On the concept of delusions: Global trends and psychopathology in Japan.

The present article spotlights challenging conceptual and epistemological issues regarding delusions. A research history of various approaches to delusions in Europe, the United States, and Japan reveals the difficulty of defining delusions. Facing these difficulties, the standard concept of delusions has become thinner than the traditional ones, making its boundary with minority opinions vaguer.

Self-disorder explained: Yasunaga's "Phantom Space Theory" on schizophrenia.

The present article revisits the theoretical model of schizophrenia by Hiroshi YASUNAGA (1929-2011). Yasunaga restated ego disturbance in schizophrenia as the "Pattern Reversal" between selfhood and otherness, based on British philosopher Wauchope's concept of "pattern." This concept is meant as asymmetrical relatedness (A/B) within a pair of concepts, such as life and death, quality and quantity, and self and other, prioritizing the former (A side) over the latter (B side).

Modeling the sake brewing characteristics of rice from brown rice metabolites.

Sake, soy sauce, miso (Japanese bean paste), and beer are made from grains. The characteristics of the grain significantly affect the quality of the final product. Many studies have been performed to evaluate the sake-brewing characteristics of rice.

Theory of mind and Verstehen (understanding) methodology.

Theory of mind is a prominent, but highly controversial, field in psychology, psychiatry, and philosophy of mind. Simulation theory, theory-theory and other views have been presented in recent decades, none of which are monolithic. In this article, various views on theory of mind are reviewed, and methodological problems within each view are investigated.

Tumorigenic risk of human induced pluripotent stem cell explants cultured on mouse SNL76/7 feeder cells.

The potential for tumor formation from transplanted human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) derivatives represents a high risk in their application to regenerative medicine. We examined the genetic origin and characteristics of tumors, that were formed when 13 hiPSC lines, established by ourselves, and 201B7 hiPSC from Kyoto University were transplanted into severe combined immune-deficient (SCID) mice. Though teratomas formed in 58% of mice, five angiosarcomas, one malignant solitary fibrous tumor and one undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma formed in the remaining mice.

The theoretical root of Karl Jaspers' General Psychopathology. Part 2: The influence of Max Weber.

The present study explores and compares Jaspers' methodology of psychopathology with Weber's methodology of sociology. In his works, Weber incorporated the arguments of many other researchers into his own methodology. Jaspers respected Weber as a mentor and presented arguments that were very similar to Weber's.

The theoretical root of Karl Jaspers' General Psychopathology. Part 1: Reconsidering the influence of phenomenology and hermeneutics.

The present paper investigates the methodology involved in Jaspers' psychopathology and compares it with Husserl's phenomenology and with Dilthey's cultural science. Allgemeine Psychopathologie and other methodological works by Jaspers, the works of Husserl and Dilthey that Jaspers cited, and previous research papers on Jaspers are reviewed. Jaspers had conflicting views on understanding, which were comprised of both empathic understanding and rational, ideal-typical understanding.

LIN54 harboring a mutation in CHC domain is localized to the cytoplasm and inhibits cell cycle progression.

The mammalian LIN complex (LINC) plays important roles in regulation of cell cycle genes. LIN54 is an essential core subunit of the LINC and has a DNA binding region (CHC domain), which consists of two cysteine-rich (CXC) domains separated by a short spacer. We generated various LIN54 mutants, such as CHC deletion mutant, and investigated their subcellular localizations and effects on cell cycle.

Establishment of ultra long-lived cell lines by transfection of TERT into normal human fibroblast TIG-1 and their characterization.

To establish useful human normal cell lines, TERT (telomerase reverse transcriptase) cDNA was transfected into normal female lung fibroblast, TIG-1. After long-term-sub-cultivation of 74 individual clones selected for resistance to G418, we obtained 55 cultures with normal range of life span [75 PDL (population doubling level)], 16 cultures with extended life span (75-140 PDL). In addition, 3 immortal cell strains and unexpectedly, one ultra long-lived cell line (ULT-1) with life span of 166 PDL were established.

What is a'mood-congruent' delusion? History and conceptual problems.

This article investigates the history of the concept of mood-congruent delusions and the problems accompanying this concept. In the late nineteenth century, there were conflicting views regarding the relationship between the contents of an individual's delusional thought and his/her affective state. The differentiation between delusion-like ideas secondary to affective state and incomprehensible primary delusions was introduced in the early twentieth century; this differentiation is the origin of the present-day distinction between mood-congruent and -incongruent delusions.

Establishment of human induced pluripotent stem cell lines from normal fibroblast TIG-1.

Normal human cells have a replicative life span and therefore senesce. Usually, normal human cell strains are differentiated cells and reach a terminally differentiated state after a number of cell divisions. At present, definitive differences are not known between replicative senescence and terminal differentiation.

Differentially expressed genes throughout the cellular immortalization processes are quite different between normal human fibroblasts and endothelial cells.

