Publications by authors named "Nakatsuka T"

Flowering plants undergo juvenile vegetative, adult vegetative, and reproductive phases. Lily plants ( spp.) develop scaly leaves during their juvenile vegetative phase.

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  • Surface pre-reacted glass-ionomer (S-PRG) is a bioactive dental filler that releases ions to help prevent plaque adhesion on teeth and may influence osteoclasts in dental bone.
  • This study explored how S-PRG eluate affects osteoclast generation and mineral dissolution using in vitro tests with RAW264.7 cells, examining gene expression and protein signaling related to osteoclast differentiation.
  • Findings revealed that certain dilutions of S-PRG eluate were not toxic to the cells, but significantly reduced osteoclast formation and mineral breakdown, suggesting potential benefits for treating root caries and preventing bone loss.
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Explainability is key to enhancing the trustworthiness of artificial intelligence in medicine. However, there exists a significant gap between physicians' expectations for model explainability and the actual behavior of these models. This gap arises from the absence of a consensus on a physician-centered evaluation framework, which is needed to quantitatively assess the practical benefits that effective explainability should offer practitioners.

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Purpose: We investigated the diagnostic performance of two-dimensional shear wave elastography (2D-SWE) and attenuation imaging (ATI) in detecting fibrosis and steatosis in patients with chronic liver disease (CLD), comparing them with established methods.

Methods: In 190 patients with CLD, 2D-SWE and vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE) were used for liver stiffness measurement (LSM), and ATI and controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) were used for steatosis quantification. The correlations between these new and established methods were analyzed.

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  • * The study involved 639 patients who did not develop HCC for over 7 years and 46 who did within that time; the model achieved an accuracy of 81.0% and showed effective validation results.
  • * The deep learning model could detect early signs of HCC even in patients with mild fibrosis by analyzing key pathological features, suggesting its potential for improving early diagnosis.
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Colonization by several oral pathogens and the onset of oral diseases, such as dental caries and periodontal diseases, are closely related. Therefore, the analysis of pathogens in oral specimens would be helpful for the risk assessment of oral diseases. We developed a rapid multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method using a portable device and newly designed probe/primer sets to detect the oral pathogens Streptococcus mutans, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Treponema denticola, and Tannerella forsythia.

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Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility of using a deep learning (DL) model to generate fat-suppression images and detect abnormalities on knee magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) through the fat-suppression image-subtraction method.

Material And Methods: A total of 45 knee MRI studies in patients with knee disorders and 12 knee MRI studies in healthy volunteers were enrolled. The DL model was developed using 2-dimensional convolutional neural networks for generating fat-suppression images and subtracting generated fat-suppression images without any abnormal findings from those with normal/abnormal findings and detecting/classifying abnormalities on knee MRI.

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Methylglyoxal (MGO), a highly reactive dicarbonyl metabolite of glucose primarily formed during the glycolytic pathway, is a precursor of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs). Recently, numerous studies have shown that MGO accumulation can cause pain and hyperalgesia. However, the mechanism through which MGO induces pain in the spinal dorsal horn remains unclear.

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  • * Tumor size and clinical stage at diagnosis showed no significant changes between pre-COVID (2018-2019) and during COVID (2020-2021) periods, although the proportion of patients with a single tumor and those treated with systemic therapy increased.
  • * A notable rise in cases with non-viral causes of HCC was observed, suggesting a need for improved surveillance, especially for non-B, non-C cases, to facilitate earlier detection.
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Purpose: To evaluate the significant findings of hip periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) using metal-artifact-reduction (MAR) MRI and to compare the MRI results to other clinical markers.

Methods: The results of MRI, including two-dimensional fast-spin echo sequences with increased bandwidth and multi-acquisition variable-resonance image combination selective for hips with orthopedic implants at 1.5T (from April 2014 to November 2021), were retrospectively assessed for imaging findings and diagnostic impressions by two radiologists.

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Diabetes is known to increase the risk of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here we treat male STAM (STelic Animal Model) mice, which develop diabetes, NASH and HCC associated with dysbiosis upon low-dose streptozotocin and high-fat diet (HFD), with insulin or phlorizin. Although both treatments ameliorate hyperglycemia and NASH, insulin treatment alone lead to suppression of HCC accompanied by improvement of dysbiosis and restoration of antimicrobial peptide production.

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Background And Aims: There is a lack of biliary epithelial molecular markers for primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). We analyzed candidates from disease susceptibility genes identified in recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS).

Methods: Expression levels of GWAS genes were analyzed in archival liver tissues of patients with PSC and controls.

