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Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is a deadly but poorly understood disease, and its treatment options are very limited. The aim of this study was to identify the molecular drivers of ICC and search for therapeutic targets.We performed a Sleeping Beauty transposon-based in vivo insertional mutagenesis screen in liver-specific Pten-deficient mice and identified TNF receptor-related factor 3 (Traf3) as the most significantly mutated gene in murine ICCs in a loss-of-function manner. Liver-specific Traf3 deletion caused marked cholangiocyte overgrowth and spontaneous development of ICC in Pten knockout and KrasTRAF3 inactivation promotes ICC development through NIK-mediated hepatocyte transdifferentiation. The oncogenic TRAF3-NIK axis may be a potential therapeutic target for ICC.

We report passivation on the silicon surfaces by combination of oxygen radical and high pressure H 2 O vapor heat treatment. The top bear surface of 20 Ωcm n-type silicon substrates with the rear surface coated by 100 nm thermally grown SiO 2 layers were treated by oxygen radical generated from oxygen plasma via a metal mesh closing the plasma induced by 13.56 MHz radio frequency induction-coupled remote plasma with mixed gases of O 2 and Ar at 10 sccm, 1.0 Pa and at a power of 100 W. The samples were subsequently annealed with 1.3×10 6 Pa H 2 O vapor heat treatment at 260°C for 3 h. A high effective minority carrier lifetime of 1.1×10 -3 s was achieved in the case of 635 nm light illumination on the top surface in the case of the oxygen radical treatment for 3 min. Metal-insulator-semiconductor-type solar cells were formed by formation Al and Au metal strips with a gap length of 17 μm on the passivated surfaces. When airmass 1.5 at 100 mW/cm 2 were illuminated on the rear surface with 100 nm thermally grown SiO 2 layers, solar cell characteristics were observed by applying voltage between Al and Au electrodes. The open circuit voltage and efficiency were obtained as 0.51 V and 6.4 %.

We report photo induced minority carrier annihilation at the silicon surface in a metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) structure using 9.35 GHz microwave transmittance measurement. 7 Ωcm n-type 500-μm-thick crystalline silicon substrate coated with 100-nm-thick thermally grown SiO2 layers was used. 0.2-cm-long Al electrode bars were formed at the top and rear surfaces. 635 nm light illumination onto the top surface caused photo induced carriers to be in one side of the silicon region of the Al electrode. Microwave transmittance system detected photo induced carriers diffused from the light illuminated region via the MOS structured region. When the bias voltage was applied at +2.0 and -2.2 V to the electrode at the top surface, the surface recombination velocity increased from 44 (initial) to 83 and 86 cm/s, respectively because of depletion region formation at rear and top surface respectively. Those voltage applications caused change in the distribution of photo induced carriers in a 0.6-cm-wide region including light illuminated, MOS structured, microwave irradiated regions.

application/pdf, Chondroitinase ABC (C-ABC) is expected to be a novel agent for chemonucleolysis. The effect of C-ABC was investigated by magnetic resonance (MR) and radiograph. C-ABC was administered into the lumbar intervertebral disks on the clinically normal beagles (n=5), in a dose of 50 μl (12.5 units as C-ABC). MR scans were performed pre-dose, and 1, 3, 7, 14 and 28 days after administration of C-ABC, and the signal intensity (SI) of the nucleus pulposus was measured. Radiographs were taken pre-dose, and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 14 and 28 days post-dose, to evaluate narrowing of the disk space in terms of height index (HI). In addition, the quantity of the chondroitin sulfate (CS) and the hyaluronic acid (HA) in the nucleus pulposus were measured by high performance liquid chromatography on day 28 after dosing. SI and HI continuously decreased, following the injection to 37.1% and 78.9% of the pre-dose values, respectively. Statistically significant differences (p

The image processing procedure has become widely applied as a visual aid in imaging diagnosis. The subtraction image of MRI obtained by digitally subtracting an unenhanced image from a contrast-enhanced image, depicted a discrete distribution of the contrast agent. Subtraction images in the clinical cases were compared. The subtraction image in a case of chondroma demonstrated a relatively uniform distribution of a contrast agent, with a well delineated neoplastic lesion. The subtraction image in a case of squamous cell carcinoma, the contrast agent was distributed heterogeneously in the carcinoma and well permeated into the muscle. Different patterns of subtraction image were obtained in the clinical cases of chondroma and squamous cell carcinoma in this study. The findings suggest the potential usefulness of the subtraction image for diagnosing the degree of malignancy.

We report the properties of features of photo induced minority carrier annihilation at the silicon surface in a metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) structure using 9.35 GHz microwave transmittance measurement. 7 Ω cm n-type 500-µm-thick crystalline silicon substrates coated with 100-nm-thick thermally grown SiO2 layers were prepared. Part of the SiO2 at the rear surface was removed. Al electrode bars were formed at the top and rear surfaces to form the structures Al/SiO2/Si/SiO2/Al and Al/SiO2/Si/Al. 635 nm light illumination onto the top surface caused photo induced carriers to be in one side of the silicon region of the Al electrode bar of the structure Al/SiO2/Si/SiO2/Al. Microwave transmittance was measured on the other side of the silicon region of the Al electrode bars. The measurement and analysis of microwave absorption by photo induced carriers laterally diffusing across the silicon region coated with Al electrodes revealed a change in the carrier recombination velocity at the silicon surface with the bias voltage applied onto the top Al electrode. The applied bias voltages of +2.0 and −2.2 V gave peaks at surface recombination velocities of 83 and 86 cm/s, respectively, for the sample structure Al/SiO2/Si/SiO2/Al, while it was 44 cm/s under the bias-free condition. A peak surface recombination velocity of 81 cm/s was only observed at a bias voltage of −2.0 V for the sample structure Al/SiO2/Si/Al.

The usefulness of magnetic resonance (MR) is already established, but it has a disadvantage of requiring a long scanning time. A short-time examination is more or less needed so as to be more practical in veterinary clinics. A protocol of the short-time MR examination was devised based on parameters determined, and validity of the protocol was assessed through the diagnosis of clinical cases with intervertebral disc diseases. With this protocol, it was possible to complete an MR examination for the spine within 15 min. The MR images and myelographic findings were correlated well in this study, suggesting the short-time protocol of MR examination can be used in the clinical diagnosis of spinal diseases.