688. This suggests that a simple linear regression may not be appropriate for HET–CAM. However, the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (rs) was relatively high (rs=0.802). In contrast, the CAM–TB test results showed a good correlation with the MAS when the test chemicals were classified according to their physical properties (r=0.801, liquid and r=0.926, powder). These results suggest that both the HET–CAM and CAM–TB methods may present alternative method of evaluation of eye irritation despite problems of interlaboratory reproducibility.

1. A fever-induced model in rat was created by repeated injection of interleukin 1 beta (IL-1 beta) in the cerebroventricle and the influence of fever on hepatic drug metabolism was investigated. Fever apparently decreased the content of cytochrome P450 (CYP) and the activities of NADPH-ferrihaemoprotein reductase (fp2), aminopyrine N-demethylase, aniline hydroxylase, FAD-monooxygenase, p-nitrophenol UDP-glucuronosyl-transferase and glutathione S-transferase. Immunoblot analysis of the CYP isozymes indicated that CYP2C11 and CYP3A were extensively decreased in the IL-1 beta-induced fevered rat. 2. Repeated administration (5 days) of mefenamic acid in the fevered rat could not restore the activities of fp2, aminopyrine N-demethylase and aniline hydroxylase to control levels, although their hyperthermic state had been improved. The CYP content in the mefenamic acid-treated fevered rat was also lower than that in the control. 3. These findings suggest that fever impairs the hepatic drug-metabolizing capacity (both oxidation and some conjugations) and that the fever-induced impairments are partially retained, even if the hyperthermia has been offset by the administration of antipyretics.

Age dependence of tritium gas (HT) oxidation in rats was investigated in in vitro experiments using faecal suspensions and intestinal contents from rats. HT oxidation was determined as the fixation of HT in faeces or intestinal contents suspended with GAM medium at 30°C under anaerobic and aerobic conditions. The HT oxidation rate in faecal suspension under anaerobic conditions was almost constant irrespective of age and about 10 times that under aerobic conditions in 10 to 100 week old rats. The viable cell number of anaerobic microbes in faeces was 3-4 times that of aerobic microbes (facultative anaerobes) and tended to decrease with age in each case

Hairy root cultures (HRCs), induced by Agrobacterium rhizogenes infection, have been established from a wide variety of plant species. HRCs accumulate phytochemicals to levels comparable to that of intact plants and are usually stable in their biosynthetic capacity. When optimized for liquid cultures, hairy roots can be grown in industrial-scale bioreactors providing a convenient, abundant and sustainable source of phytochemicals. Due to their ease of propagation and growth in confined environments, HRCs have also been used in recent years in the synthesis of recombinant therapeutic proteins, especially those that have been challenging to express in bacteria, yeast and mammalian expression systems. Although phytochemicals are recognized for their important roles in plant and human health, large gaps still exist in understanding how phytochemicals (in particular, secondary/specialized metabolites) are synthesized in plants. This review presents recent developments and findings in phytochemical and recombinant protein production, as well as new revelations in gene discovery and biochemical pathway elucidation, by the utilization of HRCs. Although many challenges still exist for industrial applications of HRCs, the immediate future of this diverse system, especially for the bench-side scientists, is still found to be promising and abounding in possibilities.

A mixed glioma and sarcoma in a 3-month-old infant is presented as a rare case of gliosarcoma with a good response to treatment. This congenital case is quite different from those in adults: the tumor cells were mainly composed of sarcomatous elements; glial components were not anaplastic without obvious endothelial hyperplasia, but presented as reticulin-free islands, mimicking a reactive glioma in a sarcoma. It may be termed "sarcoglioma" to distinguish from a classic gliosarcoma. The origin of the rare mixed tumor may be related to a dysgenesis of both mesenchymal and glial elements.

The prognosis of recurrent IV-ventricle ependymoma in children is poor. Three cases of recurrent ependymoma were treated with combination chemotherapy using cis-diamine dichloro platinum (II) (CDDP) and methyl-6-(3-(2-chloroethyl)-3-nitrosoureido)-6-deoxy-alpha-D-glucopyrano side (MCNU). The patients were 2-, 3-, and 6-year-old boys. The interval between the first operation with irradiation and recurrence was 1 year and 5 months to 2 years. Two cases showed a recurrence at the original site; in the other case, a right sylvian tumor deposit was found via computed tomography. The therapeutic regiment for recurrent ependymomas was as follows: (1) the tumor was debulked if possible; (2) additional local irradiation of 30 Gy was administered; (3) combined treatment of 100 mg/m2 CDDP and 80 mg/m2 MCNU over 24 h was given 5 times with an interval of 6 weeks between treatments. The patients tolerated the therapy well with only mild side effects. Remission lasted 1 year in two patients and has lasted for 8 months in one.

