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Bilateral chylothorax as a complication of radical neck dissection is extremely rare, but it is potentially serious and sometimes fatal. We found only 14 cases reported in the English literature. Here, we report a case of bilateral chylothorax following right modified and left radical neck dissections that was successfully treated with conservative management.

A 7-year-old girl with hyperimmunoglobulin E syndrome (HIES) presented to our clinic with tooth agenesis in both primary and permanent dentitions. The patient's serum immunoglobulin E level was elevated at 17,091 IU/ml, and her medical history indicated the occurrence of HIES, numerous skin abscesses, and recurrent infection by bacteria and/or fungi such as Candida from birth. She also suffered from heart disease. Dental manifestations included extensive caries, impaired root resorption of primary mandibular central incisors and absence of primary mandibular canines and permanent mandibular lateral incisors. Intraoral phenotypes in HIES patients have already been reported in detail, but no previous report has described abnormalities in the number of primary teeth in HIES patients. The purpose of this report was to describe the dental manifestations in the primary dentition of a hyperimmunoglobulin E syndrome patient and to emphasize the importance of preventive dental management from early childhood in compromised children, such as those with HIES.

We carried out an electrolysis by changing the temperature from −80°C to room temperature in order to create a dynamic condition in the electrode. No neutron emission was observed from the palladium and the titanium electrodes in counting intervals from 28.6 ms to 267 h. The upper limit on neutron emission we obtained in palladium was 3.1·10−24 counts/d-d pairs/s for the counting interval of 124 h at 99.7% confidence level.

Fe was electrodeposited on (100), (110) and (111) Au single crystalline thin films, and the double-layered Fe/Au films were examined by electron microscope. In the initial stage of electrodeposition, disk crystalline nuclei of Fe formed on the Au substrates and as the electrodeposition proceeded, they grew epitaxially to form a continuous layer of 15∼20nm in mean thickness. Epitaxial relationships were as follows; (100)Au||(100)Fe [001]Au||[001]Fe, (110)Au||(110)Fe[001]Au/[110]Fe and (111)Au||(110)Fe‹110›Au||[001]Fe.When the thickness of the Fe layer exceeded a critical value, interfacial dislocations, also known as misfit dislocations, were introduced into the interface between the Fe and Au layers. Edge type dislocations of Burgers vectors of a/2 ‹011› were formed in Fe/(100)Au, and mixed type dislocations of Burgers vectors of a/2 ‹110› were formed both in Fe/(110)Au and Fe/(111)Au. The critical thickness for introducing dislocations was estimated at 15∼20nm. Formation of the interfacial dislocations resulted in the relaxation of internal stress originating in the misfits between the Fe and Au lattices.

Neurotrophin 4 (NT-4) and its receptors regulate the differentiation of ameloblasts in tooth development. Gangliosides, sialic acids that contain glycosphingolipids (GSLs), are involved in a variety of membrane-associated cell physiological functions such as ligand-receptor signal transmission. However, the expression patterns and functions of GSLs during tooth development remain unclear. In this study, we identified strong expressions of GM3 and LacCer in dental epithelium, which give rise to differentiation into enamel-secreting ameloblasts. Exogenous GM3 and LacCer in dental epithelial cells induced the expression of ameloblastin ( Ambn), while it was also interesting that GM3 synergistically exerted enhancement of NT-4-mediated Ambn expression. In addition, consistently exogenous GM3 and LacCer in dental epithelial cells induced distinct activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2), an event upstream of the expression of Ambn. Furthermore, depletion of GSLs from dental epithelial cells by D- threo-1-phenyl-2-decanoylamino-3-morpholino-1-propanol (D-PDMP) inhibited Ambn expression as well as phosphorylation of ERK1/2. In contrast, exogenous addition of GM3 or LacCer rescued the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 repressed by pre-treatment with D-PDMP. Taken together, these results suggest that GM3 and LacCer are essential for NT-4-mediated Ambn expression, and contribute to dental epithelial cell differentiation into ameloblasts.

