A gene product (p42) of the long open reading frame, now termed tax, of the viral genome of human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) may be related to the transformation of T cells in adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma (ATLL). To evaluate its association with the disease, we compared the prevalence of antibody to p42 in sera obtained from 105 HTLV-I carriers and 64 ATLL patients from southwest Japan. The prevalence of the anti-p42 antibody reactivity was 63% among carriers and 31% among cases. The cases were more than 3 times as likely to lack antibody to p42 than carriers, the relative odds (OR) = 3.4, p = 0.001. When the samples were tested for antibody against p24, the most immunogenic core protein, the prevalence was somewhat higher among carriers (65%) than in cases (52%), but not significantly so (p = 0.15). Among the healthy carriers, the correlation between the prevalence of both antibodies was high (p = 0.001), and only 25% of those who had antibody to p24 lacked antibody to p42. However, among the cases, reactivity to both antigens was independent (p = 0.52), and 65% of those with antibody to p24 lacked antibody to p42, OR = 6.3, p = 0.0004. Thus the strongest serologic marker of ATLL following diagnosis was lack of reactivity to p42, particularly among those subjects with anti-p24. Whether this altered response is present prior to disease remains to be determined.

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Endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair has been widely used for the treatment of AAA as a safe and efficient method, but endoleaks causing persistent expansion of aneurysm sac may cause aneurysmal rupture and death. Type 3 endoleak is rare but a predominant cause of late rupture. Type 3b endoleak can be misdiagnosed as type 2 endoleak, which is more frequent. Here we report two cases of type 3b endoleak mimicking type 2 endoleak, which were successfully treated by open surgery of partial explantation of the stent-graft and endoaneurysmal interposition graft replacement.

BackgroundSarpogrelate is expected to reduce restenosis by protecting blood vessels from oxidative stress and vascular endothelial dysfunction as well as by acting as an antiplatelet agent after endovascular treatment (EVT). This trial was designed to compare aspirin plus sustained-release (SR) sarpogrelate with aspirin plus clopidogrel for the prevention of restenosis in patients with femoro-popliteal (FP) peripheral artery disease (PAD) who underwent EVT.Methods/DesignThis is an open label, multicenter, prospective randomized controlled clinical trial. Patients will be eligible for inclusion in this study if they require EVT for stenosis or occlusion of a de novo FP lesion. Patients in each group will receive aspirin 100 mg with clopidogrel 75 mg or aspirin 100 mg with SR sarpogrelate 300 mg (Anplone®) orally once a day for six months. The primary outcome of the study is the restenosis rate, defined as > 50% luminal reduction by computed tomography angiography or catheter angiography in the six-month follow-up period. Secondary outcomes include target lesion revascularization, major bleeding, ipsilateral major amputation, all-cause mortality, and all adverse events that take place in those six months.DiscussionThis study is a multicenter randomized controlled trial designed to show non-inferiority in terms of the re-stenosis rate of SR sarpogrelate compared to clopidogrel for EVT for PAD in FP lesion patients.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02959606. Registered on 9 November 2016.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13063-017-2155-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A 71-year-old woman presented with an enlarging mass in the right buttock, with pain and tingling sensation in sitting position. Five years ago, she was diagnosed with acute limb ischemia due to acute thrombosis of right persistent sciatic artery (PSA), and she underwent successful thromboembolectomy and femoro-tibioperoneal trunk bypass. Computed tomography angiography revealed a huge PSA aneurysm (PSAA). During the previous bypass, the distal popliteal artery was ligated just above the distal anastomosis to exclude the PSAA, whose proximal end was already thrombosed. However, PSAA has grown to cause compression symptoms, and the mechanism of aneurysm growth can be ascribed to type 1a or type 2 endoleak. In order to relieve the compression symptoms, aneurysm excision was performed without any injury to the sciatic nerve. A postoperative tingling sensation due to sciatic-nerve stimulation in the supine position resolved spontaneously one month after surgery.

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With increasing social concerns for healthy food, the studies on the cultivation of crops to increase accumulation of functional metabolites in crops have been investigated. Accumulation of the metabolites in crops is highly affected by various types of stress, such as nutrient deficiency, water deficit (WD), extreme temperature and UV-B radiation as well as their own life cycle. This review summarizes the previous studies on the effects of environmental stresses, especially WD and UV-B radiation, on accumulation of functional metabolites in crops. UV-B radiation and WD during specific period (mainly at maturation stage) activates the adaptation and/or defense system in crops, thereby increasing biosynthesis of the metabolites. Although WD and UV-B radiation tend to decrease in crop yield, the decrease can be compensated by the production of high value crops having high content of functional metabolites.

A 62-year-old man with progressive swelling on his left thigh and leg was referred to the Division of Vascular Surgery. Anticoagulation therapy did not prevent or improve the symptoms of chronic deep vein thrombosis (DVT) from his left external iliac vein to posterior tibial vein. He had no trauma history nor any accidents. He underwent femoral endovenectomy, thrombectomy and stent insertion in left iliac vein. The patient had additional balloon angioplasty for stenosis in left common femoral vein. He had an uneventful postoperative recovery without complication. Leg swelling has been improving and follow-up continues under anticoagulation. We report a case of femoral endovenectomy with iliac stenting, which may be an efficacious treatment for chronic DVT.