Publications by authors named "Tomoki Nishimura"

Phosphate (Pi) homeostasis at the cellular level is crucial, requiring coordinated Pi uptake, storage, and export. However, the regulatory mechanisms, particularly those governing Pi export, remain elusive, despite their relevance to human diseases like primary familial brain calcification. While Xpr1, conserved across eukaryotes, is the only known Pi exporter, the existence of additional Pi exporting factors is evident; however, these factors have been poorly characterized.

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  • - The study investigated how preoperative sarcopenia (muscle loss) and prognostic nutritional index (PNI) relate to clinical outcomes in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients post-surgery, finding these factors can help predict patient prognosis and recovery.
  • - Involving 300 patients with early-stage NSCLC, it measured muscle mass and nutritional status, revealing that those with sarcopenia and low PNI had significantly poorer survival rates and responses to treatment compared to others.
  • - Results emphasized that preoperative sarcopenia combined with low PNI is a strong indicator of poor prognosis regardless of tumor characteristics, highlighting the need for nutritional support in these patients prior to surgery.
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  • * Researchers used graft copolymer self-assembly to create polymer micelles in various shapes, finding that cylindrical micelles with an aspect ratio of 2.4 are least taken up by macrophages.
  • * Short cylindrical micelles showed a 3.3-fold increase in blood circulation time compared to spherical micelles, highlighting the importance of designing nanoparticles with optimal shapes for better drug delivery.
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Magnetically responsive photonic crystals of colloidal nanosheets hold great promise for various applications. Here, we systematically investigated the magnetically responsive behavior of a photonic crystal consisting of graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets and water. After applying a 12 T magnetic field perpendicular and parallel to the observation direction, the photonic crystal exhibited a more vivid structural color and no structural color, respectively, based on the magnetic orientation of GO nanosheets.

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Phosphate (Pi) is a macronutrient, and Pi homeostasis is essential for life. Pi homeostasis has been intensively studied; however, many questions remain, even at the cellular level. Using Schizosaccharomyces pombe, we sought to better understand cellular Pi homeostasis and showed that three Pi regulators with SPX domains, Xpr1/Spx2, Pqr1, and the VTC complex synergistically contribute to Pi homeostasis to support cell proliferation and survival.

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Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a promising modality for cancer treatment because of its minimal invasiveness. To maximize the therapeutic benefits of BNCT, the development of efficient platforms for the delivery of boron agents is indispensable. Here, carborane-integrated immunoliposomes were prepared via an exchanging reaction to achieve HER-2-targeted BNCT.

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Graphene-oxide (GO) nanosheets, which are oxidized derivatives of graphene, are regarded as promising building blocks for functional soft materials. Especially, thermoresponsive GO nanosheets have been widely employed to develop smart membranes/surfaces, hydrogel actuators, recyclable systems, and biomedical applications. However, current synthetic strategies to generate such thermoresponsive GO nanosheets have exclusively relied on the covalent or non-covalent modification of their surfaces with thermoresponsive polymers, such as poly(-isopropylacrylamide).

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The prevalence of allergic disorders has increased worldwide in recent decades. Polyphenols, including resveratrol and curcumin, are posited to have potential as therapeutic agents for allergy; however, their use has been limited by poor water solubility. Accordingly, a highly concentrated, water dispersible, supramolecular complexes of polyphenols with polypeptides (poly-L-lysine, poly-γ-glutamic acid) and gelatin using high-speed vibration milling are developed.

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Conjugation of maltopentaose to water-soluble homo-poly(sarcosine) induced self-association and formed nanospheres (-150 nm) in water although homo-poly(sarcosine) was water-soluble and did not form any aggregates. Fluorescent probe experiments showed that the spheres were non-ionic glycopeptoid coacervate-like particles with both hydrophobic and hydrophilic domains inside.

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Circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) with tunable chirality is currently a challenging issue in the development of supramolecular nanomaterials. We herein report the formation of helical nanoribbons which grow into helical tubes through dynamic helicity inversion. For this, chiral Pt complexes of terpyridine derivatives, namely S-trans-1 and R-trans-1, with respective S- and R-alanine subunits and incorporating trans-double bonds in the alkyl chain were prepared.

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Nanodiscs have attracted considerable attention as structural scaffolds for membrane-protein research and as biomaterials in drug-delivery systems. However, conventional disc-fabrication methods are usually laborious, and disc fabrication the self-assembly of amphiphiles is difficult. Herein, we report the formation of polymer nanodiscs based on the self-assembly of amphiphilic graft copolymers by adjusting the persistence length of the main chain.

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Block copolymer micelles functionalized with tetrazine groups can act as nanoreactors to activate a -cyclooctene-functionalized prodrug for releasing anticancer drugs a bioorthogonal inverse-electron-demand Diels-Alder (IEDDA) reaction. In addition, the IEDDA reaction can be accelerated in the micellar nanoreactor system compared to the free tetrazine system. Moreover, prodrug activation in a mouse tumor model led to the inhibition of tumor growth without significant systemic toxicity.