A case of mosaicism of isodicentric chromosome 18 is reported. Dicentric chromosome 18 occurs rarely and only five cases of isodicentric chromosome 18 have been documented. A high resolution banding method revealed that the karyotype of the patient was mos 46,XX/46,XX idic(18)(pter-->q21.3::q21.3-->pter), and the ratio of normal and abnormal clones was 1:1. The clinical manifestations, resembling those of trisomy 18 syndrome, were affected by both partial trisomy 18pter-->q21.3 and partial monosomy 18q21.3-->qter.

The hydrogen absorption characteristics of sputtered LaNiXMY alloy films (M=Al and Cu) were examined using a number of electrochemical methods. The alloy films did not exhibit a clear dissociation pressure plateau in P-C-T curves, probably because of their amorphous structure. The hydrogen dissociation pressure of La-Ni alloy films increased as the amount of nickel component increased. In contrast with LaNiXMY films, it decreased with the addition of aluminum or copper. The apparent plateau pressure of the LaNi5.1 film was estimated to be on the order of 104 Pa at 0°C, and that of the LaNi4.5 Al0.1 film was estimated to be on the order of 102 Pa at 20°C. Addition of aluminum was highly effective in lowering the hydrogen dissociation pressure. Elevation of the electrode operation temperature decreased the amount of hydrogen absorbed in the films. However at high temperature the amount of hydrogen that could be discharged galvanostatically increased. It could be considered that this occurred because the improvements in the reactivity and the hydrogen diffusion of alloy films at high temperature resulted in a fall in the discharge overvoltage, and because the dischargeable region of the hydrogen concentration in the P-C-T curves was extended.

The vascularization is an important factor along with the wound healing process, and there are some reports on extraction wounds. However, the ultrastructure of newly developed capillaries in the healing process is still argued. It is aimed of clearing the ultrastructural early healing process of endothelial cells in the experimental tooth extraction wound by electron microscopy.Immediately after the extraction, the diffused basal lamina intermittently surrounded endothelial cells. Three days after the extraction, the basal lamina was not continuous, but had no gap with endothelial cells. Four days after the extraction, the basal lamina almost reconstructed.On tannic acid injection into blood vessels, it was observed in the narrow lumen of cell masses which continued to capillaries. It is suggested that cell masses are derived from the endothelial cells, and are the precursor of capillaries.The cell masses were formed by two or three undifferentiated endothelial cells. The narrow lumen was observed in the cell mass and these cells project short folds into the lumen. These cells connected by tight junctions, but the basal lamina was not complete. On tannic acid injection, it does not perfuse into the stroma through the basal lamina. It is concluded that these types of connections between the endothelial cells, were one of the characteristic features of capillaries in the tooth extraction wound.

FBN2, FBN1, TGFBR1, and TGFBR2 were analyzed by direct sequencing in 15 probands with suspected congenital contractural arachnodactyly (CCA). A total of four novel FBN2 mutations were found in four probands (27%, 4/15), but remaining the 11 did not show any abnormality in either of the genes. This study indicated that FBN2 mutations were major abnormality in CCA, and TGFBR and FBN1 defects may not be responsible for the disorder. FBN2 mutations were only found at introns 30, 31, and 35 in this study. Thus analysis of a mutational hotspot from exons 22 to 36 (a middle part) of FBN2 should be prioritized in CCA as previously suggested.

Noonan syndrome (NS) is characterized by short stature, characteristic facial features, and heart defects. Recently, missense mutations of PTPN11, the gene encoding protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) SHP-2, were identified in patients with NS. Further, somatic mutations in PTPN11 were detected in childhood leukemia. Recent studies showed that the phosphatase activities of five mutations identified in NS and juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) were increased. However, the functional properties of the other mutations remain unidentified. In this study, in order to clarify the differences between the mutations identified in NS and leukemia, we examined the phosphatase activity of 14 mutants of SHP-2. We identified nine mutations, including a novel F71I mutation, in 16 of 41 NS patients and two mutations, including a novel G503V mutation, in three of 29 patients with leukemia. Immune complex phosphatase assays of individual mutants transfected in COS7 cells showed that ten mutants identified in NS and four mutants in leukemia showed 1.4-fold to 12.7-fold increased activation compared with wild-type SHP-2. These results suggest that the pathogenesis of NS and leukemia is associated with enhanced phosphatase activity of mutant SHP-2. A comparison of the phosphatase activity in each mutant and a review of previously reported cases showed that high phosphatase activity observed in mutations at codons 61, 71, 72, and 76 was significantly associated with leukemogenesis.

