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Background Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors ( PPARs) are nuclear receptors, which regulate not only adipogenesis and proliferation/differentiation but also the immune response of cells. Because topical application of the activators of some PPAR isoforms improved clinical symptoms in patients with atopic dermatitis ( AD), we investigated the role of PPAR activators using a murine AD model in NC/Nga mice; to the best of our knowledge, this has not been previously reported. Methods Activators of three PPAR isoforms (α, β/δ, γ) were topically applied on inflamed skin in a murine AD model that was developed by repeated topical application of mite antigen in NC/Nga mice. The efficacy of each topical PPAR activator was evaluated immunologically and serologically. Results Topical application of the PPARα activator, but not of the activators of PPARβ/δ or PPARγ, improved clinical dermatitis, reduced inflammatory cell infiltration in the dermis, and alleviated the elevation of serum IgE levels. In addition, PPARα expression was downregulated in the epidermis in our murine AD model, as is seen in patients with AD. Conclusions Topical application of PPARα activator could be a potent therapeutic agent for patients with AD and could take the place of topical steroid treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Abnormal immunological responses to certain microbial agents may play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of Kawasaki disease (KD). The association studies between histo-blood group genes (Lewis and ABO blood types) and various types of infectious diseases or vasculopathy have been carried out based on the fact that glycosylated antigens could directly mediate microbial infections. We attempted to clarify the role of blood type antigens in the development of KD and coronary artery lesions in KD patients. The subjects included 164 KD patients enrolled from 1998 to 2003 (1st group), 232 patients from 2004 to 2009 (2nd group), and 223 healthy children and 118 patients with growth hormone deficiency as controls. The genotyping of the FUT2 and FUT3 genes, and ABO genotypes, was determined with the TaqMan SNP assay and allele-specific polymerase chain reaction. No significant differences were observed in the genotypes and allele frequencies of the FUT2 and FUT3 genes between the groups. The frequency of the BB blood genotype was significantly higher in KD patients with coronary artery lesions in the 1st and 2nd groups than in the controls (17% and 14% vs. 5%, P = 0.0020). This is the first report to investigate the roles of ABO and Lewis blood types in the development of KD, and in the formation of coronary artery lesions in KD patients. These data suggest that the ABO blood type may play a role in the development of coronary artery lesions in KD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although several studies have reported that locally administering oncolytic viruses effectively targets malignancies, the efficacy of systemically administered oncolytic viruses is restricted. Recently, however, it was reported that systemic administration of oncolytic vesicular stomatitis virus adsorbed onto antigen-specific lymphocytes was effective against malignancies. We hypothesized that intravenously administering such virus might have significant potential in treatment of the malignant tumors. We adsorbed oncolytic herpes simplex virus-1 mutant R3616 onto lymphocytes harvested from mice with acquired antitumor immunity. We administered adsorbed R3616 to peritoneally disseminated tumors and analyzed the efficacy of this treatment. Mice administered adsorbed R3616 survived significantly longer than mice administered R3616 adsorbed onto non-specific lymphocytes, or mice administered either virus or tumor antigen-specific lymphocytes alone. In this context, herpes oncolytic virus is a promising treatment not only for primary lesions, but also for multiple metastasizing lesions. This treatment strategy may become one of the most effective methods for systemic virus delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oncolytic viruses are a promising method of cancer therapy, even for advanced malignancies. HF10, a spontaneously mutated herpes simplex type 1, is a potent oncolytic agent. The interaction of oncolytic herpes viruses with the tumor microenvironment has not been well characterized. We injected HF10 into tumors of patients with recurrent breast carcinoma, and sought to determine its effects on the tumor microenvironment. Six patients with recurrent breast cancer were recruited to the study. Tumors were divided into two groups: saline-injected (control) and HF10-injected (treatment). We investigated several parameters including neovascularization (CD31) and tumor lymphocyte infiltration (CD8, CD4), determined by immunohistochemistry, and apoptosis, determined by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling assay. Median apoptotic cell count was lower in the treatment group (P=0.016). Angiogenesis was significantly higher in treatment group (P=0.032). Count of CD8-positive lymphocytes infiltrating the tumors was higher in the treatment group (P=0.008). We were unable to determine CD4-positive lymphocyte infiltration. An effective oncolytic viral agent must replicate efficiently in tumor cells, leading to higher viral counts, in order to aid viral penetration. HF10 seems to meet this criterion; furthermore, it induces potent antitumor immunity. The increase in angiogenesis may be due to either viral replication or the inflammatory response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Chemical figuring and finishing techniques using atmospheric pressure plasma were proposed for realizing damage free processing of a reaction sintered SiC substrate. Open-air type plasma chemical vaporization machining (PCVM) utilizing He based CF4/O2 mixture process gas demonstrated good linearity of the relationship between removal volume and plasma irradiation time which required in numerically controlled figuring. However, the surface roughness of the substrate processed by PCVM increased with an increase in removal depth by forming pores on the surface because etching rate of residual Si was about 3 times greater than that of SiC. