Publications by authors named "Sunahara N"

Maternal mind-mindedness refers to a caregiver's tendency to respond to their infants as individuals with their own thoughts, feelings, desires, and beliefs. Although previous studies have focused on maternal speech in quantifying mind-mindedness, maternal mind-mindedness should manifest not only as mind-related comments but also through non-verbal behaviors during infant-mother interactions. In this study, we investigated the relationship between maternal gaze at the infant's face and typical verbal measurement of mind-mindedness in free-flowing interactions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study focuses on improving the non-destructive detachment of electric parts from printed circuit boards (PCBs) during minor metal recycling.
  • A new cross-flow shredder (CFS) designed for experimental purposes evaluated 27 different conditions to see how various factors affect detachment success and quality.
  • Key findings indicated that the rotation rate and vent screen significantly impact detachment, while chain-wall distance and crushing time influence overcrushing and powder generation after part detachment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

: We evaluate the efficacy of anticoagulant administration for isolated distal deep vein thrombus (IDDVT), detected before orthopedic surgery. : The study included 32 patients diagnosed with IDDVT before orthopedic surgery in our hospital between October 2011 and October 2017. They were divided into two groups: the 'pre- and post-operative therapy group,' who were administered anticoagulants both pre- and post-operatively, and the 'post-operative therapy group,' who were administered anticoagulants only after surgery due to risk of bleeding judged by an orthopedic surgeon.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) induces rapid remission. However, osteoporosis and its management remains a problem. The Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI) evaluates the risk of malnutrition-related complications in elderly patients and has been shown to be a significant predictor of many diseases.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Osteoporosis is a complication of rheumatoid arthritis. We examined the risk factors for bone loss in rheumatoid arthritis patients receiving biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs. Lumbar spine and femoral neck bone mineral density was measured at two time points in 153 patients with rheumatoid arthritis managed with biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Osteoporosis is a complication of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We identified risk factors for osteoporosis during treatment with biologics.

Methods: Femoral neck bone mineral density (BMD) was measured in 186 patients with biologics-treated RA.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The purpose of this study is to identify a potentiality factor that is a preventive factor for decline in cognitive function. Additionally, this study pursues to clarify the causal relationship between the each potential factor and its influence on cognitive function. Subjects were 366 elderly community residents (mean age 73.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The aims of this study were to identify the preoperative factors influencing ambulation ability at different postoperative time points after total hip arthroplasty (THA) and to examine the cutoff values of predictive preoperative factors by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Forty-eight women with unilateral THA were measured for hip extensor, hip abductor, and knee extensor muscle strength in both legs; hip pain (visual analog scale, VAS); and the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test pre- and postoperatively. Multiple regression analysis indicated that preoperative knee extensor strength (β = -0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In this study, we investigated the horizontal visual search ability and pattern of horizontal visual search in a large space performed by patients with unilateral spatial neglect (USN). Subjects included nine patients with right hemisphere damage caused by cerebrovascular disease showing left USN, nine patients with right hemisphere damage but no USN, and six healthy individuals with no history of brain damage who were age-matched to the groups with brain right hemisphere damage. The number of visual search tasks accomplished was recorded in the first experiment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: The efficacy of mizoribine (MZR) in treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was retrospectively investigated in terms of drug survival, improvement in Disease Activity Score-28 (DAS28)-C-reactive protein (CRP), and blood MZR concentration obtained 3 h after dosing (MZR-C3).

Methods: To compare the efficacy of MZR administered via different regimens, the subjects were divided into 2 groups: those receiving a single dose of MZR at 100-150 mg every other day (group A) and those receiving 2 or 3 divided doses of the drug on consecutive days, which is the usual dosing method of the drug (group B).

Results: Group A had significantly higher MZR-C3 levels compared with group B, as well as significantly greater improvement in DAS28-CRP.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: The distribution of folate receptor (FR)-β+ macrophages and their M1/M2 expression profiles were examined in osteoarthritis (OA) synovial tissues, and compared to those in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) synovial tissues and CD163+ macrophages in both OA and RA synovial tissues.

Method: The phenotypes and fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-folate uptake of FR-β+ synovial macrophages were analysed by flow cytometry. The distribution of FR-β+ macrophages in OA and RA synovial tissues was examined by immunofluorescent microscopy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Clinical evidence suggests that antiestrogens inhibit the development of androgen-insensitive prostate cancer. Here, we show that the estrogen receptor β (ERβ) mediates inhibition by the antiestrogen ICI 182,780 (ICI) and its enhancement by estrogen. ERβ associated with gene promoters through the tumor-suppressing transcription factor KLF5 (Krüppel-like zinc finger transcription factor 5).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Recent advances in medical care have facilitated the survival of patients with stroke or traffic-related injuries. However, such patients may suffer from higher brain dysfunction; i.e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Tissue hypoxia is closely associated with arthritis pathogenesis, and extracellular high mobility group box chromosomal protein 1 (HMGB-1) released from injured cells also has a role in arthritis development. This study was thus undertaken to investigate the hypothesis that extracellular HMGB-1 may be a coupling factor between hypoxia and inflammation in arthritis.