In January 2001, 20 children among 40 residents under 2 years old at a nursery home in Sapporo, Japan had respiratory symptoms and were confirmed as having respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection by a conventional diagnostic kit. Nasopharyngeal aspirates were collected from four RSV-positive patients and total RNA was extracted directly from the specimens for the analysis of RSV grouping and genotyping. All four RSV strains had the same G protein gene sequence of subgroup B and were assigned to identical strains. Interestingly, the G protein gene had a duplication of 60 nucleotides at the C-terminal third of the G protein gene in which three nucleotides differed each other. The predicted polypeptide is lengthened by 20 amino acids. The clinical picture of these cases was not different from those of patients with other RSV strains. These novel mutations were thought to be introduced in vivo.

GD3 synthase is one of the key enzymes involved with ganglioside synthesis, and its activity regulates the main profile of ganglioside expression. We analyzed the expression of the GD3 synthase gene in laser-dissected teeth germs using RT-PCR. The GD3 synthase gene was found expressed in brain, thymus, and tooth germ tissues, however, not in liver or skin specimens. Further, it was highly expressed during the early stage of tooth germ development (embryonic day 14.5), especially in dental epithelia, which gradually reduced in the molar site until postnatal day 7, whereas it was not in dental mesenchyme tissues. In addition, dental epithelial cells transiently transfected with the GD3 synthase gene showed enhanced proliferation. These results indicate that the GD3 synthase gene may be involved in early tooth development, particularly in the proliferation of dental epithelium.

The yeast cell walls of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae are well studied and the results show the existence of a framework composed of beta-1,3-glucan. It is reported that the cell wall of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe has different components and our analysis by 13C-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy also showed there is alpha-1,3-glucan in its cell wall. To refine our understanding of the architecture of the yeast cell wall, we re-examined the cell wall glucans of S. pombe by NMR spectroscopy and prepared antibody against alpha-1,3-glucan, which is a characteristic component of this yeast. By the competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system, specificity of the antibody was restricted to alpha-1,3-glucan, which did not take a highly ordered structure. We analysed the localization of the cell wall glucans by immunoelectron microscopy. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images showed that most of the alpha-1,3-glucan was along the cell membrane and appeared to enclose the cytoplasm, supporting previous reports that this glucan is synthesized on the cell membrane.

Wounds in fetal animals are known to heal without scar formation, but the mechanism involved remains unclear. Scar tissue is characterized by disorganized collagen bundles. The 47-kDa heat shock protein (HSP47) is a molecular chaperone that specifically targets collagen processing. However, the role of HSP47 in scar formation is poorly understood. We studied the relation of HSP47 expression in skin to scar formation during fetal wound healing. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated HSP47-positive cells in the epidermal cell layer of fetal and neonatal rat skin and the absence of such cells in subcutaneous tissue. After induction of a wound on the back of fetal and neonatal rats, the message of collagen type I was increased only in neonatal skin but not in fetal skin. HSP47-positive cells consistently increased for 7 days after wound induction in neonatal rats. In contrast, HSP47-positive cells and HSP47 protein were unchanged in fetal rats. We conclude that the scarless healing of fetal skin wounds is related to lack of change in HSP47 expression. HSP47 may thus be an important determinant of scar formation during wound healing.

Hypodontia in permanent dentition is the most common developmental anomaly and frequently found in the second premolar and maxillary lateral incisor. In the primary dentition, however, hypodontia appears to be less frequent, with the exception of cases such as ectodermal dysplasia and cleft lip and palate.We report a child with one primary maxillary central incisor at midline. The presence of a single permanent maxillary central incisor was also confirmed by radiological examination. Other intraoral abnormalities were detected including absence of upper labial frenulum and abnormal palatal structure, but no other facial or brain anomalies. Although the condition is exceedingly rare, a thorough examination for more serious anomalies should be conducted since it is suggested to be the mildest feature of holoprosencephaly.

