High circulating tumor cell concentrations in a specific subtype of gastric cancer with diffuse bone metastasis at diagnosis

AIM: To clarify the biological feature contributing to gastric cancer with diffuse bone metastases at diagnosis.METHODS: The participants visited the Department of Clinical Oncology, Akita University Hospital, from January 2014 to August 2015. The selection criterion for gastric cancer with diffuse bone metastases at diagnosis includes over 29 hot spots of bone scintigraphy. Circulating tumor cell were collected from 20 m L of peripheral venous blood drawn using a Cell Search kit and a Cell Tracks Auto Prep system by SRL, a clinical laboratory. The endpoints of this study were correlations between circulating tumor cells(CTC) count and therapeutic outcomes. RESULTS: Among 39 patients with gastric cancer, 5 patients met the criterion. The incidence of this subtype was 12.8%. CTC counts ranged from 235 to 6440 cells/7.5 m L of peripheral blood(median of 1724). These values were much higher than common gastric cancers(2 cells). In chemo-sensitive cases, CTC counts decreased within 14 d(median) from 275, 235 and 1724 to 2, 7 and 66, respectively. On the other hand, CTC counts increased after treatment failure or insensitive case from 2, 7 and 6440 to 787, 513 and 7885, respectively. The correlation between CTC count and survival time showed a trend, but did not reach significance(Y = 234.6- 0.03 X, P = 0.085).CONCLUSION: High CTC count is a biological hallmark of this subtype, and can be used as a direct and definitive indicator of therapeutic outcome.

Adiponectin deficiency enhances colorectal carcinogenesis and liver tumor formation induced by azoxymethane in mice

AIM:To investigate the causal relationship between hypoadiponectinemia and colorectal carcinogenesis in in vivo experimental model,and to determine the con-tribution of adiponectin defi ciency to colorectal cancer development and proliferation.METHODS:We examined the influence of adiponectin defi ciency on colorectal carcinogenesis induced by the administration of azoxymethane(AOM)(7.5 mg/kg,in-traperitoneal injection once a week for 8 wk),by using adiponectin-knockout(KO) mice.RESULTS:At 53 wk after the fi rst AOM treatment,KOmice developed larger and histologically more progres-sive colorectal tumors with greater frequency com-pared with wild-type(WT) mice,although the tumor incidence was not different between WT and KO mice.KO mice showed increased cell proliferation of colorec-tal tumor cells,which correlated with the expression levels of cyclooxygenase-2(COX-2) in the colorectal tumors.In addition,KO mice showed higher incidence and frequency of liver tumors after AOM treatment.Thirteen percent of WT mice developed liver tumors,and these WT mice had only a single tumor.In contrast,50% of KO mice developed liver tumors,and 58% of these KO mice had multiple tumors.CONCLUSION:Adiponectin deficiency enhances colorectal carcinogenesis and liver tumor formation induced by AOM in mice.This study strongly suggests that hypoadiponectinemia could be involved in the pathogenesis for colorectal cancer and liver tumor in human subjects.

A Method to Solve PBL Issues and to Improve Project Management Competencies of Students

It is generally accepted that Project-Based Learning(PBL)is very valuable in preparing students to become working members of society.However,some issues have been recognized with PBL such as:(1)some students lack an active attitude or ride on the coattails of their teammates in their PBL team work;(2)a range of achievement levels among project teams;(3)spending most of their time to discuss the objective and the goal;and(4)not well managed as a project.Integrated Scheduling Method(IScM)and the associated tool called Deliverables Dependency Matrix(DDM)have been proposed to create a highly feasible project schedule for a product development.It was noticed that they might have the potential to resolve these PBL issues because the schedule creation is a core part of project management and includes most of all factors to manage PBL as a project.Two trials of the application with Modified-IScM(M-IScM)and DDM to PBL courses have been conducted.The first trial was intended to evaluate if M-IScM and DDM could resolve the PBL issues.A lecture prior to the second PBL with some findings from the first trial was given to students to improve their project management competencies.As a result,it was confirmed that M-IScM and DDM had the potential to resolve the PBL issues and revealed that PBL had two internal project types,the Goal Search Project and the Goal Oriented Project with the associated work processes and methods.Furthermore,the Goal Oriented Project could be divided into the Development Project and the Value Creation Project.Understanding and utilizing these project types will improve the competencies of students regarding project management to produce a good outcome in PBL,and help develop the leadership and fundamental skills to be a capable business person.

Three Dimensional Separation with Spiral-Focus in a Decelerating Duct Flow (Effect of Asymmetric Inlet Boundary Layer Thickness)

An experimental apparatus was developed to study the three dimensional separated flow with spiral-foci.The internal decelerating flow was generated by the air suction from a side wall to produce the separation on an opposite-side wall.The relation between the upstream boundary layer and the generation of spiral-foci in the separation region was observed by a tuft method.As a result,it was clarified that the spiral-focus type separaton could be produced on the side wall and its behavior was closely related to the vortices supplied into the separation region from the boundary layer developing along top wall or bottom one.

Movement pattern of red seabream Pagrus major and yellowtail Seriola quinqueradiata around Offshore Wind Turbine and the neighboring habitats in the waters near Goto Islands, Japan

We investigated movement pattern of commercial important fish around Offshore Wind Turbine(OWT)and neighboring habitats in Goto Islands.We tagged 55 individuals of 2 fish species and released around the OWT in 2017.(27 Pagrus major from 1st Feb 2017 to 16th Mar 2017(winter),8 P.major and 20 Seriola quinqueradiata from 13th July 2017 to 13th Oct 2017(summer)).Acoustic receivers were deployed at OWT,south artificial reef(AS),trapnet(TN),north FAD(F1)and south FAD(F2)in winter and two more receivers were deployed at north artificial reef(AN)and natural reef(NR)in summer.We observed 12 P.major at OWT for a day after released in winter,majority of fish(13 individuals)were detected at TN.In summer,7 P.major were observed at OWT,1 visited TN within the day,but others disappeared.Ten S.quinqueradiata stayed at OWT longer than P.major after released and disappeared within 2 days.They mostly moved around AS,AN,NR.Residence time from K-M curve was 10 days for P.major in winter,a day in summer and 3 days for S.quinqueradiata.Both species showed low affinity for OWT as recorded low residency index despite the season.