Publications by authors named "Kazuhiro Tamura"

The traditional use of Cordyceps militaris, an entomopathogenic fungus, in East Asian medicine has been well documented. Our previous study revealed that the fruiting body powder of C. militaris, referred to as Ryukyu-kaso, contains 1,3-β-glucan and stimulates bone marrow-derived dendritic cells via a dectin-1-dependent pathway.

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Electricity competition, restrictions on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and arm races between nations are examples of social dilemmas within human society. In the presence of social dilemmas, rational choice in game theory leads to the avoidance of cooperative behaviour owing to its cost. However, in experiments using public goods games that simulate social dilemmas, humans have often exhibited cooperative behaviour that deviates from individual rationality.

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Obesity, a global health concern, results from an energy imbalance leading to lipid accumulation. In the present study, Cordyceps militaris extract (CM) and its primary component, cordycepin, were investigated to characterize their potential effects on adipogenesis and lipolysis. Treatment with CM or cordycepin reduced lipid droplets and increased hormone-sensitive lipase activation in 3T3-L1 cells.

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Article Synopsis
  • Endometriosis involves endometrial-like tissues growing outside the uterus, leading to inflammation and fibrosis, with retrograde menstruation being a leading theory for its cause.
  • Research shows that lesions are more likely to form in areas where ovaries have been surgically removed, and compounds like prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and thrombin worsen inflammation in these lesions, especially under low oxygen conditions during menstruation.
  • The study identifies key signaling pathways (CXCL12/CXCR4 and activin A/CTGF) that could be targeted for potential treatment to improve fibrosis in endometriosis.
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SPring-8-II is a major upgrade project of SPring-8 that was inaugurated in October 1997 as a third-generation synchrotron radiation light source. This upgrade project aims to achieve three goals simultaneously: achievement of excellent light source performance, refurbishment of aged systems, and significant reduction in power consumption for the entire facility. A small emittance of 50 pm rad will be achieved by (1) replacing the existing double-bend lattice structure with a five-bend achromat one, (2) lowering the stored beam energy from 8 to 6 GeV, (3) increasing the horizontal damping partition number from 1 to 1.

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Cordyceps militaris, an entomopathogenic fungus, has been traditionally used in East Asian medicine. Recent research indicates that the fruit bodies of C. militaris are rich in bioactive compounds, such as polysaccharides and nucleosides, which may offer health benefits.

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Gastric cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide, and new therapeutic strategies are urgently needed. Ferroptosis is an intracellular iron-dependent cell death induced by the accumulation of lipid peroxidation, a mechanism different from conventional apoptosis and necrosis. Therefore, induction of ferroptosis is expected to be a new therapeutic strategy.

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Background: Asking questions is common in conversations, and while asking questions, we need to listen carefully to what others say and consider the perspective our questions adopt. However, difficulties persist in verifying the effect of asking questions on older adults' cognitive function due to the lack of a standardized system for conducting experiments at participants' homes.

Objective: This study examined the intervention effect of cognitive training moderated by robots on healthy older adults.

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Ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC) is a unique clinicopathological subtype of epithelial ovarian cancer that is resistant to standard chemotherapy. Eribulin, a microtubule dynamics inhibitor of halichondrin class, has unique effects in the cancer microenvironment such as induction of epithelization and reduction in metastatic potential in breast cancer cells; however, nothing is known about the effect of eribulin and the detailed mechanisms in OCCC. This study aimed to investigate the involvement of ferroptosis and its mechanism in the antitumor activity of eribulin in OCCC cells and a mouse xenograft model.

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Human endometrial stromal cells (ESCs) undergo differentiation, known as decidualization, and endometrial epithelial cells mature around the embryo implantation stage. In the uterus, cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2), the rate-limiting enzyme that produces prostaglandin E2, is expressed in endometrial stromal and epithelial cells, and promotes decidualization of the former cells. Our recent study demonstrated that progesterone receptor membrane component 1 (PGRMC1) is downregulated during decidualization and may be involved in cellular senescence associated with decidualization via the transcription factor forkhead box protein O1 (FOXO1).

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Mononuclear cytotrophoblasts (CTs) differentiate and fuse to form multinuclear syncytiotrophoblasts (STs), which produce human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and progesterone to maintain pregnancy. Impaired differentiation and fusion of CTs to form STs are associated with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and fetal growth restriction. Progesterone receptor membrane component 1 (PGRMC1) is a multifunctional single transmembrane heme-binding protein.

