Lipomatous hemangiopericytoma of the corpus spongiosum: a case report and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Hemangiopericytoma (HPC) is an uncommon soft tissue tumor arising from pericytes. The urogenital system is rarely affected. METHODS: The review of the literature used the PubMed database which was searched up to March 2015. RESULTS: Herein, we report the first case of lipomatous HPC of the corpus spongiosum in a 37-year-old man in China. The lesion presented as a quickly growing mass. Contrast enhanced CT showed a heterogeneous fatty mass with a multifocal enhancing soft-tissue component. Microscopically, the neoplasm was composed of spindle cells, a mature fat component and collagenous stroma. The mitotic index was low at 1 to 3 mitoses per 10 high-power fields. Immunohistochemically, STAT6, Bcl-2, CD99 and CDK4 were positive; CD34 and SMA were negative. The mature adipocytes were positive for S-100. Ki-67 expression was found in approximately 5% of the tumor cells. Surprisingly, there was a diffuse and strong nuclear expression of MDM2, but, no amplification of MDM2 was demonstrated by FISH. An adequate excision of the tumor was performed. CONCLUSION: No local recurrence or distant metastases occurred during the 18-month follow-up. In view of the unpredictable biological behavior of this tumor, a long follow-up period is mandatory.

Characterization of the complete mitochondrial genome of the Scarlet Tiger moth Callimorpha dominula (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Arctiidae).

The complete mitochondrial genome of the Scarlet Tiger moth Callimorpha dominula (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Arctiidae) has been reconstructed from the whole-genome Illumina sequencing data. This circular genome is 15 496 bp in size, and contains 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNAs (tRNAs), two ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), and one A + T-rich D-loop or control region. Most PCGs are initiated with the ATN codons, except for COX1 with the unusual CGA as its initiation codon. Four PCGs (COX1, COX2, ND3, and ND4) are terminated with incomplete codon T, ND4L uses TAG as its termination codon, while all the other eight PCGs employ the usual ATN codons. The nucleotide composition is highly asymmetric (40.1% A, 40.9% T, 7.6% G, and 11.4% C) with an overall A + T content of 81.0%. The phylogenetic analysis based on the neighbor-joining (NJ) method suggests that C. dominula is more phylogenetically related to its confamilial counterparts than to those from other families.

[Effects of endogenous dopamine on two-state voltage oscillations of striatum medium spiny neurons].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of endogenous dopamine (DA) on striatum medium spiny neurons (MSNs) in acute brain slices by the means of electrophysiology and elucidate the impact of nigrostriatal circuit loop on the functional status of MSNs. METHODS: Various structural combinations of striatum and cortex or/and substantia nigra were used to explore the conditions with appearance of spontaneous two-state voltage oscillations. And the blockage of dopaminergic or glutamic acid receptor was employed to examine how amino glutaminic acid from cortex and dopamine from substantia nigra influenced two-state voltage oscillations. RESULTS: It was found that 65.2% (30/46) MSNs recorded in corticostriatonigral slices displayed spontaneous and two-state voltage oscillations.92.3% (24/26) of MSNs in dorsal striatum close to cortex. And the percentage was only 30% (6/20) in ventral striatum. The amplitude of depolarized plateau potential (up state) decreased through a blockage of dopamine receptor (P < 0.05). The potential level of up state decreased through a blockage of D1 receptor (P < 0.05) and action potentials were stopped. The results of blocking D2 receptors were the increased potentials level of two states (P < 0.05). The membrane potential of MSNs showed a stable resting level in corticostriatonigral (-67 ± 3 mV, n = 10), corticostriatal (-70 ± 3 mV, n = 10), striatal (-73 ± 3 mV, n = 10) and nigrostriatal (-71 ± 3 mV, n = 10) slices. There was no significant difference (P > 0.05) . CONCLUSION: Endogenous dopamine from substantia nigra may regulate the instantaneous integration and coding of information from cortex by tonic effect on short-term plasticity of paired and short pulses in corticostriatal synapses.

The additive effects of combined murine nuclear migration protein with murine thrombopoietin in vitro and in vivo on normal and myelosuppressed mice.

The human homolog of a fungal nuclear migration protein (hNUDC) has recently been shown in in vitro studies to overlap in function with the cytokine factor thrombopoietin (TPO) in its ability to induce human megakaryocyte development. In the present study, we sought to confirm the hypothesis that combination of TPO and NUDC may result in additive or synergistic effects on megakaryocyte maturation in bone marrow. For this purpose, murine bone marrow cells were stimulated with murine NUDC (mNUDC), either alone or in conjunction with murine thrombopoietin (mTPO), in serum-free medium. Studies showed that mNUDC + mTPO treatments resulted in the greatest number of colony-forming unit of megakaryocytes. Concomitantly, mNUDC + mTPO enhanced expression of CD61 and elicited the largest number of megakaryocytes, with higher ploidy and larger size. In addition, in vivo experiments revealed an elevation of platelet levels in normal and thrombocytopenic mice that had been administered mTPO + mNUDC. Moreover, mRNA levels of mNUDC and murine thrombopoietin receptor were much higher than the levels of mTPO mRNA at two different phases of normal murine megakaryocyte maturation. Furthermore, levels of ERK1/2 and Akt phosphorylation are higher with mNUDC in combination with mTPO. This study demonstrates that the combination of mTPO and mNUDC provides additive induction of megakaryocyte maturation in vitro and platelet production in vivo.