Publications by authors named "Hiraki K"

Article Synopsis
  • This study aimed to determine if there is a connection between anogenital distance (AGD) and vaginal pH levels in women with endometriosis.
  • A cohort of 107 women, both with and without endometriosis, was analyzed regarding AGD measurements and vaginal pH during surgical procedures from July 2021 to June 2022.
  • The results showed no significant difference in AGD across groups, but vaginal pH levels differed significantly, suggesting women with endometriosis are less likely to have an alkaline pH; however, AGD was not a reliable predictor for endometriosis.
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This study examines the feasibility of using event-related potentials (ERPs) obtained from electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings as biomarkers for long-term memory item classification. Previous studies have identified old/new effects in memory paradigms associated with explicit long-term memory and familiarity. Recent advancements in convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have enabled the classification of ERP trials under different conditions and the identification of features related to neural processes at the single-trial level.

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Understanding how preverbal infants perceive and differentiate the roles of teachers and students can provide profound insights into the early stages of human learning and cognition. We thus developed a paradigm based on the task order and the interactive position to determine if infants understand teacher-student relationships. Five experiments (N = 104), reveal that, after watching the teacher agent instruct the student agent from failure to success, 11-month-old infants looked at the teacher for a longer time when they watched a new naïve agent seek information in a new ambiguous scenario.

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The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) ligaments play crucial roles in its function or dysfunction. The objective of this study was to describe the macro and microscopic morphology of these ligaments in domestic pigs, aiming to: (1) expand knowledge about the species; (2) provide anatomical references for advancing veterinary therapy and utilizing pigs as animal models in craniofacial research. Heads of young Sus scrofa domesticus were dissected to identify TMJ ligaments.

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Previous studies have shown that procrastinators tend to disregard the future. However, the "time view" of procrastinators, including their impressions of the future, has not been sufficiently examined. Therefore, we introduced new indices, "chronological stress view" and "chronological well-being view," which treat impressions of the past, present, and future (= time view) as time-series data via stress and well-being, respectively.

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The aim of the current study was to investigate children's brain responses to robot-assisted language learning. EEG brain signals were collected from 41 Japanese children who learned French vocabularies in two groups; half of the children learned new words from a social robot that narrated a story in French using animations on a computer screen (Robot group) and the other half watched the same animated story on the screen but only with a voiceover narration and without the robot (Display group). To examine brain activation during the learning phase, we extracted EEG functional connectivity (FC) which is defined as the rhythmic synchronization of signals recorded from different brain areas.

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Parent and child have been shown to synchronize their behaviors and physiology during social interactions. This synchrony is an important marker of their relationship quality and subsequently the child's social and emotional development. Therefore, understanding the factors that influence parent-child synchrony is an important undertaking.

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Interoception, that is, the perception of visceral stimuli, is the basis of socio-emotional development. However, no studies have demonstrated the relationship between the two in infants. This study aimed to elucidate the relationship between interoception and social behavior in infants and mothers.

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  • A Japanese version of the short-form Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI-X-SF-J) was created to assess personal growth perspectives, including existential and spiritual growth, among individuals.
  • The study involved two samples of Japanese university students, using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to ensure the short form's reliability and validity, resulting in a 10-item, 5-factor inventory.
  • The PTGI-X-SF-J demonstrated good reliability (Cronbach's alpha between 0.671 to 0.875) and showed no significant correlation with posttraumatic stress disorder, making it a useful tool for evaluating personal growth in trauma survivors while minimizing their emotional burden.
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Infants use information on gaze direction and facial expressions for social referencing when encountering various objects in their environment. However, it remains unclear how these social cues influence attentional orienting in infants. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), we investigated the neural correlates of attentional orienting cued by an averted gaze with neutral and fearful expressions in 12-month-olds.

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Introduction: Influenza infection is characterized by acute viral infection of high transmissibility. Worsening of the case can lead to the need for hospitalization, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and even death.

Method: This is a cross-sectional population-based study that used secondary database from the Brazilian Influenza Epidemiological Surveillance Information System.

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Occurrence of an unpleasant interpersonal event in daily life may cause an individual to experience unpleasant emotions and recall memories regarding it. These emotions, manifesting in daily social interactions, are often complex and mixed. In the laboratory, autobiographical recall is frequently used to induce emotions; however, it often involves recalling memories associated with a specific discrete emotion (e.

