Publications by authors named "Kaoru Kimura"

Quasicrystals are solid-state materials that typically exhibit unique symmetries, such as icosahedral or decagonal diffraction symmetry. They were first discovered in 1984. Over the past four decades of quasicrystal research, around 100 stable quasicrystals have been discovered.

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A quasicrystal is an ordered but nonperiodic structure understood as a projection from a higher-dimensional periodic structure. Some physical properties of quasicrystals are different from those of conventional solids. An anomalous increase in heat capacity at high temperatures has been discussed for over two decades as a manifestation of a hidden high dimensionality of quasicrystals.

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Since the discovery of the quasicrystal, approximately 100 stable quasicrystals are identified. To date, the existence of quasicrystals is verified using transmission electron microscopy; however, this technique requires significantly more elaboration than rapid and automatic powder X-ray diffraction. Therefore, to facilitate the search for novel quasicrystals, developing a rapid technique for phase-identification from powder diffraction patterns is desirable.

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Single crystals of five compounds with approximate compositions ∼Ru(AlSi), (I), ∼Ru(AlSi), (II), ∼Ru(AlSi), (III), ∼Ru(AlSi), (IV), and ∼Ru(AlSi), (V), were obtained from polycrystalline lumps mainly composed of the target compounds, and their crystal structures were determined by means of single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The crystal structure of (I) can be related to that of a cubic rational crystalline approximant to an icosa-hedral quasicrystal through crystallographic shear and then unit-cell twinning. The crystal structure of (II) is isotypic with that of a phase with composition ∼Fe(Al,Si).

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Half-Heusler (HH) phase TmNiSb was obtained by arc-melting combined with high-pressure high-temperature sintering in conditions: p = 5.5 GPa, [Formula: see text] = 20, 250, 500, 750, and 1000 [Formula: see text]C. Within pressing temperatures 20-750 [Formula: see text]C the samples maintained HH structure, however, we observed intrinsic phase separation.

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Herein, we report a case of a 59-year-old man with advanced castration-resistant prostate cancer with rectal invasion. Multimodal treatment, including drug therapy, surgery, and radiation therapy was sequentially performed; however, lymph node metastases repeatedly occurred. Tumor genomic profiling using FoundationOne CDx identified pathogenic alterations in three DNA repair genes, including BRCA2 frameshift mutation.

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Introduction: Apical dissection and control of the dorsal vascular complex (DVC) affects blood loss, positive surgical margins, and urinary control during robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy. Soft coagulation is widely used for hemostasis. However, using soft coagulation to the DVC may affect the continence outcomes.

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Quasicrystals have emerged as the third class of solid-state materials, distinguished from periodic crystals and amorphous solids, which have long-range order without periodicity exhibiting rotational symmetries that are disallowed for periodic crystals in most cases. To date, more than one hundred stable quasicrystals have been reported, leading to the discovery of many new and exciting phenomena. However, the pace of the discovery of new quasicrystals has lowered in recent years, largely owing to the lack of clear guiding principles for the synthesis of new quasicrystals.

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Amyloidosis is known as a group of diseases that causes various disorders because of deposition of amyloid protein in various organs. Amyloidosis occurring in the retroperitoneum is a rare disease. We report a 75-year-old male patient presented to our hospital because he was identified with a retroperitoneal mass incidentally by CT.

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Tetragonal FeAl is a high-pressure phase and is predicted to exhibit semiconductor-like behavior. We investigated the pressure and temperature synthesizing conditions of tetragonal FeAl, supported by X-ray diffractions, using synchrotron radiation during heating the sample under a pressure of 20 GPa. Based on the determined optimal conditions, we synthesized the bulk polycrystalline samples of tetragonal FeAl at 7.

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Background: Cathepsin K (CatK) is a widely expressed cysteine protease that has gained attention because of its enzymatic and non-enzymatic functions in signalling. Here, we examined whether CatK-deficiency (CatK ) would mitigate injury-related skeletal muscle remodelling and fibrosis in mice, with a special focus on inflammation and muscle cell apoptosis.

Methods: Cardiotoxin (CTX, 20 μM/200 μL) was injected into the left gastrocnemius muscle of male wild-type (CatK ) and CatK mice, and the mice were processed for morphological and biochemical studies.

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A series of copper(I) complexes bearing 2,9-dimethyl-4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (dmpp) and a diphosphine ligand have been prepared. The diphosphine ligands used have two, three or four methylene carbons between the two phosphorus atoms. The crystallographic study has revealed that two of the three complexes have the mononuclear structure bearing dmpp and a bidentate diphosphine ligand, and one is a diphosphine-bridged binuclear complex.