It is widely accepted that activation of telomerase and maintenance of telomeres play central roles in cellular immortalization for most cancer cells. However, they seem to be insufficient for normal human cells. To elucidate critically responsible genes for telomerase mediated cellular immortalization in non-cancerous cells, we explored the genes that are differentially expressed throughout the immortalization process of normal human cells using cDNA microarrays with novel normalization procedures.

Differential gene expressions during immortalization of normal human fibroblasts and endothelial cells transfected with human telomerase reverse transcriptase gene.

It is widely accepted that telomerase, which compensates for telomere shortening, is finally activated in almost all kinds of human malignant neoplasms, and ectopic expression of telomerase may endow some kinds of human somatic cells with indefinite proliferation capacity, i.e., immortality.

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha polymorphisms associated with enhanced transactivation capacity, implying clinical significance.

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) is a pivotal factor that regulates cellular responses to hypoxia and is presumably linked to regulation of angiogenesis and tumor growth. We assessed the difference in transcription activity of two HIF-1alpha polymorphic variants (P582S and A588T), along with molecular epidemiological study among head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients. Both HIF-1alpha variants revealed significantly higher transcription activity than wild-type (WT) did, under normoxic and hypoxic conditions (P < 0.

Life span shortening of normal fibroblasts by overexpression of BCL-2: a result of potent increase in cell death.

It is well known that BCL-2 protects against cell death by both apoptosis and necrosis. The culture of bcl-2-transfected normal fibroblasts showed a shorter life span by about 12 population doubling levels compared to that of vector transfectants (64 vs 76 population doubling levels, respectively). An MTT assay revealed that BCL-2-overexpressing cells (HCA2/bcl-2) showed more severe growth suppression due to hydrogen peroxide or doxorubicin treatment than vector control cells (HCA2/vector).

Bcl-2 in cancer and normal tissue cells as a prediction marker of response to 5-fluorouracil.

Bcl-2 in cancer cells was shown to be a potent indicator of 5-FU efficacy, but the protein in normal tissue cells appeared not to be a marker of 5-FU toxicity probably due to the functional alteration of Bcl-2 associated with cell senescence. Transfection analysis of Bcl-2-S and Bcl-2-AS into A549 lung cancer cells revealed that Bcl-2 suppressed cell death induced by 5-FU, and the gene expression level of Bcl-2 was closely correlated with the IC50 for 5-FU in 21 fresh human gastric tumor specimens. Such correlation could not be observed in a neonatal human foreskin fibroblast strain, MJ90 (HCA2), and 21 human normal tissues adjacent to tumors.

Are sodium-dependent V1 receptors and sympathetic nerve activations involved in regulation of blood pressure in borderline-hypertensive Hiroshima rats?

Sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) was estimated by the magnitude of depressor response after ganglionic blockade with hexamethonium bromide (C6; 25 mg/kg weight). The depressor effects of C6 were significantly less in borderline-hypertensive Hiroshima rats (BHR) than in deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt hypertensive rats (DOCA rats) or in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), but they were not different in BHR and normotensive control Wistar rats (NCR). After sympatho-inhibition, the depressor effects of a selective vasopressin V1 receptor antagonist (V1A; 10 microg/kg: [d(CH2)5(1), O-Me-Tyr2, Arg8]-vasopressin) were significantly greater in BHR than in DOCA rats, SHR or NCR.

Effect of BCL-2 down-regulation on cellular life span.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are toxic for cells. BCL-2 is known as the anti-death protein and acts as an antioxidant. When the BCL-2 level of normal fibroblasts was suppressed by antisense bcl-2 oligodeoxynucleotide or antisense bcl-2 RNA expression, the life span of the culture was shortened by about 11 population doublings (approx.

Contribution of endogenous vasopressin to regional hemodynamics in borderline-hypertensive Hiroshima rats.

Inbred borderline-hypertensive Hiroshima rats (BHR) of the Wistar strain established in our laboratory are characterized by elevated plasma levels of vasopressin (Teranishi et al.: Jpn J Pharmacol 1999; 79: 251-255). To investigate the role of endogenous vasopressin in hypertension in BHR, we assessed the effect of a selective vasopressin V1 receptor antagonist (V1A) on regional hemodynamics using an electromagnetic flowmeter.

Cellular sensitivity determinants to docetaxel in human gastrointestinal cancers.

beta-tubulin (beta-TUB), Bcl-XL, and additionally glutathione S-transferase pi (GSTpi) were found to participate in sensitivity to docetaxel (TXT) in 7 human gastrointestinal cancer cell lines. The gene expression level of beta-TUB, Bcl-XL, and GSTpi was closely correlated with the IC50 for TXT. beta-TUB amount related to TXT resistance, and GST activity was correlated with IC50 for TXT in the 30-min treatment setting.