The “happy puppet” syndrome in two siblings

Summary Disomic and trisomic cells of a patient with Down syndrome mosaic were used to study the effect of the additional chromosome 21 against an identical genetic background. The frequency of Ag staining and the participation in satellite associations were determined for each pair of acrocentric chromosomes. The additional chromosome 21 of the trisomic cells and its homologues proved to be regularly Ag positive. Therefore the trisomic cells showed more Ag positive chromosomes and more satellite associations per cell than the diploid cells. Thus, no compensation for the additional rRNA-gene dose could be found in the cells of the trisomic line.     

Establishment of Autoantibody-Producing Cell Lines from Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes of Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Autoantibody-producing B cell lines were established from peripheral blood lymphocytes of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Peripheral blood lymphocytes obtained from five of seven patients were successfully transformed by Epstein-Barr virus. Two of four established B lymphoblastoid cell lines examined in this study produced anti-nuclear factor antibodies and one of them produced anti-single-stranded DNA and anti-double-stranded DNA antibodies. These results indicate that B cell clones committed to self antigens are transformed by Epstein-Barr virus and continue to produce autoantibodies. In order to establish a monoclonal autoantibody-producing B cell line, the cells were cloned by a limiting dilution method. The data suggest that it is possible to establish a monoclonal autoantibody-producing B cell line by the combination of transformation of B cells by Epstein-Barr virus and extensive cloning.     

Long-day flowering of Lemna perpusilla 6746 in Mo-deficient medium

Lemna perpusilla 6746, a short-day duckweed, flowered undercontinuous illumination if some of the SH inhibitors, such ascyanide or tungstate were added to the M-sucrose medium. Theeffect of tungstate was not overcome by simultaneous applicationof molybdate, but deletion of the Mo from the medium was enoughto induce the long-day flowering. In vivo assay of nitrate reductaseactivity suggested that nitrate reduction was not inhibitedby tungstate, CuSO₄ or AgNO₃ which induced longday flowering.The possibility was suggested that suppression of some Mo-requiringprocess other than nitrate reduction brings about the long-dayflowering in this plant. (Received November 12, 1975; )     

The function of the pentose phosphate pathway in Phaseolus mungo hypocotyls

The metabolism of d-gluconate-[1-¹⁴C] and -[6-¹⁴C] by segments from etiolated hypocotyls of Phaseolus mungo has been studied. The release of ¹⁴CO₂ from gluconate-[1-¹⁴C] was greater than that from gluconate-[6-¹⁴C] in all parts of hypocotyls examined. Incorporation of the radioactivity from gluconate-[6-¹⁴C] into RNA, lignin and aromatic amino acid fractions was greater in the upper (younger) part of the hypocotyls. Incorporation into sugars was greater in the lower (more mature) parts.     

Induction of Flowering in Lemna paucicostata by Dicoumarol and 4-Hydroxycoumarin

Dicoumarol, an antagonist of vitamin K, not only promoted theflower-inducing activity of vitamin K₅, but also induced floweringin Lemna paucicostata when added alone to the medium. The flower-inducingactivity of dicoumarol was comparable to that of benzoic acidand could be greatly intensified by simultaneous applicationof benzyladenine as was the case with benzoic acid. Warfarin,another antagonist of vitamin K, did not induce flowering. 4-Hydroxycoumarin, a component of dicoumarol, was also active,but coumarin and 7-hydroxycoumarin were not. Dicoumarol hadonly a slight flower-inducing activity for strains 441 and 6746under continuous light, but had a strong flower-promoting effectunder a near critical photoperiod. That is, the effect of dicoumarolwas daylength-dependent. (Received April 22, 1985; Accepted August 21, 1985)     

Experimental Approach Reveals the Role of alx1 in the Evolution of the Echinoderm Larval Skeleton

Over the course of evolution, the acquisition of novel structures has ultimately led to wide variation in morphology among extant multicellular organisms. Thus, the origins of genetic systems for new morphological structures are a subject of great interest in evolutionary biology. The larval skeleton is a novel structure acquired in some echinoderm lineages via the activation of the adult skeletogenic machinery. Previously, VEGF signaling was suggested to have played an important role in the acquisition of the larval skeleton. In the present study, we compared expression patterns of Alx genes among echinoderm classes to further explore the factors involved in the acquisition of a larval skeleton. We found that the alx1 gene, originally described as crucial for sea urchin skeletogenesis, may have also played an essential role in the evolution of the larval skeleton. Unlike those echinoderms that have a larval skeleton, we found that alx1 of starfish was barely expressed in early larvae that have no skeleton. When alx1 overexpression was induced via injection of alx1 mRNA into starfish eggs, the expression patterns of certain genes, including those possibly involved in skeletogenesis, were altered. This suggested that a portion of the skeletogenic program was induced solely by alx1. However, we observed no obvious external phenotype or skeleton. We concluded that alx1 was necessary but not sufficient for the acquisition of the larval skeleton, which, in fact, requires several genetic events. Based on these results, we discuss how the larval expression of alx1 contributed to the acquisition of the larval skeleton in the putative ancestral lineage of echinoderms.     

