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Phomopsis asparagi is one of the most serious fungal pathogens, which causes stem blight disease in Asparagus officinalis (AO), adversely affecting its production worldwide. Recently, the development of novel asparagus varieties using wild Asparagus genetic resources with natural P. asparagi resistance has become a priority in Japan due to the lack of resistant commercial AO cultivars. In this study, comparative metabolome and transcriptome analyses of susceptible AO and resistant wild Asparagus kiusianus (AK) 24 and 48 h postinoculated (AOI_24 hpi, AOI_48 hpi, AKI_24 hpi and AKI_48 hpi, respectively) with P. asparagi were conducted to gain insights into metabolic and expression changes associated with AK species. Following infection, the resistant wild AK showed rapid metabolic changes with increased levels of flavonoids and steroidal saponins and decreased asparagusic acid glucose ester content, compared with the susceptible AO plants. Transcriptome data revealed a total of 21 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) as the core gene set that displayed upregulation in the resistant AK versus susceptible AO after infection with P. asparagi. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis of these DEGs identified 11 significantly enriched pathways, including flavonoid biosynthesis and primary metabolite metabolism, in addition to plant signaling and defense-related pathways. In addition, comparative single-nucleotide polymorphism and Indel distributions in susceptible AO and resistant AK plants were evaluated using the latest AO reference genome Aspof.V1. The data generated in this study are important resources for advancing Asparagus breeding programs and for investigations of genetic linkage mapping, phylogenetic diversity and plant defense-related genes.

This data article reports de novo transcriptome analysis of resistant wild Asparagus kiusianus and susceptible A. officinalis plants 24 and 48 h post-inoculation (24 and 48 hpi) with Phomopsis asparagi. Differential gene expression (DGE) analysis demonstrated that several genes involved in secondary metabolites and plant-pathogen interactions are up-regulated in resistant wild A. kiusianus relative to susceptible A. officinalis. The assembled contig sequences generated in this study were used to search single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and insertion/deletion (InDel) distribution in A. kiusianus and A. officinalis plants. SNP and InDel data developed from this transcriptome analysis will be used to generate a high-density linkage map to facilitate further development of molecular marker-assisted selection in A. officinalis. Keywords: RNA-Seq, Transcriptome, Asparagus, Single nucleotide polymorphism, Insertion/deletion

Rootstock-planting forcing culture is used in Japan to harvest asparagus spears out of season. To assess the yield before the actual harvest, we performed a multiple regression analysis using yield as a dependent variable and rootstock weights, chilling hours (i.e., cumulative hours during which the air temperature remained lower than 5°C), Brix values of storage roots, and total nitrogen content of storage roots as independent variables. Our previous study showed that rootstock weights and chilling hours were significant as independent variables. The addition of the nitrogen content of storage roots as an independent variable in the present analysis caused the multiple correlation coefficient to increase significantly (p=0.05). The possible role of nitrogen content in yield estimation is discussed.

Rootstock-planting forcing culture was developed in asparagus to harvest spears even during the seasons when the plants become dormant, but the demand for them high. In this study, cumulative hours during which the air temperature remained lower than 5°C, i.e. chilling hours (CHs), were calculated to determine dormancy breakage for asparagus cultures. We also measured CIELab colour values for cut stems immediately before rootstock digging, and determined whether they could be substituted and/or compensated for CHs while evaluating asparagus plant productivity in different low-temperature backgrounds, and obtained regression equations for yield estimation. Asparagus seedlings were cultivated in seven different regions across Japan and brought to the study site for harvesting. Our regression equation based on CHs and rootstock weight for yield estimation had relatively high fitness (adjusted R2 = 0.5795). The colour values of cut stalks at rootstock digging can also be used to evaluate their product...

東洋医学論文には東洋医学を西洋医学のルールで論じることに起因した特異性がある。西洋医学に比較すると，人文科学的要素の多い東洋医学では記述が主観的になる傾向がある。目的，方法，結果，考察は，論文内容を客観化させ，査読者と読者の理解を容易ならしめるために必要な形式と考えられる。より客観的な記述のためには，指定された用語を用いることが理想であるが，現実的には多義性のある用語もあり，論文中での定義を明確にする必要がある。伝統医学では症状と所見と診断の区別が不明瞭な傾向があるが，科学論文では明確に区別して記述しなくてはいけない。新知見を主張するためには，問題の解決がどこまでなされているかをできるだけ明らかにする必要がある。投稿規定の改訂点である，漢方製剤名の記述方法，要旨の文字数，メール投稿について解説した。編集作業の手順について紹介し，再査読と却下の内容に関する最近の議論を述べた。

The authors introduce current problems with regard to the male climacteric, or Partial Androgen Deficiency in Aging Males (PADAM) in Japan. They also emphasize the need for an official guideline for diagnosis and treatment, and new testosterone drugs for PADAM.Dysfunction in the aging male is always a quality of life concern. The authors take this opportunity to focus on the possibilities and expectations with Kampo medicine in Japan, while discussing their view of ideal Kampo treatment for PADAM.

