No abstract

The process of palate fusion was examined in 13- and 14-day-old mouse fetuses by using in situ staining for nuclear DNA fragmentation (TUNEL method) and immunofluorescent staining for keratin, with special reference to the disruption of the midline epithelial seam. TUNEL-positive cells were found in the disappearing midline seam and the oral and nasal epithelial triangles at some late stages of palate fusion, but not in the palatal shelves prior to contact or in the intact midline epithelial seam. It seems that DNA fragmentation or apoptosis is required for the midline epithelial seam to disrupt, but may not be necessary for initial contact of palatal shelves or for the epithelial fusion of opposing palatal shelves. A similar sign of apoptotic cell death was observed in the disappearing epithelial seam between the fusing nasal septum and dorsal palate. We have demonstrated that apoptotic programmed cell death does occur at some stages of palate fusion, although the present results do not exclude the possibility of epithelial-mesenchymal transformation and the oral and nasal migration of midline epithelial cells.

Based on a fourth generation single crystal (SC) superalloy, TMS-138, we designed new SC alloys that contain higher amount of refractory elements, Nb, Ta, Mo, or Re, for strengthening. The Ru content was also increased to improve the phase stability. The creep strength and microstructure of these alloys were examined and compared with those of the base alloy TMS-138 and a third generation SC superalloy, CMSX-10K. As predicted by our alloy design program, TMS-162 (Mo and Ru addition) and TMS-173 (Re and Ru addition) exhibited excellent creep properties. Their times to 1% creep deformation at 1100 C/137MPa were about 2.5 times as long as that of TMS-138 and 5 times as long as that of CMSX-10K. The temperature capability of TMS-162 has reached a project target of 1100 C under stress at 137MPa and a creep rupture life as long as 1000 h, which is the highest ever reported.

No abstract

We report 2 cases of Legionella pneumonia in individuals who were exposed to aerosols during maintenance of a cooling tower at a waste processing plant. This report documents the first known occupation-related outbreak of Legionella pneumonia in Japan.

Invasive aspergillosis (IA) is a severe complication of liver transplantation. Risk factors for IA after deceased donor liver transplantation (DDLT) have been presented in several reports, but are not well established for living donor liver transplant recipients. Here, a retrospective case-control study was performed. Five cases with IA were investigated after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) between January 1999 and December 2002 at Kyoto University Hospital. For comparison, living donor liver transplant recipients without IA were taken as controls. These patients had undergone LDLT 1 month before or after each IA case and had the same survival times as the latter. We evaluated the clinical and laboratory findings for both groups up until their demise. Patients with IA after LDLT had a very poor prognosis. By univariate analysis, risk factors for IA were preoperative intensive care unit stay (P ϭ 0.02) and preoperative steroid administration (P ϭ 0.02). Preoperative steroid administration for fulminant hepatitis possibly predisposed to the development of IA after LDLT. Liver Transpl 13:566-570, 2007 Living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) has been a predominant procedure in Asian countries. Increased indications and growing numbers of referrals for deceased donor liver transplantation (DDLT) have led to an increasing disparity between the number of patients waiting for transplantation and the number of donor organs, resulting in high mortality among candidates on the waiting list. Since the indications for LDLT were expanded from pediatric to adult liver diseases, such as hepatitis virus infections with or without hepatocellular carcinoma, LDLT has been accepted as a therapeutic alternative even in the United States and Europe. 1 Although small-for-size in LDLT leads to septic complications and higher mortality, 2 recent studies have shown comparable results in LDLT and DDLT for hepatitis C virus-positive patients. 3 Furthermore, the incidence of surgical site infections in LDLT was also similar to that reported in DDLT. 4 However, few studies have reported other infectious complications in LDLT.Aspergillus spp. is the second most common fungal pathogen responsible for infection of liver transplant recipients. The frequency of invasive aspergillosis (IA) among DDLT recipients ranges from 1 to 8%, 5 but the IA-related mortality rate for these patients exceeded 90% 6 and an estimated 16.9% of all deaths among DDLT recipients were due to Aspergillus infections.

No abstract

No abstract