Publications by authors named "Kai K"

Dasatinib, a second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has been reported to have immunomodulatory effects. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated lymphoproliferative disorders (EBV-LPD) occur in immunocompromised patients, such as those receiving methotrexate or other immunosuppressive drugs or after allogenic transplantation. EBV-LPD is also reported to be a rare side effect in patients receiving long-term dasatinib or imatinib.

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Dendritic cells (DCs) are known to be major antigen-presenting cells, and lymph nodes (LNs) play an important role in DC-mediated immune response. CD1a is known as a marker of monocyte-derived DCs. The present study focused on the infiltration of CD1a-positive DCs (CD1a-DCs) into regional LNs in 70 cases of gallbladder cancer (GBC).

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Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is becoming a major health problem worldwide. Liver regeneration is crucial for restoring liver function, and is regulated by extraordinary complex process, involving numerous factors under both physiologic and pathologic conditions. Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), a bioactive sphingolipid synthesized by sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1), plays an important role in liver function through S1P receptors (S1PRs)-expressing cells.

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  • - Glioblastoma (GBM) is a highly aggressive brain tumor with no effective treatments, and its tumor microenvironment is characterized as immunosuppressive, containing many glioma-associated macrophages/microglia (GAMs) that aid tumor growth and treatment resistance.
  • - The review discusses the classification and origin of GAMs, their activation mechanisms, interactions with tumor cells, and the historical and modern techniques for detecting GAMs, particularly immunohistochemistry.
  • - Recent advancements like single-cell RNA analysis provide new insights into GAMs, suggesting that therapies targeting these cells may be key to improving treatment options for GBM in the future.
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Endometrioid adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix is rare and difficult to distinguish from endometrial adenocarcinoma, particularly in large bulky cases. Herein, we report a rare case of a large endometrioid adenocarcinoma in a 58-year-old Japanese woman in which the tumor origin was difficult to identify. The patient presented with abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding and was referred to a gynecologist for suspected uterine cancer based on an evaluation performed at another institution.

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The soilborne Gram-negative phytopathogenic beta-proteobacterium strain OE1-1 produces methyl 3-hydroxymyristate (3-OH MAME) as the quorum sensing (QS) signal by the methyltransferase PhcB and senses the chemical, activating the LysR family transcriptional regulator PhcA, which regulates the QS-dependent genes responsible for QS-dependent phenotypes including virulence. The sensor histidine kinases PhcS and VsrA are reportedly involved in the regulation of QS-dependent genes. To elucidate the function of PhcS and VsrA in the active QS, we generated the deletion and -deletion mutants, which exhibited weak changes to their QS-dependent phenotypes including virulence.

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  • A 41-year-old man with no prior health issues presented with severe anemia, swollen lymph nodes, an upper mediastinal mass, and low antibody levels, leading to a diagnosis of pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) and adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL).
  • His mediastinal mass was identified as thymic hyperplasia, but it did not show evidence of ATLL invasion.
  • After surgery to remove the thymus, his anemia improved, but PRCA returned about 500 days later, indicating a potential link between his symptoms and ATLL, possibly as paraneoplastic syndromes.
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  • Immune checkpoint inhibitors, such as pembrolizumab, have shown effectiveness in treating metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) with microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H), though liver metastasis often indicates resistance to these therapies.
  • A case study focuses on a 23-year-old man with MSI-H colorectal liver metastasis who achieved a complete pathological response after receiving pembrolizumab following chemotherapy.
  • Pathological analyses revealed high PD-L1 expression in both the primary tumor and regional lymph nodes, suggesting that examining lymph nodes could help predict responses to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapies in cancer treatment.
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Objectives:  Educational simulation systems using virtual reality (VR) with head-mounted devices are spreading into the medical field. We developed an innovative training system whereby experienced ostomates can share their proficient stoma self-care techniques with novice ostomates through VR simulations, enabling anytime, anywhere learning. We examined the questionnaire study to assess the acceptance of VR simulation training for stoma care by healthcare providers.

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Introduction: Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker disease (GSS) is an autosomal-dominant inherited prion disease most often associated with the human prion protein gene (PRNP)-P102L mutation. Although patients manifest considerable phenotypic heterogeneity, the involvement of the nigrostriatal system has not been well-studied.

Methods: We performed dopamine transporter single-photon emission computed tomography (DAT-SPECT) using I-ioflupane to investigate the nigrostriatal system function in nine patients with the PRNP-P102L mutation.

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Osteomyelitis is an inflammation of bone tissue usually caused by pyogenic bacteria. The most recurrent clinical approach consists of bone debridement followed by parenteral administration of antibiotics. However, systemic antibiotic treatment has limitations regarding absorption rate and bioavailability over time.

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Background: Rosai-Dorfman disease (RDD) is an uncommon proliferative histiocytic disorder involving lymph nodes and various organs. Forty-three percent of RDD cases originate from extranodal sites; however, RDD rarely arises from the colon.

Case Presentation: A 75-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of intra-abdominal masses that were incidentally detected during surveillance by computed tomography (CT) after treatment for lung cancer.

