Cholangiocyte organoids for disease, cancer, and regenerative medicine.

The biliary tract is a ductal network comprising the intrahepatic (IHBDs) and extrahepatic bile duct (EHBDs). Biliary duct disorders include cholangitis, neoplasms, and injury. However, the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood.

Early detection of pancreatic cancer by comprehensive serum miRNA sequencing with automated machine learning.

Background: Pancreatic cancer is often diagnosed at advanced stages, and early-stage diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is difficult because of nonspecific symptoms and lack of available biomarkers.

Methods: We performed comprehensive serum miRNA sequencing of 212 pancreatic cancer patient samples from 14 hospitals and 213 non-cancerous healthy control samples. We randomly classified the pancreatic cancer and control samples into two cohorts: a training cohort (N = 185) and a validation cohort (N = 240).

Age-related changes in cheek skin movement: A case study of Japanese women.

Background: The majority of conventional studies on skin aging have focused on static conditions. However, in daily life, the facial skin we encounter is constantly in motion due to conversational expressions and changes in facial expressions, causing the skin to alter its position and shape, resulting in a dynamic state. Consequently, it is hypothesized that characteristics of aging not apparent in static conditions may be present in the dynamic state of the skin.

Variable characteristics overlooked in human K-562 leukemia cell lines with a common signature.

K-562 is a well-known in vitro cellular model that represents human leukemia cell lines. Although the K-562 cells have been extensively characterized, there are inconsistencies in the data across publications, showing the presence of multiple K-562 cell lines. This suggests that analyzing a single K-562 cell line is insufficient to provide reliable reference data.

[A Case of Two-Stage Radical Resection with Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Cecal Cancer with Synchronous Peritoneal Metastasis(P3)].

A 63-year-old female patient was diagnosed with cecal cancer(cT3, N2a, M0)and underwent surgery for the first time. Only laparoscopic ileocecal resection(D3 dissection)was performed because intraperitoneal observation revealed peritoneal metastasis around the tumor and uterus. We decided to perform a radical resection because the peritoneal metastasis was localized by FDG-PET/CT.

Age-related changes in the fiber structure around adipocytes in the subcutaneous fat layer and their association with skin viscoelasticity.

Objective: Age-related changes in the fiber structure around adipocytes were investigated via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of excised skin tissues. In addition, the viscoelasticity of the subcutaneous fat layer was evaluated via elastography, and the association between the fiber structure and the viscoelastic properties was assessed.

Methods: Skin tissues excised from the facial cheek area were used.

Quantitative analysis of age-related changes in vascular structure, oxygen saturation, and epidermal melanin structure using photoacoustic methods.

Background: Vascular structure, blood oxygen saturation, and melanin status of the epidermis are chromophore factors related to light absorption. Therefore, they are likely to be related to skin appearance. Thus, it is important to measure these internal skin features and understand their characteristics.

Luminescence mechanism analysis of a TADF molecule showing peculiar thermal behavior.

In recent years, much attention has been paid to the development of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials with short delayed-fluorescence lifetimes to improve the device performances of OLEDs. In principle, by reducing the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO)-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) overlap, while the energy difference between S-T (Δ) and activation energy () can be reduced, and the reverse intersystem crossing rate constant () can be accelerated, a decrease in the radiative rate constant happens, necessitating an advanced molecular design. Furthermore, a molecule based on heptazine as a parent skeleton has recently been found to have a peculiar temperature dependence of luminescence decay, suggesting a negative gap (NG) material.

THBS1-producing tumor-infiltrating monocyte-like cells contribute to immunosuppression and metastasis in colorectal cancer.

Mesenchymal activation, characterized by dense stromal infiltration of immune and mesenchymal cells, fuels the aggressiveness of colorectal cancers (CRC), driving progression and metastasis. Targetable molecules in the tumor microenvironment (TME) need to be identified to improve the outcome in CRC patients with this aggressive phenotype. This study reports a positive link between high thrombospondin-1 (THBS1) expression and mesenchymal characteristics, immunosuppression, and unfavorable CRC prognosis.

Searching for Heavy Dark Matter near the Planck Mass with XENON1T.

Multiple viable theoretical models predict heavy dark matter particles with a mass close to the Planck mass, a range relatively unexplored by current experimental measurements. We use 219.4 days of data collected with the XENON1T experiment to conduct a blind search for signals from multiply interacting massive particles (MIMPs).

Simultaneous activation of Kras-Akt and Notch pathways induces extrahepatic biliary cancer via the mTORC1 pathway.

Biliary tract cancer (BTC) has poor prognosis. The Notch receptor is aberrantly expressed in extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (eCCA). However, the role of Notch signaling in the initiation and progression of eCCA and gallbladder (GB) cancer remains unknown.

p53 protects against formation of extrahepatic biliary precancerous lesions in the context of oncogenic Kras.

and mutations are frequently observed in extrahepatic biliary cancer. Mutations of and are independent risk factors for poor prognosis in biliary cancer. However, the exact role of p53 in the development of extrahepatic biliary cancer remains elusive.

Examination of colorectal cancer cases with metal allergy.

Purpose: To report our initiatives and treatment results for patients with colorectal cancer with metal allergy.

Methods: A total of 27 patients (2.6%) with a history of metal contact dermatitis were identified among 1027 patients who underwent curative resection of colorectal cancer from 2014 to 2020.

The effect of observation angles on facial age perceptions: A case study of Japanese women.

Most conventional aging research has limited its approach concerning the head and face shape and skin condition to the frontal face. However, in our daily lives, we observe facial features from various angles, which may reveal or obscure aging features that could only be identified under limited conditions in the past. This study systematically investigates the effect of facial observation angles-specifically, of horizontal and vertical angles-on age impression.

Search for New Physics in Electronic Recoil Data from XENONnT.

We report on a blinded analysis of low-energy electronic recoil data from the first science run of the XENONnT dark matter experiment. Novel subsystems and the increased 5.9 ton liquid xenon target reduced the background in the (1, 30) keV search region to (15.

Hospital-acquired disability in older heart failure patients decreases independence and increases difficulties in activities of daily living.

Aims: The aim of this study was to clarify whether worsening of independence in activities of daily living (ADL) and also difficulties in ADL are triggered by hospitalization in older patients with heart failure (HF) and whether difficulties in ADL can predict readmission for HF regardless of independence in ADL in these patients.

Methods And Results: We enrolled 241 HF patients in the present multi-institutional, prospective, observational study. The patients were divided according to age into the non-older patient group (<75 years, n = 137) and the older patient group (≥75 years, n = 104).

Material radiopurity control in the XENONnT experiment.

The selection of low-radioactive construction materials is of the utmost importance for rare-event searches and thus critical to the XENONnT experiment. Results of an extensive radioassay program are reported, in which material samples have been screened with gamma-ray spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and Rn emanation measurements. Furthermore, the cleanliness procedures applied to remove or mitigate surface contamination of detector materials are described.

Pancreatic metastasis of malignant melanoma presenting as a tumor occluding the main pancreatic duct.

Metastasis to the pancreas is rare, especially for malignant melanoma. In these scarce cases, tumors normally present in the parenchyma of the pancreas. A 70-year-old woman was referred to our hospital for an asymptomatic pancreatic tumor detected by contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CE-CT).

Investigation of oxygen saturation in regions of skin by near infrared spectroscopy.

Background: Oxygen is essential for life, and investigation of the skin's oxygen environment and identification of its effects on the skin may lead to the discovery of new antiaging targets. To understand individual skin differences and age-related changes, we developed a noninvasive method using near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to measure the regional saturation of oxygen (rSO ) of human skin.

Materials And Methods: To construct an NIRS sensor probe specialized for skin measurement, the distance between the sensor transmitter and receiver was optimized based on data for the thickness of the facial skin to the subcutaneous fat layer.

Relevant factors of leg strength at hospital discharge in patients hospitalized due to acute decompensated heart failure: multi-institutional prospective observational study.

Background: Lower leg strength at hospital discharge is strongly associated with poor prognosis in older patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF). Improving leg strength is important in acute-phase cardiac rehabilitation (CR).

Aims: This study aimed to clarify whether a change in leg strength occurs during hospitalization of older ADHF patients receiving CR and whether it affects leg strength at discharge.

A rare case of malignant biliary stenosis due to retroperitoneal metastasis from breast invasive ductal carcinoma.

A 50-year-old woman was referred to our hospital for elevated hepatobiliary enzymes. She had a medical history of mastectomy for left breast invasive ductal carcinoma about 10 years ago, and no apparent recurrence had been observed. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) revealed soft-tissue shadows surrounding the portal vein, celiac artery, and other vessels.

Rare hypervascular pancreatic tumors diagnosed as asynchronous metastases of central nervous system solitary fibrous tumor/hemangiopericytoma.

A 70-year-old woman was referred to our hospital for asymptomatic pancreatic tumors. She had a history of hemagiopericytoma (HPC) about 20 years ago, and no apparent recurrence has been observed. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography revealed two hypervascular tumors in the head and uncinate process of the pancreas, and no obvious neoplastic lesions were found in other organs.

Does age-dynamic movement accelerate facial age impression? Perception of age from facial movement: Studies of Japanese women.

We form impressions of others by observing their constant and dynamically-shifting facial expressions during conversation and other daily life activities. However, conventional aging research has mainly considered the changing characteristics of the skin, such as wrinkles and age-spots, within very limited states of static faces. In order to elucidate the range of aging impressions that we make in daily life, it is necessary to consider the effects of facial movement.

A rare cause of multiple liver masses.

Primary hepatic mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma is a rare disease. However, if atypical hepatic masses are observed, hepatic MALT lymphoma should be considered in the differential.