Measuring cortisol is crucial for assessing adrenal function in patients under stress; however, its value can fluctuate owing to various clinical factors. This study aimed to identify predictors of cortisol levels in pediatric patients with acute physiological stress. Children who were urgently admitted to the general ward or pediatric intensive care unit for acute illness or postoperative care were enrolled, while those with suspected adrenal function abnormalities or on current steroid therapy were excluded.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFElectrochemically inserting and extracting hydrogen into and from solids are promising ways to explore materials' phases and properties. However, it is still challenging to identify the structural factors that promote hydrogen insertion and extraction and to develop materials whose functional properties can be largely modulated by inserting and extracting hydrogen through solid-state reactions at room temperature. In this study, guided by theoretical calculations on the energies of oxygen reduction and hydrogen insertion reactions with oxygen-deficient perovskite oxides, we demonstrated that the oxygen vacancy ordering in Sr(FeCo)O (SFCO) epitaxial films can be stabilized by increasing the Co content (x ≥ 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo evaluate the use of noncontrast-enhanced coronary magnetic resonance angiography (NC-CMRA) for long-term follow-up in patients with Kawasaki disease (KD). In total, 40 (77 aneurysms) patients with KD who underwent NC-CMRA were retrospectively analyzed. Coronary artery aneurysms and dilations observed during the acute phase were classified into three groups according to their diameter based on the American Heart Association criteria.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Pyrrolidinophenone derivatives (PPs) are amphetamine-like designer drugs containing a pyrrolidine ring, and their adverse effects resemble those of methamphetamine (METH). Microglial activation has been recently suggested as a key event in eliciting the adverse effects against dysfunction of the central nervous system. The aim of this study is to clarify the mechanisms of microglial activation induced by PPs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOncostatin M (OSM) has pleiotropic effects on various inflammatory diseases, including kidney stone disease. The prevalence of kidney stones has increased worldwide, despite recent therapeutic advances, due to its high recurrence rate, suggesting the importance of prevention of repeated recurrence in the treatment of kidney stone disease. Using a mouse model of renal crystal formation, we investigated the preventive effects of blockade of OSM receptor β (OSMRβ) signaling on the development of kidney stone disease by treatment with a monoclonal anti-OSMRβ antibody that we generated.
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