Development of beat-by-beat blood pressure monitoring device and nocturnal sec-surge detection algorithm.

The nocturnal blood pressure (BP) surge in seconds (sec-surge) is defined as a brief, acute transient BP elevation over several tens of seconds, triggered by obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and sympathetic hyperactivity. Sec-surge imposes a significant strain on the cardiovascular system, potentially triggering cardiovascular events. Quantitative evaluation of sec-surge level could be valuable in assessing cardiovascular risks.

Facilitating transition from maternity leave to work for working mothers: A self-efficacy intervention study.

The return from maternity leave to work is a critical career transition period for working mothers. To help their readaptation to work, we developed and examined a training program for cultivating their work-family balance self-efficacy in a pretest-posttest design and investigated the time-lagged effect of the boosted self-efficacy on their employment attitude and in-role performance after they returned to work. Data were collected from 100 maternity leave takers from 16 companies in Japan before the training (Time 1), immediately after it (Time 2) and 6 months after returning to work (Time 3), and from their supervisors at Time 3.

Nocturnal blood pressure surge in seconds is associated with arterial stiffness independently of conventional nocturnal blood pressure variability in suspected obstructive sleep apnea patients.

Nocturnal blood pressure (BP) surge in seconds (sec-surge), which is characterized as acute transient BP elevation over several tens of seconds is induced by obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and OSA-related sympathetic hyperactivity. The authors assessed the relationship between sec-surge and arterial stiffness in 34 nocturnal hypertensive patients with suspected OSA (mean age 63.9 ± 12.

Nocturnal blood pressure surge in seconds is a new determinant of left ventricular mass index.

Nocturnal blood pressure (BP) surge in seconds (sec-surge), which is characterized as acute transient BP elevation over several tens of seconds, could be a predictor of target organ damage. However, it is not clear that the severity of sec-surge is different between sec-surges induced by sleep apnea (SA) (apnea/hypopnea detected by polysomnography (PSG) or oxygen desaturation) and those induced by non-SA factors (rapid eye movement, micro arousal, etc.), and sec-surge variables associate with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) independently of conventional BP variables.

Development of Small and Lightweight Beat-By-Beat Blood Pressure Monitoring Device Based on Tonometry.

Blood pressure (BP) variability (BPV) is one of the important risk factors of cardiovascular (CV) disease. Particularly, nocturnal short-term BPV, characterized as acute transient BP elevation over several tens of seconds (BP surge), can trigger CV events. To accurately detect BP surge, it is necessary to monitor BP at each heartbeat.

Automatic detection algorithm for establishing standard to identify "surge blood pressure".

Blood pressure (BP) variability is one of the important risk factors of cardiovascular disease (CVD). "Surge BP," which represents short-term BP variability, is defined as pathological exaggerated BP increase capable of triggering cardiovascular events. Surge BP is effectively evaluated by our new BP monitoring device.

Probing the Cl--pumping photocycle of pharaonis halorhodopsin: Examinations with bacterioruberin, an intrinsic dye, and membrane potential-induced modulation of the photocycle.

Halorhodopsin (HR) functions as a light-driven inward Cl- pump. The Cl- transfer process of HR from Natronomonas pharaonis (NpHR) was examined utilizing a mutant strain, KM-1, which expresses large amount of NpHR in a complex with the carotenoid bacterioruberin (Brub). When Cl- was added to unphotolyzed Cl--free NpHR-Brub complex, Brub caused the absorption spectral change in response to the Cl- binding to NpHR through the altered electrostatic environment and/or distortion of its own configuration.

The interaction of the international society concerning kidney transplants--a consideration of diseased kidney transplants in Japan and transplant tourism over the world.

In November 2006 in Japan, it was detected that there were 41 cases that diseased kidneys were harvested from patients and then were transplanted to other renal failure patients. This "Diseased kidney transplant" was prohibited in Japan since 2007 because of a lot of problems. On the other hand, in Japan, although there are about 12,000 patients on a waiting list for a transplant, only 10% of those get a transplant.

Restoration by VIP of the carbachol-stimulated Cl- secretion in TTX-treated guinea pig distal colon.

To determine if vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) restores neural activity from tetrodotoxin (TTX) blockade, we studied the effects of VIP and related agents on carbachol (Cch)-induced Cl(-) secretion in control-isolated guinea pig distal colon and in that treated with TTX. The short circuit current (I(sc)) increased dose-dependently after serosal applications of Cch (10(-6) - 2 x 10(-5) M) and VIP (5 x 10(-9) - 10(-7) M). But no additive or synergistic increase in I(sc) was observed.

[Syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone suddenly occurring in a case following chemotherapy].

