Extracting and analyzing micronuclei from mouse two-cell embryos fertilized with freeze-dried spermatozoa.

Abnormal chromosome segregation (ACS) in preimplantation embryos causes miscarriages. For a normal pregnancy, it is necessary to reduce ACS occurrences in embryos. However, the causes of such abnormalities are unclear because no method to extract the segregated chromosomes from the blastomeres for detailed analysis.

Initiation of Psychotropic Drugs in Spouses of Patients With Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease: A Matched Cohort Study.

Objectives: The diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD) can cause emotional stress not only to the patients themselves but also to their spouses. This study aimed to evaluate the risk of psychiatric disorders in spouses of EOAD patients, using psychotropic drug initiation as a surrogate indicator.

Methods: A cohort study was conducted using a Japanese claims database, with spouses of EOAD patients (exposed spouses) matched with spouses of non-EOAD individuals (reference spouses) up to a 1:10 ratio.

Method for long-term room temperature storage of mouse freeze-dried sperm.

Permanent preservation of genetic resources may be indispensable for the future of humanity. This requires liquid nitrogen, as is the case for preserving animal sperm. However, this technique is expensive and poses a risk of irrecoverable sample loss on non-replenishment of liquid nitrogen in case of natural disasters.

Utility of Mac-2 binding protein glycosylation isomer as an excellent biomarker for the prediction of liver fibrosis, activity, and hepatocellular carcinoma onset: an expert review.

Mac-2 binding protein glycosylation isomer (M2BPGi) is a liver fibrosis biomarker that originated in Japan and has been covered by health insurance for 10 years. M2BPGi is useful not only for liver fibrosis stage prediction but also for assessment of the degree of liver inflammation and prediction of hepatocellular carcinoma development. The usefulness of M2BPGi for assessing disease progression in patients with various chronic liver diseases has been demonstrated over the past decade in a large number of patients.

Vascular dysfunction in women with recurrent pregnancy loss: Possible association with antiphospholipid antibodies.

Objective: Antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) are recognized to have a pivotal role in recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) and cardiovascular disease. Therefore, we assessed the vascular function of women with RPL and examined the association with each type of aPL.

Methods: In this retrospective study, 569 women with RPL and 55 healthy women who had never experienced pregnancy loss were recruited.

Clinical Characteristics of Steatotic Liver Disease Categories in a Large Cohort of Japanese Health Checkup Participants.

Background And Aims: The clinical characteristics and risk factors involved in the development of liver fibrosis in the subtypes of steatotic liver disease (SLD) remain unknown. We examined the clinical characteristics of SLD subtypes using a large Japanese cohort.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional analysis (total n = 108,446).

Generation and validation of antibody 42B1 recognizing galactose-deficient IgG for diagnosis of chronic inflammatory diseases.

Galactose-deficient (agalactosyl) IgG is significantly increased in the serum of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and autoantibodies against it are used in clinical tests. Subsequent studies also show increased agalactosyl IgG in many chronic inflammatory diseases. In this study, we generated antibody 42B1 recognizing agalactosyl IgG and developed a new method to evaluate chronic inflammatory diseases with it.

Serum Cytokeratin 18 Fragment Is an Indicator for Treating Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease.

Background And Aims: Although numerous noninvasive diagnostic methods have been developed to predict liver fibrosis in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), they lack markers for predicting lobular inflammation, hepatocellular ballooning, or changes related to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). We examined serum cytokeratin 18 fragment (CK18F) as a noninvasive marker for predicting treatment response and "at-risk MASH" and "MASH resolution" in patients with MASLD.

Methods: One-hundred-and-ten patients with MASLD who underwent repeated biopsy were enrolled (age, 4 [0.

Apolipoprotein-B mRNA-editing complex 3B could be a new potential therapeutic target in endometriosis.

This study investigated the correlation of Apolipoprotein-B mRNA-editing complex 3B (APOBEC3B) expression with hypoxia inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α), Kirsten rat sarcoma virus (KRAS) and phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase catalytic subunit alpha (PIK3CA) in endometriosis patients, and the inhibitory effects of APOBEC3B knockdown in a human endometriotic cell line. Here, APOBEC3B, HIF-1α, KRAS, and PIK3CA were examined in patients with and without endometriosis using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The apoptosis, cell proliferation, invasion, migration, and biological function of APOBEC3B knockdown were explored in 12Z immortalized human endometriotic cell line.

