Publications by authors named "I. Kobayashi"

Purpose: This study explores the use of nursing support among nurses for caregiver burden in family caregivers of terminally ill patients with cancer in palliative care units (PCUs).

Methods: Requests were sent to 389 institutions, and cooperation was received from 162 PCUs. Nurses at 162 PCUs were asked to participate in an Internet survey regarding nursing practices for caregiver burden in Japan.

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Aromatic compounds play essential roles in plant physiology and various industries because of their unique fragrances and beneficial properties. In this study, we investigated the transport and biosynthesis of eugenol, a prominent aromatic compound, within the genus, using grafting experiments. Grafting sweet basil () scions onto diverse rootstocks, including tobacco () and thyme (), revealed that eugenol is transported from the shoot to the root across distinct plant species.

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Background: Nurturing environments have a critical influence on children's language development. It is unclear to what extent nurturing environments in institutions influence children's language development.

Methods: The present study investigated the early lexical development in Japanese children raised in institutional care (IC) (N = 86; 10-33 months; 37 boys) and compared their lexical skills to a large sample of age peers being raised in biological family care (BFC) (N = 1897; 937 boys) using vocabulary checklists.

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Dual human epidermal growth factor receptor 2(HER2)blockade with trastuzumab(H)and pertuzumab(P)combined with docetaxel and carboplatin(TCb)is a standard neoadjuvant therapy for HER2-positive breast cancer patients. We conducted this sub-study using data from the investigator-initiated randomized phase 2 JBCRG-20(Neo-peaks)study to evaluate the safety of simultaneous mixed HP infusion in Japanese patients, as there have been no data to date. A total of 204 patients in groups A-C received TCbHP, TCbHP followed by trastuzumab emtansine(T-DM1)+P, and T-DM1+P, respectively.

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  • Perioperative FEC therapy is a common treatment for breast cancer, but over 20% of patients experience febrile neutropenia (FN), which pegfilgrastim is often used to prevent.
  • A study on pegfilgrastim's long-term safety found no significant differences in blood cell counts or long-term effects after one year of use.
  • Pegfilgrastim administration significantly reduced the incidence of FN (6.5% with pegfilgrastim vs. 22.8% without), indicating it can be safely used for one year in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
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  • Membrane-less organelles are crucial in eukaryotic cells and can be artificially created to develop new cellular functions, but their properties are not well understood, especially in plants.
  • Researchers built model artificial condensates using specific proteins in rice cells and discovered ways to alter properties like location, mobility, and size.
  • They also created hybrid condensates with different characteristics by combining proteins and successfully modified these artificial organelles in transgenic Arabidopsis plants, offering insights into designing synthetic membrane-less organelles for plant research.
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Thrombospondin 2 (TSP2) plays a vital role in collagen/fibrin formation, bone growth, vascular density regulation, hemostasis, and cell adhesion. Close associations of serum TSP2 with histological severity in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and chronic hepatitis C were reported. The present study investigated the significance of circulating TSP2 in chronic hepatitis B patients.

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  • Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a serious neurodegenerative disease, and recent research reveals the Src/c-Abl inhibitor, bosutinib, as a promising candidate for treatment after a phase 1 study showed it to be safe for ALS patients.
  • The ongoing phase 2 study aims to assess bosutinib's efficacy and long-term safety over a 24-week treatment period, with 25 ALS patients participating and receiving either 200 mg or 300 mg doses.
  • The study has ethical approval from multiple universities and plans to share its findings in peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences.
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  • * A study involving 287 TAVR patients found that those with ESRD-HD are generally younger, more likely to be male, and have higher surgical risks, yet similar aortic valve complex characteristics to non-ESRD-HD patients.
  • * At the one-year mark, there were no significant differences in key health outcomes like death or stroke between ESRD-HD and non-ESRD-HD patients, indicating that TAVR is a viable option for
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Acrylamide polymers with zwitterionic carboxybetaine (CB) side groups have attracted attention as stealth polymers that do not induce antibodies when conjugated to proteins. However, they induce antibodies when modified onto liposomes. We hypothesized that antibodies are produced against polymer backbones rather than CB side groups.

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  • Oral frailty in elderly patients on hemodialysis is linked to reduced food intake and a lack of dietary diversity, potentially leading to malnutrition and physical decline.
  • A study divided 201 hemodialysis patients into oral frailty and non-oral frailty groups, assessing their nutrition and physical health over one year.
  • Results showed that those with oral frailty experienced significantly worse nutritional status and increased sarcopenia, indicating that oral frailty is a key factor in predicting declines in health for older HD patients.
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This prospective cohort study aimed to evaluate the performance of Flora select™ (FS), a newly developed real-time PCR test, for the assessment of the vaginal microbiome during early pregnancy. Five hundred and fifty-six pregnant women underwent examinations of FS, Nugent score-a Gram-staining scoring system for the diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis (BV)-and conventional bacterial culture between 8 weeks and 12 gestational weeks. Nugent scores of 0-3, 4-6, and ≥7 were found in 469 (84.

