Repetitive abdominal pain in a reproductive-aged woman.

We report a young woman with ileocecal endometriosis who presented with repeated abdominal pain. Under hormonal effects, the endometrium may proliferate and cause bleeding in the bowel wall, leading to cyclical abdominal pain. When recurring abdominal pain is observed in reproductive-aged women, physicians should always be aware of gastrointestinal endometriosis.

EBP50 Depletion and Nuclear ß-Catenin Accumulation Engender Aggressive Behavior of Colorectal Carcinoma through Induction of Tumor Budding.

Ezin-radixin-moesin-binding phosphoprotein 50 (EBP50) is a scaffold protein that interacts with several partner molecules including ß-catenin. Here, we examined the crosstalk between EBP50 and nuclear catenin during colorectal carcinoma (CRC) progression. In clinical samples, there were no correlations between the subcellular location of EBP50 and any clinicopathological factors. However, EBP50 expression was significantly lower specifically in the outer areas of tumor lesions, in regions where tumor budding (BD) was observed. Low EBP50 expression was also significantly associated with several unfavorable prognostic factors, suggesting that EBP50 depletion rather than its overexpression or subcellular distribution plays an important role in CRC progression. In CRC cell lines, knockout of EBP50 induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-like features, decreased proliferation, accelerated migration capability, and stabilized nuclear ß-catenin due to disruption of the interaction between EBP50 and ß-catenin at the plasma membrane. In addition, Slug expression was significantly higher in outer lesions, particularly in BD areas, and was positively correlated with nuclear ß-catenin status, consistent with ß-catenin-driven transactivation of the Slug promoter. Together, our data suggest that EBP50 depletion releases ß-catenin from the plasma membrane in outer tumor lesions, allowing ß-catenin to accumulate and translocate to the nucleus, where it transactivates the Slug gene to promote EMT. This in turn triggers tumor budding and contributes to the progression of CRC to a more aggressive phase.

Effects of Aging on Hair Color, Melanosomes, and Melanin Composition in Japanese Males and Their Sex Differences.

In a previous study, we observed that the hair color of Japanese females darkens with age and that the causes of this are the increase in melanosome size, the amount of melanin, and the mol% of 5,6-dihydroxyindole (DHI) which has a high absorbance. In this study, we extended the same analyses to male hair to examine the sex differences in hair color, melanin composition, and melanosome morphology. Male hair also tended to darken with age, but it was darker than female hair in those of younger ages. Although there was no age dependence of DHI mol% in male hair, as with female hair, the melanosomes' sizes enlarged with age, the total melanin amount increased, and these findings were correlated with hair color. The analyses, considering age dependence, revealed that there were significant sex differences in the ratio of absorbance of dissolved melanin at the wavelength of 650 nm to 500 nm, in pheomelanin mol%, and in melanosome morphology parameters such as the minor axis. This may be the cause of the sex differences in hair color. Furthermore, the factors related to hair color were analyzed using all the data of the male and female hairs. The results suggested that total melanin amount, pheomelanin mol%, and DHI mol% correlated with hair color.

Effects of Aging on Hair Color, Melanosome Morphology, and Melanin Composition in Japanese Females.

In a previous study, we showed that the size of melanosomes isolated from Japanese female hairs enlarges with age, and this affects the hair color. In this study, we analyzed the age-dependent changes in hair melanin in order to further explore the factors related to hair color changing by aging. A significant positive correlation with age was found in the total melanin amount (TM) and the mol% of 5,6-dihydroxyindole (DHI) units, while no correlation was found in pheomelanin mol%. TM showed significant correlations with hair color parameters and the melanosome volume, suggesting that hair color darkening by aging is caused by the increase in TM due to the enlargement of the size of melanosome. From the measurement of absorbance spectra on synthetic eumelanins with different ratios of DHI and 5,6-dihydroxyindole-2-carboxylic acid (DHICA), we found that the increase in DHI mol% also contributes to the darkening of hair color by aging. In addition, the level of pyrrole-2,3-dicarboxylic acid (PDCA), a marker of DHI melanin, showed a significant negative correlation with the aspect ratio of melanosome, suggesting a contribution of DHI melanin to the change in melanosome morphology by aging.

