Successful resection of growing teratoma syndrome in the abdominal wall with reconstruction using tensor fascia lata muscle flap: A case report and literature review.

While cancer cure is the primary goal, fertility preservation is also a cornerstone of the underlying principle of treatment for ovarian germ cell tumors. Growing teratoma syndrome (GTS) presents with growth of mature teratomas during or after chemotherapy. We report a case of successful treatment of GTS in the anterior abdominal wall involving reconstruction. A 23-year-old woman with a suspected right ovarian mature teratoma with torsion underwent emergency laparoscopically assisted extracorporeal ovarian cystectomy. Histopathological findings revealed a grade 1 immature teratoma. After two months, postoperative α-fetoprotein (AFP) levels increased, and disseminated lesions developed not only in the pelvic cavity but also in the abdominal wound where the tumor had been extracted using an extracorporeal technique at the time of primary surgery. The patient underwent laparoscopic right salpingo-oophorectomy, excision of multiple peritoneal nodules, and biopsy of abdominal wall mass. The left rectus abdominis muscle tumor could not be removed. All of these nodules were diagnosed as metastatic immature teratomas. Although the patient received three cycles of chemotherapy, the residual tumor in the abdominal wall grew remarkably despite post-chemotherapy normalization of AFP levels. Both rectus abdominis muscles involving the residual tumors were removed and reconstructed using a left tensor fascia lata muscle flap. Histopathologically, the residual tumors were identified as mature teratomas with no immature elements, resulting in GTS. The patient got pregnant without the need of fertility treatment and gave birth uneventfully by cesarean section. Thus, reconstruction with a tensor fascia lata muscle flap facilitated complete removal of GTS while preserving fertility.

[A Case of Laparoscopic Repair for Hiatal Hernia Occurred Five Years after Esophagectomy for Esophageal Cancer].

A 70s man underwent minimally invasive esophagectomy and gastric conduit reconstruction via the posterior mediastinal route for early esophageal cancer 5 years ago. Three days prior to hospital visit, he presented with abdominal fullness, left chest pain, and vomiting. A CT revealed a postoperative hiatal hernia, and emergency surgery was performed laparoscopically. The laparoscopic findings showed that the transverse colon had prolapsed into the left thoracic cavity through the esophageal hiatus on the left side of the gastric conduit. The transverse colon had no sign of necrosis. The diaphragmatic defect was closed with unabsorbable suture. Increased bowel motility due to postoperative fat loss in the mesentery and intra-abdominal pressure are thought to be causes of the hernia. In addition, decreased adhesion formation due to endoscopic surgery may be a contributing factor. Although there is no unanimous opinion regarding the suture fixation of the conduit to the diaphragm after esophagectomy, it should be performed to prevent a herniation. Postoperative hiatal hernia occurs more than 5 years after the surgery is relatively rare, but its occurrence should be noted.

Coronary spasm and optical coherence tomography defined plaque erosion causing ST-segment-elevation acute myocardial infarction in a patient with COVID-19 pneumonia.

An 84-year-old man with coronavirus disease 2019 pneumonia developed ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction and was brought to the catheterization laboratory. His angiogram showed a haziness in distal right coronary artery, and optical coherence tomography (OCT) exhibited vascular spasm and OCT-defined plaque erosion, which were thought to be the causes of non-obstructive myocardial infarction. .

Stress-induced somatic embryogenesis in vegetative tissues of Arabidopsis thaliana.

Somatic embryogenesis is an obvious experimental evidence of totipotency, and is used as a model system for studying the mechanisms of de-differentiation and re-differentiation of plant cells. Although Arabidopsis is widely used as a model plant for genetic and molecular biological studies, there is no available tissue culture system for inducing somatic embryogenesis from somatic cells in this plant. We established a new tissue culture system using stress treatment to induce somatic embryogenesis in Arabidopsis. In this system, stress treatment induced formation of somatic embryos from shoot-apical-tip and floral-bud explants. The somatic embryos grew into young plantlets with normal morphology, including cotyledons, hypocotyls, and roots, and some embryo-specific genes (ABI3 and FUS3) were expressed in these embryos. Several stresses (osmotic, heavy metal ion, and dehydration stress) induced somatic embryogenesis, but the optimum stress treatment differed between different stressors. When we used mannitol to cause osmotic stress, the optimal conditions for somatic embryogenesis were 6-9 h of culture on solid B5 medium containing 0.7 m mannitol, after which the explants were transferred to B5 medium containing 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D, 4.5 microm), but no mannitol. Using this tissue culture system, we induced somatic embryogenesis in three major ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana-Ws, Col, and Ler.

Establishment of a reproducible tissue culture system for the induction of Arabidopsis somatic embryos.

Somatic embryogenesis is an example of totipotency and is used as a model system for studying embryogenesis. A reproducible tissue culture system was established for the large-scale induction of Arabidopsis somatic embryos. The method allows maintenance of high embryogenic competence over a one-year period. Using this tissue culture system, the expression of embryo-specific genes (ABI3, LEC1, FUS3) was detected in embryogenic cells and somatic embryos. Exogenous application of abscisic acid enhanced the expression of some late-embryogenesis-abundant (LEA) protein genes in somatic embryos. The experiments show that the method can be used to obtain sufficient amounts of embryogenic material for basic molecular analyses.