Publications by authors named "Tei H"

Bacterial cells maintain their characteristic cell size over many generations. Several rod-shaped bacteria, such as Escherichia coli and the cyanobacteria Synechococcus elongatus, divide after adding a constant length to their length at birth. Through this division control known as the adder mechanism, perturbation in cell length due to physiological fluctuation decays over generations at a rate of 2 per cell division.

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Background And Aim: Molecular-targeted therapies such as sorafenib and lenvatinib have long been used as first-line treatment for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (aHCC). However, adverse events or limited therapeutic effects may necessitate the change to another therapeutic option, known as post-progression therapy. To investigate the significance of post-progression therapy, we analyzed the outcomes of aHCC patients following first-line molecular-targeted therapy in a real-world study.

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Genetic modification to restore cell functions in the brain can be performed through the delivery of biomolecules in a minimally invasive manner into live neuronal cells within brain tissues. However, conventional nanoscale needles are too short (lengths of ~10 µm) to target neuronal cells in ~1-mm-thick brain tissues because the neuronal cells are located deep within the tissue. Here, we report the use of nanoscale-tipped wire (NTW) arrays with diameters < 100 nm and wire lengths of ~200 µm to address biomolecule delivery issues.

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Multiple feedback loops are often found in gene regulations for various cellular functions. In mammalian circadian clocks, oscillations of Period1 (Per1) and Period2 (Per2) expression are caused by interacting negative feedback loops (NFLs) whose protein products with similar molecular functions repress each other. However, Per1 expression peaks earlier than Per2 in the pacemaker tissue, raising the question of whether the peak time difference reflects their different dynamical functions.

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Negative feedback loops (NFLs) for circadian clocks include light-responsive reactions that allow the clocks to shift their phase depending on the timing of light signals. Phase response curves (PRCs) for light signals in various organisms include a time interval called a dead zone where light signals cause no phase shift during daytime. Although the importance of the dead zone for robust light entrainment is known, how the dead zone arises from the biochemical reactions in an NFL underlying circadian gene expression rhythms remains unclear.

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Circadian rhythms are generated by the cyclic expression of several clock genes in mammals. The rhythmic expression of these genes is maintained by multiple transcriptional-translational feedback loops in addition to the posttranslational regulation of the clock proteins. Transcription of one of the key clock genes, Bmal1, which exhibits a nocturnal transcriptional rhythm in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the mouse brain, is induced and repressed by RORs and REV-ERBs, respectively.

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The disease model of familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy-7.2-hMet30 mice-manifests amyloid deposition that consists of a human amyloidogenic mutant transthyretin (TTR) (TTR V30M). Our previous study found amyloid deposits in 14 of 27 7.

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Positive and negative feedback loops are often present in regulatory networks for genetic oscillations. Relative time scales and integration of these feedback loops are key to robust oscillations in expression levels. Using examples from the circadian clock and synthetic genetic oscillators, we study positive and negative feedback loops interlocked at competitive binding sites.

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Background: The objective of this study was to assess the prognostic value of the Geriatric Nutrition Risk Index (GNRI), a simplified, objective screening parameter of nutrition-related risk for various pathological conditions, on patients with non-metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) who underwent surgical resection.

Patients And Methods: This study included 432 consecutive patients with non-metastatic RCC who received complete surgical resection. The prognostic outcomes of these patients were evaluated focusing on the significance of GNRI, calculated from serum albumin and the body mass index.

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We have previously shown that endochondral ossification is finely regulated by the Clock system expressed in chondrocytes during postnatal skeletogenesis. Here we show a sophisticated modulation of bone resorption and bone mass by the Clock system through its expression in bone-forming osteoblasts. Brain and muscle aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator-like protein 1 (Bmal1) and Period1 (Per1) were expressed with oscillatory rhythmicity in the bone in vivo, and circadian rhythm was also observed in cultured osteoblasts of Per1::luciferase transgenic mice.

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Similar to neurons, microglia have an intrinsic molecular clock. The master clock oscillator Bmal1 modulates interleukin-6 upregulation in microglial cells exposed to lipopolysaccharide. Bmal1 can play a role in microglial inflammatory responses.

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RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful tool for the study of gene function in mammalian systems, including transgenic mice. Here, we report a gene knockdown system based on the human mir-187 precursor. We introduced small interfering RNA (siRNA) sequences against the mouse melanocortin-4 receptor (mMc4r) to alter the targeting of miR-187.

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Bioluminescence imaging (BLI) is used in biomedical research to monitor biological processes within living organisms. Recently, fiber bundles with high transmittance and density have been developed to detect low light with high resolution. Therefore, we have developed a bundled-fiber-coupled microscope with a highly sensitive cooled-CCD camera that enables the BLI of organs within the mouse body.

