The efficacy of human papillomavirus vaccination in young Japanese girls: the interim results of the OCEAN study.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has been used to prevent chronic HPV infection, which accounts for cervical cancer. Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) conducted an HPV vaccination campaign in 2010 and the Obstetrical Gynecological Society of Osaka initiated a multicenter, prospective cohort study in Osaka, Japan - OCEAN (Osaka Clinical resEArch of HPV vacciNe) study - to investigate the oncogenic HPV prevalence and the long-term protection rate of HPV vaccine. A total of 2814 participants were enrolled on their visit for HPV vaccination between 12 and 18 years old.

Disparity of Cervical Cancer Risk in Young Japanese Women: Bipolarized Status of HPV Vaccination and Cancer Screening.

Women born between 1994 and 1999 achieved high vaccination rates for human papillomavirus (HPV); they are now reaching the age of cervical cancer screening programs in Japan. In this study, we aimed to investigate the health awareness of HPV-vaccinated and unvaccinated women and to create tailored leaflets recommending cervical cancer screening for each. Surveys on the cancer screening rates for HPV-vaccinated and unvaccinated women aged 20 and 21 have demonstrated that the rate was significantly higher ( < 0.

The last strategy for re-dissemination of HPV vaccination in Japan while still under the suspension of the governmental recommendation.

In Japan, the governmental recommnendation of HPV vaccine has been suspended since June 2013, due to media reports of alleged adverse vaccination events. Although evidence of effectiveness and safety of the HPV vaccine has been universally demonstrated, and the medical and academic organizations across Japan have requested the resumption of the government's recommendation, the Japanese government has not changed their official stance towards the HPV vaccine. Under the current suspension of the national government's recommendation, one local government Isumi City started sending a leaflet containing information of cervical cancer and HPV vaccine, but not recommendation for the vaccine, to the tagted girls born in the fiscal year (FY) 2003.

Size-based molecular diagnostics using plasma DNA for noninvasive prenatal testing.

Noninvasive prenatal testing using fetal DNA in maternal plasma is an actively researched area. The current generation of tests using massively parallel sequencing is based on counting plasma DNA sequences originating from different genomic regions. In this study, we explored a different approach that is based on the use of DNA fragment size as a diagnostic parameter.

Noninvasive prenatal diagnosis of fetal trisomy 18 and trisomy 13 by maternal plasma DNA sequencing.

Massively parallel sequencing of DNA molecules in the plasma of pregnant women has been shown to allow accurate and noninvasive prenatal detection of fetal trisomy 21. However, whether the sequencing approach is as accurate for the noninvasive prenatal diagnosis of trisomy 13 and 18 is unclear due to the lack of data from a large sample set. We studied 392 pregnancies, among which 25 involved a trisomy 13 fetus and 37 involved a trisomy 18 fetus, by massively parallel sequencing.

Non-invasive prenatal assessment of trisomy 21 by multiplexed maternal plasma DNA sequencing: large scale validity study.

Objectives: To validate the clinical efficacy and practical feasibility of massively parallel maternal plasma DNA sequencing to screen for fetal trisomy 21 among high risk pregnancies clinically indicated for amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling.

Design: Diagnostic accuracy validated against full karyotyping, using prospectively collected or archived maternal plasma samples.

Setting: Prenatal diagnostic units in Hong Kong, United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.

Liver volume in trisomy 21 and euploid fetuses at 11 to 13 weeks.

Objectives: To compare liver volume between trisomy 21 and euploid fetuses at 11 to 13 weeks' gestation.

Methods: Fetal liver volume was measured by 3D ultrasound in fetuses at low risk of aneuploidies (n = 200) and another group at high risk, including 148 euploid and 37 with trisomy 21. The association of liver volume with fetal nuchal translucency (NT) thickness, tricuspid regurgitation and reversed a-wave in the ductus venosus was investigated.

Maternal plasma P-selectin at 11 to 13 weeks of gestation in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.

Objective: To determine if development of preeclampsia is preceded by altered maternal plasma P-selectin and if the levels are related with uterine artery pulsatility index.

Methods: Plasma P-selectin and uterine artery pulsatility index were measured at 11-13 weeks in 121 cases that subsequently developed preeclampsia, 87 cases that developed gestational hypertension and 208 unaffected controls.

Results: In the preeclampsia group the median multiple of the median in controls (MoM) P-selectin and uterine artery PI were significantly increased (1.

Maternal plasma inhibin A at 11-13 weeks of gestation in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.

Objective: To investigate the potential value of maternal plasma inhibin A in first-trimester screening for preeclampsia (PE).

Method: The concentration of inhibin A at 11-13 weeks was measured in samples from 121 pregnancies that developed PE, 87 cases of gestational hypertension (GH) and 208 normal controls. The distributions of inhibin A multiple of median (MoM) in the control and hypertensive groups were compared.

Ductus venosus Doppler at 11 to 13 weeks of gestation in the prediction of outcome in twin pregnancies.

Objective: To examine the independent contribution of abnormal flow in the ductus venosus at 11 to 13 weeks of gestation in the prediction of adverse pregnancy outcome in relation to chorionicity.

Methods: This was a prospective study in 516 dichorionic and 179 monochorionic twin pregnancies in which the fetal ductus venosus flow was assessed at 11 0/7 to 13 6/7 weeks of gestation. The prevalence of reversed a-wave in the fetal ductus venosus was compared between monochorionic and dichorionic pregnancies and between those with and without pregnancy complications.