Asparagus spears (Asparagus officinalis L. cv. Welcome) were harvested from a greenhouse using the mother stalk cultivation method, from March to October and held at 1.5 °C to evaluate the effect of an extended harvest season on storage quality and shelf life. Both storage quality and shelf life declined over the harvest season. The deterioration of textural quality during storage took place for all harvest months, in general being higher for cooler months, and less at the top portion of the spear than at the bottom. During the harvest season, the soluble sugars and organic acid content of freshly harvested spears significantly declined by up to 53% after a 7-day storage period, and the losses were greater in the top portion than in the bottom portion. Shelf life declined by 50% from a maximum of 2.7 weeks.

Asparagus kiusianus, an important wild relative of cultivated asparagus (A. officinalis), exhibits resistance to stem blight disease caused by Phomopsis asparagi. However, the mechanisms underlying this resistance are not understood and no transcriptomic or genetic resources are available for this species. De novo transcriptome sequencing of A. officinalis and A. kiusianus stems was performed 24 h after inoculation with P. asparagi. In total, 35,259 and 36,321 transcripts were annotated in A. officinalis and A. kiusianus, respectively. 1,027 up-regulated and 752 down-regulated transcripts were differentially expressed in the two Asparagus species. RNA sequencing data were validated using quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR. Several defense-related genes including peroxidase 4, cationic peroxidase SPC4-like, pathogenesis-related protein-1-like, and jasmonic acid biosynthesis and signaling-related genes including phospholipase D alpha 1, 12-oxophytodienoate reductase and jasmonate-induced protein 23 KD were up-regulated in A. kiusianus relative to A. officinalis. In addition, infected A. kiusianuns exhibited a substantial increase in jasmonic acid and methyl jasmonate relative to A. officinalis. Peroxidase activity was significantly elevated in infected A. kiusianus compared with infected A. officinalis. Our transcriptomic database provides a resource for identifying novel genes and molecular markers-associated with Phomopsis disease resistance and will facilitate breeding and improvement of cultivated asparagus varieties.

高齢者に対する手術においては一般的に術後の体力回復の遅延が問題となる。今回われわれは前立腺肥大症手術後の患者に人参養栄湯を投与し, 虚実証判定スコアを用い臨床効果を検討したので報告する。虚実証判定スコアからみた投与前の証は, 虚証群11例, 中間証群8例, 実証群15例であった。人参養栄湯投与による全般改善度は70.6%に改善が認められ, 虚証群は実証群に比して有意に改善度が高かった (p=0.049)。投与前後のスコアの推移をみると, 中央値は有意に実証側に傾いており (p=0.002), 特に虚証群においてスコアの変化が高かった (p=0.039)。スコアの項目毎に投与前後の変化をみると,「皮膚の張り」「食事量」「発汗の状態」の各項目が改善した群で人参養栄湯投与後にスコアが実証側に傾く傾向が強かった。

Background The anti-androgen therapy usually used to manage prostatic cancer is effective because the growth of adenocarcinoma of the prostate is influenced by androgens. However, some prostatic cancers do not respond to hormone therapy. Many studies have been conducted with the objective being to assess the responsiveness of prostatic cancer tissues by measuring the amount of androgen receptors (AR). The present study investigates the expression of AR in adenocarcinoma and in benign adenoma of the human prostate. Methods Formaline fixed paraffin sections of adenocarcinoma were prepared using 86 patients with primary prostatic cancer, seven patients with relapsed prostatic cancer, and 26 patients with BPH (as the control). Specimens were obtained by needle biopsy and immunohistochemical staining was performed. Results The benign adenoma AR were stained in the nuclei of the glandular epithelial cells. The receptor-positive and receptor-negative cells were intermingled with the malignant prostatic cells. The labelling indexes (LI) of the androgen receptor stain values in adenocarcinoma of the prostate (57.8 +/- 14.5%) in 86 patients were significantly lower than benign adenoma (86.4 +/- 6.3%) (p = 0.0001). And the LI were decreased with the progress of grades in malignancy: 72.8 +/- 7.5% in well differentiated; 58.7 +/- 7.3% in moderately differentiated; and 41.4 +/- 8.2% in poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma (p = 0.0001). Moreover, LI in relapsed case, all of which were poorly differentiated (22.9 +/- 13.6%), were significantly lower than the LI values of the primary cancer cases with poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma (p = 0.0004). Responders to anti-androgen therapy had high AR positive rate (p = 0.0001) and weakly stained cases had a lower survival rate than strongly stained cases (p = 0.03). Conclusion These results suggest that the detection of AR with immunohistochemical study is useful for estimating the prognosis of the patients undergone anti-androgen therapy. And prostatic cancer cells are heterogeneously composed of clones of both androgen dependent and independent cancer cells before hormonal therapy is begun. And one reason why these tumors easily relapse with the progress of grades in hormonal therapy.