Morphological changes in hair melanosomes by aging.

Various changes appear in hair by aging, and graying is the most remarkable one. Changes in melanocytes have been well studied as the cause; however, little is known about the change in melanosomes which have a role of carrying melanin pigments into hair shafts. Using pigmented hairs of Japanese females from their age of 4-75, I isolated melanosomes and observed them. As a result, I found a significant change in the morphology of hair melanosomes with age. They were ellipsoidal on the whole and there was no age dependence in the major axis, while the minor axis significantly increased and its frequency distribution broadened with age. The anticipated volume of the melanosome of the oldest person hairs was about twice larger than that of child hairs. This enlargement of melanosome seems to be a cause of the age-related color change in pigmented hairs from brown to black.

Intrinsic curvature in wool fibres is determined by the relative length of orthocortical and paracortical cells.

Hair curvature underpins structural diversity and function in mammalian coats, but what causes curl in keratin hair fibres? To obtain structural data to determine one aspect of this question, we used confocal microscopy to provide in situ measurements of the two cell types that make up the cortex of merino wool fibres, which was chosen as a well-characterised model system representative of narrow diameter hairs, such as underhairs. We measured orthocortical and paracortical cross-sectional areas, and cortical cell lengths, within individual fibre snippets of defined uniplanar curvature. This allowed a direct test of two long-standing theories of the mechanism of curvature in hairs. We found evidence contradicting the theory that curvature results from there being more cells on the side of the fibre closest to the outside, or convex edge, of curvature. In all cases, the orthocortical cells close to the outside of curvature were longer than paracortical cells close to the inside of the curvature, which supports the theory that curvature is underpinned by differences in cell type length. However, the latter theory also implies that, for all fibres, curvature should correlate with the proportions of orthocortical and paracortical cells, and we found no evidence for this. In merino wool, it appears that the absolute length of cells of each type and proportion of cells varies from fibre to fibre, and only the difference between the length of the two cell types is important. Implications for curvature in higher diameter hairs, such as guard hairs and those on the human scalp, are discussed.

T-DNA Tagging-Based Gain-of-Function of OsHKT1;4 Reinforces Na Exclusion from Leaves and Stems but Triggers Na Toxicity in Roots of Rice Under Salt Stress.

The high affinity K⁺ transporter 1;4 (HKT1;4) in rice (Oryza sativa), which shows Na⁺ selective transport with little K⁺ transport activity, has been suggested to be involved in reducing Na in leaves and stems under salt stress. However, detailed physiological roles of OsHKT1;4 remain unknown. Here, we have characterized a transfer DNA (T-DNA) insertion mutant line of rice, which overexpresses OsHKT1;4, owing to enhancer elements in the T-DNA, to gain an insight into the impact of OsHKT1;4 on salt tolerance of rice. The homozygous mutant (the O/E line) accumulated significantly lower concentrations of Na in young leaves, stems, and seeds than the sibling WT line under salt stress. Interestingly, however, the mutation rendered the O/E plants more salt sensitive than WT plants. Together with the evaluation of biomass of rice lines, rhizosphere acidification assays using a pH indicator bromocresol purple and 22NaCl tracer experiments have led to an assumption that roots of O/E plants suffered heavier damages from Na which excessively accumulated in the root due to increased activity of Na⁺ uptake and Na⁺ exclusion in the vasculature. Implications toward the application of the HKT1-mediated Na⁺ exclusion system to the breeding of salt tolerant crop cultivars will be discussed.

Age-dependent changes in damage processes of hair cuticle.

