Publications by authors named "Niida S"

The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is increasing as society ages. The details of AD pathogenesis have not been fully elucidated, and a comprehensive gene expression analysis of the process leading up to the onset of AD would be helpful for understanding the mechanism. We performed an RNA sequencing analysis on a cohort of 1227 Japanese blood samples, representing 424 AD patients, 543 individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 260 cognitively normal (CN) individuals.

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Aging is a complex biological process. Several animal models, including nematodes, Drosophila, and rodents, have been used in research on aging mechanisms and the extension of healthy life expectancy. The present study investigated the physiological and anatomical changes associated with aging in two sub-strains of aged C57BL/6 mice used in aging research: C57Bl/6NCrSlc (B6N) and C57BL/6J (B6J).

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  • Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is the second most common form of dementia, progressing faster and resulting in a poorer quality of life compared to Alzheimer's disease, with fewer genetic factors understood.
  • A study of 1,744 Japanese individuals identified the CDH23 gene as significantly associated with DLB, showing links to auditory issues and subjective hearing loss in patients.
  • The research found no significant HLA genotype associations with DLB, indicating a different pathology from Parkinson's disease, but the results need further validation in more diverse populations.
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  • Human genetic variants influence various traits, but the underlying mechanisms are still largely unclear.
  • By studying around 260,000 Japanese participants and using a specific genotype reference panel, researchers identified over 4,400 significant genetic loci linked to 63 traits, with many being novel findings.
  • The study highlighted the role of noncoding variants, particularly in untranslated regions, and emphasized the importance of genetic research in diverse populations to uncover functional variants and their impacts.
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Laboratory rats, like mice, are a type of animal commonly used in scientific investigations as well as in basic aging and geriatric research. The selection of a rat strain is an important first step in the planning and design of an experiment due to physiological, anatomical, and ethological variations in each strain, which may significantly modify the expected results. In the present study, we characterized age-related changes, from 3 months old (mo) to 24 mo, in three male rat strains commonly used in medical research: RccHan:WIST (RccHan:WIST), F344/NSlc (F344), and Slc:SD Rat (SD).

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Comorbid Alzheimer's disease (AD) neuropathology is common in Lewy body disease (LBD); however, AD comorbidity in the prodromal phase of LBD remains unclear. This study investigated AD comorbidity in the prodromal and symptomatic phases of LBD by analyzing plasma biomarkers in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and individuals at risk of LBD (NaT-PROBE cohort). Patients with PD (PD group, n = 84) and DLB (DLB group, n = 16) and individuals with LBD with ≥ 2 (high-risk group, n = 82) and without (low-risk group, n = 37) prodromal symptoms were enrolled.

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  • * The study analyzed 109 participants, finding that those with DLB had a higher prevalence of EPVS in the basal ganglia compared to non-dementia individuals.
  • * Results suggest that older participants with cognitive impairment and high pulse wave velocity (PWV) are more likely to have EPVS, indicating that high PWV may contribute to the development of EPVS in DLB patients.
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  • Overcoming resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors is critical for treating non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which includes different molecular subtypes with distinct immune landscapes.
  • The study identifies three adenocarcinoma subtypes (TRU, PP, PI) and their immune responses, finding that the PI subtype has a stronger immune activation while the PP subtype shows features that suppress the immune response.
  • Understanding these immune characteristics can guide personalized treatment strategies, suggesting that immune checkpoint inhibitors may work well for the PI subtype and that targeting glycolysis could help improve the immune response in the PP subtype.
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Introduction: Although frailty is a geriatric syndrome that is associated with disability, hospitalization, and mortality, it can be reversible and preventable with the appropriate interventions. Additionally, as the current diagnostic criteria for frailty include only physical, psychological, cognitive, and social measurements, there is a need for promising blood-based molecular biomarkers to aid in the diagnosis of frailty.

Methods: To identify candidate blood-based biomarkers that can enhance current diagnosis of frailty, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of clinical data, messenger RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq), and aging-related factors using a total of 104 older adults aged 65-90 years (61 frail subjects and 43 robust subjects) in a cross-sectional case-control study.

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Background: Polygenic effects have been proposed to account for some disease phenotypes; these effects are calculated as a polygenic risk score (PRS). This score is correlated with Alzheimer's disease (AD)-related phenotypes, such as biomarker abnormalities and brain atrophy, and is associated with conversion from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to AD. However, the AD PRS has been examined mainly in Europeans, and owing to differences in genetic structure and lifestyle, it is unclear whether the same relationships between the PRS and AD-related phenotypes exist in non-European populations.