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A novel polishing technique combined with the irradiation of atmospheric pressure plasma was proposed for the finishing of a silicon carbide material. The irradiation of helium-based water vapor plasma efficiently oxidized the surface of single-crystal 4H–SiC (0001), and a nanoindentation test revealed that the hardness of SiC decreased by one order of magnitude compared with that of the unprocessed surface. Plasma-assisted polishing using a CeO2 abrasive enabled us to improve the surface roughness of a commercially available SiC wafer without introducing crystallographical subsurface damage, and a scratch-free atomically flat surface with an rms roughness of 0.1nm level was obtained. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A doubly curved crystal spectrometer with Johansson-type geometry is very effective for focusing and monochromatizing an X-ray beam. In this study, numerically controlled local wet etching (NC-LWE) was used to form the curvature of the Si(111) substrate. NC-LWE figuring reduced the inclination of the crystal plane to less than 0.01° by applying the controlled etching of the surface, and achieved error of the figured curvature radius R of 6.7%. The reflectivity and the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the rocking curve of the processed surface were almost the same as those of the unprocessed surface. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: High-performance neutron-focusing supermirror devices with both high figure accuracy and high reflectivity are essential to effectively collect and focus a neutron beam on a sample without scattering loss. To fabricate these devices, numerically controlled local wet etching and ion beam sputter deposition techniques were developed for the figuring of an aspherical mirror substrate and for the deposition of NiC/Ti multilayers, respectively. By applying these techniques, a plano-elliptical supermirror with a clear aperture size of 90mm×40mm was fabricated to focus a cold neutron beam. Focusing performance and reflectivity were evaluated using a neutron reflectometer and a focusing gain of 4.4 and a reflectivity of 0.64–0.7 in the near-critical-angle region for m=4 were achieved. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The thickness uniformity of an quartz crystal wafer is an essential requirement for improving the productivity of a quartz resonator because it prevents frequency adjustment after dicing the wafer. In this paper, chemical finishing utilizing a localized atmospheric pressure plasma is proposed to correct the thickness deviation of a quartz crystal wafer. In this process, free figuring without mask patterning can be realized by the numerically controlled scanning of a localized removal area. The thickness uniformity of a commercially available quartz wafer is improved from 250 to 50nm only by one correction without subsurface damage. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article regarding a patient with afibrinogenaemia who developed a central venous catheter-related thrombosis after replacement therapy for an intracranial haemorrhage.

Abstract: In this paper, the author presents a novel noncontact subaperture deterministic figuring method, named numerically controlled local wet etching (NC-LWE), for fabricating ultraprecision optics or finishing functional materials. In this method, a localized wet etching area is formed using a combined nozzle that is composed of a coaxially arranged supply part and a suction part for the etchant. In the system, the removal volume at any point on the workpiece surface is determined by the dwelling time of the nozzle. The author applied this method to finish a photomask substrate made of synthetic quartz glass (6inches), and achieved 56nm peak to valley flatness with 0.15nm rms roughness. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We developed a high-spatial-resolution scanning x-ray fluorescence microscope (SXFM) using Kirkpatrick-Baez mirrors. As a result of two-dimensional focusing tests at BL29XUL of SPring-8, the full width at half maximum of the focused beam was achieved to be 50×30 nm2 (V×H) under the best focusing conditions. The measured beam profiles were in good agreement with simulated results. Moreover, beam size was controllable within the wide range of 30–1400 nm by changing the virtual source size, although photon flux and size were in a trade-off relationship. To demonstrate SXFM performance, a fine test chart fabricated using focused ion beam system was observed to determine the best spatial resolution. The element distribution inside a logo mark of SPring-8 in the test chart, which has a minimum linewidth of approximately 50–60 nm, was visualized with a spatial resolution better than 30 nm using the smallest focused x-ray beam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial resolution of scanning x-ray microscopy depends on the beam size of focused x rays. Recently, nearly diffraction-limited line focusing has been achieved using elliptical mirror optics at the 100 nm level. To realize such focusing two-dimensionally in a Kirkpatrick-Baez system, the required accuracies of the mirror aligners in this system were estimated using optical simulators based on geometrical or wave-optical theories. A focusing unit fulfilling the required adjustment accuracies was constructed. The relationships between alignment errors and focused beam profiles were quantitatively examined at the 1 km long beamline (BL29XUL) of SPring-8 to be in good agreement with the simulation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP) is the common form of hereditary generalized amyloidosis and is characterized by the accumulation of amyloid fibrils in the peripheral nerves and other organs. Liver transplantation has been utilized as a therapy for FAP, because the variant transthyretin (TTR) is predominantly synthesized by the liver, but this therapy is associated with several problems. Thus, we need to develop a new treatment that prevents the production of the variant TTR in the liver. In this study, we used HepG2 cells to show in vitro conversion of the TTR gene by single-stranded oligonucleotides (SSOs), embedded in atelocollagen, designed to promote endogenous repair of genomic DNA. For the in vivo portion of the study, we used liver from transgenic mice whose intrinsic wild-type TTR gene was replaced by the murine TTR Val30Met gene. The level of gene conversion was determined by real-time RCR combined with mutant-allele-specific amplification. Our results indicated that the level of gene conversion was approximately 11 and 9% of the total TTR gene in HepG2 cells and liver from transgenic mice, respectively. Gene therapy via this method may therefore be a promising alternative to liver transplantation for treatment of FAP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]