Background: Although rapid on-site cytologic evaluation (ROSE) is widely used during endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA), its role remains unclear. Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of ROSE during EBUS-TBNA in the diagnosis of lung cancer. Methods: One hundred and twenty patients highly suspected of having lung cancer who had hilar/mediastinal lymphadenopathy or a tumor adjacent to the central airway were enrolled in this study and randomized to undergo EBUS-TBNA with or without ROSE. Results: Twelve patients with visible endobronchial lesions were excluded in the analysis. Thus, a total of 108 patients (55 in the ROSE group, 53 in the non-ROSE group) were analyzed. Additional procedures including EBUS-TBNA for lesions other than the main target lesion and/or transbronchial biopsy in the same setting were performed in 11% of patients in the ROSE group and 57% in the non-ROSE group (p < 0.001). Mean puncture number was significantly lower in the ROSE group (2.2 vs. 3.1 punctures, p < 0.001), and mean bronchoscopy time was similar between both groups (22.3 vs. 22.1 min, p = 0.95). The sensitivity and accuracy for diagnosing lung cancer were 88 and 89% in the ROSE group, and 86 and 89% in the non-ROSE group, respectively. No complications were associated with the procedures. Conclusions: ROSE during EBUS-TBNA is associated with a significantly lower need for additional bronchoscopic procedures and puncture number.

Prothoracicotropic hormone (PTTH), a brain secretory polypeptide of insects, stimulates the prothoracic glands to produce and release ecdysone, the steroid essential to insect development. The complementary DNAs encoding PTTH of the silkmoth Bombyx mori were cloned and characterized, and the complete amino acid sequence was deduced. The data indicated that PTTH is first synthesized as a 224-amino acid polypeptide precursor containing three proteolytic cleavage signals. The carboxyl-terminal component (109 amino acids) that follows the last cleavage signal represents one PTTH subunit. Two PTTH subunits are linked together by disulfide bonds, before or after cleavage from prepro-PTTH, to form a homodimeric PTTH. When introduced into Escherichia coli cells, the complementary DNA directed the expression of an active substance that was functionally indistinguishable from natural PTTH. In situ hybridization showed the localization of the prepro-PTTH mRNA to two dorsolateral neurosecretory cells of the Bombyx brain.

SummaryWe investigated the effects of fructooligosaccharides (FO) feeding on the absorption of iron (Fe), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) and on the biochemical parameters in Fe-deficient anemic rats. Fe-deficient anemic rats were made by feeding an Fe-deficient diet for 3 weeks. Then these Fe-deficient rats were fed an experimental diet that contained one of two levels of Fe (15 or 30mg/kg diet), in the form of ferric pyrophosphate, and one of two levels of FO (0 or 50g/kg diet) for 2 weeks. After the rats were fed these experimental diets, FO-feeding increased the hematocrit ratio, the concentration of hemoglobin and the hemoglobin regeneration efficiency during the first week. Also, the apparent absorption of Fe was increased by FO-feeding. The levels of Fe in the diet did not affect the absorption of Ca and Mg. However, FO-feeding increased the absorption of Ca and Mg. FO-feeding lowered the pH and raised the solubility of Fe, Ca and Mg in the cecal contents, suggesting that those increasing effects of FO-feeding on absorption of these minerals is correlated with fermentation of FO in the large intestine, namely, the cecum and colon. We concluded that FO-feeding improved recovery from anemia and increased the absorption of Fe, Ca and Mg in Fe-deficient anemic rats.

We investigated the effects of fructooligosaccharides on the absorption of calcium, magnesium and water from the colon and rectum of rats fed a control diet or the control diet containing 50 g fructooligosaccharides/kg. Chromium-mordanted cellulose was used as an unabsorbable marker to calculate apparent absorption of calcium and magnesium. There was a positive correlation (r = 0.982, P < 0.001 in rats fed the control diet and r = 0.975, P < 0.001 in rats fed the fructooligosaccharides-containing diet) between the amount of chromium and the dry weight of each fecal pellet in the colon and rectum. Ratios of calcium to chromium and magnesium to chromium in fecal pellets in the colon and rectum were calibrated from the Ca:Cr and Mg:Cr ratios of cecal contents. In rats fed the fructooligosaccharides-containing diet, but not in rats fed the control diet, these ratios were correlated with the fractional length of transit along the colon and rectum, indicating linear disappearance of calcium and magnesium during the colorectal passage. Total apparent absorption of calcium and magnesium, predicted from regression equations with the Ca:Cr and Mg:Cr ratios of cecal contents, agreed well with those calculated from the Ca:Cr and Mg:Cr ratios of feces. The consumption of fructooligosaccharides did not affect net water absorption from the colon and rectum. These results indicated that fructooligosaccharides significantly increased calcium and magnesium absorption and that indigestible and fermentable carbohydrate facilitates colorectal absorption of calcium and magnesium.

Harmonic generation is investigated at an intensity range of 10'5-10' W/cm by using a 280fsec KrF laser. The highest-order harmonic observed with Ne as a nonlinear medium is the 25th (9.9 nm), which gives the shortest-wavelength coherent radiation ever obtained. The inversions or anomalous peaks of harmonic intensity are first found at the 19-21st in Ne, the 17-19th in He, and the 11-13th in Ar. The intensity dependence of the harmonics is measured over a range of 10"-10'8 W/cm'. The observed distribution of harmonics is discussed and compared with the previous reports.Recently there has been rapid progress in the study of

Fluorescence lifetime images of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) that is a key cofactor in cellular metabolism were obtained in a cell at various values of intracellular pH. The average fluorescence lifetime of NADH is found to become shorter monotonically with increasing pH, indicating that pH in a single cell can be determined by fluorescence lifetime imaging of NADH without adding exogenous fluorescent probes. The magnitude of the pH-induced lifetime change is higher in cells than that in buffer solution. The fluorescence lifetime of NADH is not uniform inside a cell; the fluorescence lifetime of nuclear NADH is shorter than that of mitochondrial NADH at each pH, and the magnitude of the pH-induced change is larger in nuclei than in other areas. The local electric field effect on the fluorescence lifetime is discussed since this effect may be one of the strong possibilities for the nonuniformity of the autofluorescence lifetime of NADH in cells.

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