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Background: The role of barbed sutures in preventing myometrial defects and enhancing postpartum outcomes after cesarean section (C-section) is uncertain.

Objective: This study compared clinical and ultrasonographic outcomes of uterine scar defects after C-section with barbed and conventional smooth thread sutures.

Study Design: This was a multicenter, parallel-group, randomized, controlled clinical trial.

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Purpose: To increase the number of medical students or residents who want to become surgeons, we must evaluate our program that recruits new young surgeons.

Methods: We planned surgical training programs for medical students and residents that we named the MANGOU (Miyazaki Advanced New General surgery Of University) training project in the Department of Surgery, Miyazaki University, Japan. From January 2016 through December 2022, we asked trainees who attended this training to complete questionnaires to evaluate their interest in surgery, confidence in surgical skills, and training.

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Small-cell carcinoma of the ovary, the hypercalcemic type (SCCOHT) is a rare, aggressive tumor that primarily affects young females. It is a monogenic disorder caused by germline and/or somatic mutations. Here, we report a case of SCCOHT harboring multiple previously unreported somatic mutations in (c.

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Long-term administration of certain macrolides is efficacious in patients with persistent pulmonary infection, despite how limited the clinically achievable concentrations are, being far below their MICs. An increase in the sub-MIC of macrolide exposure-dependent sensitivity to nitrosative stress is a typical characteristic of . However, a few clinical isolates do not respond to sub-MIC of macrolide treatment.

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Purpose: We evaluated the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features of ovarian teratomas with somatic-type malignancy (TSMs) and benign ovarian mature cystic teratomas (MCTs) to determine the diagnostic contribution of the MRI findings for differentiating these two teratomas.

Methods: We compared the MRI findings between ovarian TSMs (n = 10) and MCTs (n = 193), and we conducted a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis to determine the MRI findings' contribution to the differentiation of TSMs from MCTs.

Results: The maximum diameters of whole lesion and the largest solid component in the TSMs were larger than those of the MCTs (p = 0.

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The soil-borne phytopathogenic gram-negative bacterium species complex (RSSC) produces staphyloferrin B and micacocidin as siderophores that scavenge for trivalent iron (Fe) in the environment, depending on the intracellular divalent iron (Fe) concentration. The staphyloferrin B-deficient mutant reportedly retains its virulence, but the relationship between micacocidin and virulence remains unconfirmed. To elucidate the effect of micacocidin on RSSC virulence, we generated the micacocidin productivity-deficient mutant (Δ) that lacks , which encodes a putative polyketide synthase/non-ribosomal peptide synthetase, using the RSSC phylotype I strain OE1-1.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study looked at what causes some people with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) to have serious back fractures that need surgery.
  • They checked 60 patients and found that most were middle-aged men who had AS for a long time.
  • Higher levels of a certain protein (CRP) in the blood were linked to a greater chance of needing surgery for back fractures, suggesting that treating inflammation could help prevent these fractures.
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Background: Risk of recurrence and progression of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) to invasive cancer remains uncertain, emphasizing the need for developing predictive biomarkers of aggressive DCIS.

Methods: Human cell lines and mouse models of disease progression were analyzed for candidate risk predictive biomarkers identified and validated in two independent DCIS cohorts.

Results: RNA profiling of normal mammary and DCIS tissues (n = 48) revealed that elevated SOX11 expression correlates with MKI67, EZH2, and DCIS recurrence score.

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We developed a prototype VR platform, VECTORS L&M (VLM), aiming to enhance the understanding of digestive surgery for students, interns, and young surgeons by limiting costs. Its efficacy was assessed via questionnaires before implementation in surgical education. The VLM provides nine-minute VR views of surgeries, from both 180- and 360-degree angles.

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A 75-year-old man was referred to our department because of an enlarging intrahepatic mass detected on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) follow-up for another disease. MRI showed hypointensity on T1-weighted imaging and hyperintensity on T2-weighted imaging in liver segment 4. Abdominal plain computed tomography (CT) indicated a low-density lesion with an unclear boundary, measuring approximately 4 cm × 3 cm in liver segment 4.

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  • Prion disease is a serious neurodegenerative illness, with definitive diagnosis relying on detecting resistant prion proteins through Western blotting.
  • This study focused on identifying prion proteins in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples from various prion disease cases, confirming the presence and type of prion proteins in specific diseases like sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker disease.
  • The findings suggest that analyzing these FFPE specimens allows for safe detection and classification of prion diseases, aiding both diagnosis and research efforts.
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Some bacteria produce "bacterial polyynes" bearing a conjugated C≡C bond that starts with a terminal alkyne. Ergoynes A and B have been reported as sulfur-containing metabolites from YC6258. These compounds were thought to be formed by cycloaddition between a bacterial polyyne (named Gs-polyyne) and l-ergothioneine.

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Liver regeneration is a well-orchestrated compensatory process that is regulated by multiple factors. We recently reported the importance of the chromatin protein, a high-mobility group box 2 (HMGB2) in mouse liver regeneration. However, the molecular mechanism remains unclear.

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