Sex Differences and the Heritability of Scute Pattern Abnormalities in the Green Sea Turtle from the Ogasawara Archipelago, Japan.

Although scute pattern abnormalities in sea turtle species are considered to be strongly correlated with survival rate, there is little information available regarding these abnormalities and the primary cause for their development is unclear. For the conservation of sea turtle species, accumulating basic knowledge of scute pattern abnormalities is a fundamental step towards a better understanding of the causes of these abnormalities. In the present study, we counted vertebral and costal scutes from adults hunted for food (male and female) (n = 899), nesting females (n = 155), and hatchlings (n = 44,537) of the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) from the Ogasawara Archipelago, Japan. We found that the frequency of turtles with non-modal scute patterns was significantly greater in adult females than that in adult males (P = 0.02). Since females are produced by warmer incubation temperatures, and the period of sex determination coincides with the period of scute pattern determination, high incubation temperatures may be responsible for the induction of scute pattern abnormalities. Moreover, females with non-modal scute patterns produced a higher frequency of hatchlings with non-modal scute patterns than females with modal scute patterns (P < 0.01), indicating that scute abnormality may be heritable. For conservation of this species, our results suggest that decrease of the incubation temperature by cooling methods, such as provision of shade, may minimize the frequency of non-modal scute patterns, with consideration for the natural sex ratio.

[A Case of Early Detection of Hepatocellular Carcinoma using Abdominal Ultrasonography after Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection for Early Gastric Cancer].

We treated an 82-year-old man with early gastric cancer using endoscopic submucosal resection.Ultrasonography, which was performed to screen for metastasis, revealed hepatocellular carcinoma, and the tumor was curatively resected.Ultrasonography can be considered a useful examination tool to detect double cancer, even in cases of early cancer.

[A Case of Primary Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Jejunum in the Ultra-Elderly].

We treated a 91-year-old man with squamous cell carcinoma that originated from his jejunum, which is very rare; only 8 cases have been reported previously.Surgery was performed because of the small bowel obstruction caused by the large cancerous mass, but he died 23 days later.Early detection and early treatment are important, especially for the ultra-elderly from a standpoint of tolerating surgery.

Acclimation to diverse environmental stresses caused by a suppression of cytosolic ascorbate peroxidase in tobacco BY-2 cells.

The active oxygen species (AOS) that arise from normal metabolic processes are kept under tight control by various antioxidant mechanisms. AOS are important signal molecules that regulate many physiological processes, including environmental stress responses. In this work, we have investigated the effect of lowered cytosolic ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activity in transgenic tobacco BY-2 cells, using two transformed BY-2 cell lines, cAPX-S2 and cAPX-S3, resulting from co-suppression by expression of Arabidopsis APX1 cDNA under the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter. cAPX-S2 and cAPX-S3 possessed 50 and 75% lower cytosolic APX activity, respectively, compared with that in the untransformed cells. Chemical fluorescence analysis indicated that the AOS levels were markedly higher in the two APX-suppressed cell lines than in the wild-type cells. However, there were no substantial differences in the activity levels of the various other antioxidant enzymes. Interestingly, the APX-suppressed cells showed different responses and tolerances to environmental stresses, such as heat and salinity. Suppression subtractive hybridization revealed that several heat- and salt stress-inducible genes were up-regulated in cAPX-S3 cells. HSP70, DnaJ-like protein and purple acid phosphatase were among the constitutively induced genes. An in-gel kinase assay suggested that a mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase of approximately 46 kDa was predominantly active in the APX-suppressed cells, and transcript levels of both nicotiana protein kinase 1 (NPK1) and nucleoside diphosphate kinase 2 (NDPK2) were up-regulated. These data suggest the possibility that MAP kinase cascades are activated by subtle imbalances in the homeostasis of the cellular redox status caused by lowered cytosolic APX activity.

Cerebral hemorrhage in turner syndrome: a case report.

We report the case of a 21-yr-old female with Turner syndrome associated with cerebral hemorrhage (CH). She was transferred to our hospital for loss of consciousness and was diagnosed with right putaminal hemorrhage. Following surgical removal of the hematoma, she regained consciousness, and her left hemiplegia gradually improved after surgery. Angiography revealed absence of vascular abnormality of the cerebral artery, aorta, and renal arteries. Hypertension was noted on arrival at the hospital and persisted after surgery. A slight hypertensive change was observed in her retinas. Plasma renin activity was elevated (20 ng/ml/h) and renovascular hypertension was suspected. In this patient, CH was suspected to have occurred due to hypertension. This case emphasizes the necessity to carefully monitor the blood pressure in Turner syndrome cases, even during childhood.