[Long-term results of open stent-grafting applied with a Matsui-Kitamura( MK) stent in treatment of arch aneurysm].

We report the initial and long-term results of open stent-grafting (OSG) applied with a Matsui-Kitamura (MK) stent in the treatment of thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA). From August 2005 to March 2013, OSG for TAA was applied in 46 cases( male/female, 36/10, 54-86 years old, mean age 71). During deep hypothermic circulatory arrest with antegrade selective cerebral perfusion, stent graft was delivered through the transected proximal aortic arch, followed by arch replacement with a 4-branched prosthesis. Operative mortality within 30 days was 6.5%(respiratory failure in 1, multiple organ failure in 1and ischemic enteritis in 1) and there was 1 in hospital death due to brain stem infarction. Perioperative morbidity included 2( 4.3%) stroke, 5( 10.9%) spinal cord injuries( paraplegia in 1, paraparesis in 1 and transient paraparesis in 3). In long-term follow-up, survival was 86.8%, 77.2%, and 72.0% for 1, 3 and 5 years. Freedom from aortic event was 97.3%, 93.8% and 89.1% for 1, 3 and 5 years. Theseresults suggested the OSG method applied with a MK stent is a useful surgical procedure for the treatment of TAA.

[Open stent-grafting using the Matsui-Kitamura stent for a distal arch aneurysm; an idea for insertion of stent graft and organ protection].

For the improvement in the clinical results of open stent-grafting, the development of a device system and prevention of spinal cord injury are important. For that reasons, we devised 2 methods for the open stent-grafting with the Matsui-Kitamura (MK) stent. First, the applicator using transesophagial echo transducer cover made insertion of the stent-graft system easy and safe. Next, to prevent ischemic spinal injury and protect major abdominal organ, blood return to lower body was established from femoral artery with occluding the stent graft by balloon. However, these procedures might need to examine whether it really contributes to the improvement in the clinical results.

Production of trout offspring from triploid salmon parents.

Many salmonids have become at risk of extinction. For teleosts whose eggs cannot be cryopreserved, developing techniques other than egg cryopreservation to save genetic resources is imperative. In this study, spermatogonia from rainbow trout were intraperitoneally transplanted into newly hatched sterile triploid masu salmon. Transplanted trout spermatogonia underwent spermatogenesis and oogenesis in male and female recipients, respectively. At 2 years after transplantation, triploid salmon recipients only produced trout sperm and eggs. With use of these salmon as parents, we successfully produced only donor-derived trout offspring. Thus, by transplanting cryopreserved spermatogonia into sterile xenogeneic recipients, we can generate individuals of a threatened species.

Mesenchymal progenitors able to differentiate into osteogenic, chondrogenic, and/or adipogenic cells in vitro are present in most primary fibroblast-like cell populations.

MSCs and mesenchymal progenitor cells (MPCs) are studied for their potential in regenerative medicine. MSCs in particular have great potential, because various reports have shown that they can differentiate into many different cell types. However, the difference between mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells and so-called fibroblasts is unclear. In this study, we found that most of the distinct populations of primary fibroblast-like cells derived from various human tissues, including lung, skin, umbilical cord, and amniotic membrane, contained cells that were able to differentiate into at least one mesenchymal lineage, including osteoblasts, chondrocytes, and adipocytes. We therefore propose that primary fibroblast-like cell populations obtained from various human tissues do not comprise solely fibroblasts, but rather that they also include at least MPCs and possibly MSCs, to some extent. Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article.

Quiescent string dominance parameter F and classification of one-dimensional cellular automata.

The classification of rules may be one of the most fundamental targets in the study of cellular automata. In this paper, we propose a method for achieving such a classification, in which a new quiescent string dominance parameter F, which is orthogonal to lambda, is introduced. For N -neighbor and K -state cellular automata, in the region 1/K