Development of a FUT8 Inhibitor with Cellular Inhibitory Properties.

Core fucosylation is catalyzed by α-1,6-fucosyltransferase (FUT8), which fucosylates the innermost GlcNAc of N-glycans. Given the association of FUT8 with various diseases, including cancer, selective FUT8 inhibitors applicable to in vivo or cell-based systems are highly sought-after. Herein, we report the discovery of a compound that selectively inhibits FUT8 in cell-based assays.

Tofogliflozin attenuates renal lipid deposition and inflammation via PPARα upregulation mediated by miR-21a impairment in diet-induced steatohepatitic mice.

We previously demonstrated hepatic, cardiac, and skin inflammation in a high-fat diet-induced steatotic liver disease (SLD) model. However, the molecular mechanism in the kidneys in this model remains unclear. It has been recently reported that SGLT2 inhibitors improve chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Core-fucose-specific Pholiota squarrosa lectin decreased hepatic inflammatory macrophage infiltration in steatohepatitis mice.

Recent findings in glycobiology revealed direct evidence of the involvement of oligosaccharide changes in human diseases, including liver diseases. Fucosylation describes the attachment of a fucose residue to a glycan or glycolipid. We demonstrated that fucosylated proteins are useful serum biomarkers for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Enhanced CFTR modulator efficacy in ΔF508 CFTR mouse organoids by ablation of RFFL ubiquitin ligase.

The most common CFTR mutant in cystic fibrosis (CF), ΔF508 CFTR, is eliminated by ubiquitination even in the presence of CF drugs, reducing their therapeutic efficacy. RFFL is one of the ubiquitin ligases that remove ΔF508 CFTR from the cell surface despite treatment with the triple combination of CFTR modulators (TEZ/ELX/IVA) used clinically. Although RFFL knockdown has been shown to enhance the efficacy of TEZ/ELX/IVA in cell culture models, its impact in mouse models has not been evaluated.

Serum levels of the -terminal fragment of connective tissue growth factor is a novel biomarker for chronic pancreatitis.

Chronic inflammation of the pancreas is considered to be one of the causes of pancreatic cancer. However, the diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis (CP) is very difficult in the pancreas, where biopsies are difficult to perform. The prevalence of CP is estimated to be many times more common than in patients with actual symptomatic CP.

HERC3 facilitates ERAD of select membrane proteins by recognizing membrane-spanning domains.

Aberrant proteins located in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) undergo rapid ubiquitination by multiple ubiquitin (Ub) E3 ligases and are retrotranslocated to the cytosol as part of the ER-associated degradation (ERAD). Despite several ERAD branches involving different Ub E3 ligases, the molecular machinery responsible for these ERAD branches in mammalian cells remains not fully understood. Through a series of multiplex knockdown/knockout experiments with real-time kinetic measurements, we demonstrate that HERC3 operates independently of the ER-embedded ubiquitin ligases RNF5 and RNF185 (RNF5/185) to mediate the retrotranslocation and ERAD of misfolded CFTR.

Applicability of the Self-Evaluation Scale of nursing practices for improving sleep quality among patients with dementia taking sleeping pills to general nurses.

Objective: Many patients with dementia experience sleep-related problems. However, there is a lack of clarity regarding nursing practices that can address these issues. Thus, we developed a self-assessment scale for nursing practices to improve sleep quality among patients with dementia taking sleep medication and confirmed its validity and reliability.

Hepatic inflammation and fibrosis are profiles related to mid-term mortality in biopsy-proven MASLD: A multicenter study in Japan.

Aims: A multi-stakeholder consensus has proposed MASLD (metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease). We aimed to investigate the pathological findings related to the mid-term mortality of patients with biopsy-proven MASLD in Japan.

Methods: We enrolled 1349 patients with biopsy-proven MASLD.

iATT liver fat quantification for steatosis grading by referring to MRI proton density fat fraction: a multicenter study.

Background: Several preliminary reports have suggested the utility of ultrasound attenuation coefficient measurements based on B-mode ultrasound, such as iATT, for diagnosing steatotic liver disease. Nonetheless, evidence supporting such utility is lacking. This prospective study aimed to investigate whether iATT is highly concordant with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF) and could well distinguish between steatosis grades.