A case of transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease (TA-GVHD) in a patient with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is reported. The patient, a 67-year-old woman, was diagnosed as having diffuse, mixed type non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, at clinical stage IIIA. She was treated with combination chemotherapy and received multiple blood transfusions for anemia and thrombocytopenia. Although white cells (WBCs) were reduced in the transfused components by WBC-reduction filters, the patient developed TA-GVHD that was confirmed by skin biopsy. It is suggested that the WBC reduction attained with these filters does not prevent TA-GVHD in immunocompromised patients. It is recommended that all blood components should be irradiated before transfusion to such patients.

Adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) and the stromal vascular fraction (SVF) promote nerve regeneration. Biodegradable nerve conduits are used to treat peripheral nerve injuries, but their efficiencies are lower than those of autologous nerve grafts. This study developed biodegradable nerve conduits containing ADSCs and SVF and evaluated their facial nerve regenerating abilities in a rat model with a 7-mm nerve defect. SVF and ADSCs were individually poured into nerve conduits with polyglycolic acid-type I collagen as a scaffold (ADSCs and SVF groups). The conduits were grafted on to the nerve defects. As the control, the defect was bridged with polyglycolic acid-collagen nerve conduits without cells. At 13 weeks, after transplantation, the regenerated nerves were evaluated physiologically and histologically. The compound muscle action potential of the SVF group was significantly higher in amplitude than that of the control group. Electron microscopy showed that the axon diameter of the SVF group was the largest, followed by the ADSC group and control group with significant differences among them. The SVF group had the largest fiber diameter, followed by the ADSC group and control group with significant differences among them. The ADSC group had the highest myelin thickness, followed by the SVF group and control group with significant differences among them. Identical excellent promoting effects on nerve regeneration were observed in both the ADSC and SVF groups. Using SVF in conduits was more practical than using ADSCs because only the enzymatic process was required to prepare SVF, indicating that SVF could be more suitable to induce nerve regeneration.

A detailed kinetic study of the reactions of phenylboronic acid (PhB(OH) 2 ), 2-methylphenylboronic acid (2-MePhB(OH) 2 ), 2-isopropylphenylboronic acid (2-i PrPhB(OH) 2 ), and 1-hydroxy-3H-2,1-benzoxaborole (BxB(OH)) with D-fructose was carried out to clarify the nature of the reactive boron species in D-fructose sensing and investigate the corresponding reaction mechanism. Both the boronic acids (RB(OH) 2 ) and boronate ions (RB(OH) 3 À ) were reactive toward D-fructose, while out of the five D-fructose anomers only a-D-fructofuranose was reactive toward boron species. The reactions of all substrates proceeded consecutively in two steps (steps 1 and 2).We concluded that the first intermolecular step (step 1) corresponds to the parallel reactions (two parallel reactions for 2-i PrPhB(OH) 2 and three for the other systems) of the boronic acid and the boronate ion with a-D-fructofuranose to form bicoordinate complexes (mixture of exo-and endo-isomers), and the second intramolecular step (step 2) corresponds to the formation of a tricoordinate a-D-fructofuranose complex from the bicoordinate complexes. It was found that both the boronic acid and the boronate ion were kinetically reactive toward Dfructose, with the latter being more reactive.

We report on the case of an extraordinary orangutan who spontaneously produced over a thousand drawings in 5 years. This female orangutan, Molly, started drawing when she was estimated to be 50 years old. Although it has been established that great apes spontaneously draw without training, she produced an enormous number of paintings in her old age, and the numbers of lines and colors in her drawings varied from day to day. As her drawings seemed to be affected by her surroundings, we attempted to analyze quantitatively relationships between her drawings and potentially influential factors during a specific period in which no ostensibly major events were observed. According to our results, her drawings were affected by the identity of her keeper, implying that her drawing behavior may have been affected by environmental factors. Thus, drawings may serve as windows to the internal states of non-human primates.

Background: We attempted to clone candidate genes on 10p14-15 which may regulate hTERT expression, through exon trapping using 3 BAC clones covering the region. After obtaining 20 exons, we examined the function of RGM249 (RGM: RNA gene for miRNAs) we cloned from primary cultured human hepatocytes and hepatoma cell lines. We confirmed approximately 20 bp products digested by Dicer, and investigated the function of this cloned gene and its involvement in hTERT expression by transfecting the hepatoma cell lines with full-length dsRNA, gene-specific designed siRNA, and shRNA-generating plasmid.