Publications by authors named "Nonaka K"

The discovery of novel natural products through the exploration of distinct microorganisms is crucial for advancing drug discovery research. In this study, we focus on a unique environmental resource, microbial masses known as "Tengu-no-Mugimeshi." From the culture broth of Lecanicillium aphanocladii FKI-9593, isolated from Tengu-no-Mugimeshi collected at Mount Kurohime, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, we report the isolation of two novel tetrapeptides, tengupeptins A (1) and B (2), as well as the known compound oosporein.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective This study examined the factors associated with the status of group activities provided to older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic by community groups aiming to improve the health and social interactions of older adults. Methods A mail survey was conducted with 372 leaders of neighborhood associations and Senior Citizen Clubs in November 2020 in Ward A, Tokyo. The questionnaire asked leaders about the status of group activities provided by neighborhood associations and the aforementioned clubs for older adults.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Minimally invasive surgical treatment of myelopathy caused by central thoracic disc herniation (TDH) is challenging to carry out because reaching the herniation site is difficult and the thoracic spinal cord is fragile. In this study, using the posterior-lateral approach for central TDH with myelopathy, we present a novel procedure of transcostal microendoscopic discectomy (TCMED).

Technical Note: The patient was operated in a prone position under general anesthesia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Syphilis has been increasing in adult infections in recent years, and ocular syphilis includes not only uveitis but also a variety of optic nerve and retinal lesions. We report a case of syphilis that caused unilateral optic papillitis and outer retinopathy complicated by diabetic retinopathy and improved with antibiotic treatment. The patient was a 61-year-old woman.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: The activities of external oblique (EO) and internal oblique (IO) muscles during forced expiration in a trunk-neutral posture are insufficient for muscle strengthening. Furthermore, these activities during forced expiration may be affected by trunk postures, which can change respiratory muscle activity. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of trunk posture on the EO and IO muscles' activities during forced expiration.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: To observe the choroidal vasculature in patients with tilted disc syndrome (TDS) using en face optical coherence tomography (OCT) and to evaluate the symmetry of the choroidal vascular pattern in the macular area.