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Late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) is the most common cause of dementia among those older than 65 years. The onset of LOAD is influenced by neuroinflammation. The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system is involved in regulating inflammatory responses.

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The Japanese archipelago is a terminal location for human migration, and the contemporary Japanese people represent a unique population whose genomic diversity has been shaped by multiple migrations from Eurasia. We analyzed the genomic characteristics that define the genetic makeup of the modern Japanese population from a population genetics perspective from the genomic data of 9,287 samples obtained by high-coverage whole-genome sequencing (WGS) by the National Center Biobank Network. The dataset comprised populations from the Ryukyu Islands and other parts of the Japanese archipelago (Hondo).

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  • - The study analyzes genetic variations in two major Japanese subpopulations (Hondo and Ryukyu) using over 622,000 DNA markers from 20,366 individuals to understand natural selection patterns.
  • - Significant genetic signals were identified at various loci, including a new candidate locus (IKZF2) particularly in the Ryukyu subpopulation, and differing lead variants associated with health risks like narcolepsy and protective effects against type 1 diabetes.
  • - The research highlights distinct selection patterns in the ALDH2 gene and offers insights into the evolutionary pressures impacting these subpopulations over the last 20-150 generations.
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  • Scientists studied over 176,000 people to see how certain genes might protect against Parkinson's disease (PD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD).
  • They found that specific types of a gene called HLA could help reduce the risk of these diseases and lower harmful proteins in the brain.
  • This suggests that our immune system might help protect us from PD and AD, which could lead to new treatments in the future.
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  • Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament of the spine (OPLL) is a disease that can cause serious neurological issues, and its causes are not fully understood, particularly in relation to type 2 diabetes and high body mass index (BMI).
  • A comprehensive meta-analysis involving 22,016 Japanese individuals identified 14 significant genetic markers linked to OPLL, with 8 being newly discovered, and further analyses pointed to specific genes associated with the disease.
  • The research revealed that increased BMI and high bone mineral density could have a causal relationship with OPLL, and different subtypes of the disease were identified, particularly highlighting a strong correlation between BMI and thoracic OPLL.
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Late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) is the most common multifactorial neurodegenerative disease among elderly people. LOAD is heterogeneous, and the symptoms vary among patients. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified genetic risk factors for LOAD but not for LOAD subtypes.

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Unlabelled: Resistance to immune checkpoint blockade remains challenging in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Tumor-infiltrating leukocyte (TIL) quantity, composition, and activation status profoundly influence responsiveness to cancer immunotherapy. This study examined the immune landscape in the NSCLC tumor microenvironment by analyzing TIL profiles of 281 fresh resected NSCLC tissues.

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Sarcopenia is a geriatric disease associated with increased mortality and disability. Early diagnosis and intervention are required to prevent it. This study investigated biomarkers for sarcopenia by using a combination of comprehensive clinical data and messenger RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis obtained from peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

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(CP) causes severe infections in immunocompromised individuals. Three serovars (A, B, and C) are known to be responsible for more than 90% of infections associated with dog bites, although these three constitute only 8% of the serovars carried by dogs. We experienced a post-splenectomy non-severe case of CP withserovar type E, which has never been isolated in Japan.

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  • - The study investigated the impact of previous Chlamydia pneumoniae (CP) infection on mortality rates in patients with COVID-19 and bacterial pneumonia, analyzing data from 78 COVID-19 and 32 pneumonia patients in Japan.
  • - Results showed that the presence of CP antibodies (IgA and IgG) was linked to older age and higher smoking rates but did not significantly differ between COVID-19 and pneumonia groups, with no clear connection to increased mortality.
  • - Ultimately, the research concluded that past CP infection did not have a significant effect on 30-day mortality among COVID-19 patients.
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Background: Noninvasive detection of early stage cancers with accurate prediction of tumor tissue-of-origin could improve patient prognosis. Because miRNA profiles differ between organs, circulating miRNomics represent a promising method for early detection of cancers, but this has not been shown conclusively.

Methods: A serum miRNA profile (miRNomes)-based classifier was evaluated for its ability to discriminate cancer types using advanced machine learning.

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Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a clinical precursor of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recent genetic studies have reported on associations between AD risk genes and immunity. Here, we obtained samples and data from 317 AD, 432 MCI, and 107 cognitively normal (CN) subjects and investigated immune-cell type composition and immune clonal diversity of T-cell receptor (TRA, TRB, TRG, and TRD) and B-cell receptor (IGH, IGK, and IGL) repertoires through bulk RNA sequencing.

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