Sensitization Potential of Dental Resins: 2-Hydroxyethyl Methacrylate and Its Water-Soluble Oligomers Have Immunostimulatory Effects

The immunostimulatory effects of the representative dental resin monomer 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), a HEMA derivative that does not contain a double bond (2-hydroxyethyl isobutyrate, HEIB), and polymerized water-soluble oligomers of HEMA (PHEMA) were investigated. It is known that expression levels of either or both of CD54 and CD86 in THP-1 cells are increased by exposure to sensitizing substances. In this study, the expression levels of CD54 and CD86, the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and the viability of the cells were measured after 24 h of incubation with these materials at different concentrations. The concentrations of the materials that induced the expression of both CD54 and CD86 were low in the following order: NiSO₄, HEMA, and methyl methacrylate (MMA). These results indicate that these dental resin monomers have lower sensitizing potentials than NiSO₄. Although HEIB, which lacks a double bond, resulted in negligible ROS production and reduced cytotoxicity than HEMA, it induced the expression of CD54 and CD86. Comparison of the results for HEMA and HEIB indicates that dental resin monomer-induced sensitization may be related not only to the oxidative stress related to the methacryloyl group but also to the structures of these compounds. Of particular interest is the result that a water-soluble PHEMA oligomer with a relatively high-molecular weight also exhibited negligible cytotoxicity, whereas the expression level of CD54 increased after exposure to PHEMA at a high concentration. This result serves as a warning that polymerized substances also have the potential to induce sensitization. This study provides insight into the nature of allergic responses to dental resin materials in clinical use and may facilitate the development of more biocompatible restorative materials in the future.     

Effectiveness of enhanced cognitive behavior therapy for bulimia nervosa in Japan: a randomized controlled trial protocol

Although fatigue is a common and distressing symptom in cancer survivors, the mechanism of fatigue is not fully understood. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the relation between the fatigue and mindfulness of breast cancer survivors using anxiety, depression, pain, loneliness, and sleep disturbance as mediators. Path analysis was performed to examine direct and indirect associations between mindfulness and fatigue. Participants were breast cancer survivors who visited a breast surgery department at a university hospital in Japan for hormonal therapy or regular check-ups after treatment. The questionnaire measured cancer-related-fatigue, mindfulness, anxiety, depression, pain, loneliness, and sleep disturbance. Demographic and clinical characteristics were collected from medical records. Two-hundred and seventy-nine breast cancer survivors were registered, of which 259 answered the questionnaire. Ten respondents with incomplete questionnaire data were excluded, resulting in 249 participants for the analyses. Our final model fit the data well (goodness of fit index = .993; adjusted goodness of fit index = .966; comparative fit index = .999; root mean square error of approximation = .016). Mindfulness, anxiety, depression, pain, loneliness, and sleep disturbance were related to fatigue, and mindfulness had the most influence on fatigue (β = − .52). Mindfulness affected fatigue not only directly but also indirectly through anxiety, depression, pain, loneliness, and sleep disturbance. The study model helps to explain the process by which mindfulness affects fatigue. Our results suggest that mindfulness has both direct and indirect effects on the fatigue of breast cancer survivors and that mindfulness can be used to more effectively reduce their fatigue. It also suggests that health care professionals should be aware of factors such as anxiety, depression, pain, loneliness, and sleep disturbance in their care for fatigue of breast cancer survivors. This study was registered in the University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN number. 000027720) on June 12, 2017.     

Species richness,abundance and diversity of ichneumonid wasps in Japanese beech forests impacted by sika deer and sawfly herbivory

We investigated the community structure of ichneumonid wasps inhabiting beech forests at six sites in the Tanzawa Mountains of Japan under different magnitudes of impact by sika deer Cervus nippon and beech sawfly Fagineura crenativora on vegetation. Using yellow flight-interception traps, we captured 2,528 ichneumonid wasps representing 367 species in 23 subfamilies. The number of species at each site ranged from 77 to 136 and approximately 80% of these were low-density species (i.e. only one to two individuals captured per site). The number of individuals at each site ranged from 248 to 897, and the percentage of the beech sawfly parasitoids varied widely from 1% to 57%. The numbers of species in parasitoid groups categorized according to their hosts, that is, sawfly (not including the beech sawfly), Lepidoptera, woodborer, fungivore or the others, did not greatly differ among the study sites. Parasitoids attacking herbivorous insects exceeded others in species richness and abundance at all sites. Six sites were classified into four groups in terms of abundance of the host groups when excluding the parasitoids of the beech sawfly, but into only two groups when including these parasitoids. Species diversity and evenness were the highest at the least impacted site even if the beech sawfly parasitoids were excluded from calculation. We suggested some environmental factors, such as groundcover vegetation, abundance of the beech sawfly and structure and age of forest stands, that could have affected the community structure of ichneumonid wasps in the beech forests.