Publications by authors named "Mai Shimada"

We report the perioperative management of a 32-year-old woman with super-morbid obesity (body mass index (BMI) of 60.9 kilograms per meter squared (kg/m)) who underwent a robotic-assisted total laparoscopic hysterectomy in a hospital that was not specialized for obese patients. She successfully reduced her BMI by 10% using dietary restrictions in five weeks, and her surgery was performed two weeks later by consultation between gynecologists and anesthesiologists.

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Objective: To compare the efficacy of buccally absorbed prochlorperazine (BAP) to intravenous prochlorperazine (IVP) for the abortive treatment of migraine headaches.

Methods: Randomized double-blind trial. Eighty subjects aged 18-65 presenting with migraines to the ED of a safety-net, urban hospital.

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Background: With our newly established long-term suspension culture, we investigated the effects of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on the self-renewal capacity of blast progenitors in seven hematological malignant cell lines.

Materials And Methods: Cyclo-oxygenase inhibitors NS-398 (NS) or indomethacin heptyl ester (indomethacin) at 30 μM was added to the cell culture. In U-937 cells, indomethacin was added at 0.

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Patients suffering from aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage often present with electrocardiogram (ECG) abnormalities that mimic cardiac ischemia, but documented left ventricular regional wall-motion dysfunction has rarely been reported. This report is intended to raise the awareness of possible ECG changes secondary to subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). We cared for a 55-year-old female with an acute aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage, whose evaluation was delayed and complicated by the presence of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TCM).

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Background: Patients suffering from heatstroke often present with electrocardiograph abnormalities, but persistent ventricular tachycardia has not been reported previously.

Objective: This report is intended to demonstrate that rapid and effective cooling is critical to survival in patients experiencing heatstroke with ventricular tachycardia.

Case: We cared for a healthy 38-year-old man with environmentally induced heatstroke, who presented with ventricular tachycardia resistant to cardioversion until his core body temperature was reduced significantly.

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Background: Acute radicular back pain is a frequent complaint of patients presenting to the Emergency Department.

Study Objective: Determine the efficacy of intravenous lidocaine when compared to ketorolac for the treatment of acute radicular low back pain.

Methods: Randomized double-blind study of 41 patients aged 18-55 years presenting with acute radicular low back pain.

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In recent years, quality of life(QOL) has received much attention as a subjective health outcome by which to measure and adopt patient treatment. Few studies, however, have examined how the QOL of cancer patients differs depending on treatment methods, or the effects of immunotherapy on patients' QOL. Thus, this study aimed to reveal: 1) the differences in QOL between patients treated with immunotherapy and other methods, and 2) whether the QOL of cancer patients treated with immunotherapy improves in accordance with the duration of immunotherapy.

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Introduction: The objective of this study was to determine the resource utilization of a tertiary care Japanese emergency department (ED) that was not immediately adjacent to the area of the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed at a tertiary care university-based urban ED located approximately 290 km from the primary site of destruction secondary to an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter Scale and the resulting tsunami.

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Background: The rapid development of ascites in a patient without known liver disease is an uncommon occurrence in the Emergency Department. Initial stabilization may include therapeutic peritoneal lavage to reduce diaphragmatic pressure and halt the progression of respiratory compromise. In the absence of liver disease, the differential diagnosis should include a search for malignancy, which has been reported to account for up to 10% of all cases of newly diagnosed ascites.

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Downregulation of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitory protein p27 is frequently observed in various cancers due to enhancement of its degradation. We recently reported that p53-inducible protein with RING-H2 domain (Pirh2) is a novel ubiquitin ligase for p27, required for the ubiquitylation and consequent degradation of p27 protein. However, there is no reports about the involvement of Pirh2 in both p27 downregulation and pathogenesis in human cancers.

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A reduced expression level of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27(Kip1) is associated with increased tumor malignancy and poor prognosis in individuals with various types of cancer. To investigate the basis for this relation, we applied microarray analysis to screen for genes differentially expressed between p27(+/-) and parental (p27(+/+)) HCT116 human colon carcinoma cells. Expression of the gene for G protein-coupled receptor 48 (GPR48) was increased in the p27(+/-) cells.

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GPR48, also known as leucine-rich repeat (LRR)-containing G-protein-coupled receptor 4 (LGR4), is a member of the G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) family of proteins. However, its biological functions remain unclear, since neither its ligand nor signal transduction pathway have been identified, and it is usually difficult to solve the function of such orphan receptors. The aim of this study was to generate a constitutively active form of human GPR48, that would form a ligand-independent active conformation and may function in a similar manner to activated GPR48 following ligand binding.

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