The use of Ga-67 scintigraphy (Ga) in prostate inflammatory diseases may be restricted by the difficulty in distinguishing between the accumulation of Ga-67-citrate (Ga-citrate) in the lesion and feces. The diagnosis of prostatic abscess has been mainly made by other radiologic methods without scintigraphic studies and no finding of Ga has been reported. This patient demonstrated that coordinating the findings of Ga-citrate accumulation can be helpful in making a prompt diagnosis of a possibly fatal prostatic abscess, especially in those patients with poorly defined clinical symptoms and high risk factors.

Changes in environmental factors were investigated in NFT system where 12 strawberry cultivars were grown. While the solution temperature was regulated at three levels, transition of air temperatures, solution temperatures at the channel and plant temperatures were measured. At relatively high air temperature in autumn, the concentration of dissolved oxygen at the lower part of channel decreased a little than in the upper part. However, at low air temperature in winter, the concentrations of dissolved oxygen at the lower and upper parts were almost the same.When the daytime air temperature in the plastic house was higher than the solution temperature in the tank, the lower the part of channel, the higher the solution temperature was tend to be. On the contrary, when the daytime air temperature in the plastic house was lower than the solution temperature in the tank, the lower the part of channel, the lower the solution temperature was tend to be. These tendency became obvious as the difference between air temperature in the plastic house and solution temperature at the tank increased.

Submucosonography to stage tumors of the esophagus and stomach is well reported. Here we report our experience with a modified procedure to evaluate the stage of bladder tumor cystoscopically and compare the results of staging by other methods. The evaluation was carried out on accuracy 10 patients (10 bladder tumors). A water soluble contrast medium (CM: lohexol 33 mg/ml) was injected into the submucosa of the bladder cystoscopically. Usually the injected point was one centimeter to the urethral margin of the tumor and up to three points were selected. Within 30 minutes after the injection, the lateral and frontal X-ray pictures were taken. The accuracies of staging by submucosonography were compared with the results of other methods, i.g., ultrasonography (US), computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). By submucosonography, three categories depending on the diffusion of CM were classified as follows. Type I: (diffuse type) without disturbance of diffusion. Type II: (borderline type) between type I and III. Type III: (defect type) local disturbance of diffusion. Overall accuracies of each were 70.0% (submucosonography), 62.5% (US), 44.4% (CT), 66.7% (MRI) respectively. The accuracies of submucosonography were high in stage Ta, above stage T2 and low in stage T1.

Actively dividing cells produce a number of proteins that may serve as useful antigenic markers in immunological studies of cellular proliferation and malignant potential. We investigated the expression of PCNA, p53 and c-a erbB-2 proteins in transitional cell carcinoma of human urinary bladder using an immunohistochemical method, and compared the results with the histologic grades and stages. Immunohistochemical studies on these proteins using monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies were performed with formalin-fixed paraffin sections of tumor tissue from 40 patients with bladder cancer. Generally, higher-grade and higher-stage tumors expressed PCNA and p53 and c-erbB-2 proteins with greater frequency than tumors of a lower grade or lower stage. These results suggest that the detection of each antigen might be useful in estimating the malignant potential of transitional cell carcinoma as an adjuvant study, because of its applicability to paraffin-embedded tissue sections and its simple, rapid technique.