Methods: En face OCT was performed using a Plex Elite 9000 (Zeiss) with a 12 × 12 mm image of the macula, which was flattened with retinal pigment epithelium and segmented into choroidal layers. The middle/large choroidal vessels were evaluated for vertical symmetry qualitatively by the retina specialist coauthors and quantitatively by binarization analysis of choroidal vessel density and mean vessel diameter.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The case is a 12-year-old girl. She was diagnosed with cashew nut allergy in infancy. She experienced the following allergic symptoms at age 11: sore throat after ingesting gummy bears containing citrus-derived pectin; sore throat, nausea, and severe abdominal pain after ingesting jelly containing yuzu (citrus junos) seeds and peel.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Methylotrophic yeast is a useful host for producing heterologous proteins using the unique and strong alcohol oxidase 1 (AOX1) promoter, which is induced by methanol and repressed by various carbon sources. However, methanol is preferably avoided in industrial-scale fermentation given its toxicity, flammability, and explosiveness. To develop a protein production system under reduced methanol supply conditions, we attempted to characterize the AOX1 promoter induction activity by comparing derepression conditions with methanol induction conditions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The Saitama Prefecture Silver Human Resources Center Federation and Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Geriatrics and Gerontology launched a frailty prevention class business model in 2018, aiming to compensate SHRC members for operating the classes.
  • A survey of 58 SHRCs showed that 74.1% participated in the training for supporters, and 58.6% implemented the project.
  • Of those implementing, 39.7% offered rewards for supporters, and 75% of those who started the project by 2021 continued for over two years, facing challenges in initiation and management.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Here, we present an autopsy case of long-standing myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) in a patient who developed a pancreatic intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN). DM1 is a progressive genetic disorder that affects multiple organs, including the respiratory muscles. Several nationwide registry-based cohort studies have suggested that patients with DM1 have an increased risk of developing pancreatic cancers such as pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study aimed to propose a methodology for developing a mechanistic model for viral clearance of the minute virus of mice (MVM) on flow-through anion exchange (AEX) chromatography. Protein surface analysis was applied to investigate the possibility of molecular interaction between the recombinant biotherapeutic and MVM. The protein product-free Tris buffers were spiked with MVM, and the MVM elution profile from AEX chromatography was quantitatively analyzed using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) for pooled fractions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Bow hunter's stroke (BHS) occurs when the vertebral artery gets compressed during head rotation, leading to temporary neurological issues and a risk of stroke.
  • A case study of a 25-year-old woman who developed multiple cerebral infarctions after sleeping with her head rotated showed that her vertebral artery was affected by this position.
  • The treatment involved a surgical procedure to stabilize the cervical vertebrae, which successfully prevented further incidents, highlighting the importance of considering sleep position in similar cases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Burnettiene A, an antifungal compound, was re-identified from the FKI-6715 strain using a unique yeast system, showing promise against various pathogenic fungi.
  • Previous studies had only noted antifungal effectiveness against one fungal species, but new findings reveal broad activity against multiple plant pathogenic fungi.
  • The synthesis of 12 derivatives led to the discovery that a methyl ester derivative was 100 times more effective against a specific strain, highlighting burnettiene A's potential as a new fungicidal agent.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Telomeres in most somatic cells shorten with each cell division, and critically short telomeres lead to cellular dysfunction, cell cycle arrest, and senescence. Thus, telomere shortening is an important hallmark of human cellular senescence. Quantitative fluorescence in situ hybridization (Q-FISH) using formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue sections allows the estimation of telomere lengths in individual cells in histological sections.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - Two new antifungal compounds, cytosporones Y (1) and Z (2), were identified from the cultured broth of a fungus called Trichoderma sp. FKI-6626.
  • - The structures of these compounds were determined using mass spectrometry (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis.
  • - Both cytosporones showed effectiveness in fighting against five different species of Aspergillus, which are responsible for a fungal infection known as aspergillosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Fournier's gangrene is a serious soft tissue infection that can develop in patients with weakened immune systems, such as those undergoing chemotherapy; in this case, a 54-year-old man developed it after chemotherapy for testicular cancer.
  • The patient showed symptoms including severe anal pain and dark discoloration of the skin, eventually leading to septic shock and requiring extensive medical intervention over 32 days, including emergency surgery to remove infected tissue.
  • It is crucial to monitor individuals with severe myelosuppression for signs of Fournier's gangrene, even in the absence of visible anorectal lesions, as they may exhibit severe pain and discoloration in the area.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Short-time sintering of dental zirconia not only improves manufacturing efficiency of zirconia prosthetics, but also enables an attractive situation in which prosthetic treatment can be completed within a single visit. Although many studies have clarified the effects of heating rate and dwell time on the properties of dental zirconia during short-time sintering, there are only a few studies on rapid cooling. In this study, we investigated the effect of cooling rate on dental zirconia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Researchers discovered burnettiene A (1) as an antimalarial compound from the culture of Flavocillium primulinum, using a new multidrug-sensitive yeast system.
  • The compound was previously identified as an antifungal agent but its antifungal action is limited to one species and its mechanism isn't fully understood.
  • The study demonstrated that burnettiene A exhibits antimalarial activity against both chloroquine-sensitive and resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum, highlighting a new platform for discovering potential antimalarial drugs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Trifluridine (FTD) is a chemotherapy drug used for cancer treatment, but its cytotoxic mechanism is not fully understood, particularly in relation to mutations in the TP53 gene, which are known to impact cancer progression and drug resistance.
  • This study uncovered that FTD leads to DNA damage and abnormal cell division (mitosis) in both cells lacking p53 and those with gain-of-function TP53 mutations, though it failed to enforce a proper cell cycle checkpoint during G2/M transition.
  • The research indicates that FTD's effectiveness as an anti-tumor agent operates independently of p53 functionality, suggesting that it can be effective even in the presence of the mutant forms of p53 that typically enhance resistance to chemotherapy
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To investigate the precise mechanism of xenon (Xe), pharmacologically isolated AMPA/KA and NMDA receptor-mediated spontaneous (s) and evoked (e) excitatory postsynaptic currents (s/eEPSC and s/eEPSC) were recorded from mechanically isolated single spinal sacral dorsal commissural nucleus (SDCN) neurons attached with glutamatergic nerve endings (boutons) using conventional whole-cell patch-clamp technique. We analysed kinetic properties of both s/eEPSC and s/eEPSC by focal single- and/or paired-pulse electrical stimulation to compare them. The s/eEPSC showed smaller amplitude, slower rise time, and slower 1/e decay time constant (τ) than those of s/eEPSC.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Recombinant protein production technology is widely applied to the manufacture of biologics used as drug substances and industrial proteins such as recombinant enzymes and bioactive proteins. Various heterologous protein production systems have been developed using prokaryotic and eukaryotic hosts. Especially methylotrophic yeast in eukaryotic hosts is suggested to be particularly valuable because such systems have the following advantages: protein secretion into culture broth, eukaryotic quality control systems, a post-translational modification system, rapid growth, and established recombinant DNA tools and technologies such as strong promoters, effective selection markers, and gene knock-in and -out systems.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) affects approximately half of patients with diabetes mellitus (DM), contributing to falls and fractures. Oxidative stress, which is linked to DM-induced hyperglycemia, has been implicated in the onset of DPN. Although exercise is recommended for patients with DM, its effect on DPN remains unclear.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF