Background/AimsMesalazine is an effective drug for treating ulcerative colitis (UC), but causes allergic symptoms in a few cases. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of the drug-induced lymphocyte stimulation test (DLST) for the diagnosis of mesalazine allergy.MethodsPatients with UC treated with mesalazine with or without a history of associated adverse events (AEs) were enrolled at Kyorin University Hospital from July 2016 to April 2017.ResultsThe DLST was performed in 104 patients with UC, of which 24 had a history of AEs due to mesalazine treatment. The control value of DLST was 337.4±296.3 counts per minute (cpm) in the AE+ group and 408.0±371.9 cpm in the AE− group. The measured value of DLST was 578.8±424.7 cpm in the AE+ group and 476.5±471.8 cpm in the AE− group. The stimulation index (SI) was 243.9%±291.1% in the AE+ group and 119.8%±53.0% in the AE− group. The SI value and DLST positivity were significantly higher in the AE+ group than in the AE− group (P=0.030 and P=0.029, respectively). The test sensitivity and specificity were 0.240 and 0.805, respectively, and the false-positive and false-negative rate was 0.195 and 0.760, respectively.ConclusionsThe DLST for mesalazine showed low sensitivity and high specificity, suggesting that it may be useful for the definitive diagnosis of allergy to mesalazine.
The realization of low-dislocation-density bulk GaN crystals is necessary for use in the fabrication of future high-power devices with low power consumption. In this study, we attempted the regrowth of low-dislocation-density (10 4 -10 5 cm %2 ) GaN substrates to fabricate thick and lowdislocation-density GaN crystals using the dipping technique with the Na-flux method. In the growth using this dipping technique, the generation of dislocations at the interface between the GaN substrate and the regrowth layer was prevented, and we succeeded in fabricating thick and lowdislocation-density GaN crystals. In the growth without the dipping technique, the surface of the GaN substrate demonstrated meltback immediately before the growth, and dislocations were newly generated. These results indicate that the Na-flux dipping technique has potential use for the fabrication of low-dislocation-density bulk GaN crystals.
Abstract. Morphological changes of cultured bovine blastocysts during hatching were observed using time-lapse videomicrography in order to investigate the patterns of the hatching process that occurred in the blastocysts and to determine whether the hatching patterns differed between blastocysts developed from fresh and cryopreserved embryos. Compacted morulae (CMs) were collected from superovulation-treated Japanese Black and Holstein dairy cattle and cultured in a medium in a CO2 culture chamber equipped with an inverted microscope at 38.5 C. Images of resultant blastocysts during the period from blastocoel formation to completion of hatching were taken at 4-sec intervals by a CCD color camera connected to an inverted microscope and recorded by a time-lapse video cassette recorder. In blastocysts developed from fresh CMs, hatching was found to begin with protrusion of trophectoderm cells from zonae pellucidae at the expanded stage. Protrusion of the cells occurred in any site of the trophectoderm. After protrusion, a large or small slit was formed in the zona pellucida in all blastocysts as a result of blastocyst expansion or enlargement of the protrusion. Then, blastocysts completely escaped from the zona pellucida through the slit in the state of expansion. From these findings, the hatching patterns of cattle blastocysts could be classified into 5 types. In blastocysts developed from frozen-thawed CMs, the hatching pattern and length of time needed for hatching are similar to those in blastocysts developed from fresh CMs. In addition, the pregnancy rate of recipients following transfer of frozen-thawed CMs (52.4%) did not differ from that of recipients following transfer with fresh CMs (58.3%). These results suggested that the quality of frozen-thawed cattle embryos is comparable to that of fresh embryos and that there could be a relationship between the hatching pattern of blastocysts and the viability of embryos after transfer. [13][14][15]. The process of blastocyst hatching has been extensively studied in mice [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] and rats [23][24][25][26], and it was reported that the process of blastocyst hatching could be classified into 6 types in the mouse and 5 types in the rat, according to the site of protrusion of trophectoderm cells from the zona pellucida, the mode of slitting in the zona pellucida and the state of blastocyst contraction at the time of escape from the zona pellucida [23].In cattle blastocysts, the morphological changes during hatching have also been investigated by scanning electron microscopy [27] and time-lapse microcinematography [28]. Fléchon and Renard [27] reported that 31 out of 47 cultured blastocysts started hatching by protrusion of trophectoderm cells from zonae pellucidae after 24 h of culture and then formed a slit in the zona pellucida by blastocyst expansion. Massip et al. [28] reported that 22 out of 27 cattle blastocysts started hatching by protrusion of trophectoderm cells from zonae pellucidae at any site of the trophectoderm. Of these 22 cat...
Background and Aims: Familial mediterranean fever (FMF), an autoinflammatory disease, is characterized by periodic fever and serositis. An MEFV gene mutation has been identified as the cause of FMF. Recently, patients with MEFV gene mutations and chronic gastrointestinal mucosal inflammation mimicking inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have been reported. In this retrospective study, we analyzed the clinical characteristics of patients with IBD unclassified (IBDU) with MEFV gene mutations. Methods: MEFV gene analysis was performed on 8 patients with IBDU among 710 patients with IBD who had been treated at Kyorin University Hospital from April 2016 to December 2018. Clinical manifestations, endoscopic findings, and serological markers were also analyzed. Results: The average of the 8 patients with IBDU (3 men, 5 women) was 32.7 ± 6.4 years (range 26-76 years). Their symptoms comprised diarrhea (n = 8, 100%), hematochezia (n = 3, 37.5%), abdominal pain (n = 3, 37.5%), high fever (n = 2, 16.5%), and other periodic symptoms (n = 2, 16.5%). MEFV gene mutation was confirmed in 4/8 of these patients. Colonoscopy showed various mucosal lesions, rectal sparing, right side dominant colitis, pseudopolyposis, and granular protrusions. Colchicine was administered to 5 of the 8 patients (4 with and 1 without MEFV mutation) who were resistant to conventional treatment for ulcerative colitis. Clinical and endoscopic improvement was observed in all of 5 patients treated with colchicine. Conclusions: Some patients diagnosed as having IBDU have enterocolitis related to MEFV gene mutation and respond to colchicine therapy.
Abstract. The objective of this study was to establish a serum-free culture system for bovine endometrial epithelial cells, and to identify the function of these cells. Epithelial cells were separated from uterine endometrium at Days 5-10 of the estrous cycle by 0.76% EDTA-PBS and collagenase treatment. After histological observation, the epithelium was completely separated from the basement membrane by EDTA treatment. The separated epithelial cells were then dispersed by collagenase and cultured in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium/Ham's F-12 1:1 supplemented with insulin, transferrin, sodium-selenite, hydrocortisone, retinol, ascorbic acid and antibiotics on collagencoated culture dishes. The cells attached to the substrate and reached confluency after 5-7 days of culture. An immunocytochemical study revealed that the cultured epithelial cells were positive to cytokeratin, but not vimentin. The production of prostaglandin (PG) F2α was significantly higher (p<0.001) in the presence of 100 nM oxytocin (OT; 2.81 fold greater than the concentration in the control) than in the absence of OT. These results indicate that it is possible to culture bovine endometrial epithelial cells in the serum-free culture system, and that cultured cells have some typical characteristics of endometrial epithelial cells.
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