Methods: Concentrations of tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-6, vascular endothelial growth factor, lactic acid, lactate dehydrogenase, and HMGB-1 were measured in synovial fluid (SF) samples from patients with inflammatory arthropathy (rheumatoid arthritis and pseudogout) and patients with noninflammatory arthropathy (osteoarthritis).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The Z39Ig protein (complement receptor for C3b and iC3b) is expressed on resident tissue macrophages in various tissues. This study was undertaken to examine the distribution of Z39Ig+cells and their phenotypic features in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) synovium, in comparison with those of osteoarthritis (OA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) synovium. Monoclonal anti-Z39Ig antibody was produced by immunizing Z39Ig transfected murine pre B cells and used for the identification of Z39Ig+cells.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To investigate the effects of the recombinant immunotoxin dsFv anti-FRbeta-PE38, which consists of the disulfide-stabilized Fv fragment (dsFv) of the anti-folate receptor beta (anti-FRbeta) antibody and the 38-kd portion of Pseudomonas exotoxin A (PE38), on the activation and proliferation of cells that function in inflammatory and degradative processes in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) synovial tissue.

Methods: The Ig VH-PE38 fusion protein and the Ig VL protein were produced in Escherichia coli, and then joined with a disulfide bond by engineering cysteine residues in the framework regions of these proteins. The effects of dsFv anti-FRbeta-PE38 on the activation and proliferation of cells in RA synovial tissue were investigated by immunohistochemistry; the numbers of cells expressing CD68, vascular cell adhesion molecule 1, angiopoietin 1, CD34, proliferating cell nuclear antigen, and interleukin-6 and the numbers of apoptotic cells were counted in RA synovial tissue engrafted into SCID mice treated or not treated with dsFv anti-FRbeta-PE38.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Recent studies have shed light on the ligand-dependent transactivation mechanisms of nuclear receptors (NRs). When the ligand dose is reduced, the transcriptional activity of NRs should be downregulated. Here we show that a ubiquitin-proteasome pathway plays a key role in turning off transcription mediated by estrogen receptor beta (ERbeta).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To define the distribution of folate receptor beta (FRbeta)-expressing cells in various tissues, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA) synovial tissues, and to verify the effects of an immunotoxin composed of an anti-FRbeta monoclonal antibody (mAb) and truncated Pseudomonas exotoxin A (PEA) on apoptosis and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) production by adherent synovial mononuclear cells from RA patients.

Methods: Anti-FRbeta mAb were produced by immunizing mice with FRbeta-transfected murine pre-B cells. The distribution of the FRbeta antigen was examined by immunohistochemical analysis using anti-FRbeta mAb and macrophage-specific anti-CD163 mAb.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Study Design: A matched controlled comparative study of patients with upper cervical lesions caused by rheumatoid arthritis was performed at two different hospitals to evaluate occipitocervical fusion associated with C1 laminectomy and nonsurgical treatment.

Objectives: To evaluate the long-term results and advantages of occipitocervical fusion associated with C1 laminectomy, and to compare these results with those of nonsurgical management of patients with myelopathy related to rheumatoid arthritis.

Summary Of Background Data: Few studies have reported the prognosis of patients with rheumatoid arthritis managed by occipitocervical fusion associated with C1 laminectomy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Measurement of serum sultopride levels was performed using an enzyme immunoassay. Little or no cross-reactivity with metabolites of sultopride and other drugs was found. The results of reproducibility, recovery, and dilution testing were all good enough for clinical use.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The authors we investigated the relationship between plasma levels of haloperidol (HAL) and the number of CYP2D6*10 (*10) alleles in 66 Japanese inpatients with schizophrenia (male = 61, female = 5) on HAL. Plasma HAL level was determined by an enzyme immunoassay method. Daily dose of HAL was 1.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP) is a low molecular weight cytoplasmic protein and present abundantly in the myocardium. When the myocardium is injured, as in the case of myocardial infarction, low molecular weight cytoplasmic proteins including H-FABP are released into the circulation and H-FABP is detectable in a blood sample. We have already developed a direct sandwich-ELISA for quantification of human H-FABP using two distinct types of monoclonal antibodies specific for human H-FABP.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We have developed a direct sandwich-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for quantification of the hepatic triglyceride lipase (HTGL) immunoreactive mass in human plasma. This direct sandwich-ELISA uses a combination of two distinct monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), which recognize different epitopes on the HTGL molecule: a horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-labeled anti-human HTGL MAb (2(4)F12C12) as an enzyme-linked MAb, and an anti-human HTGL MAb (1(11)A3H3) coated on a microtiter plate as a solid-phase MAb. Purified human post-heparin plasma (PHP)-HTGL was used as the standard material.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To investigate the expression of folate receptors (FR) and reduced folate carrier (RFC) and determine their relevance to methotrexate (MTX) transport in synovial mononuclear cells (SMC) from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: Levels of FR and RFC messenger RNA (mRNA) were examined by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in SMC from RA patients and peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy donors. Expression of FR-beta mRNA and protein was determined by Northern blot and Western blot analyses in RA SMC and monocyte/macrophage-lineage cells.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a direct sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for quantification of the lipoprotein lipase (LPL) immunoreactive mass in human plasma using monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) directed against LPL purified from human postheparin plasma (PHP) [corrected].

Methods And Results: The direct sandwich-ELISA was performed using a combination of two distinct types of MAbs that recognize different epitopes on the LPL molecule. The immunoreactive mass of human LPL was specifically measured using a horseradish peroxidase-labeled anti-human LPL MAb [1(1)D2B2] as an enzyme-linked MAb, and an anti-human LPL MAb [2(10)F8F9] coated on a polystyrene microtiter plate as a solid-phase MAb.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF