Publications by authors named "Megumi Fujimoto"

Background: Children's social behavior develops through diverse experiences. However, the relationship between children's experiences of celebratory events and their behavioral development has not been previously quantified. Therefore, this study aimed to quantitatively explore this relationship.

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Summary: IgG4-related disease is a multiorgan disorder in which nodules and hypertrophic lesions are observed simultaneously, or separately, in areas including the pancreas, liver, lungs, salivary glands, thyroid glands, and pituitary glands. IgG4-related hypophysis is one of several IgG4-related diseases and is characterized by pituitary gland and pituitary stalk thickening, various degrees of hypopituitarism, and increased serum IgG4 levels. Steroid therapy is effective for patients with IgG4-related hypophysis, but the reported effectiveness of steroid therapy for restoring pituitary function differs between studies.

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Background: Physical activity (PA) in school-aged children is imperative for physical and mental development. However, there has been reduced PA among children in recent years owing to environmental changes, resulting in declining physical strength and athletic ability. Although parents' and children's PA has been found to be correlated, the specific parental caregiving attitudes associated with children's actual levels of PA during school-age years remain unknown.

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Article Synopsis
  • - This study investigates the connection between sleep habits and behavioral problems in early adolescents (ages 12-14) in Japan, highlighting that poor sleep is linked to behavioral issues during this developmental stage.
  • - Data was collected through parent questionnaires that assessed children’s sleep quality and behavioral difficulties, using established tools like the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ).
  • - Findings indicate that children who experience poor sleep quality, difficulties falling asleep, and disturbances during the night are more likely to exhibit behavioral problems compared to those without such sleep issues.
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Although organisms are exposed to various pressure and temperature conditions, information remains limited on how pressure affects biological rhythms. This study investigated how hydrostatic pressure affects the circadian clock (KaiA, KaiB, and KaiC) of cyanobacteria. While the circadian rhythm is inherently robust to temperature change, KaiC phosphorylation cycles that were accelerated from 22 h at 1 bar to 14 h at 200 bars caused the circadian-period length to decline.

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Article Synopsis
  • Inwardly rectifying potassium (Kir) channel subunits Kir4.1 are found in astrocytes and play a crucial role in regulating neuron activity and may contribute to epilepsy development.
  • A study assessed how antiepileptic drugs—valproate, phenytoin, phenobarbital, and ethosuximide—affect Kir4.1 expression in astrocytes using rat models.
  • Results showed that valproate, phenytoin, and phenobarbital increased Kir4.1 levels in specific brain regions, while ethosuximide had no effect, indicating a possible link between Kir4.1 expression and the efficacy of these drugs against convulsive seizures.
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The rates of care-needs certification were mainly compared between two cohorts: 7,820 specific health checkup examinees/basic checklist respondents and 29,234 non-examinees/non-respondents. Among approximately 37,000 elderly citizens of X City, the number of individuals newly certified as requiring long-term care were observed from the date of the first specific health checkup in 2008 to March 31, 2013. The aggregated totals of these individuals and associated factors were evaluated.

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This study aimed to examine the factors influencing the requirement of a certificate of long-term care using a basic checklist and items listed in the Special Health Checkup. This study included 7,820 individuals living in Uji city, who were selected from among 8,000 elderly individuals who, in 2008, underwent a specific health checkup (hereafter referred to as the 'specific health checkup for the old-old elderly individuals') for those aged 75 years and above. They answered questions from basic checklists at the time, and 180 individuals were excluded as they had already qualified for requiring the certificate of long-term care at the time of the checkup.

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Niemann-Pick type C is a storage disease caused by dysfunction of NPC proteins, which transport cholesterol from the lumen of lysosomes to the limiting membrane of that compartment. Using freeze fracture electron microscopy, we show here that the yeast NPC orthologs, Ncr1p and Npc2p, are essential for formation and expansion of raft-like domains in the vacuolar (lysosome) membrane, both in stationary phase and in acute nitrogen starvation. Moreover, the expanded raft-like domains engulf lipid droplets by a microautophagic mechanism.

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The inwardly rectifying potassium (Kir) channel Kir4.1 in brain astrocytes mediates spatial K(+) buffering and regulates neural activities. Recent studies have shown that loss-of-function mutations in the human gene KCNJ10 encoding Kir4.

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The inwardly rectifying potassium channel subunit Kir4.1 is expressed in brain astrocytes and involved in spatial K(+) buffering, regulating neural activity. To explore the pathophysiological alterations of Kir4.

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We previously reported the strong immunostimulatory effects of a CpG oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN), designated MsST, from the lacZ gene of Streptococcus (S.) thermophilus ATCC19258. Here we show that 24h of stimulation with MsST in mouse splenocytes and peritoneal macrophages strongly induces expression of interleukin (IL)-33, a cytokine in the IL-1 superfamily.

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Effect of nonylphenol on aminopyrine N-demethylase activity, a typical drug-metabolizing enzyme activity, by ten kinds of human hepatic cytochrome P450s (CYP) and on progesterone 17alpha-hydroxylase activity by steroidogenic CYP17 was investigated. When determined at 2 mM substrate concentration, nonylphenol (1 mM) most efficiently inhibited aminopyrine N-demethylation by CYP2C9 and CYP2C19, by 61% and 59%, respectively, followed by CYP2D6, CYP1A2, CYP2C18 and CYP2C8 (46-51%), whereas inhibition of the activities by other CYPs was less than 27%. Additionally, nonylphenol competitively inhibited diclofenac 4'-hydroxylation by CYP2C9 and S-mephenytoin 4'-hydroxylation by CYP2C19 with Ki values of 5.

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