BACKGROUND: Human hair cuticle is always exposed to various stresses and then gradually lost in daily life. There are two typical patterns of cuticle damage: type L, where the cell membrane complex, the structure located between cuticle cells, is split and the cuticle lifts up, and type E, where the fragile substructure of the cuticle cell (endocuticle) is damaged so that its rugged residue is exposed. We previously reported that type L damage preferentially occurs in the case of Japanese females in their 20s to 40s. AIMS: This study aims to elucidate the age-dependent change of cuticle and its effect on hair properties. METHODS: Hair fibers collected from Japanese females (ranging from 10 to 70 years old) were evaluated in the aspects of inclination for each type of damage, resistance of cuticle against grooming stresses and content of fatty acid 18-MEA on hair surface. RESULTS: It was revealed that the dominant damage pattern shifts from type L to E with aging. Furthermore, the cuticle becomes gradually less resistant to daily grooming stress. The dominance of type E damage accelerates cuticle loss. Reduction of 18-MEA on weathered hair is accelerated with aging on elder hair. CONCLUSIONS: It has been reported that various age-dependent changes of whole hair shaft, such as diameter, density, elasticity, etc., occur in the age range of 40s and 50s. In this study, it was revealed that cuticle becomes more fragile and the hair surface properties deteriorate in the same age range.

Alignment control and softness creation in hair with glycylglycine.

Thick and coarse hair, as typically found among the Japanese population, frequently lacks softness that consumers are acutely aware of. Such poor feeling is accentuated by daily grooming, weathering, and chemical treatments, in particular, which can cause changes in the hair shape and the creation of frizzy or irregularly shaped hair. Existing technologies to improve the soft feel of hair, though effective, usually concentrate on the surface of the fiber and often leave the hair feeling either overconditioned or sometimes even sticky from product buildup. Hair softness is said to be governed by a number of factors, but primarily hair diameter and surface condition. In this study, we have also identified hair alignment as playing a critical role in hair softness. In addition, by studying how Japanese women perceive hair softness when touching their hair, we have identified that the strain on the hair fiber associated with these manipulations is far smaller than previously considered. With these factors in mind, we have studied the mechanisms behind a new softening technology containing glycylglycine (GG). It has been found that treatment with GG can give a tangible feeling of hair softness by dramatically improving alignment in unruly hair and by lowering the modulus of the fiber. Moreover, using the atomic force microscope, it has been revealed that the properties of the cell membrane complex of the hair cortex may be modified after GG treatment; the role of this additive in modifying the internal properties of the hair to create softness will thus be discussed.

Changes in structure and geometric properties of human hair by aging.

To clarify hair changes by aging, the effect of age on hair properties was investigated from macro- to microscopic view points. Sensory hair luster tests were performed on 230 Japanese females from 10 to 70 years of age, revealing that hair luster decreases with age. The age dependence of the hair diameter and the ellipticity of the hair cross section could not explain luster reduction by aging. It has been determined that an irregular increase in fiber curvature occurs with age and is a cause of luster reduction with aging. A detailed structural analysis by synchrotron radiation microbeam X-ray diffraction revealed that the inhomogeneity in the lateral distribution of the hair microstructure increased with age and relates to the irregular increase in curvature. Such an increase in curvature is one of the important factors that leads to a poor alignment of hairs and luster reduction, and is related to the appearance of aging hair.

Cortical cell types and intermediate filament arrangements correlate with fiber curvature in Japanese human hair.

Naturally straight and curved human scalp hairs were examined using fluorescence and electron microscopy techniques to determine morphological and ultrastructural features contributing to single fiber curvature. The study excluded cuticle and medulla, which lack known bilateral structural asymmetry and therefore potential to form curved fibers. The cortex contained four classifiable cell types, two of which were always present in much greater abundance than the remaining two types. In straight hair, these cell types were arranged annularly and evenly within the cortex, implying that the averaging of differing structural features would maintain a straight fiber conformation. In curved fibers, the cell types were bilaterally distributed approximately perpendicular to fiber curvature direction with one dominant cell type predominantly located closest to the convex fiber side and the other, closest to the concave side. Electron tomography confirmed that the dominant cell type closest to the convex fiber side contained discrete macrofibrils composed of helically arranged intermediate filaments, while the dominant cell type closest to the concave side contained larger fused macrofibrils composed of intermediate filament arrangements varying from helical to hexagonal arrays approximately parallel to the longitudinal fiber axis. These findings concur with the current hypothesis of hair curvature formation and behavior.

