Publications by authors named "Shimojima M"

Aim: We aimed to clarify the degree and factors associated with low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol treatment target attainment among patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH) using the Hokuriku-plus FH registry.

Methods: The Hokuriku-plus FH registry (UMIN000038210) was a prospective, observational, multicenter cohort study that enrolled consecutive patients with FH who fulfilled the clinical criteria for FH in Japan from 37 participating hospitals, mostly in the Hokuriku region, from April 2020 to March 2024. This registry collects data on clinical parameters, including lipid levels, physical findings, genetic background, and clinical events.

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  • Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is a tick-borne disease caused by Dabie bandavirus, first reported in Thailand in 2019.
  • The study highlights a One Health investigation, revealing that domestic dogs and cats may act as potential reservoirs for the virus, while no SFTSV was found in local ticks or wild animals.
  • The authors emphasize the need for integrated surveillance using genomic and serologic methods to better understand SFTS and prevent its spread among humans and animals in East Asia.
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  • Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) can improve cancer treatment but may cause serious side effects, including myocarditis.
  • The report discusses two cases of myocarditis that did not respond to corticosteroids, indicating a severe reaction to ICIs.
  • Additional treatments like intravenous immunoglobulin and tacrolimus were effective in resolving the myocarditis, suggesting that early use of alternative immunosuppressive therapies should be considered when corticosteroids fail.
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Land plants have evolved many systems to adapt to a wide range of environmental stresses. In seed plants, oligogalactolipid synthesis is involved in tolerance to freezing and dehydration, but it has not been analyzed in non-vascular plants. Here we analyzed trigalactosyldiacylglycerol (TGDG) synthesis in Marchantia polymorpha.

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Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) virus, a tick-borne bunyavirus, causes a severe/fatal disease termed SFTS; however, the viral virulence is not fully understood. The viral non-structural protein, NSs, is the sole known virulence factor. NSs disturbs host innate immune responses and an NSs-mutant SFTS virus causes no disease in an SFTS animal model.

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Introduction: Severe dengue is thought to be caused by an excessive host immune response.

Methods: To study the pathogenesis of severe dengue, we developed a novel model using LysM Cre mice carrying depleted expression only in subsets of murine myeloid cells.

Results: Although dengue virus (DENV) clinical isolates were not virulent in LysM Cre mice, mouse-adapted DV1-5P7Sp and DV3P12/08P4Bm, which were obtained by passaging the spleen or bone marrow of mice, demonstrated 100% lethality with severe vascular leakage in the liver and small intestine.

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  • The study evaluated the LC16m8 vaccine's safety and effectiveness against the monkeypox virus (MPXV) in 50 healthy adults over 168 days.
  • On day 28, the vaccine showed strong immunogenicity, with 72% to 88% seroconversion rates, although these rates declined by day 168.
  • Adverse events were common but mostly mild, and no serious safety issues or cases of monkeypox were reported during the study period.
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Introduction: Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is a fatal viral disease characterized by high fever, thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, and multi-organ haemorrhage. Disruption of the humoral immune response and decreased lymphocyte numbers are thought to contribute to the disease severity. These findings have been obtained through the analysis of peripheral blood leukocytes in human patients, whereas analysis of lymph nodes has been limited.

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  • Nipah virus (NiV) is a dangerous virus causing severe illness in humans with a mortality rate over 40%, primarily transmitted by fruit bats found in Southeast Asia.
  • Researchers developed recombinant vaccinia viruses that express NiV proteins to test their effectiveness at producing immune responses, finding that they successfully induced higher levels of neutralizing antibodies in hamsters than previous vaccine candidates.
  • The study suggests that the LC16m8-based vaccines have promising potential for future clinical use against NiV disease, marking a significant step towards effective prevention methods.
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Heartland virus (HRTV) causes generalized symptoms, severe shock, and multiple organ failure. We previously reported that interferon-α/β receptor knockout (IFNAR) mice infected intraperitoneally with 1 × 10 tissue culture-infective dose (TCID) of HRTV died, while those subcutaneously infected with the same dose of HRTV did not. The pathophysiology of IFNAR mice infected with HRTV and the mechanism underlying the difference in disease severity, which depends on HRTV infection route, were analyzed in this study.

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Background: Antimicrobial use (AMU) in primary care is a contributing factor to the emergence of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. We assessed the potential effects of AMU on the prevalence of a combination of resistance phenotypes in bacteraemic Escherichia coli in outpatient care settings between primary care facilities ('clinics') and hospitals.

Methods: Population-weighted total AMU calculated from the national database was expressed as DDDs per 1000 inhabitants per day (DID).

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Introduction: Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is a tick-borne infectious disease caused by the SFTS virus (SFTSV). The Miyazaki Prefecture has the highest number of SFTS cases in Japan and requires countermeasures for prevention. In this study, we aimed to conduct an epidemiological survey in Miyazaki Prefecture to determine the exposure conditions of SFTSV by measuring the seroprevalence among residents of Miyazaki and to evaluate the factors that influence the endemicity of SFTS.

