Publications by authors named "Shimamura T"

Background: In patients with pancreaticobiliary maljunction complicated by congenital biliary dilatation, the pancreatic enzyme flows back into the bile, leading to bile duct carcinogenesis. Although the biliary tract resection and reconstruction is well documented to decrease the rate of malignancy, cancer occurrence has been reported in the residual intrahepatic or intrapancreatic bile duct, even after resection. We report a case of multiple biliary tract cancers in the liver complicated by congenital biliary dilatation, whose tumor lesions were resected en bloc without disconnecting the biliary tract by simultaneous pancreatoduodenectomy and living donor liver transplantation.

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In the embryonic neuroepithelium (NE), neural progenitor cells undergo cell cycle-dependent interkinetic nuclear migration (IKNM) along the apicobasal axis. Extensive IKNM supports increasing cell production rates per unit apical surface, as typically observed in the mammalian telencephalic NE. Apical nucleokinesis during the G2 phase is an essential premitotic event, but its occurrence has not yet been quantitatively analyzed at a large 3D-scale with sufficient spatiotemporal resolution.

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  • This study investigates the impact of microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) on patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD), focusing on their clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes.
  • Within a sample of 114 patients, those diagnosed with ANCA-associated vasculitis with ILD (AAV-ILD) were found to have better survival rates and treatment responses compared to those with pulmonary limited vasculitis (PLV).
  • The findings emphasize the critical role of accurate diagnosis and treatment planning, suggesting that HRCT imaging and corticosteroid response are vital for understanding patient prognosis.
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Introduction: A technical qualification system was established by the Japanese Society of Endoscopic Surgery in 2004, and its effectiveness in low anterior resection (LAR) has been reported. We herein performed a subgroup analysis of the effectiveness of the participation of technically qualified surgeons in laparoscopy-assisted high anterior resection (HAR), a procedure used for the technical qualification of surgeons.

Methods: The EnSSURE study enrolled 3188 patients who underwent laparoscopic rectal resection for rectal cancer between January 2014 and December 2016 at 56 Japanese hospitals.

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Background: The latest guidelines on hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) categorise the disease as either fibrotic or non-fibrotic because of the greater clinical utility of this stratification. However, the prevalence and incidence of fibrotic and non-fibrotic HP are unknown. This study assessed the exact prevalence and incidence of fibrotic and non-fibrotic HP in Japan in 2021.

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Background And Aims: PuraStat (3-D Matrix, Tokyo, Japan) is an absorbent localized hemostatic agent that uses self-assembling peptide technology. In this multicenter pilot study, we evaluated the efficacy and safety of endoscopic hemostasis using PuraStat in patients with colonic diverticular bleeding (CDB).

Methods: This study involved patients who had CDB with stigmata of recent hemorrhage (SRH) and underwent endoscopic hemostasis with PuraStat monotherapy or combination therapy comprising PuraStat with endoscopic band ligation (EBL) or clipping (group A).

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Establishing a sustainable life-support system for space exploration is a formidable challenge due to the vast distances, high costs, and environmental differences from Earth. Building upon the lessons from the Biosphere 2 experiment, we introduce the novel "Ecosphere" and "Biosealed" systems, self-sustaining ecosystems within customizable, enclosed containers. These systems incorporate terrestrial ecosystems and groundwater layers, offering a potential model for transplanting Earth-like biomes to extraterrestrial environments.

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Messenger RNA splicing and degradation are critical for gene expression regulation, the abnormality of which leads to diseases. Previous methods for estimating kinetic rates have limitations, assuming uniform rates across cells. DeepKINET is a deep generative model that estimates splicing and degradation rates at single-cell resolution from scRNA-seq data.

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To resolve the critical donor shortage worldwide, enlarging the potential donor pool to include expanded criteria donors is necessary. Despite numerous attempts to establish new preservation solutions, no dramatic innovation has occurred since University of Wisconsin (UW) solution displaced Euro Collins' solution; UW solution remains the global gold standard. We previously developed a heavy water (DO)-containing organ storage solution, Dsol, which is effective for livers subjected to extended cold storage (CS), and reported its effectiveness.

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Motivation: Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) enables comprehensive characterization of the cell state. However, its destructive nature prohibits measuring gene expression changes during dynamic processes such as embryogenesis or cell state divergence due to injury or disease. Although recent studies integrating scRNA-seq with lineage tracing have provided clonal insights between progenitor and mature cells, challenges remain.