Characterization of curved hair of Japanese women with reference to internal structures and amino acid composition.

The variation of hair curvature in Japanese women was quantitatively investigated and the structure of curved hair was characterized with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and amino acid analysis. Two hundred and thirty Japanese women volunteers, aged from 10 to 70 years, were randomly selected. The evaluation of the volunteers' natural hair shape showed that 53% of Japanese women have straight hair, while the remaining 47% have curved hair (varying from a slightly wavy shape to a frizzy style). The average curl radius of the volunteers' hair was determined to be 4.4 +/- 2.3 cm, and ranged widely from 0.6 to 16 cm. The TEM observation of curved hair fiber revealed an inhomogenous internal structure between the outer and inner regions of the curved shape. In relation to the inhomogeneous structure of the curved hair, different amino acid composition of the hair keratin was observed between the outer and inner regions. Interestingly, these results of the TEM observation and the amino acid analysis are analogous to the difference between the ortho- and paracortical cells in wool fibers, suggesting the universal structure of curved mammalian hair.

Structural analysis of human hair single fibres by scanning microbeam SAXS.

The origin of the curliness of human hair was revealed by scanning microbeam small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), based on the nanostructure of keratin fibre arrangement. Scanning microbeam SAXS patterns of single hair fibres have been measured across the fibres and the differences in the patterns between the inner and the outer sides of the curvature were successfully detected. The analysis of the equatorial and azimuthal scattering intensity profiles showed that the arrangement of the intermediate filaments was different between the inner and the outer sides of the curvature. From the analogy with Merino and Romny wool, it is suggested that different types of cortices exist in human hair. It is concluded that, regardless of the ethnic origins (African, Caucasian, and Asian), the macroscopic curl shape of the hair fibre originate from the inhomogeneity of the internal nanostructure, arising from inhomogeneous distribution of two types of cortices.

Study of the interaction between hair protein and organic acid that improves hair-set durability by near-infrared spectroscopy.

In this study, hydrogen bonds around hair proteins were analyzed by near-infrared spectroscopy to reveal the mechanism of improving hair-set durability by treatment with a specific organic acid. The improvement of set durability was confirmed by measurement on single hair fibers, suggesting that improvement is not because of the surface adhesion increase but because of the internal changes in the hair. Through analysis by two-dimensional near-infrared correlation spectroscopy, it was found that a combination band of stretching NH and amide II is deconvoluted into three bands interacting with different hydrogen bonds. From the assignment of the three bands, the behavior of the organic acid in the hair was clarified as follows: it absorbs at the site where water originally binds, even in extremely dry conditions, prevents water penetration, and makes strong and stable hydrogen bonds with hair proteins. The formation of such strong and stable hydrogen bonds suppresses the exchange of hydrogen bonds that is the cause of the breakage of set durability.

[A patient of sensorimotor neuropathy with small cell lung carcinoma and anti-GM1 antibody].

We reported a 62-year-old woman had sensorimotor neuropathy with small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) and anti-GM1 antibody. She was admitted with several months history of progressive numbness, walking disturbance and anorexia. Neurologic examination revealed severe numbness and deep sensory disturbance of extremities and body, and mild weakness of distal extremities. Deep tendon reflexes were absent. Her limbs were ataxic. Nerve conduction studies showed no sensory evoked responses. CSF protein was elevated. Sural nerve biopsy revealed severe loss of myelinated fibers and perivascular mononuclear cells surrounding the perineurial vessel. Vasculitic neuropathy was diagnosed, and prednisolone was started, with no benefit. In the clinical course, she developed cough attacks and was found the lymphnode swelling in the mediastinum and supraclavicular fossa, which was diagnosed SCLC. Although anti-Hu antibody were not detected, anti-GM1 antibody was positive. She was treated with intravenous immunoglobulin, with transient improvement. The rare case of the paraneoplastic peripheral neuropathy with SCLC and anti-GM1 antibody was reported.