Objective: This study investigated the relationship between aortic 18F-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (18F-FDG) uptake and clinical and laboratory findings related to atherosclerosis in a general population. Copyright: Methods: 18F-FDG uptake in the ascending aorta was measured on the positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scans of 211 Japanese adults. The maximum target-to-background ratio (TBR) was compared with clinical and laboratory atherosclerosis findings. Results: By multivariate regression analysis adjusted for age and sex, TBR-ascending aorta (TBR-A) was significantly correlated with various clinical and laboratory parameters, such as body mass index, log visceral fat area, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), log fasting immunoreactive insulin, log homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance, log total adiponectin and log-leptin, in all subjects. Furthermore, by multivariate linear regression analysis adjusted for confounding factors, TBR-A was significantly correlated with LDL-C (β=0.001, p=0.03) and log-leptin (β =0.336, p, PLoS ONE, 9(11), e111990; 2014

A 28-year-old woman initially suffered high fever and headache (day 1). Aseptic meningitis was diagnosed on day 3. Limb ataxia, however, appeared on day 7, and external ophthalmoplegia and drowsiness were recognized on day 8. Urinary disturbance and orthostatic hypotension appeared on day 13. Cerebrospinal fluid showed moderately high cell counts(mononuclear cells, 51/microliter; polynuclear cells, 9/microliter). MRI T2-weighted images showed high intensity lesions in the pons and mesencephalon. No serum anti-GQ1b IgG antibody was detected on day 4. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) viral capsid antigen-IgG antibody was positive, and EBV determined nuclear antigen antibody was seroconverted. EBV-DNA was detected in the CSF by PCR. These findings indicate prior infection by EBV. After intravenous dexamethasone therapy, these symptoms rapidly disappeared. Our patient showed external ophthalmoplegia, ataxia, and disturbance of consciousness, which are the cardinal signs in Bickerstaff's brainstem encephalitis. The time course of her neurological symptoms, the presence of meningitis, and the MRI findings, however, indicated the pathogenesis of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis rather than Bickerstaff's brainstem encephalitis. We diagnosed this patient as a brainstem encephalitis associated with EBV infection.

The genetic variability of 32 respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) sub-group B isolates from a single community in Japan during the 20 years from 1980 to 1999 was determined. Two variable regions of the attachment (G) protein gene were amplified by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction amplification and their products were sequenced directly. Phylogenetic analysis of nucleotide sequences revealed seven distinct branches in which strains isolated during seasons of close proximity were located: however, isolates from the same season were often in plural branches. There was a tendency for recent isolates to lie at the end of each branch and these linear evolutionary changes were typically represented in a branch containing nine strains isolated during 6 seasons from '80 to '86. Three kinds of usages of stop codons were confirmed and isolates located in each branch used the same stop codons. These observations suggest that there are multiple subgroup B lineages co-circulating and that each lineage strain may exhibit linear evolutionary genetic drifts in order to survive over successive epidemics within the same population, although it has a conserved uniform G protein length with the use of the same stop codon.

Congenital absence of one or more teeth, hypodontia, is the most common developmental anomaly and is often accompanied by the presence of other tooth anomalies. In this case two Japanese sisters have several congenitally missing primary and permanent teeth and morphological abnormalities of maxillary first molars. One sister has transposition of mesial and distal aspects of a maxillary first molar, whose cusps display a normal shape. Another sister has maxillary first molars, which look like maxillary second molars. Mesio-distally shift of teeth is a very rare anomaly making this particular case important to analyze the teeth formation and development.

Longitudinal F-actin cables are thought to be important for transporting materials for polarized cell growth in fission yeast. We show that most F-actin in the cables is oriented such that the barbed end faces the nearest cell tip during interphase; however, this directionality is reversed during mitosis. These orientations of F-actin ensure proper transport of materials to growing sites during these cell-cycle stages.