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  • Pulmonary diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer, are prevalent in patients with thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysms, but their impact on patient outcomes is largely unknown.
  • A study analyzed 952 patients with aortic aneurysms, finding that over half had pulmonary diseases at diagnosis, and tracked their causes of death over nearly 5 years.
  • Key factors linked to worse outcomes included older age, larger aneurysm size, and the presence of lung cancer or idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
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Pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of death related to cancer. The only possible cure presently is complete surgical resection; however, this is limited by difficulty in clearly defining tumor margins. Enhancement of the visualization of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) tumor margins using near-infrared dye-conjugated tumor-specific antibodies was pioneered by using anti-CEA, anti-CA19.

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  • * Seven patients received autologous MSCs without any serious side effects, showing no tumors or neurological decline throughout the process.
  • * Notable functional improvements and enhanced quality of life were reported 90 and 180 days after the infusion, indicating that this treatment could be beneficial for chronic SCI, though further large-scale studies are required for conclusive results.
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Rett syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects 1 in 10,000 females. Various treatments have been explored; however, no effective treatments have been reported to date, except for trofinetide, a synthetic analog of glycine-proline-glutamic acid, which was approved by the FDA in 2023. Serological biomarkers that correlate with the disease status of RTT are needed to promote early diagnosis and to develop novel agents.

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Generalized arterial calcification of infancy (GACI) is a rare disease characterized by arterial calcification. GACI is caused by a mutation in the ENPP1 or ABCC6 genes. GACI causes severe hypertension and heart failure, and approximately 50% of patients die within the first 6 months.

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  • - Sarcopenia significantly affects head and neck cancer (HNC) patients by impacting their prognosis, treatment responses, and overall quality of life due to factors such as aging, inflammation, and metabolic changes.
  • - It can lead to decreased muscle strength, mobility issues, and a higher risk of falls, making it an independent predictor of complications related to surgery and chemotherapy.
  • - To manage sarcopenia, routine body composition analysis and exercise interventions are recommended, though challenges exist; further research is needed to optimize preoperative exercise and nutrition strategies for better outcomes.
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The digestion behavior of a food bolus comprising bread particles in the presence of gastric peristalsis remains poorly understood. This study systematically investigated the effect of bread type on in vitro gastric digestion behavior using a human gastric digestion simulator (GDS) that is capable of quantitatively simulating gastric peristalsis. A food bolus consisting of 60 g of bread (white bread, bagel, German bread, French bread, or croissant), 15 mL of a simulated salivary fluid, and 240 mL of a simulated gastric fluid was used for gastric digestion in vitro using the GDS for 3 h at 37 °C.

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Macaque restricts hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection because its receptor homologue, NTCP (mNTCP), cannot bind preS1 on viral surface. To reveal how mNTCP loses the viral receptor function, we here solve the cryo-electron microscopy structure of mNTCP. Superposing on the human NTCP (hNTCP)-preS1 complex structure shows that Arg158 of mNTCP causes steric clash to prevent preS1 from embedding onto the bile acid tunnel of NTCP.

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FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3-internal tandem duplication (FLT3-ITD)-positive acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has a poor prognosis, particularly with DNMT3A and NPM1 mutations. Quizartinib, a FLT3 inhibitor showing clinical benefit in FLT3-ITD-positive AML, has unclear safety and efficacy when combined with donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI). We report a case of FLT3-ITD-positive AML with DNMT3A and NPM1 mutations that relapsed after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HCT) and was treated with quizartinib and DLI.

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Elucidating organismal developmental processes requires a comprehensive understanding of cellular lineages in the spatial, temporal, and molecular domains. In this study, we introduce Zebrahub, a dynamic atlas of zebrafish embryonic development that integrates single-cell sequencing time course data with lineage reconstructions facilitated by light-sheet microscopy. This atlas offers high-resolution and in-depth molecular insights into zebrafish development, achieved through the sequencing of individual embryos across ten developmental stages, complemented by reconstructions of cellular trajectories.

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  • No prior reports have compared section thickness (ST) between sliding microtomes (SM) and rotary microtomes (RM), leading to a study using two cooling conditions: ice pack (IP) and continuous cooling device (CCD).
  • Results showed that while ST was greater for SM under IP conditions, both microtomes had identical ST when using the CCD condition; thus, CCD was selected for further research.
  • The study found a significant difference in ST between tissue surfaces and paraffin surfaces in fish sausage blocks, but no difference in human kidney blocks, highlighting the importance of consistent ST and cooling methods for accurate quantitative analysis.
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The observation of time-reversal symmetry breaking and large residual density of states in tetragonal FeSe_{1-x}S_{x} suggests a novel type of ultranodal superconducting state with Bogoliubov Fermi surfaces (BFSs). Although such BFSs in centrosymmetric superconductors are expected to be topologically protected, the impurity effect of this exotic superconducting state remains elusive experimentally. Here, we investigate the impact of controlled defects introduced by electron irradiation on the superconducting state of tetragonal FeSe_{1-x}S_{x} (0.

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