Publications by authors named "Seiya Sawada"

Background/aim: A genomic analysis based on next-generation sequencing is important for deciding cancer treatment strategies. Cancer tissue sometimes displays intratumor heterogeneity and a pathologic specimen may contain more than two tumor grades. Although tumor grades are very important for the cancer prognosis, the impact of higher tumor grade distribution in a specimen used for a genomic analysis is unknown.

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Background/aim: The Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) gene encodes a protein (pVHL) that plays an important role in proteasome degradation of hypoxia inducible factor α (HIFα) through E3 activation. Accumulation of HIFα by loss of functional pVHL promotes tumorigenesis, thus, VHL has tumor suppressor gene capability in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). VHL is the most frequently mutated gene in ccRCC.

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The focus of this article rests on our discovery that a water-soluble polymer could be cross-linked to form a gel using a novel Green Chemistry gelation method: the microwave-induced in-liquid-plasma (MILP) method that requires neither a cross-linking agent nor an initiator as are required in the conventional chemical method. For instance, the water-soluble polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) polymer was gelled by MILP plasma irradiation within a few minutes without using toxic cross-linking agents and initiators. As well, the hydrophobic dimethylpolysiloxane macromolecule was dispersed in aqueous media to a colloidal sol, which could then also be easily gelled under MILP irradiation conditions within a few minutes, in comparison to the conventional method that often requires several hours to days for gelation to occur in the presence of cross-linking agents and initiators.

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We report the enhanced degradation of a widely used brominated flame retardant, tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBPA), which is soluble only in organic solvents and strongly alkaline solutions, where most advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) for such substrates tend to be rather inefficient. We further report an environmentally friendly method (microwave-induced plasma-in-liquid; MPL) that operates efficiently in alkaline aqueous media without the need for organic solvents to enhance the solubility of TBBPA in water. The enhanced debromination and almost complete mineralization of TBBPA under alkaline conditions occurs within 20 min of MPL irradiation.

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