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Purpose: Extravillous trophoblasts (EVTs) invade the endometrium to establish a fetomaternal interaction during pregnancy. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) and heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor (HB-EGF) stimulate EVT invasion by binding to the EGF receptor (EGFR). We examined the role of the small GTP-binding protein Rap1 in EGF- and HB-EGF-stimulated EVT invasion.

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Background: Splenic rupture because of metastasis from a distant organ is extremely rare.

Case Presentation: An 80-year-old man presented with left flank pain. A computed tomography (CT) demonstrated a poorly enhanced enlarged spleen with bulky thrombus in the splenic vein without extravasations.

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Article Synopsis
  • Malignant pericardial mesothelioma (MPM) is a very rare cancer, and there's no established treatment consensus, especially regarding immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs).
  • A 36-year-old man was diagnosed with MPM after showing signs of peritoneal dissemination, with cytology revealing malignant peritonitis.
  • He received treatment with the ICI nivolumab, which led to a clinical response despite complications like kidney issues and worsening health status, highlighting potential paths for diagnosis and treatment in such rare cases.
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We examined the color processing of the commodity plastic buttons made of acrylic, polyester, nylon, and casein with scCO. The buttons' dyeing color depth (/) was measured over a wide range of scCO and correlated accurately with the response surface method. Moreover, we measured the solubility of C.

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The pathogenesis of hypertensive disorder of pregnancy (HDP), which affects about 10% of pregnant women, is still incompletely understood. Our previous study showed that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress influences high-temperature requirement A serine peptidase 1 (HTRA1) expression and trophoblast invasion. However, the involvement of ER stress in the regulation of HTRA subtype expression and pathophysiology of HDP has not been characterized in extravillous trophoblasts (EVTs).

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Uterine leiomyosarcoma is an aggressive soft tissue tumor. Stathmin, a phosphoprotein that modulates microtubule dynamics, is highly expressed in many malignancies including leiomyosarcoma. The microtubule-depolymerizing agent eribulin has been recently approved for treating malignant soft tissue tumors.

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Eribulin, an inhibitor of microtubule dynamics, is used for treating breast cancers and sarcomas. The microtubule-destabilizing protein stathmin may modulate the antiproliferative activity of eribulin on breast cancer cells and leiomyosarcoma cells. The antitumor activity of eribulin in ovarian cancers has not been fully explored, so the present study aimed to determine the antitumor efficacy of eribulin and the involvement of stathmin in ovarian cancers.

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Introduction: We have conducted research on building a robot dialogue system to support the independent living of older adults. In order to provide appropriate support for them, it is necessary to obtain as much information, particularly related to their health condition, as possible. As the first step, we have examined a method to allow dialogue to continue for longer periods.

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Endometriosis is characterized by the presence of inflamed and fibrotic endometrial tissue outside the uterine cavity. Previously, we found decreased SERPINA1 (alpha-1 antitrypsin) expression in endometriosis-like lesions in a mouse model of endometriosis, suggesting that it exacerbated inflammation in these lesions. However, the molecular mechanism(s) by which SERPINA1 affects expression of inflammatory factors and development of endometriotic lesions have not been fully characterized.

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The appropriate differentiation of endometrial stromal cells (ESCs) into decidual cells is required for embryo implantation and subsequent placentation into humans. Decidualization is accompanied by the appearance of senescent-like cells. We recently reported the secretory phase-specific downregulation of endometrial progesterone receptor membrane component 1 (PGRMC1) and enhanced decidualization upon PGRMC1 knockdown and inhibition in cultured ESCs.

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The emergence of the placenta is a revolutionary event in the evolution of therian mammals, to which some LTR retroelement-derived genes, such as PEG10, RTL1, and syncytin, are known to contribute. However, therian genomes contain many more LTR retroelement-derived genes that may also have contributed to placental evolution. We conducted large-scale evolutionary genomic and transcriptomic analyses to comprehensively search for LTR retroelement-derived genes whose origination coincided with therian placental emergence and that became consistently expressed in therian placentae.

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The serine protease inhibitor alpha1-antitrypsin (A1AT) may possess protective functions of impaired organs in a manner independent of its protease inhibitor activity. A1AT expression has been shown to fluctuate in patients with pregnancy-induced hypertension, which suggests that A1AT may play a role in the syncytialization of villous trophoblasts. A1AT expression was knocked down in primary trophoblasts.

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