Eleven years of data on the Jefferson Scale of Empathy - medical student version: Japanese norm data and tentative cutoff scores.

Background: More and more studies investigate medical students' empathy using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE). However, no norm data or cutoff scores of the JSE for Japanese medical students are available. This study therefore explored Japanese norm data and tentative cutoff scores for the Japanese translation of the JSE-medical student version (JSE-S) using 11 years of data obtained from matriculants from a medical school in Japan.

The effect of Humanitude care methodology on improving empathy: a six-year longitudinal study of medical students in Japan.

Background: Empathy, which involves understanding another person's experiences and concerns, is an important component for developing physicians' overall competence. This longitudinal study was designed to test the hypothesis that medical students' empathy can be enhanced and sustained by Humanitude Care Methodology, which focuses on perception, emotion and speech.

Methods: This six-year longitudinal observational study examined 115 students who entered Okayama University Medical School in 2013.

Establishment of a pancreatic stem cell line from fibroblast-derived induced pluripotent stem cells.

Background: For cell therapies to treat diabetes, it is important to produce a sufficient number of pancreatic endocrine cells that function similarly to primary islets. Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells represent a potentially unlimited source of functional pancreatic endocrine cells. However, the use of iPS cells for laboratory studies and cell-based therapies is hampered by their high tumorigenic potential and limited ability to generate pure populations of differentiated cell types in vitro.

Comparison of Incubation Solutions Prior to the Purification of Porcine Islet Cells.

For pancreatic islet transplantation, one of the most important steps of islet isolation is islet purification. The most common method of islet purification is density gradient centrifugation because there are differences in density between islets and acinar tissue. However, the density of islets/acinar tissue depends on several conditions, such as the incubation time before purification and the osmolality of the preincubation solution.

Comparison of New Preservation Solutions, HN-1 and University of Wisconsin Solution, in Pancreas Preservation for Porcine Islet Isolation.

For pancreatic islet transplantation, maintaining organ viability after pancreas procurement is critical and a major determinant for better graft function and survival. University of Wisconsin (UW) solution is currently the gold standard for abdominal organ preservation and the pancreas in particular. However, in the use of UW preservation solution for islet transplantation, there are disadvantages to be overcome, such as the inhibition of collagenase activity during pancreatic digestion.

Isolation Efficiency of Mouse Pancreatic Stem Cells Is Age Dependent.

Mouse pancreatic stem cells have been isolated from mouse pancreata. This study evaluated the efficacy of isolating mouse pancreatic stem cells using mice of different ages. The pancreata of newborn mice, 8-week-old mice, and 24-week-old mice were harvested and digested by using collagenase.

Culture Conditions for Mouse Pancreatic Stem Cells.

Recently, mouse pancreatic stem cells have been isolated from adult mouse pancreata. However, these pancreatic stem cells could be maintained only under specific culture conditions with lot-limited fetal bovine serum (FBS). For the efficient isolation and maintenance of mouse pancreatic stem cells, it is important to identify culture conditions that can be used independent of the FBS lot.

ER Stress and β-Cell Pathogenesis of Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes and Islet Transplantation.

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress affects the pathogenesis of diabetes. ER stress plays important roles, both in type 1 and type 2 diabetes, because pancreatic β-cells possess highly developed ER for insulin secretion. This review summarizes the relationship between ER stress and the pathogenesis of type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Measurement and correlates of empathy among female Japanese physicians.

Background: The measurement of empathy is important in the assessment of physician competence and patient outcomes. The prevailing view is that female physicians have higher empathy scores compared with male physicians. In Japan, the number of female physicians has increased rapidly in the past ten years.

Cholecystokinin plays a novel protective role in diabetic kidney through anti-inflammatory actions on macrophage: anti-inflammatory effect of cholecystokinin.

Inflammatory process is involved in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy. In this article, we show that cholecystokinin (CCK) is expressed in the kidney and exerts renoprotective effects through its anti-inflammatory actions. DNA microarray showed that CCK was upregulated in the kidney of diabetic wild-type (WT) mice but not in diabetic intracellular adhesion molecule-1 knockout mice.

Two novel mutations of lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) gene and the influence of APOE genotypes on clinical manifestations.

Familial lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase deficiency (FLD) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by corneal opacity, hemolytic anemia, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and proteinuria. Two novel lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) mutations[c.278 C>T (p.

The macrophage is a key factor in renal injuries caused by glomerular hyperfiltration.

Glomerular hyperfiltration is a common pathway leading to glomerulosclerosis in various kinds of kidney diseases. The 5/6 renal ablation is an established experimental animal model for glomerular hyperfiltration. On the other hand, low-grade inflammation is also a common mechanism for the progression of kidney diseases including diabetic nephropathy and atherosclerosis.

P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1 deficiency is protective against obesity-related insulin resistance.

Objective: An inflammatory process is involved in the mechanism of obesity-related insulin resistance. Recent studies indicate that monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) is a major chemokine that promotes monocyte infiltration into adipose tissues; however, the adhesion pathway in adipose tissues remains unclear. We aimed to clarify the adhesion molecules that mediate monocyte infiltration into adipose tissue.

Measurement of empathy among Japanese medical students: psychometrics and score differences by gender and level of medical education.

Purpose: To examine psychometric properties of a Japanese translation of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE), and to study differences in empathy scores between men and women, and students in different years of medical school.

Method: The student version of the JSPE was translated into Japanese using back-translation procedures and administered to 400 Japanese students from all six years at the Okayama University Medical School. Item-total score correlations were calculated.