We evaluated the outcome of surgery for prostate hypertrophy through measurement of the urine flow rate and the Boyarsky symptom score. The study covered 108 patients admitted to Showa University School of Medicine, Fujigaoka Hospital. Thirty-eight had been admitted for retropubic prostatectomy and the remaining 70 patients for transurethral resection of the prostate. Their ages ranged from 48 to 84 years, with an average age of 64.4 years. The urine flow rate was measured before and after prostatic operation using Dantec Urodyn 1000. The symptom scores were calculated according to the Boyarsky symptom score. The Student's t test was used for statistical analysis. Frequency (daytime, nighttime) was the most common preoperative symptom (97.2%, 96.3%), followed by impairment of stream (88.0%), and intermittency (78.7%). Frequently observed symptoms tended to raise the symptom scores. The period of admission, age and prostatic size did not correlate with the preoperative urine flow rate and symptom score. Significant improvements in the urine flow rate occurred after the operation. Frequency (daytime, nighttime) was the most common postoperative symptom (82.7%, 81.1%), followed by urgency (37.0%), then terminal dribbling (32.2%). Of 39 patients who were evaluated by symptom score and urine flow simultaneously, 6 patients (15.1%) failed to show improvement in 1 of the 2 evaluations, while 9 (23.1%) patients failed to show improvement in either. The irritative symptoms (frequency, urgency) tended not to show significant postoperative improvement.

Background: The natural history and prognosis of renal cell carcinoma cannot be predicted. Based on the Japanese classification system, the value of nuclear grade were assessed as a possible prognostic factor for renal cell carcinomas. Methods: In this retrospective study of 116 patients with renal cell carcinoma, radical nephrectomy was performed. Survival rates were calculated using the Kaplan–Meier method and multivariate analysis was performed using Cox’s proportional hazard model. Results: Distribution by stage and grade in the population of renal cell carcinomas was as follows: pT1 in 13 cases (11.3%), pT2 in 65 cases (56.5%), pT3 in 36 cases (31.3%) and pT4 in one case (0. 9%) and grade 1, 28 (24.1%), grade 2, 69 (59.5%) and grade 3, 16 (13.8%). Three cases could not be determined because of pre-operative embolization of the renal cell carcinomas. Nuclear grade was correlated with stage (P = 0.0002), the presence of perirenal fat involvement (P = 0.003) and metastases (P = 0.007). A significant difference in survival was found between grades 1 and 3 (P = 0.0001) and grades 2 and 3 (P = 0.0001), respectively. Survival was significantly correlated with sex (P = 0.0125), tumor size (P = 0.0001), the presence of lymph node metastasis (P = 0.0001), renal vein involvement (P = 0.0001), perirenal fat involvement (P = 0.002) or distant metastasis (P = 0.0001). The multivariate analysis showed that the occurrence of tumor grade (P = 0.0006) or distant metastasis were independent prognostic values. Conclusion: The observations lead us to conclude that the nuclear grade according to the Japanese classification system appears to be of reliable prognostic value for renal cell carcinomas.

We evaluated, in a randomized double-blind trial, the efficacy of oral paromomycin sulfate administration in the prevention of endotoxemia in 24 cirrhotic patients with endotoxemia. Renal function was evaluated by glomerular-filtration rate and renal plasma flow at the beginning and at the end of the study period. After the administration of paromomycin sulfate, 2 g/day for 4 weeks, endotoxemia disappeared in 10 out of 13 (76.9%) cirrhotic patients with endotoxemia, whereas it became negative in only 3 of the 11 (27.3%) treated with placebo, the difference being significant (P less than 0.05). With regard to correlation of endotoxemia with renal impairment, endogenous creatinine clearance and p-aminohippurate clearance were significantly improved (P less than 0.02) in those patients whose endotoxemia disappeared on paromomycin sulfate administration. We did not find significant improvement, however, neither in liver function or in blood coagulation tests in the same patients. Paromomycin sulfate seems to be effective in the prevention of endotoxemia and the associated renal impairment in cirrhosis in man.

Endotoxin was measured by the Limulus assay in plasma and ascites in 46 patients with cirrhosis having demonstrable esophageal varices, of whom 29 had ascites and 17 did not. It was positive in ascitic fluid in 23 (79.3%) of the former group. In plasma, a positive test was obtained in 22 (75.9%) in the group with ascites and only 4 (23.5%) without ascites, the difference being significant (P less than 0.01). Of the 23 positive ascites specimens, 17 showed high titers (greater than or equal to 10(-3) microgram per ml). Hepatic uptake of 198Au colloid was markedly reduced in 11 of the 17 patients with endotoxemia who were studied by scanning. Death occurred within 6 months in 47.8% of the patients with a positive endotoxin test, whereas only 16.7% of those with a negative test died in the same period (P less than 0.05). No hypotension was noted in patients with toxemia and only 2 ran a fever above 37.5 degrees C. Development of tolerance to endotoxin is suspected. A follow-up study has demonstrated sustained endotoxemia in some of these patients.