Maternal serum ADAM12 (A disintegrin and metalloprotease) in chromosomally abnormal pregnancy at 11-13 weeks.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the potential value of ADAM12 (A disintegrin and metalloprotease) in first-trimester screening for trisomy 21 and other major chromosomal abnormalities.

Study Design: The concentration of ADAM12 was measured at 11-13 weeks in cases of trisomy 21 (n = 49), trisomy 18 (n = 28), trisomy 13 (n = 20), Turner syndrome (n = 29), triploidy (n = 10), and euploid pregnancies (n = 272). The levels of ADAM12, expressed as multiples of median (MoM), were compared in cases and controls and were assessed for association with free beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A).

Metal transcription factor-1 is involved in hypoxia-dependent regulation of placenta growth factor in trophoblast-derived cells.

Placenta growth factor (PlGF) is a placental angiogenic factor. Metal-responsive transcription factor (MTF)-1 was reported to take part in the hypoxic induction of PlGF in RAS-transformed mouse fibroblasts. We contrarily showed that PlGF mRNA and protein levels decreased under hypoxia in a choriocarcinoma BeWo cell line derived from trophoblast.

Dual repressive effect of angiotensin II-type 1 receptor blocker telmisartan on angiotensin II-induced and estradiol-induced uterine leiomyoma cell proliferation.

Background: Although uterine leiomyomas or fibroids are the most common gynecological benign tumor and greatly affect reproductive health and well-being, the pathophysiology and epidemiology of uterine leiomyomas are poorly understood. Elevated blood pressure has an independent, positive association with risk for clinically detected uterine leiomyoma. Angiotensin II (Ang II) is a key biological peptide in the renin-angiotensin system that regulates blood pressure.

Involvement of RelA-associated inhibitor in regulation of trophoblast differentiation via interaction with transcriptional factor specificity protein-1.

Glucose transporter-1 (GLUT1), one of the key functional indicators of placental differentiation, has an important role in placental glucose transport. We previously showed that the protein levels of GLUT1 and nuclear transcription factor specificity protein-1 (Sp1) in rat choriocarcinoma cells (Rcho-1 cells) decreased during the differentiation of these cells to giant cells. We also showed that Sp1 was involved in the regulation of GLUT1 gene expression during this process.

Hypoxia represses the differentiation of Rcho-1 rat trophoblast giant cells.

Background: A hypoxic environment is known to be essential for early placentation. A low oxygen tension induces hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1alpha) which may play an important role as a transcription factor in maintaining the proliferative and undifferentiated phenotype in human trophoblasts.

Methods: We analyzed the effect of a low oxygen tension on the rat trophoblast giant cell differentiation pathway using Rcho-1 cells which were derived from rat choriocarcinomas and consist of trophoblast stem cells.

Up-regulation of c-met protooncogene product expression through hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha is involved in trophoblast invasion under low-oxygen tension.

During early pregnancy, the invasion of trophoblast cells into the decidua of the uterus is one of the essential steps in appropriate placentation. In this period, trophoblast cells are exposed to a relatively low-oxygen environment. The c-met protooncogene product (Met), which is a high-affinity receptor for hepatocyte growth factor, plays an important role in controlling the invasion of many types of cells.

Hypoxia up-regulates hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha expression through RhoA activation in trophoblast cells.

During early pregnancy, trophoblast cells are exposed to relatively low-oxygen tension. Recently, the Rho GTPase family has been shown to play a key role in hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) alpha induction in renal cell carcinoma. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of low-oxygen conditions on RhoA expression in trophoblast cells isolated from early stages of human placenta and in trophoblast-derived BeWo cells and JAR cells.

Induction of glucose transporter 1 expression through hypoxia-inducible factor 1alpha under hypoxic conditions in trophoblast-derived cells.

Glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1) plays an important role in the transport of glucose in the placenta. During early pregnancy, placentation occurs in a relatively hypoxic environment that is essential for appropriate embryonic development, and GLUT1 expression is enhanced in response to oxygen deficiency in the placenta. Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1)alpha is involved in the induction of GLUT1 expression in other cells.

Human breast milk suppresses the transcriptional regulation of IL-1beta-induced NF-kappaB signaling in human intestinal cells.

Neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), which is a disease with a poor prognosis, is considered to be caused by the coincidence of intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury and systemic inflammation due to the colonization of pathogenic bacteria. Interleukin (IL)-8, a proinflammatory cytokine, plays an important role in the pathophysiology of NEC. It was recently reported that IL-1beta activates the IL-8 gene by regulating the transcriptional nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) signaling pathways in intestinal cells.

Human milk induces fetal small intestinal cell proliferation - involvement of a different tyrosine kinase signaling pathway from epidermal growth factor receptor.

Breast milk has non-nutritional protective effects on recipient infants. It has been speculated that bioactive substances present in human milk have important roles in protecting infants. However, the mechanisms by which such substances protect newborns are unclear.

Rapid changes of flow-mediated dilatation after surgical menopause.

Objectives: Estrogen acts directly on endothelial nitric oxide synthase through a non-genomic mechanism, resulting in rapid dilatation of blood vessels. In this study, we examined the change of endothelial function after surgical menopause.

Methods: In 20 subjects who underwent gynecological operations (ovariectomy (OVX) 12, sham (SHAM) operation 8), postoperative changes of flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) of the brachial artery were examined using ultrasonography.

Hyperreactio luteinalis associated with severe twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome.

Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) is a severe complication of monochorionic twin pregnancies, with high perinatal loss and significant morbidity. The etiology of this syndrome remains unclear. Hyperreactio luteinalis is a rare benign condition characterized by maternal ovarian enlargement due to theca lutein cysts.