Publications by authors named "Tomoko Hiraoka"

Background: Laboratory facilities for etiological diagnosis of central nervous system (CNS) infection are limited in developing countries; therefore, patients are treated empirically, and the epidemiology of the pathogens is not well-known. Tubercular meningitis is one of the common causes of meningitis, which has high morbidity and mortality, but lacks sensitive diagnostic assays. The objectives of this study were to determine the causes of meningitis in adult patients by using molecular assays, to assess the risk factors associated with them, and to explore whether biomarkers can differentiate tubercular meningitis from bacterial meningitis.

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  • - The study examined how the levels of regorafenib and its metabolites (M2 and M5) in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer relate to side effects and genetic factors.
  • - Analysis of 43 patients revealed that higher regorafenib levels were linked to increased bilirubin, while M5 levels correlated with severe rash and hypertension.
  • - Genetic variations, especially in the ABCG2 gene, influenced the concentration of the M5 metabolite, highlighting the importance of pharmacogenomics in understanding drug responses.
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Background: Eosinophilic meningitis (EM) is a rare clinical syndrome caused by both infectious and noninfectious diseases. In tropical pacific countries, Angiostrongylus cantonensis is the most common cause. However, the EM definition varies in the literature, and its relation to parasitic meningitis (PM) remains unclear.

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  • A study was conducted to understand how common pneumococcus is in the upper respiratory tracts of older adults (65 years and older) living in the community in Nagasaki, Japan.
  • Out of 504 participants, none tested positive for pneumococcus through culture methods, but 22 tested positive using PCR, resulting in a low carriage prevalence of 4.4% overall.
  • The highest prevalence was found in saliva samples, and demographic factors like age did not significantly affect carriage rates among participants.
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We have been collecting data on the adverse reaction of FOLFOX 4 chemotherapy in our hospital from April 2005 to October retrospectively, by electronic clinical records. A retrospective study of 123 patients receiving FOLFOX 4 for advanced colorectal cancer was conducted. Survey results showed high incidences of hemotoxicity (52.

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The retention behavior and mechanism of methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, buthyl and isobuthyl benzoates have been studied at different eluent compositions of aqueous mixtures with water-soluble organic solvents (methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, 2-propanol, acetonitrile (AN), 1,4-dioxane and tetrahydrofuran (THF)) in RPLC. The retention of the solutes is discussed based on the solvent composition, solvent polarity (ETN value), preferential solvation, hydrogen bonding and solvent clusters of the eluents. The smaller ETN values and the larger preferential solvation of the mixed solvent eluted the solutes faster.

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