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To ensure the quality of nuclear disaster medical care, facilities are being developed worldwide in the event of a nuclear disaster. However, the relationship between the existence of permanent facilities and the presence or absence of facility operation manuals has not been clarified in the field of nuclear disaster medicine. This study aims to determine the relationships between the existence of permanent facilities, the presence or absence of facility operation manuals and the number of years elapsed since a facility was designated for nuclear disaster medicine. In September 2021, 26 facilities responded to an online questionnaire of the 53 facilities of nuclear disaster-related hospitals (valid response rate of 49.1%) in Japan. The existence of permanent facilities for nuclear disaster medicine was significantly higher in facilities with fewer years of designation than in those with more years of designation. The existence of permanent facilities for nuclear disaster medicine facilitated the organisational awareness of a nuclear disaster, as evidenced by the availability of manuals, regardless of the number of years elapsed since designation. In conclusion, the study suggests that the existence of permanent facilities is an important factor for organisational preparedness for a nuclear disaster.

Type IV collagen, the major component of basement membrane (BM), is composed of six genetically distinct α(IV) chains. This study investigated for the first time the expression of these six α(IV) chains immunohistochemically, using α(IV) chain-specific monoclonal antibodies, in normal lung and in small (less than 2 cm in diameter) adenocarcinoma of the lung with a bronchioloalveolar growth pattern at the periphery. Small adenocarcinomas were histopathologically classified into three subtypes: bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (BAC) without collapse, BAC with collapse, and adenocarcinoma with bronchioloalveolar features. In normal lung, alveolar BM was composed of α1(IV)/α2(IV) chains and α3(IV)/α4(IV)/α5(IV) chains. In non-collapsed areas of BAC, alveolar BM was composed of linear α1(IV)/α2(IV) chains and discontinuous α3(IV)/α4(IV)/α5(IV) chains. In collapsed areas of BAC, alveolar BM was composed of linear and thick α1(IV)/α2(IV) chains only, because of the complete loss of α3(IV)/α4(IV)/α5(IV) chains. In invasive areas of adenocarcinoma with bronchioloalveolar features, α1(IV)/α2(IV) chains around the cancer cell nests were disrupted, in addition to the complete loss of α3(IV)/α4(IV)/α5(IV) chains. In conclusion, during the process of stromal invasion of lung adenocarcinoma, type IV collagen of alveolar BM is remodelled from the complete type, composed of α1(IV)/α2(IV)/α3(IV)/α4(IV)/α5(IV) chains, to the incomplete type, composed of only α1(IV)/α2(IV) chains, before the disruption of α1(IV)/α2(IV) chains. These findings may help to clarify the molecular mechanisms of cancer invasion. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The granuloma of patients with Kimura's disease characterized by tissue and peripheral blood eosinophilia was reviewed with respect to eosinophil infiltration. An infiltrate of inflammatory cells with histiocytes and a sprinkling of eosinophils were observed in the fibrous stroma surrounding the newly formed vessels. Mast cells were rarely seen in the areas where eosinophils were grouped together. Three different eosinophil chemotactic factors (ECF) were isolated from the granulomas of Kimura's disease. They were termed as low molecular weight (LMW), intermediate molecular weight (IMW), and high molecular weight (HMW)‐ECF according to the profile on gel filtration (LMW‐ECF, about 500; IMW‐ECF, about 12,500; HMW‐ECF, 45,000–70,000). In terms of their activity when extracted from the granuloma, LMW‐ECF and HMW‐ECF seemed to be major natural mediators for the tissue eosinophilia, whereas IMW‐ECF was a minor one. In an in vitro system, it was shown that granuloma lymphoid cells produce spontaneously at least two ECF having similar properties to LMW‐ and HMW‐ECF, respectively. By analysis with monoclonal antibodies, granuloma T cells, probably OKT4‐positive cells, were shown to be responsible for the production of those two ECF. It was thus suggested that prolonged synthesis of LMW‐ and HMW‐ECF by OKT4‐positive T cells plays a crucial role in the local eosinophilia of Kimura's disease.

By means of time-resolved static and dynamic light scattering, association processes of micelles are investigated for polystyrene-block-poly(dimethylsiloxane) in the mixed selective solvent, n-octane/methylcyclohexane, where the micelle can take either a hollow spherical structure or a hollow cylindrical structure, depending on the condition of micelle formation. The following are revealed:  The cylindrical micelles are not thermodynamically stable ones but are temporally formed in the course of micelle formation. Micellization from the unimer state or micellar relaxation from one micelle state to another micelle state does not monotonically proceed to reach the destination but passes through the formation of cylindrical micelles having association numbers larger than those of both initial and equilibrium micelles. At lower temperatures and lower concentrations, the cylindrical micelles with larger size and longer time stability are easily formed. The formation of the large cylindrical micelles is the result of a rapid growth of micelles by elongating into the cylindrical shape, which may come from bilayer structure of the micelles.