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  • * In a study involving mouse skin transplants, GILs present at day 5 or day 7 post-transplant led to complete rejection of grafts, while GILs from day 3 did not induce rejection.
  • * The findings suggest that GILs' ability to promote or prevent rejection is time-dependent, indicating that day 3 GILs had no effect on promoting graft rejection in skin transplant scenarios.
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  • A 34-year-old woman diagnosed with an invasive mole had an 18 F-FDG PET/CT scan to check for cancer spread.
  • The scan showed no FDG uptake in the lungs despite CT indicating multiple lung metastases, but significant uptake was found in a pelvic lesion, hinting at ovarian metastasis.
  • MRI revealed a ring-shaped enhancement consistent with a corpus luteum, which could be influenced by elevated human chorionic gonadotropin from the mole, emphasizing the need for careful interpretation of PET/CT results to avoid false positives.
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Background: The diagnosis of fibrotic hypersensitivity pneumonitis (fHP) from other interstitial lung diseases, particularly idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), is often difficult. This study aimed to examine computed tomography (CT) findings that were useful for differentiating between fHP and IPF and to develop and validate a radiological diagnostic model.

Methods: In this study, 246 patients (fHP, n = 104; IPF, n = 142) from two institutions were included and randomly divided into the test (n = 164) and validation (n = 82) groups (at a 2:1 ratio).

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  • The study investigates cell-cell interactions in colorectal cancer (CRC) to understand how adenomas progress to sporadic CRC, aiming to improve patient survival rates.
  • By using spatial transcriptomics on early and advanced CRC cases, the researchers identified key interactions between cancer cells and regulatory T cells (Tregs) that may lead to immune suppression in the tumor microenvironment.
  • Findings highlight midkine (MDK) as a critical signaling molecule involved in these interactions and indicate that higher MDK/SDC4 levels are linked to poorer survival outcomes in CRC patients, suggesting a potential target for early diagnosis and treatment.
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: Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is the gold standard modality for evaluating cardiac morphology, function, and hemodynamics in clinical practice. While artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to contribute to improved accuracy and is being applied clinically, its impact on daily clinical practice has not been fully evaluated. : We retrospectively examined 30 consecutive patients who underwent AI-equipped TTE at a single institution.

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The non-Fc-binding anti-CD3 Ab [anti-CD3F(ab')2] can induce graft acceptance depending on the therapeutic window in a rodent heart transplant model. The delayed protocol allows for early graft infiltration of lymphocytes, which may behave in an inhibitory manner. We investigated the most effective protocol for anti-CD3F(ab')2 in sensitized conditions to confirm the evidence for clinical application.

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The ubiquitously expressed protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP2 is required for signaling downstream of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) and plays a role in regulating many cellular processes. Genetic knockdown and pharmacological inhibition of SHP2 suppresses RAS/MAPK signaling and inhibit the proliferation of RTK-driven cancer cell lines. Here, we describe the first reported fragment-to-lead campaign against SHP2, where X-ray crystallography and biophysical techniques were used to identify fragments binding to multiple sites on SHP2.

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Patient-derived organoids (PDOs) serve as invaluable 3D tumor models, retaining the histological complexity and genetic heterogeneity found in primary tumors. However, the limitation of small sample volumes and the lack of tailored platforms have hindered the research using PDOs. Within the tumor microenvironment, cancer-associated fibroblasts play a pivotal role in influencing drug sensitivity.

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  • Understanding how different cell types interact is crucial for studying diseases, but current computational methods may overlook important molecular signals during these interactions.
  • DeepCOLOR is a new advanced framework that uses deep learning to analyze cell interactions at a single-cell level by combining single-cell data with spatial information.
  • It has shown improved accuracy in identifying cell interactions in various biological samples, including mouse brains and human cancer and COVID-19 tissues, allowing for deeper insights into cell communication in different environments.
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  • * The development of a new ultracompact Kirkpatrick-Baez (ucKB) mirror allows for high-performance focusing of soft-X-rays, achieving a tiny focus size of 20.4 nm at 2 keV.
  • * This innovation enhances soft-X-ray fluorescence microscopy and enables detailed subcellular chemical mapping, improving the analysis of specimen structure and elemental distribution using efficient tabletop X-ray sources.
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The University of Wisconsin (UW) solution is the most effective preservation solution currently used; however, to safely use expanded-criteria donor grafts, a new cold storage solution that alleviates graft injury more effectively is required. We prepared a heavy water (DO)-containing buffer, Dsol, and observed strong protective effects during extended cold storage of rat hearts and livers. In the current study, we modified Dsol (mDsol) and tested its efficacy.

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  • - This paper discusses new methods for producing and measuring x-ray mirrors with a very small curvature radius of 160 mm, which allows for better performance in x-ray applications.
  • - The authors have developed a technique called dynamic stencil deposition that improves the precision of the mirror’s shape and reduces surface roughness, achieving sharper film thickness profiles.
  • - The final mirror produced is 2 mm long and demonstrates exceptional focusing capabilities, with a focus size of 142 nm at 300 eV, showcasing the potential benefits for advanced x-ray techniques in nanoscale settings.
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[Purpose] This study aimed to investigate the usefulness of a quality index in gait for proximal femur fractures. [Participants and Methods] In this study, 20 females with postoperative proximal femur fracture in the preparation phase for discharge (femur fracture group) aged ≥60 years (63.0 ± 3.

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