Publications by authors named "Kitano T"

Covalently bonded crystalline substances with micropores have broad applications. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are representative of such substances. They have so far been classified into two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) COFs.

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Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the change in the patient's background and attitude toward infertility treatment both before and after the initiation of insurance coverage and to explore future issues from the patients' perspectives.

Materials And Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in a fertility clinic in Japan from February to June 2022. An original questionnaire was given for two groups of new patients at a fertility clinic on their first visit: before fertility treatment insurance coverage started (Before-coverage) and after fertility treatment insurance coverage started (After-coverage).

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Introduction: The present study aimed to investigate the prescribing patterns of anticholinergics (anti-AChR) or β3-adrenergic agonists (βA) in the pharmacotherapy of overactive bladder (OAB) and to evaluate the differences in the frequency of adverse events (AEs) between the two types of drugs using a large-scale medical claims database.

Methods: This cohort study was conducted using the JMDC claims database between May 2015 and April 2023. Patient characteristics, prescription and treatment patterns of anti-AChR and βA, and the incidence of AEs have been described.

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The real-world treatment patterns at medical facilities and their physicians' specialties treating migraine have not been fully investigated in Japan. Therefore, a retrospective cohort study aimed to describe real-world clinical practice and treatment patterns in Japanese patients with migraine according to medical facilities and physicians' specialties. Anonymized claims data of patients with migraine was obtained from JMDC Inc (January 2018-June 2023).

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While COVID-19 vaccines are generally very safe, the risks of myocarditis and pericarditis has been established following mRNA vaccines, with the highest risk in young males. Most systematic reviews and meta-analyses of the risk of myocarditis or pericarditis have included passive surveillance data, which is subject to reporting errors. Accurate measures of age-, sex-, vaccine dose-, and vaccine type-specific risks are crucial for assessment of the benefits and risks of the vaccination.

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Background Aims: Methotrexate (MTX) is used as standard graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. However, the optimal dosing regimen among the various MTX regimens available remains unclear.

Methods: We used the registration data of Kyoto Stem Cell Transplantation Group to compare six MTX dosing protocols in a multicenter retrospective analysis of 816 cases of unrelated bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cell transplantation.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates how well deep-learning (DL) models can analyze electrocardiograms (ECGs) to predict changes in the left ventricle related to significant aortic regurgitation (AR), which has been challenging to identify in the past.
  • - Researchers collected data from 573 patients and used a ResNet-based model to correlate ECG readings with various left ventricular parameters, achieving promising scores in distinguishing levels of left ventricular dysfunction.
  • - The findings suggest that using DL models on ECGs could improve the detection of left ventricular issues and potentially reduce the need for additional echocardiography, especially in situations where access to such tests is limited.
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  • The study examines the reliability of the relative apical sparing (RAPS) pattern in diagnosing cardiac amyloidosis and its prognostic significance, highlighting concerns over its accuracy.
  • A systematic review of 37 studies found that RAPS has a pooled sensitivity of 61% and specificity of 83%, but diagnostic accuracy varied significantly among different analytical software.
  • While RAPS showed some association with outcomes in cardiac amyloidosis, its prognostic value diminished when further analyzed, suggesting it is not a strong predictor of patient outcomes.
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Background: To evaluate the effect of the type and codetection of respiratory viruses on admission requirements among children with respiratory infections in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era.

Methods: In this retrospective study, we analyzed patients with acute respiratory symptoms using FilmArray® Respiratory Panel between December 2020 and March 2024. The viruses were classified into eight groups: adenovirus, seasonal coronavirus, human metapneumovirus, human rhinovirus/enterovirus, influenza virus, parainfluenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus, and severe acute respiratory virus coronavirus-2.

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  • - This study aimed to evaluate how right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF) relates to adverse outcomes in various cardiovascular diseases (CVD) using a Bayesian model-averaged meta-analysis approach.
  • - Analysis of 108 articles with over 21,000 patients showed that while RVEF is generally associated with worse outcomes, strong evidence was mainly found for just four specific CVDs: hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy, pulmonary hypertension, and aortic stenosis.
  • - The study suggests that more data could improve our understanding of RVEF's impact on other types of CVD, as current evidence for those is weaker.
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  • Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are being researched for potential cancer therapies and diagnostic tools, but current methods for loading therapeutic proteins into EVs are not efficient.
  • The main technique, electroporation, damages the EVs and complicates purification, highlighting the need for better natural protein transfer methods for clinical use.
  • A new approach using a short CD9 (sCD9)-INF/TAT tag enhances protein transfer into EVs and improves escape from degradation inside cells, particularly when producer and receptor cells are cocultured.
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3β-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases (3β-HSDs) catalyze the oxidative conversion of delta (5)-ene-3-beta-hydroxy steroids and ketosteroids. Human 3β-HSD type 2 (HSD3B2) is predominantly expressed in gonadal and adrenal steroidogenic cells for producing all classes of active steroid hormones. Mutations in HSD3B2 gene cause a rare form of congenital adrenal hyperplasia with varying degree of salt wasting and incomplete masculinization, resulting from reduced production of corticoids and androgens.