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The present study aimed to investigate the significance of anti-androgen withdrawal and/or subsequent alternative anti-androgen therapy in patients with advanced prostate cancer (PC) who relapsed after initial maximum androgen blockade (MAB). The present study evaluated the clinical outcomes of 272 consecutive advanced PC patients undergoing anti-androgen withdrawal and/or subsequent alternative anti-androgen therapy with flutamide following the failure of initial MAB using bicalutamide. With the exception of 41 patients (15.

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Background: To analyze the diagnostic performance of 12-core biopsy in detecting significant prostate cancer (PCa).

Patients And Methods: Thisstudy included 206 PCa patients who underwent transrectal 12-core biopsy followed by radical prostatectomy. Radical prostatectomy specimens were anatomically divided into 12 areas according to the sampling cores, and the existence of significant cancer, defined by a tumor volume > 0.

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Measuring real-time gene activity in the brains of freely moving animals presents a challenging issue in neuroscience research. Circadian gene expression in neurons of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), a small nucleus in the hypothalamus, is reflected in behavioral rhythmicity. Cellular oscillatory gene expression is generated by a transcription-translation feedback loop of clock genes including 2 oscillatory genes, Per1 and Per2.

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Aim: A hyperenhanced rim (termed 'HER') in the postvascular phase is detected in some cases of liver metastasis by Sonazoid-enhanced ultrasonography (US). Here, the association of the HER with histological features was investigated to clarify the cause of this characteristic imaging pattern.

Subjects And Methods: A total of 13 hepatic nodules obtained from 11 patients with metastatic liver cancer who underwent Sonazoid-enhanced US followed by surgical resection were analyzed.

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Objectives: To assess the significance of performance status as a prognostic factor after radical cystectomy for urothelial carcinoma of the bladder.

Methods: The present study included 730 consecutive patients with urothelial carcinoma of the bladder who underwent radical cystectomy. Clinicopathological outcomes in these patients were analyzed focusing on the impact of performance status, which was assessed using the Karnofsky Performance Status scale before surgery.

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Objective: To evaluate the expression of multiple molecular markers involved in autophagy, a cellular degradation pathway for the clearance of damaged or superfluous proteins and organelles, in localized prostate cancer (PC) to clarify the prognostic significance of these markers in patients undergoing radical prostatectomy (RP).

Methods: Expression levels of 5 autophagy markers, including autophagy-related gene 5, autophagy-related gene 9, Beclin1, microtubule-associated protein light chain 3, and UNC-51-like kinase 1 (ULK1), in RP specimens from 160 consecutive patients with clinically localized PC were measured by immunohistochemical staining.

Results: Of these 5 markers, ULK1 expression was significantly correlated with the incidence of biochemical recurrence (BR).

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To investigate whether antitumor activity of sorafenib, a potential molecular-targeted agent against RCC is enhanced by silencing Akt1 in a human RCC ACHN model. We established ACHN in which the expression vector containing short hairpin RNA targeting Akt1 was introduced (ACHN/sh-Akt1). Changes in several phenotypes of ACHN/sh-Akt1 following treatment with sorafenib were compared with those of ACHN transfected with control vector alone (ACHN/C) both in vitro and in vivo.

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Background: The relationship between infarct dimensions and neurologic severity in patients with acute pontine infarctions remains unclear. This study aimed to clarify the morphometric predictive value of magnetic resonance imaging for motor deficits in pontine infarction.

Methods: Nineteen patients with an acute pontine infarction (12 males and 7 females, 70.

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The mammalian circadian clock is driven by a transcriptional-translational feedback loop, which produces robust 24-hr rhythms. Proper oscillation of the clock depends on the complex formation and periodic turnover of the Period and Cryptochrome proteins, which together inhibit their own transcriptional activator complex, CLOCK-BMAL1. We determined the crystal structure of the CRY-binding domain (CBD) of PER2 in complex with CRY2 at 2.

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Objectives: To assess the significance of circulating matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) as predictors of disease progression in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) receiving sunitinib.

Materials And Methods: Circulating levels of MMP-2, MMP-9, TIMP-1, and TIMP-2 in sera from 52 patients with mRCC treated with sunitinib were measured at the baseline and on the first day of each treatment cycle until progression using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays.

Results: The baseline level of MMP-9 in nonresponders to sunitinib was significantly higher than that in responders, whereas the baseline level of TIMP-2 in nonresponders was significantly lower than that in responders.

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Objectives: To investigate the expression of CD44 standard form (CD44s) and 2 major variant exons (CD44v6 and CD44v10) in localized prostate cancer (PC) to determine the prognostic significance of these markers following radical prostatectomy (RP).

Materials And Methods: Expression levels of CD44s, CD44v6, and CD44v10 in RP specimens from 160 consecutive patients with clinically localized PC were evaluated by immunohistochemical staining.

Results: Of these 3 markers, expression level of CD44v6 was closely associated with several conventional prognostic factors.

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Malignant mesothelioma of the tunica vaginalis is rare, and is usually not diagnosed until surgery is undertaken. We report here a case in a 62-year-old man with malignant mesothelioma tunica vaginalis testis. He was referred to our hospital with a painless swelling of the left scrotal contents.

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