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  • A multicenter study was conducted with 1,742 patients who achieved a sustained viral response (SVR) after chronic hepatitis C treatment to create a machine learning model for predicting the risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
  • Five machine learning models were evaluated, with the random survival forest (RSF) model performing the best in predicting HCC risk during a follow-up period, achieving a c-index of 0.839 in an independent cohort.
  • The RSF model provides individualized risk predictions and is available online, signaling the potential to enhance surveillance strategies for HCC following SVR, although further studies are needed for tailored surveillance recommendations globally.
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  • Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a minimally invasive treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and predicting patient outcomes after RFA is crucial for managing cancer risk.
  • This study focused on creating a transformer-based machine learning model to forecast overall survival rates in HCC patients treated by RFA, comparing its effectiveness with traditional deep learning models.
  • Results showed that the transformer model outperformed the deep learning model in predicting survival (Harrel's c-index 0.69 vs 0.60), allowing for better risk stratification and personalized predictions for individual patients.
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  • Plant viruses cause various agricultural diseases, but the exact mechanisms behind these viral infections in plants are not well understood.
  • Recent research focused on Kobu-sho disease in gentian found that a gene fragment from the gentian Kobu-sho-associated virus (GKaV) can lead to gall formation and abnormal development of vascular tissues.
  • The study shows that the Kobu-sho-inducing factor can cause not only gall formation but also differentiation of leaf-like tissues, revealing new insights into how viruses manipulate plant development and signaling pathways.
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Aim: Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is regarded as a first-line treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) at an early stage. When treated with RFA, tumor biopsy may not be performed due to the risk of neoplastic seeding. We previously revealed that the risk of neoplastic seeding is significantly reduced by performing biopsies after RFA.

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Background: Lenvatinib was expected to enhance the effect of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) for unresectable HCC; however, their combination therapy failed to show the synergy in the phase III clinical trial.

Methods: To elucidate lenvatinib-induced molecular modulation, we performed bulk RNA-sequencing and digital spatial profiling of 5 surgically resected human HCC specimens after lenvatinib treatment and 10 matched controls without any preceding therapy.

Findings: Besides its direct antitumor effects, lenvatinib recruited cytotoxic GZMK+CD8 T cells in intratumor stroma by CXCL9 from tumor-associated macrophages, suggesting that lenvatinib-treated HCC is in the so-called excluded condition that can diminish ICI efficacy.

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Transient receptor potential families play important roles in the pathology of osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. While transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) is also an essential component of the pathogenesis of various arthritic conditions, its association with pain is controversial. Thus, we researched whether TRPA1 is involved in knee OA pain by patch-clamp recordings and evaluated the behavioral responses using CatWalk gait analysis and pressure application measurement (PAM).

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The hydroclimatic variability in Kashmir Himalaya is influenced by the western disturbances and the Indian Summer Monsoon. To investigate long-term hydroclimatic variability, 368 years tree-ring oxygen and hydrogen isotope ratios (δO and δH) extending from 1648 to 2015 CE were analysed. These isotopic ratios are calculated using five core samples of Himalayan silver fir (Abies pindrow) collected from the south-eastern region of Kashmir valley.

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Surface Pre-Reacted Glass-ionomer (S-PRG) filler, which releases strontium (Sr), borate (BO), fluoride (F), sodium (Na), silicate (SiO), and aluminum (Al) ions at high concentrations, is a unique glass filler that are utilized in dentistry. Because of its multiple-ion releasing characteristics, S-PRG filler exhibits several bioactivities such as tooth strengthening, acid neutralization, promotion of mineralization, inhibition of bacteria and fungi, inhibition of matrix metalloproteinases, and enhancement of cell activity. Therefore, S-PRG filler per se and S-PRG filler-containing materials have the potential to be beneficial for various dental treatments and care.

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  • The study aimed to assess how steroids impact ischemic complications following radiofrequency ablation.
  • It involved 58 patients divided into two groups based on whether they received corticosteroids or not.
  • Results showed that patients who took steroids experienced a significantly shorter fever duration, suggesting that steroids might help decrease severe outcomes by mitigating systemic inflammation.
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Introduction: Management of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a currently unmet clinical need. Digital therapeutics (DTx) is an emerging class of medicine that delivers evidence-based therapeutic interventions. This study was aimed at investigating the efficacy of DTx in patients with NASH.

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The molecular subtypes of pancreatic cancer (PC), either classical/progenitor-like or basal/squamous-like, are currently a major topic of research because of their direct association with clinical outcomes. Some transcription factors (TFs) have been reported to be associated with these subtypes. However, the mechanisms by which these molecular signatures of PCs are established remain unknown.

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Glycosphingolipids (GSLs) are composed of a polar glycan chain and a hydrophobic tail known as ceramide. Together with variation in the glycan chain, ceramides exhibit tissue-specific structural variation in the long-chain base (LCB) and N-acyl chain moieties in terms of carbon chain length, degree of desaturation, and hydroxylation. Here, we report the structural variation in GSLs in the urinary bladders of mice and humans.

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