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  • - Tecovirimat's role in treating mpox is still not well-understood, prompting a study in Japan to assess its effectiveness and safety across various patient demographics from June 2022 to April 2023.
  • - In the study, 19 male patients (average age 38.5 years), primarily with severe disease and many HIV positive, were treated with tecovirimat; results showed that 60% had negative virus tests in their skin lesions within two weeks, with no severe side effects reported.
  • - The findings suggest that starting tecovirimat treatment early can likely shorten the time the virus is detectable, especially in HIV-infected patients, who tend to shed the virus longer, raising the risk of transmission
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Dengue is a major health problem in tropical and subtropical regions. Some patients develop a severe form of dengue, called dengue hemorrhagic fever, which can be fatal. Severe dengue is associated with a transient increase in vascular permeability.

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Anisotropic cell expansion is crucial for the morphogenesis of land plants, as cell migration is restricted by the rigid cell wall. The anisotropy of cell expansion is regulated by mechanisms acting on the deposition or modification of cell wall polysaccharides. Besides the polysaccharide components in the cell wall, a layer of hydrophobic cuticle covers the outer cell wall and is subjected to tensile stress that mechanically restricts cell expansion.

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Background: Post-implant right heart failure (RHF) has been recognized as a crucial prognostic factor in patients receiving left ventricular assist devices (LVADs), and its management has long attracted attention from cardiologists and surgeons.

Case Presentation: This report described an 18-year-old female with acutely deteriorating heart failure due to dilated cardiomyopathy who underwent paracorporeal pulsatile-flow LVAD and developed early post-implant RHF. At postoperative day (POD) six, she was almost asymptomatic at rest on 2.

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The phosphatidic acid phosphohydrolase of Marchantia polymorpha modulates plastid glycolipid synthesis through the ER pathway and is essential for normal plant development regardless of nutrient availability. Membrane lipid remodeling is one of the strategies plant cells use to secure inorganic phosphate (Pi) for plant growth, but many aspects of the molecular mechanism and its regulation remain unclear. Here we analyzed membrane lipid remodeling using a non-vascular plant, Marchantia polymorpha.

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  • - Driveline infection (DLI) treatment typically involves local irrigation and sometimes surgical debridement, especially for severe cases.
  • - Three patients with advanced superficial DLI were treated successfully using a novel catheter cleaning method instead of surgery, involving a combination of 10% silver nitrate solution and monofilament nylon thread.
  • - The cases involved patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy and a woman with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, all of whom showed significant improvement through this method.
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  • Manipulating viral genomes is crucial for reverse genetics and vaccine development, utilizing bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) to insert and modify viral DNA.
  • A markerless DNA manipulation method for BACs, using the GS1783 strain and pEPKan-S plasmid, allows for efficient genetic recombination, though it currently has limitations in selective markers and can yield false negatives.
  • A new recombineering method with fluorescent protein markers enhances this process by providing a clear indication of successful recombination, which was tested by integrating Lassa virus genes into BACs linked with the vaccinia virus, aiding in selection through visible fluorescent signals.
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  • Monkeypox has seen outbreaks outside its original West African regions since May 2022, prompting a study on the effectiveness of tecovirimat, a drug estimated to be effective against both smallpox and monkeypox.
  • This nationwide study involves patients taking tecovirimat for 14 days and will compare results from those receiving the treatment versus a control group that only gets supportive care, measuring outcomes like viral load and adverse effects.
  • Participants will be financially supported through research funding, and all ethical guidelines, including informed consent, will be followed; findings will be shared in academic publications and conferences.
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In-office bleaching with high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (HO) agents causes undesirable alterations in the enamel. Surface pre-reacted glass-ionomer (S-PRG) filler is a functional material known for its acid-neutralizing and demineralization-inhibition properties. This study evaluates the effect of S-PRG filler incorporation in HO-based bleaching on the enamel surface.

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Mpox virus (formerly monkeypox virus [MPXV]) is a neglected zoonotic pathogen that caused a worldwide outbreak in May 2022. Given the lack of an established therapy, the development of an anti-MPXV strategy is of vital importance. To identify drug targets for the development of anti-MPXV agents, we screened a chemical library using an MPXV infection cell assay and found that gemcitabine, trifluridine, and mycophenolic acid (MPA) inhibited MPXV propagation.

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Two novel actinobacteria, designated IFM 12276 and IFM 12275, were isolated from clinical specimens in Japan, and their taxonomic positions were investigated using a polyphasic approach. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons revealed that strains IFM 12276 and IFM 12275 have completely identical 16S rRNA gene sequences and were closely related to members of the genus . The highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity was observed to (99.

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The phytohormone auxin affects numerous processes in land plants. The central auxin signaling machinery, called the nuclear auxin pathway, is mediated by its pivotal receptor named TRANSPORT INHIBITOR RESPONSE 1/AUXIN SIGNALING F-BOX (TIR1/AFB). The nuclear auxin pathway is widely conserved in land plants, but auxin also accumulates in various algae.

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Objectives: Surface reaction-type pre-reacted glass-ionomer (S-PRG) filler releases six types of ions with a neutralizing ability. This study evaluated the effect of S-PRG filler incorporation in an HO-based bleaching material on the bleaching efficacy, pH, and reaction state.

Materials And Methods: The experimental bleaching material was formulated by the addition of 5% or 10% S-PRG fillers to the powder part.

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