Publications by authors named "Misaki Okada"

Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how body position (supine vs. sitting) affects heart rate (HR) and other cardiovascular responses during acupuncture in healthy male volunteers.
  • Results showed that, in the sitting position, HR decreased more significantly and cardiac output (CO) dropped during acupuncture, while there were no major differences in stroke volume (SV) and diastolic blood pressure (BP) between positions.
  • The findings suggest that the body's autonomic nervous system mediates acupuncture's effects on cardiovascular changes, indicating that body position is an important factor in acupuncture's efficacy.
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Cytokinesis is the final step of the cell division in which cellular components are separated into two daughter cells. This process is regulated through the phosphorylation of different classes of proteins by serine/threonine (Ser/Thr) kinases such as Aurora B and Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1). Conversely, the role of phosphorylation at tyrosine residues during cytokinesis has not been studied in detail yet.

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Glutathione (GSH) is synthesized in two ATP-dependent reactions by glutamate-cysteine ligase (Gcl) and glutathione synthetase (Gs). Myxococcus xanthus, a gram-negative bacterium belonging to δ-proteobacteria, possesses mxGcl and mxGs, which have high sequence identity with the enzymes from plants and bacteria, respectively. MxGcl2 was activated by Mn , but not by Mg , and stabilized in the presence of 5 mM Mn or Mg .

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Objective: To establish a primary cell culture and clarify the characteristics of canine corneal endothelial cells in vitro.

Procedures: The eyes were enucleated from dogs that were euthanized for reasons unrelated to this study. Enucleated canine eyes were dissected, and the intact corneas were isolated from the globes.

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This study developed a new method using radiopaque markers under X-ray to measure rat colonic transit by geometric center repeatedly and/or over a time series in the same individually. Additionally, the utility of this method was shown by elucidating the innervation of the autonomic nerve on colonic transit in detail with a pharmacological technique in conscious rats. An in-dwelling silastic cannula was inserted into the cecum and the proximal part was moved through the abdominal wall, where it was fixed to the posterior neck skin.

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Background: Acupuncture stimulation decreases heart rate (HR) through somato-autonomic reflexes. However, the mechanisms responsible for other cardiovascular changes induced by acupuncture, such as its effects on stroke volume (SV) and blood pressure (BP), remain obscure.

Objective: To evaluate continuously the comprehensive cardiovascular changes occurring during acupuncture.

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Acupuncture has been used for treating gastrointestinal (GI) disorders such as postoperative nausea and vomiting. Electroacupuncture (EA) accelerates GI transit following surgery and ameliorates postoperative ileus (POI) to restore colonic transit (CT); however, the mechanisms of this EA-induced restoration remain unclear. The aims of this study were to show CT following surgery and the effects of EA at ST 36 on POI induced by surgical stress (SS) in 45 conscious, male Sprague-Dawley rats.

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