Self-incompatibility is the system that inhibits pollen germination and pollen tube growth by self-pollen. This trait is important for the breeding of and species. In these species, self-incompatibility is governed by the locus, which contains three linked genes (a set called the haplotype), i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Poor sleep quality has a negative effect on pain among older adults. During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) state of emergency, lifestyle changes can cause psychologic stressors and lead to poor sleep quality.
Aim: This study examined whether sleep quality status was associated with low back or knee pain changes during the COVID-19 state of emergency among community-dwelling Japanese old-old adults.
Aim: Perceived health status, including physical and cognitive fitness, will be negatively associated with future health conditions among old-old adults. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused sudden changes in lifestyle. Thus, this study examined the associations of participation in an exercise class before the COVID-19 pandemic and the exercise habits and disruption to the rhythms of daily life during the COVID-19 state of emergency with perceived declining physical and cognitive fitness among community-dwelling old-old adults.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is no effectual pathological factor to predict the long-term renal prognosis of IgA nephropathy. Glomerular hypertrophy plays a crucial role in kidney disease outcomes in both experimental models and humans. This study aimed to 1) confirm the long-term prognostic significance of a maximal glomerular diameter (Max GD) ≥ 242.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRadish (Raphanus sativus L.) is cultivated around the world as a vegetable crop and exhibits diverse morphological and physiological features. DNA polymorphisms are responsible for differences in traits among cultivars.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Only few cases of renal dysfunction in patients with situs inversus totalis have been reported. Thus, studies on kidney transplantation in patients with this condition are still limited.
Case Presentation: We present three cases of end-stage renal disease patients with situs inversus totalis: a 30-year-old man, 21-year-old woman, and 31-year-old man.
Rationale: Adult-onset hepatitis B virus-associated membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (HBV-MPGN) is generally refractory, and an effective treatment for this condition has not been established. The indications for steroids in HBV-MPGN are an important clinical concern.
Patient Concerns: A 28-year-old woman with a chronic hepatitis B virus infection developed nephrotic syndrome in her second month of pregnancy, with urinary protein levels of 3 to 10 g/d that continued into her postpartum period.
Adoptive T-cell therapy is an effective strategy for cancer immunotherapy. However, infused T cells frequently become functionally exhausted, and consequently offer a poor prognosis after transplantation into patients. Adoptive transfer of tumor antigen-specific stem cell memory T (T ) cells is expected to overcome this shortcoming as T cells are close to naïve T cells, but are also highly proliferative, long-lived, and produce a large number of effector T cells in response to antigen stimulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSince induced regulatory T cells (iTregs) can be produced in a large quantity in vitro, these cells are expected to be clinically useful to induce immunological tolerance in various immunological diseases. Foxp3 (Forkhead box P3) expression in iTregs is, however, unstable due to the lack of demethylation of the CpG island in the conserved non-coding sequence 2 (CNS2) of the Foxp3 locus. To facilitate the demethylation of CNS2, we over-expressed the catalytic domain (CD) of the ten-eleven translocation (TET) protein, which catalyzes the steps of the iterative demethylation of 5-methylcytosine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCytokines are key modulators of immunity. Most cytokines use the Janus kinase and signal transducers and activators of transcription (JAK-STAT) pathway to promote gene transcriptional regulation, but their signals must be attenuated by multiple mechanisms. These include the suppressors of cytokine signaling (SOCS) family of proteins, which represent a main negative regulation mechanism for the JAK-STAT pathway.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRegulatory T cells (Tregs) are an essential cell subset for the maintenance of immune homeostasis. Foxp3 (Forkhead box P3) is the Treg master gene which is essential for immune suppressing activity. In addition, Tregs are characterized by a distinct pattern of gene expression, including upregulation of immune-suppressive genes and silencing of inflammatory genes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCombination of live-imaging and live-manipulation of developing embryos in vivo provides a useful tool to study developmental processes. Identification and selection of target cells for an in vivo live-manipulation are generally performed by experience- and knowledge-based decision-making of the observer. Computer-assisted live-prediction method would be an additional approach to facilitate the identification and selection of the appropriate target cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCell shape influences function, and the current model suggests that such shape effect is transient. However, cells dynamically change their shapes, thus, the critical question is whether shape information remains influential on future cell function even after the original shape is lost. We address this question by integrating experimental and computational approaches.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMembers of the yeast polymerase-associated factor 1 (Paf1) complex, which is composed of at least five components (Paf1, Rtf1, Cdc73, Leo1 and Ctr9), are conserved from yeast to humans. Although these proteins have been implicated in RNA polymerase II-mediated transcription, their roles in vertebrate development have not been explained. Here, we show that a zebrafish mutant with a somite segmentation defect is deficient in rtf1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDev Genes Evol
January 2004
The larval ascidian brain (sensory vesicle) is located on the dorsal side of the trunk region and forms part of the anterior central nervous system. Sensory organs such as the otolith, ocellus, and hydrostatic-pressure organ reside in the brain. The brain coordinates the core roles of the larval nervous system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNotch signaling plays crucial roles during embryogenesis in various metazoans. HrNotch, a Notch homologue in the ascidian Halocynthia roretzi, has been previously cloned, and its expression pattern suggests that HrNotch signaling is involved in nervous system formation. To determine the function of HrNotch signaling, in the present study we examined the effects of the constitutively activated forms of HrNotch.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGan To Kagaku Ryoho
February 1985
Twenty cases of metastatic bone tumors were treated with Elcatonin together with irradiation, achieving pain relief in 47.3% of cases, improved bone scintigrams in 16.7% of cases and radiographic improvement of invaded bone in 7.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFive patients with far advanced cystic medial necrosis of the ascending aorta associated with aortic regurgitation were operated upon using a method not previously described. This new method consists of a special wrapping procedure which acts like a tubular prosthesis replacement and a new technique of fixation of aortic valve prosthesis in order to prevent periprosthetic leakage. The advantages of this new alternative method comparing to the procedure of Bentall and DeBono are discussed.
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