Publications by authors named "K Matsukura"
Recent changes in climate and environments have promoted the range expansion of insect pests of tropical and subtropical origins into temperate regions. For more accurate and faster risk assessment of this expansion, we developed a novel indicator to link a physiologically derived parameter of chilling injury with the survival of insect populations in nature by using two insects, Spodoptera frugiperda and Cicadulina bipunctata with tropical and subtropical origins, and one cool-adapted insect, Laodelphax striatellus. The parameter derived from a proportional increment in the time to 99.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOsteoarthritis, a degenerative disease of articular cartilage and the leading cause of disability, is preceded by acute cartilage injury in a significant proportion of cases. Current auto- and allograft interventions are limited by supply and variability in therapeutic efficacy, prompting interest in tissue engineering solutions. Cell sheet tissue engineering, a scaffold-free regenerative technique, has shown promise in preclinical and clinical trials across various cell types and diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: This study aimed to establish a combined histological assessment system of neo-cartilage outcomes and to evaluate variations in an established rat defect model treated with human juvenile cartilage-derived chondrocyte (JCC) sheets fabricated from various donors.
Methods: JCCs were isolated from the polydactylous digits of eight patients. Passage 2 (P2) JCC sheets from all donors were transplanted into nude rat chondral defects for 4 weeks (27 nude rats in total).
Article Synopsis
- Acute Leriche syndrome is a serious condition characterized by reduced blood flow to the lower limbs, typically indicated by pain, paleness, and coldness, though symptoms may not always be present, complicating diagnosis.
- An 83-year-old man presented with sudden leg weakness (paraparesis), which was initially misdiagnosed as a spinal cord issue, but imaging revealed no spinal problems and identified aortoiliac occlusion instead.
- The case highlights the need to consider Leriche syndrome in patients with unexplained leg weakness and the importance of assessing for subtle signs like muscle atrophy in the thighs.
Article Synopsis
- The Southern rice black-streaked dwarf virus (SRBSDV) caused significant rice yield losses in Southeast and East Asia, first recorded in China in 2001, but linked to a pre-existing insect vector.
- Research involving three strains of the vector demonstrated that older strains could effectively transmit SRBSDV, indicating that virus transmission wasn't due to changes in the insect vector but likely due to genetic changes in the virus itself.
- Understanding this evolutionary relationship between SRBSDV and its vector can enhance strategies for managing viral diseases in rice crops across Asia.