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  • - The text discusses a new theranostic platform that combines biocompatibility, targeting, imaging, and therapy for cancer treatment using hybrid nanoparticles made of fullerene and gold (FGNPs).
  • - FGNPs demonstrate superior photoacoustic signals and photothermal effects when exposed to optimal light, making them effective for imaging and killing cancer cells in laboratory studies.
  • - The nanoparticles can accumulate in tumor tissue, allowing for better visualization through imaging techniques in mouse models, indicating their potential for improving cancer diagnosis and therapy.
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Transplantable catalytic reactors have attracted considerable attention as therapeutic biomedical materials. However, existing transplantable reactors such as biocatalytic films are limited by their invasiveness. Here, we report the fabrication of biocatalytic supramolecular hydrogels via self-assembly of amphiphilic glycopeptides.

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Primary pulmonary myxoid sarcoma is a rare lung sarcoma, mostly involving the central lung and harboring the fusion. We report an exceptional case of primary pulmonary myxoid sarcoma arising in the peripheral lung and harboring an gene fusion. A 67-year-old man presented with a solid nodule in the right lower lobe, and wedge resection was performed.

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The biomaterial-based immunoengineering has become one of the most attractive research fields in the last decade. In the present study, a solid-in-oil-in-water (S/O/W) emulsion encapsulating antigen in the oil phase of an oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion was prepared as a novel vaccine carrier consisting of similar materials to the emulsion adjuvant of which the safety, immunogenicity and vaccination efficacy have been already confirmed in human. Direct observation by high-resolution confocal laser scanning microscopy and small angle X-ray scattering analysis showed that the antigens were dispersed inside of the oil phase of the S/O/W emulsion as solid-state particles.

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  • Fluorescent probes can effectively detect different types of asbestos, but previous software struggled with low fiber concentrations.
  • A study aimed to create a comprehensive database of fluorescence microscopy images of asbestos and tested a deep learning model, YOLOv4, for better detection accuracy.
  • The YOLOv4 model showed impressive results, achieving a mean average precision of 96.1% and outperforming previous software, especially with samples containing low fiber concentrations.
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Solute-permeable polymer vesicles are structural compartments for nanoreactors/nanofactories in the context of drug delivery and artificial cells. We previously proposed design guidelines for polymers that form solute-permeable vesicles, yet we did not provide enough experimental verification. In addition, the fact that there is no clear factor for identifying permeable solutes necessitates extensive trial and error.

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Systems for "protein transduction," intracellular delivery of functional proteins, are needed to address deliverability challenges of protein therapeutics. However, in vivo protein transduction remains challenging because of instability in serum, extracellular protease digestion and rapid excretion from the bloodstream. Here, a magnetically guided in vivo protein transduction using magnetic nanogel chaperone (MC) composed of iron oxide nanoparticles and a polysaccharide nanogel, a protein carrier inspired by "catch and release" mechanisms of molecular chaperones is demonstrated.

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Biocatalytic films are attracting growing attention for their significant potential as scaffolds for therapeutic reactor devices. However, conventional film fabrication methods result either in enzyme denaturation or require cumbersome procedures. Here, we report the preparation of biocatalytic films via self-assembly of a carbohydrate block copolymer and a polysaccharide.

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Controlling polymer vesicle size is difficult and a major obstacle for their potential use in biomedical applications, such as drug-delivery carriers and nanoreactors. Herein, we report size-tunable polymer vesicles based on self-assembly of a thermoresponsive amphiphilic graft copolymer. Unilamellar polymer vesicles form upon heating chilled polymer solutions, and vesicle size can be tuned in the range of 40-70 nm by adjusting the initial polymer concentration.

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Molecular chaperones play critical roles in biological functions. They are closely involved in the maintenance of cell homeostasis, proper folding of proteins and nucleic acids, and inhibition of irreversible aggregation in denatured proteins. In addition to protein production, molecular chaperone function is widely recognized as important for peptide and protein drug delivery systems.

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Trousseau's syndrome is characterized as an unexpected, cancer-related thrombotic event, such as a cerebral infarction or a deep vein thrombosis/pulmonary embolism. We describe the first reported case of Trousseau's syndrome with pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma and aggressive features. A 74 year-old man presenting with a pulmonary mass, which was identified as pleomorphic carcinoma with extensive lymph node involvement, in the left lower lobe, underwent a left lower lobectomy.

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Vesicles with molecular permeability have attracted considerable attention as biomedical materials, e.g., as biocatalytic nanoreactors for drug delivery and artificial cells.

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An approach for the preparation of self-healing and injectable hydrogels based on the crystallization-driven self-assembly of carbohydrate-conjugated poly(2-isopropyloxazoline)s is reported. Hydrogelation does not require any organic solvents, as the polymers dissolve in water below their lower critical solution temperatures. The transplanted hydrogels cause no significant foreign-body response.

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