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In this article, we review the characteristic features of icosahedral cluster solids, metallic-covalent bonding conversion (MCBC), and the thermoelectric properties of Al-based icosahedral quasicrystals and approximants. MCBC is clearly distinguishable from and closely related to the well-known metal-insulator transition. This unique bonding conversion has been experimentally verified in 1/1-AlReSi and 1/0-AlRe approximants by the maximum entropy method and Rietveld refinement for powder x-ray diffraction data, and is caused by a central atom inside the icosahedral clusters.

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β-Hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate (HMB) prevents deleterious muscle responses under pathological conditions, including tumor- and chronic steroid therapy-related muscle losses. Here, we investigated the hypothesis that HMB may modulate the balance between protein synthesis and degradation in the PI3K/Akt-mediated mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and FoxO1/FoxO3a-dependent mechanisms in differentiated C2C12 muscle cells. We also tested the effect of HMB on the expression of MuRF-1 and atrogin-1 in response to the inflammatory stress.

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The Zintl phase Sr5Al2Sb6 has a large, complex unit cell and is composed of relatively earth-abundant and non-toxic elements, making it an attractive candidate for thermoelectric applications. The structure of Sr5Al2Sb6 is characterized by infinite oscillating chains of AlSb4 tetrahedra. It is distinct from the structure type of the previously studied Ca5M2Sb6 compounds (M = Al, Ga or In), all of which have been shown to have promising thermoelectric performance.

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1. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) are associated with the vascular remodelling seen in atherosclerosis and aneurysm. The activation and activity of MMP-2 are regulated by the intrinsic tissue inhibitor of MMP-2 (TIMP-2).

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We present the formation of hydrogen-content-controlled B(12)H(n) (+) clusters through the decomposition and ion-molecule reactions of the decaborane (B(10)H(14)) and diborane (B(2)H(6)) molecules in an external quadrupole static attraction ion trap. The hydrogen- and boron-contents of the B(10-y)H(x) (+) cluster are controlled by charge transfer from ambient gas ions. In the process of ionization, a certain number of hydrogen and boron atoms are detached from decaborane ions by the energy caused by charge transfer.

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In this paper, we demonstrated a facile hydrothermal route leading to the generation of a new cobalt hydroxide, Co(OH)(3), nanobelt. This new product of Co(OH)(3) nanobelts was well characterized and identified by SEM, TEM, XRD, EDX, XPS, EXAFS, Raman, TGA and SQUID. Additionally, through systematic investigations on morphological evolution, it was found that the size and shape of Co(OH)(3) nanobelts were adjustable in large scale, e.

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We report the formation of icosahedral B(12)H(8) (+) through ion-molecule reactions of the decaborane ion [B(10)H(x)(+) (x=6-14)] with diborane (B(2)H(6)) molecules in an external quadrupole static attraction ion trap. The hydrogen content n of B(12)H(n)(+) is determined by the analysis of the mass spectrum. The result reveals that B(12)H(8)(+) is the main product.

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Background: All of the ovarian borderline clear cell tumors ever reported had, without exception, an adenofibromatous pattern.

Case: We report two cases of borderline cystic clear cell tumor of the ovary without apparent invasive lesions or adenofibromatous components.

Conclusion: This is the first report of cystic clear cell tumors of borderline malignancy, indicating a possible new histological subtype.

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A case of primary retroperitoneal mucinous cystic tumor of borderline malignancy is reported. A 36-year-old, nulliparous woman complained of abdominal fullness. Physical examination revealed a cystic mass 12-cm x 8-cm in size.

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We examined the effects of pesticides on the central and peripheral nervous system in the setting of a tobacco farm at a developing country. Maximal motor and sensory nerve conduction velocities (MCV and SCV, respectively) in the median, sural and tibial nerves, postural sway, and brain-evoked potentials (auditory event-related and visual-evoked potentials) were measured in 80 male tobacco farmers and age- and sex-matched 40 controls in Kelantan, Malaysia. Median SCV (finger-wrist) in farmers using Delsen (mancozeb, dithiocarbamate fungicide), who showed significant decrease of serum cholinesterase activities, were significantly lower compared with the controls.

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Electron-doped alpha-rhombohedral boron (alpha-r-B) crystals were synthesized by Li- and Mg-dopings. The doped alpha-r-B particles showed a shiny metallic colour, though non-doped alpha-r-B crystals showed a dark red colour (red boron). The electronic structures of doped alpha-r-B single crystals were examined by a high energy-resolution electron energy-loss spectroscopy microscope.

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A method for nickel-catalyzed asymmetric carbon dioxide (CO2) incorporation via carbon-carbon bond formation was developed. In the presence of a catalytic amount of Ni(acac)2 and MeO-MOP, various bis-1,3-dienes reacted with CO2 (1 atm) and a diorganozinc reagent (Me2Zn or Ph2Zn) to afford cyclic carboxylic acids in good yields (71-100%) and with high enantioselectivities (90-96% ee).

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