Publications by authors named "M Katahira"

Article Synopsis
  • - The study evaluated the effectiveness of positron emission tomography feature tracking (PETFT) for measuring endocardial wall strain and compared it with cardiac magnetic resonance-derived feature tracking (CMRFT) in patients with coronary artery disease.
  • - Involving 83 patients, the results showed that PETFT and CMRFT had significant correlations for both resting and stress conditions, indicating reliability in measuring global longitudinal and circumferential strain.
  • - The research concluded that PETFT is a feasible alternative to CMRFT, suggesting its potential use in clinical practice for assessing heart wall strain.
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Aims: Glucosaminoglucan (β-1,4-linked glucose and glucosamine) produced by a mixotrophic sulfur-oxidizing bacterium, Thiothrix nivea, is a useful cellulose-aminating agent. Lithotrophic and mixotrophic glucosaminoglucan production were examined using fed-batch techniques.

Methods And Results: A jar fermenter was used for the fed-batch cultivation.

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The viral infectivity factor (Vif) of human immunodeficiency virus 1 forms a complex with host proteins, designated as Vif-CBFβ-ELOB-ELOC-CUL5 (VβBCC), initiating the ubiquitination and subsequent proteasomal degradation of the human antiviral protein APOBEC3G (A3G), thereby negating its antiviral function. Whilst recent cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) studies have implicated RNA molecules in the Vif-A3G interaction that leads to A3G ubiquitination, our findings indicated that the VβBCC complex can also directly impede A3G-mediated DNA deamination, bypassing the proteasomal degradation pathway. Employing the Systematic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential enrichment (SELEX) method, we have identified RNA aptamers with high affinity for the VβBCC complex.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Researchers used a rat model to find increased CTHRC1 in the right ventricle associated with fibrosis, and measured plasma levels of CTHRC1 in human patients with different types of pulmonary hypertension compared to controls.
  • * Findings show that higher plasma CTHRC1 levels correlate with worse right ventricular function, and levels decrease after balloon pulmonary angioplasty in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, indicating CTHRC1's potential as both a biomarker and a measure of treatment effectiveness.
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Article Synopsis
  • * The study investigated producing Mycobacterial DNA-binding protein 1 (MDP1) using two methods, recombinant proteins from E. coli and Mycolicibacterium smegmatis, to test their ability to boost the immune response in BCG-vaccinated individuals.
  • * Results indicated that mMDP1, derived from the avirulent Mycolicibacterium smegmatis, was most effective in stimulating IFN-gamma production when combined with a novel CpG DNA called G9.1
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