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  • Prognostic factors for patients with unresectable biliary tract cancer treated with S-1 after failing gemcitabine were explored in a study involving 33 patients.
  • The analysis identified the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and prognostic nutritional index (PNI) as significant poor prognostic indicators for overall survival.
  • Changes in the PNI were found to correlate with the therapeutic effectiveness of S-1, suggesting it could serve as an important factor to monitor during treatment.
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Third-party punishment of antisocial others is unique to humans and seems to be universal across cultures. However, its emergence in ontogeny remains unknown. We developed a participatory cognitive paradigm using gaze-contingency techniques, in which infants can use their gaze to affect agents displayed on a monitor.

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Aim: To evaluate Japanese medical students' awareness of newly recommended cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and airway management procedures in the context of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Methods: An online survey was sent in December 2020 to all medical students at Hirosaki University in Japan. The survey included 15 questions and quizzes regarding prior experience of learning the new CPR guidelines in response to COVID-19, knowledge of conventional CPR, and COVID-19 context CPR and airway management procedures.

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Background: Standard precautions (SPs) are recommended safety measures for healthcare professionals to follow, with a view to preventing healthcare-related infections (HCRIs) and for their own protection. Inadequate adherence to these measures can lead to occurrences of occupational accidents and HCRIs.

Objectives: To ascertain the knowledge of and adherence to SP measures among the nursing staff of a hemodialysis service and the relationship of these variables to occurrences of work accidents with biological material.

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  • * In a study involving 81 older CKD patients, 60 were randomized into either an exercise group or a control group, with the exercise group participating in both supervised and independent physical activities over 24 weeks.
  • * The results showed that the exercise group had significant improvements in memory functions compared to the control group, suggesting that physical exercise may help prevent cognitive decline in older adults with CKD.
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  • * Researchers found that whether the stressful event was labeled as trauma or not did not significantly change the model for PTG, suggesting that PTG can occur regardless of this perception.
  • * The results highlighted the need to consider the processes of rumination and emotional disclosure in relation to PTG, emphasizing their importance for personal growth after stressful experiences.
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The mortality of the bath-related cardiac arrest (BRCA) is extremely high. While air temperature is reported to be associated with the BRCA occurrence, it is unclear whether daily minimum temperatures or the difference between maximum and minimum air temperatures influences BRCA occurrence the most.A retrospective cohort study of adult patients was conducted between January 2015 and February 2020 at Hirosaki University Hospital Emergency Department.

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Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have long been seen as control interfaces that translate changes in brain activity, produced either by means of a volitional modulation or in response to an external stimulation. However, recent trends in the BCI and neurofeedback research highlight passive monitoring of a user's brain activity in order to estimate cognitive load, attention level, perceived errors and emotions. Extraction of such higher order information from brain signals is seen as a gateway for facilitation of interaction between humans and intelligent systems.

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  • This phase II study aimed to assess the effectiveness of combining nab-paclitaxel (nab-PTX) with anthracycline-based therapy as a neoadjuvant treatment for advanced breast cancer.
  • A total of 41 patients were treated, with observable pathological complete response (pCR) rates varying significantly among different breast cancer subtypes, with a total pCR of 24% overall but as high as 100% for HER2-positive cases.
  • The treatment was generally well-tolerated, although notable side effects included peripheral sensory neuropathy and neutropenia, with one patient experiencing fatal complications linked to pneumonia.
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Type 2 diabetes is associated with sarcopenia. Resistance training and appropriate nutritional therapy are reported to be effective for muscle strength and mass. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of resistance training using elastic bands at home combined with a leucine-rich amino acid supplement on muscle strength, physical function, and muscle mass in elderly type 2 diabetes.

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Although developmental science has always been evolving, these times of fast-paced and profound social and scientific changes easily lead to disorienting fragmentation rather than coherent scientific advances. What directions should developmental science pursue to meaningfully address real-world problems that impact human development throughout the lifespan? What conceptual or policy shifts are needed to steer the field in these directions? The present manifesto is proposed by a group of scholars from various disciplines and perspectives within developmental science to spark conversations and action plans in response to these questions. After highlighting four critical content domains that merit concentrated and often urgent research efforts, two issues regarding "how" we do developmental science and "what for" are outlined.

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Asymptomatic Apical Periodontitis is essentially an inflammatory disease of microbial aetiology. Association and function of the cell components involved, or specific inductive factors and growth mediators associated with development, maintenance and resolution of the periapical lesions are still unknown. The objective of this study was to evaluate the concentration of Regulatory T cells (FoxP3+; Treg), Langerhans cells (CD1a+; LC) and mast cells in asymptomatic apical periodontitis.

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