Growth factors, potent regulators of cell differentiation, tissue morphogenesis, tissue homeostasis, and cellular response to injury, reside in the extracellular matrix. Genetic evidence in humans and mice as well as biochemical data implicate fibrillins and LTBPs in the extracellular control of TGFβ and BMP signaling. Fibrillins and LTBPs form tissue-specific and temporally regulated microfibril networks. In the developing embryo, three fibrillins and four LTBPs contribute molecular heterogeneity to microfibril networks, and provide different templates upon which TGFβ-related growth factors can be positioned. By accommodating this molecular heterogeneity, microfibril architecture can orchestrate a variety of different signals in very specific tissue locations. Human fibrillinopathies display a broad phenotypic spectrum from tall to short stature, from hypermobile joints to joint contractures and stiffness, and from severe to mild or no cardiovascular manifestations. A spectrum of growth factor dysregulation may be caused by differential effects of mutations in fibrillins on microfibril architecture, thus altering appropriate targeting or positioning of growth factors within microfibril networks. Growth factor dysregulation may help to explain the broad phenotypic spectrum of the fibrillinopathies. Birth Defects Research (Part C) 72:37–50, 2004. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

1. Adjuvant-induced arthritic (AA) rats show a striking decrease in the level of cytochrome P450, a key microsomal haemoprotein involved in electron transport and drug metabolism in the liver. In the present study, we examined the relationship between the reduction of P450 content and haem metabolism in the liver of AA rats. 2. The activities of many enzymes catalyzing the biosynthesis of haem in the liver were significantly higher in AA rats than in normal rats, whereas only coproporphyrinogen oxidase activity in AA rats was markedly lower than that in normal rats. Furthermore, the activity of haem oxygenase, a key enzyme in the haem degradative pathway, increased significantly in AA rats. In addition, the degree of increase in the activity of this enzyme was clearly higher than that in the activity of 5-aminolevulinate synthase, a key enzyme in the haem synthetic pathway. 3. These results suggest that the reduction of live P450 content in AA rats is based on the lowering of liver haem content due to the combined action of the increased haem oxygenase activity and the decreased coproporphyrinogen oxidase activity. The changes in these enzyme activities were apparently suppressed by the continuous administration of indomethacin, which improved the arthritic states of the animals.

Three pediatric cases of temporal lobe seizure due to calcified glioma of amygdalo-hippocampal region are described. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging showed dense calcification with no postcontrast enhancement in the amygdalo-hippocampal region. Positron emission tomography showed low oxygen metabolism, low glucose metabolism, hypermetabolism of amino acids, and low regional cerebral blood flow in the tumors. Single photon emission computed tomography showed a high accumulation of 201Tl chloride and 123I-isopropyl iodoamphetamine in one tumor, but otherwise low radioisotope uptake. These studies indicated low-grade malignancies. The patients were treated by partial tumor removal and radiotherapy. Histological examination of the tumor specimens showed astrocytoma with interstitial calcification. One patient died due to tumor recurrence, while the others are doing well with minimal seizure. We recommended temporal lobectomy in similar cases to achieve complete remission.

Mutations were introduced by recombinant DNA techniques into 9 genes of an infectious molecular clone of human immunodeficiency virus type 1. The 24 mutants generated were characterized biochemically and biologically by transfection and infection experiments. None of the mutants which have mutations in gag (p17, p24, and p15 regions), pol (protease, reverse transcriptase, and endonuclease domains), env (gp120 region), tat, or rev were infectious, whereas vif, vpr, vpu, some of env (gp41) and nef mutants could grow in human CD4+ cells to various degrees. Of the non-infectious mutants, only endonuclease (pol) and gp41 mutants exhibited normal phenotypes with respect to the production of functional reverse transcriptase, the expression of gag, pol, and env proteins, and the generation of progeny virions, when examined in transient assays. All infectious mutants killed the CD4+ cells with the exception of a mutant carrying a defect in the vif gene.

Intraparenchymal hemorrhage in the left frontal lobe suddenly occurred in a 7-year-old girl who had undergone partial removal of an undifferentiated brain stem glioma and received craniospinal (30 Gy) and posterior fossa booster (20 Gy) irradiation at the age of 20 months. The brain hemorrhage was thought to be delayed irradiation effect. Follow-up neuro-imaging at age 9 years showed two more small occult chronic and subacute hemorrhages in the brain. The possibility of repeated hemorrhage as a delayed reaction to brain irradiation is emphasized.

Symmetrically substituted octaalkyl- and octaarylporphyrins are readily prepared by the reduction of 2-ethoxycarbonyl-3,4-diarkyl (or diaryl)pyrroles with LiAlH4 followed by treatment with acetic acid and oxidizing agents.