Publications by authors named "Naoki Kawamoto"

Chiral glutamide-derived lipids form self-assembled fibrous molecular gels that can be used as HPLC organic phases. In this study, HPLC separation efficiency was improved through the addition of branched amphiphilic glutamide lipids to the side chains of a terminally immobilized flexible polymer backbone. Poly(4-vinylpyridine) with a trimethoxysilyl group at one end was grafted onto the surface of porous silica particles (Sil-VP, polymerization degree = 15), and the pyridyl side chains were quaternized with a glutamide lipid having a bromide group (Br).

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Bis(bicyclic) molecules dimethanochrysene and diethanochrysene were prepared by Diels-Alder reaction of the naphthodiyne equivalent with cyclopentadiene and 1,3-cyclohexadiene, respectively. Reaction of dimethanochrysene and 7,9-diphenyl-8H-cyclopent[a]acenaphthylen-8-one resulted in the generation of a fluorescent hydrocarbon in unexpected multistep pericyclic reactions. Syn-oriented diethanochrysene-connected bisporphyrin tweezers was prepared from the reaction of chrysene-bridged syn-dipyrrole with tripyrranedicarbaldehyde.

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Chitosan nanofibers were easily prepared from dry chitosan powder using the Star Burst system, which employs a high-pressure water jet system. Although the chitosan nanofibers became thinner as the number of Star Burst passes increased, the fiber thickness did not change significantly above 10 passes. Crystallinity and the chitosan nanofiber length decreased after extensive treatment due to the strong collision forces breaking the fibers.

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Objectives: To assess changes in subjective fatigue symptoms of adolescent girls over a 15-year period and investigate factors related to these symptoms.

Methods: A total of 86 items on physical health (including subjective fatigue symptoms), dietary life, and daily living were investigated and five items on physical activity were measured for approximately 100 female first-year dietetic students at a junior college each October over the 15-year period from 1994 to 2008. A total of 1,547 students (mean age, 19.

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The objective of this study was to identify novel genes and peptides capable of inducing tumor-reactive cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) in cancer patients with an HLA-B46 allele, which is preferentially expressed in Asians. We show that two genes encoding splicing factor (SF) 2 and inosine triphosphate pyrophosphatase (ITPA) have epitopes recognized by HLA-B46-restricted and tumor cell-reactive CTL lines established from tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes of colon cancer. The SF2 is essential for constitutive pre-mRNA splicing, while the enzyme ITPA controls nucleotide levels.

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Although cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL)-directed epitopes binding to human histocompatibility leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A molecules have been well characterized, those binding to HLA-B molecules have not, largely due to their large diversity. In this study we report a unique cancer antigen gene, tentatively named Testin-related gene (TRG), which encodes CTL-directed epitopes on the HLA-B52 molecules most frequently expressed in Asians. TRG is located in an intron of the putative tumor suppressor gene Testin in the common fragile site 7G region at 7q31.

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