Mutations in the diastrophic dysplasia sulfate transporter (DTDST) gene constitute a family of recessively inherited osteochondrodysplasias including achondrogenesis type 1B, atelosteogenesis type II, and diastrophic dysplasia. However, the functional properties of the gene product have yet to be elucidated. We cloned rat DTDST cDNA from rat UMR-106 osteoblastic cells. Northern blot analysis suggested that cartilage and intestine were the major expression sites for DTDST mRNA. Analysis of the genomic sequence revealed that the rat DTDST gene was composed of at least five exons. Two distinct transcripts were expressed in chondrocytes due to alternative utilization of the third exon, corresponding to an internal portion of the 5'-untranslated region of the cDNA. Injection of rat and human DTDST cRNA into Xenopus laevis oocytes induced Na+-independent sulfate transport. Transport activity of the expressed DTDST was markedly inhibited by extracellular chloride and bicarbonate. In contrast, canalicular Na+-independent sulfate transporter Sat-1 required the presence of extracellular chloride in the cRNA-injected oocytes. The activity profile of sulfate transport in growth plate chondrocytes was studied in the extracellular presence of various anions and found substantially identical to DTDST expressed in oocytes. Thus, sulfate transport of chondrocytes is dominantly dependent on the DTDST system. Finally, we demonstrate that undersulfation of proteoglycans by the chlorate treatment of chondrocytes significantly impaired growth response of the cells to fibroblast growth factor, suggesting a role for DTDST in endochondral bone formation.

Cartilage is unique among tissues of mesenchymal origin in that it is resistant to vascular invasion due to an intrinsic angiogenic inhibitor. During endochondral bone formation, however, calcified cartilage formed in the center of the cartilaginous bone rudiment allows vascular invasion, which initiates the replacement of cartilage by bone. The transition of cartilage from the angioresistant to the angiogenic status thus plays a key role in bone formation. However, the molecular basis of this phenotypic transition of cartilage has been obscure. We report here purification of an endothelial cell growth inhibitor from a guanidine extract of bovine epiphyseal cartilage. The N-terminal amino acid sequence indicated that the inhibitor was identical to chondromodulin I (ChM-I), a cartilage-specific growth-modulating factor. Purified ChM-I inhibited DNA synthesis and proliferation of vascular endothelial cells as well as tube morphogenesis in vitro. Expression of ChM-I cDNA in COS7 cells indicated that mature ChM-I molecules were secreted from the cells after post-translational modifications and cleavage from the transmembrane precursor at the predicted processing signal. Recombinant ChM-I stimulated DNA synthesis and proteoglycan synthesis of cultured growth plate chondrocytes, but inhibited tube morphogenesis of endothelial cells. In situ hybridization and immunohistochemical studies indicated that ChM-I is specifically expressed in the avascular zone of cartilage in developing bone, but not present in calcifying cartilage. These results suggest a regulatory role of ChM-I in vascular invasion during endochondral bone formation.

Association behaviour of polystyrene-block-polydimethylsiloxane (PS-block-PDMS) in dilute solution of selective solvent is investigated by static and dynamic light-scattering as a function of temperature and concentration. Number-average molecular weights of PS and PDMS blocks are 7.8 x 10^3 g mol^-^1 and 3.2 x 10^3 g mol^-^1, respectively, and the solvent is a mixture of n-octane (C8) and methylcyclohexane (MCH) with the compositions of C8/MCH = 1.23 by weight, which is selective for PDMS. On heating the solutions from 12^oC to 72^oC, three different micellar regions are observed over a concentration range of 10^-^4-10^-^2 g (g of solution)^-^1. The highest temperature region right below the unimer region is the so-called anomalous-micellization region, where large spherical particles are formed and grow, and eventually precipitate in a few days. In the second region at intermediate temperatures, hollow spherical micelles (vesicles) are formed with large association numbers of about 10^3. The third region is located at low temperatures and low polymer concentrations, where hollow cylindrical micelles with the estimated length/diameter ratio of less than 16 are formed. These hollow cylindrical micelles are observed on heating only, but not on cooling from the unimer region, so they are presumed not to be in equilibrium state but to be meta-stable micelles formed on micellization processes.