A 11-year-old girl was admitted for Ewing's sarcoma within the right pelvis. Hematological and biochemical indices were normal. Since this was considered a difficult case for operation, radiotherapy and chemotherapy were performed.

Serosal application of Ba(2+) induces oscillatory chloride secretion via activation of submucosal cholinergic neurones in guinea-pig distal colon.

The enteric nervous system regulates ion and fluid secretion in the mammalian intestine at both resting and stimulated conditions. To determine the type and activation mechanism of neurones involved, mucosa-submucosa sheets isolated from guinea-pig distal colon were studied in vitro in Ussing chambers. Serosal addition of 0.

Development of renal potassium excretion capacity in the neonatal rat.

We investigated the capacity of newborn rats to excrete an acute potassium load to understand the development of a renal potassium excretion system. Three groups of the rats (7-14 d) were used to collect urine periodically over 6 h after oral infusion of potassium: control (no potassium loading) and low- and high-potassium-loaded rats. In the low-potassium-loaded group, infused with about 0.

Incident-angle dependence of the phase conjugate reflectivity by nonlinear piezoelectric interaction in PZT ceramics.

The reflectivity of an acoustic phase conjugator by nonlinear piezoelectric interaction in PZT ceramics was measured as a function of the incident angle. The phase conjugator was designed as a solid block with a flat surface for the acoustic incidence from water. The phase conjugate reflectivity showed incident angle dependence, which is mainly determined by the transmissivity of the acoustic waves, together with some effects of anisotropy.

Nonlinear piezoelectricity in PZT ceramics for generating ultrasonic phase conjugate waves.

We have succeeded in the generation of acoustic phase conjugate waves with nonlinear PZT piezoelectric ceramics and applied them to ultrasonic imaging systems. Our aim is to make a phase conjugator with 100% efficiency. For this purpose, it is important to clarify the mechanism of acoustic phase conjugation through nonlinear piezoelectricity.

Thrombin cleaves recombinant human thrombopoietin: one of the proteolytic events that generates truncated forms of thrombopoietin.

A heterogeneity in the molecular weight (Mr) of thrombopoietin (TPO) has been reported. We found several thrombin cleavage sites in human, rat, murine, and canine TPOs, and also found that human TPO undergoes selective proteolysis by thrombin. Recombinant human TPO (rhTPO) was incubated with human platelets in the presence of calcium ions to allow the generation of thrombin, and was cleaved into low Mr peptide fragments.

Production of thrombopoietin (TPO) by rat hepatocytes and hepatoma cell lines.

Recently, we purified rat thrombopoietin (TPO) from plasma of irradiated rats (XRP) by measuring its activity that stimulated the production of megakaryocytes from megakaryocyte progenitor cells (CFU-MK) in vitro. We then cloned the cDNAs for rat and human TPO. In this study, we found the production of TPO by hepatocytes isolated with the collagenase perfusion method from both normal and thrombocytopenic rats, by a two-step fractionation of hepatocyte culture medium (CM).

A simple and quantitative liquid culture system to measure megakaryocyte growth using highly purified CFU-MK.

A new and quantitative liquid culture system has been developed to measure the production of megakaryocytes from megakaryocyte progenitor cells (colony-forming units-megakaryocyte [CFU-MK]). The system uses as a target population a glycoprotein (Gp) IIb/IIIa+ subpopulation of rat bone marrow cells previously demonstrated to be highly enriched for CFU-MK. GpIIb/IIIa+ cells were cultured at 5 x 10(4) cells/mL (10(4) cells/well) with test samples in 96-well tissue culture plates for 4 days at 37 degrees C.

Purification and characterization of thrombopoietin.

A thrombopoietic factor, termed thrombopoietin (TPO), was highly purified directly from the plasma of sublethally irradiated 1,100 rats by measuring the production of megakaryocytes from a highly enriched population of rat megakaryocyte progenitor cells (CFU-MK). The rat plasma TPO is a glycoprotein and strongly hydrophobic. The total activity and purification yields obtained were about 29% and 1.

Culm Brittleness of Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Mutants Is Caused by Smaller Number of Cellulose Molecules in Cell Wall.

The physicochemical nature of the cell wall was determined in the fourth internode of three isogenic brittle mutants of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and corresponding nonbrittle strains. Cellulose contents of the brittle culms were 17.

Culm strength of barley : correlation among maximum bending stress, cell wall dimensions, and cellulose content.

Grass culms are known to differ in breaking strength, but there is little physicochemical data to explain the response. The fourth internode of four brittle and two nonbrittle barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) strains were used for physical and chemical studies of culm strength.