Novel cell spheroid culture method using Medaka dried fish powder.

Highly biocompatible microcarriers are culture materials designed to enhance the efficiency of cell spheroid culture. Typically, collagen or specially processed plastic materials serve as these microcarriers. In the context of cultured-cell-based food production, however, both collagen and plastic materials present challenges regarding their cost-effectiveness and edibility.

A new lymphedema treatment using pyro-drive jet injection.

Lymphedema, resulting from impaired lymphatic drainage, causes inflammation, fibrosis and tissue damage leading to symptoms such as limb swelling and restricted mobility. Despite various treatments under exploration, no standard effective therapy exists. Here a novel technique using the pyro-drive jet injection (PJI) was used to create artificial clefts between collagen fibers, which facilitated the removal of excess interstitial fluid.

Microenvironmental elements singularity synergistically regulate the behavior and chemosensitivity of endometrioid carcinoma.

The importance of the microenvironment is widely recognized as it regulates not only malignant cell behavior but also drug sensitivity. The cancer cell microenvironment is composed of biological, physical and chemical elements, and simultaneous reproduction of these three elements are important conditions investigated in cancer research. In the present study, we focused on the epidemiological and anatomical specificities of endometrioid carcinoma, obesity (biological), fluid flow (physical) and anticancer agents (chemical) to target the specific microenvironmental elements of endometrioid carcinoma.

Oral-specific microenvironments regulate cell behavior and anticancer drug sensitivity of tongue squamous cell carcinoma.

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the most major malignant tumor of the tongue. The tongue exists at the air-liquid interface and is covered with saliva. In addition, the tongue constituent cells and tongue cancer are present under fluid flow stimulation due to the abundant capillary network and contraction of muscle tissue.

Increased GLUT1 expression and localization to Golgi apparatus of acinar cells in the parotid gland of Goto-Kakizaki diabetic rats.

Objective: Patients with diabetes are known to have high salivary glucose levels. But the mechanisms are still unclear. We hypothesized that the topological changes of glucose transporters affect the salivary glucose level.

Cell-Type-Specific Thalamocortical Inputs Constrain Direction Map Formation in Visual Cortex.

Finding the relationship between individual cognitive functions and cell-type-specific neuronal circuits is a central topic in neuroscience. In cats, the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) contains several cell types carrying spatially and temporally precise visual information. Whereas LGN cell types lack selectivity for motion direction, neurons in the primary visual cortex (area 17) exhibit sharp direction selectivity.

Visual long-term memory and change blindness: Different effects of pre- and post-change information on one-shot change detection using meaningless geometric objects.

To clarify the relationship between visual long-term memory (VLTM) and online visual processing, we investigated whether and how VLTM involuntarily affects the performance of a one-shot change detection task using images consisting of six meaningless geometric objects. In the study phase, participants observed pre-change (Experiment 1), post-change (Experiment 2), or both pre- and post-change (Experiment 3) images appearing in the subsequent change detection phase. In the change detection phase, one object always changed between pre- and post-change images and participants reported which object was changed.

Long-term Branched Chain Amino Acid Supplementation Ameliorates Diethylnitrosamine-induced Liver Glutathione S-transferase-p Positivity in Zucker Fatty Rats.

Background: Obesity increases the risk of fatty liver disease and liver cancer. There are several models of obesity-associated hepatocellular carcinoma, but tumor development in these models is slow.

Materials And Methods: We investigated Zucker fatty rats, a model of obesity and insulin resistance, to discover if diethylnitrosamine (DEN), a potent liver carcinogen, might enhance liver carcinogenesis.

[Long-lasting implicit memory for unfamiliar faces revealed by an indirect recognition procedure].

We examined whether people can retain an implicit memory for unfamiliar faces over several weeks by using an indirect recognition procedure (Terasawa & Ohta, 1993). The procedure was composed of two sessions with a long-term interval. Two experiments using different intervals--19 days (Experiment 1) and 7 weeks (Experiment 2)--were conducted.

Similarity of visual selectivity among clonally related neurons in visual cortex.

Neurons in rodent visual cortex are organized in a salt-and-pepper fashion for orientation selectivity, but it is still unknown how this functional architecture develops. A recent study reported that the progeny of single cortical progenitor cells are preferentially connected in the postnatal cortex. If these neurons acquire similar selectivity through their connections, a salt-and-pepper organization may be generated, because neurons derived from different progenitors are intermingled in rodents.

Visual statistical learning based on the perceptual and semantic information of objects.

Five experiments examined what is learned based on the perceptual and semantic information of objects in visual statistical learning (VSL). In the familiarization phase, participants viewed a sequence of line drawings and detected repetitions of various objects. In a subsequent test phase, they watched 2 test sequences (statistically related triplets vs.

Branched-chain amino acids prevent insulin-induced hepatic tumor cell proliferation by inducing apoptosis through mTORC1 and mTORC2-dependent mechanisms.

Branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) supplementation has been reported to suppress the incidence of liver cancer in obese patients with liver cirrhosis or in obese and diabetic model animals of carcinogenesis. Whether BCAA directly suppresses cell proliferation of hepatic tumor cells under hyperinsulinemic condition remain to be defined. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of BCAA on insulin-induced proliferation of hepatic tumor cells and determine the underlying mechanisms.