Publications by authors named "Hiroshi Watanabe"

Background/aim: α1-Acid glycoprotein (AGP), also known as orosomucoid, is an acute-phase protein that has been found increased in plasma of cancer patients. This study investigates the role of AGP expression in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) and its association with clinical outcomes.

Materials And Methods: We investigated the correlation between AGP levels and the prognosis of ccRCC through an analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database.

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LC-ESI-MS/MS is a preferred method for detecting and identifying metabolites, including those that are unpredictable from the genome, especially in basal metazoans like Cnidaria, which diverged earlier than bilaterians and whose metabolism is poorly understood. However, the unexpected appearance of a "ghost peak" for dopamine, which exhibited the same m/z value and MS/MS product ion spectrum during an analysis of Nematostella vectensis, a model cnidarian, complicated its accurate identification. Understanding the mechanism by which "ghost peaks" appear is crucial to accurately identify the monoamine repertoire in early animals so as to avoid misassignments.

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In , phosphoproteins (P) are essential polymerase cofactors, forming oligomers and interacting with viral components to facilitate replication. Previous studies have demonstrated that a P-derived peptide (PFr) from the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), containing the oligomerization domain (OD) and C-terminal domain (CTD), effectively inhibits RSV replication. Here, we extend this approach to paramyxoviruses, including HPIV3, MeV and MuV.

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  • The text indicates a correction to an article referenced by its DOI.
  • The article is published in the journal PLOS ONE.
  • The DOI suggests that this correction addresses specific issues or inaccuracies within the original article.
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Beta-catenin is essential for diverse biological processes, such as body axis determination and cell differentiation, during metazoan embryonic development. Beta-catenin is thought to exert such functions through complexes formed with various proteins. Although β-catenin complex proteins have been identified in several bilaterians, little is known about the structural and functional properties of β-catenin complexes in early metazoan evolution.

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Purpose: This study aimed to assess the performance of 2-dimensional (2D) imaging with microscopy coils in delineating teeth and periodontal tissues compared with conventional 3-dimensional (3D) imaging on a 3 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) unit.

Materials And Methods: Twelve healthy participants (4 men and 8 women; mean age: 25.6 years; range: 20-52 years) with no dental symptoms were included.

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Key Points: Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids prevent AKI to CKD transition and renal fibrosis. Eicosapentaenoic acid metabolites 18-hydroxyeicosapentaenoic acid, 17,18-epoxyeicosatetraenoic acid, and 17,18-dihydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid have antifibrotic effects.

Background: AKI is an established risk factor for developing CKD.

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Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) is a progressive form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease characterised by fat accumulation, inflammation, oxidative stress, fibrosis, and impaired liver regeneration. In this study, we found that heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) is induced in both MASH patients and in a MASH mouse model. Further, hepatic carbon monoxide (CO) levels in MASH model mice were >2-fold higher than in healthy mice, suggesting that liver HO-1 is activated as MASH progresses.

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  • This study investigates the effects of dysphagia rehabilitation on older patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) in a super-aged society, emphasizing the necessity for effective management in community hospitals.
  • A retrospective review of 732 patients aged 65 and older indicated that around 55.1% needed dysphagia rehabilitation, which notably enhanced their caloric intake and BMI, along with improvements in their activities of daily living (ADL) by discharge.
  • The findings suggest that integrating dysphagia rehabilitation into cardiac care can significantly improve the quality of life for older patients with CVD, making it a crucial component of their overall treatment.
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The evolutionary transition from diffusion-mediated cell-cell communication to faster, targeted synaptic signaling in animal nervous systems is still unclear. Genome sequencing analyses have revealed a widespread distribution of synapse-related genes among early-diverging metazoans, but how synaptic machinery evolved remains largely unknown. Here, we examine the function of neurexins (Nrxns), a family of presynaptic cell adhesion molecules with critical roles in bilaterian chemical synapses, using the cnidarian model, Nematostella vectensis.

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Radiographic examination has been an essential part of the diagnostic workflow in periodontology and implant dentistry. However, radiographic examination unavoidably involves ionizing radiation and its associated risks. Clinicians and researchers have invested considerable efforts in assessing the feasibility and capability of utilizing nonionizing imaging modalities to replace traditional radiographic imaging.

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The plasma protein α-acid glycoprotein (AGP) primarily affects the pharmacokinetics of basic drugs. There are two AGP variants in humans, A and F1*S, exhibiting distinct drug-binding selectivity. Elucidation of the drug-binding selectivity of human AGP variants is essential for drug development and personalized drug therapy.

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Coadministering two different classes of antibiotics as empirical therapy can be critical in treating healthcare-associated infections in hospitals. Herein, we report a case of acute kidney injury (AKI) caused by coadministration of vancomycin with high-dose meropenem that manifested as a rapid increase in serum creatinine levels and an associated increase in vancomycin trough concentrations. The patient was diagnosed with meningioma at 50 years and was followed up regularly.

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Nervous systems of bilaterian animals generally consist of two cell types: neurons and glial cells. Despite accumulating data about the many important functions glial cells serve in bilaterian nervous systems, the evolutionary origin of this abundant cell type remains unclear. Current hypotheses regarding glial evolution are mostly based on data from model bilaterians.