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Polyploidy is frequently enhanced under pathological conditions, such as tissue injury and cancer in humans. Polyploidization is critically involved in cancer evolution, including cancer initiation and the acquisition of drug resistance. However, the effect of polyploidy on cell fate remains unclear.

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Adult multisystem Langerhans cell histiocytosis (MS-LCH) is rare and has a poor prognosis. A 67-year-old man with MS-LCH presented with a hepatic tumor rupture and multiple masses in the lungs, liver, and pancreas. Despite the initial aggressive disease course and involvement of organs at risk, the patient experienced spontaneous regression and lesion disappearance following smoking cessation without chemotherapy.

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Prolonged positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results, irrespective of the transmission risk, can lead to prolonged restrictions on daily activities and infection precaution interventions. Studies evaluating the duration of PCR positivity for multiple pathogens in a single patient cohort are scarce. This study aimed to evaluate and compare the durations of PCR positivity for multiple respiratory viruses among children and adolescents.

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Acne vulgaris is a complex condition involving factors that affect the pilosebaceous unit. A primary manifestation of acne pathology is the development of comedones, often linked to the overproduction of sebum resulting from 5α-dihydrotestosterone (5α-DHT) and insulin activity. Ozenoxacin is a topical quinolone that exhibits potent antibacterial activity against Cutibacterium acnes (C.

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  • * Machine learning techniques, specifically the random forest method, identified the key clinical factors influencing estimated GFR (eGFR) after one year, which led to the development of a new approximation formula.
  • * The resulting formula relies on age, hemoglobin levels, uric acid levels, and eGFR, showing a strong correlation with actual eGFR values (r = 0.884; p < 0.001), making it a useful tool for prediction in the general population.
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The bleomycin-induced scleroderma model is a well-established and dependable method for creating a mouse model of SSc (systemic sclerosis). In the field of skin connective tissue diseases, increasing evidence from clinical and animal experiments suggests that TLRs (Toll-like receptors) play an important role in several diseases. This study aimed to determine the role of TLR7 (Toll-like receptor 7) and TLR9 (Toll-like receptor 9) in the mechanisms of immune abnormalities and fibrosis in SSc.

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Once fertilized, mouse zygotes rapidly proceed to zygotic genome activation (ZGA), during which long terminal repeats (LTRs) of murine endogenous retroviruses with leucine tRNA primer (MERVL) are activated by a conserved homeodomain-containing transcription factor, DUX. However, -knockout embryos produce fertile mice, suggesting that ZGA is redundantly driven by an unknown factor(s). Here, we present multiple lines of evidence that the multicopy homeobox gene, , encodes a transcription factor that is highly expressed in mouse two-cell embryos and redundantly drives ZGA.

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  • Vascular access via arteriovenous fistula (AVF) is crucial for patients on hemodialysis but may lead to decreased cerebral oxygenation.
  • A study measured cerebral oxygen saturation using near-infrared spectroscopy in 48 patients with chronic kidney disease before and after AVF creation, finding a significant drop in oxygen levels post-surgery.
  • The results indicated that patients with diabetes had lower oxygen saturation before AVF compared to non-diabetics, and changes in heart rate were linked to fluctuations in cerebral oxygen levels, highlighting the need for further research on AVF's effects on brain oxygenation.
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Background: There are no sex-specific guidelines for chronic aortic regurgitation (AR). This retrospective study examined sex-specific differences and propose treatment criteria from an Asian AR cohort.

Methods and results: Consecutive 1,305 patients with moderate-severe AR or greater at 3 tertiary centers in Taiwan and Japan (2008-2022) were identified.

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The RNA-binding protein PKR serves as a crucial antiviral innate immune factor that globally suppresses translation by sensing viral double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) and by phosphorylating the translation initiation factor eIF2α. Recent findings have unveiled that single-stranded RNAs (ssRNAs), including in vitro transcribed (IVT) mRNA, can also bind to and activate PKR. However, the precise mechanism underlying PKR activation by ssRNAs, remains incompletely understood.

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