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α-Acid glycoprotein (AGP) is a primary binding protein for many basic drugs in plasma. The number of drugs that bind to AGP, such as molecular target anticancer drugs, has been continuously increasing. Since the plasma level of AGP fluctuates under various pathological conditions such as inflammation, it is important to evaluate the contribution of AGP to drug pharmacokinetics.

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  • Quadriceps muscle strength is important for daily activities, leading to the development of the LocomoScan (LCS), a new compact device for measuring lower limb muscle strength.
  • A study involving 104 healthy university students compared LCS with traditional devices, assessing its simplicity, reproducibility, and accuracy in measuring knee extension force and muscle mass.
  • Results showed LCS had high reproducibility in measurements and a significant relationship between knee extension force and muscle mass, confirming it as a practical tool for assessing muscle strength in clinical settings.
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  • Human serum albumin (HSA) can enhance the effectiveness of short-lived drugs by extending their presence in the bloodstream when therapeutic agents are conjugated with albumin-binding moieties (ABMs).
  • A new method was developed to prepare both HSA domain III and its d-enantiomer, allowing for structural and functional analyses that confirmed their mirror-image properties and ability to be recognized by the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn).
  • The synthetic l-HSA domain III showed similar binding characteristics to the native HSA site II, making the synthetic d-HSA domain III a valuable resource for studying how HSA recognizes molecules at that site.
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Sarcopenia is characterized by loss of muscle strength and muscle mass with aging. The growing number of sarcopenia patients as a result of the aging population has no viable treatment. Exercise maintains muscle strength and mass by increasing peroxisome growth factor activating receptor γ-conjugating factor-1α (PGC-1α) and Akt signaling in skeletal muscle.

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  • Restoration of blood flow after ischemia in skeletal muscle can cause injury and inflammation, but there are currently no effective treatments available in clinics.
  • A new CO donor, CO-bound red blood cells (CO-RBC), shows promise in reducing muscle damage and inflammation after ischemia-reperfusion injury.
  • Experiments indicate that CO-RBC treatment improves muscle function and reduces harmful inflammatory markers more effectively than regular red blood cells in rat models of ischemia-reperfusion.
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Objectives: This study aimed to establish a method for differentiating radicular cysts from granulomas via texture analysis (TA) of multi-slice computed tomography (CT) images.

Methods: A total of 222 lesions with multi-slice computed tomography images acquired at our hospital between 2013 and 2022 that were pathologically diagnosed were included in this study. Cases of contrast-enhanced images, severe metallic artefacts, and lesions that were not sufficiently large to be analysed were excluded.

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  • Immune-related adverse events (irAEs) can influence the effectiveness of PD-L1 inhibitors in treating metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but their impact on nonmetastatic NSCLC outcomes was previously unclear.
  • This study evaluated the relationship between irAEs and progression-free survival (PFS) in Stage III NSCLC patients undergoing treatment with the PACIFIC regimen, analyzing both mild and nonmild irAEs through robust statistical methods.
  • Findings indicated that patients with nonmild irAEs experienced poorer PFS compared to those with mild irAEs or none at all, suggesting that mild irAEs could indicate better survival outcomes while more severe reactions treated with steroids are linked to worse outcomes.
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  • - A 76-year-old man with lung cancer received atezolizumab, a PD-L1 inhibitor, but developed fatigue and was diagnosed with atezolizumab-induced sclerosing cholangitis shortly after treatment.
  • - He was treated with steroids, leading to improvement in his symptoms and laboratory results, although he faced complications like liver abscesses later on.
  • - The case highlights the rarity and potential severity of sclerosing cholangitis as a side effect of immune checkpoint inhibitors, underscoring the need for awareness regarding this condition in clinical practice.
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  • Solvation dynamics play a crucial role in how charges move, with rapid processes occurring in water (on a picosecond scale) but varying more in organic electrolytes, which can range from 1 to several hundred picoseconds.
  • By examining mixtures of an organic polymer and lithium salt, researchers found that lithium ions temporarily bond with multiple polymer chains, leading to "crosslinks" that affect these dynamics.
  • Through quasielastic neutron scattering and simulations, the average timescale for solvation dynamics was determined to be around one nanosecond, highlighting the presence of very slow dynamics in the breakdown of solvation shells in the electrolyte.
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Although a lot of effort has been put into creating drugs and combination therapies against chronic hepatitis, no effective treatment has been established. Type-I interferon is a promising therapeutic for chronic hepatitis due to its excellent anti-inflammatory effects through interferon receptors on hepatic macrophages. To develop a type-I IFN equipped with the ability to target hepatic macrophages through the macrophage mannose receptor, the present study designed a mouse type-I interferon-mannosylated albumin fusion protein using site-specific mutagenesis and albumin fusion technology.

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  • The study investigates the link between cholesterol efflux capacity (CEC) and oxidative stress in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI).
  • CEC was found to be positively correlated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels, but the correlation was weaker in AMI patients compared to controls.
  • The results suggest that measuring CEC can provide valuable insights into oxidative stress and atherosclerosis risk in AMI patients, whereas HDL-C levels alone may not be as informative.
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