Publications by authors named "Yoko Tanaka"

Article Synopsis
  • Cells use exosomes, which are small vesicles released from multivesicular bodies, to communicate with other cells, and recent research links their formation to autophagy, but the exact mechanisms are still unclear.
  • A study highlighted that Rubicon, a protein that negatively regulates autophagy, is crucial for the release of exosomes by recruiting another protein, WIPI2d, to enhance their formation.
  • The findings also showed that Rubicon plays a significant role in the age-related increase in exosome release in mice and influences the types of microRNAs found in exosomes, which are related to aging and longevity.
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Introduction: For patients with epidermal growth factor receptor-mutated (EGFRm) locally advanced/metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (mNSCLC) whose disease has progressed on or after osimertinib and platinum-based chemotherapy (PBC), no uniformly accepted standard of care exists. Moreover, limited efficacy of standard treatments indicates an unmet medical need, which is being addressed by ongoing clinical investigations, including the HERTHENA-Lung01 (NCT04619004) study of patritumab deruxtecan (HER3‑DXd). However, because limited information is available on real-world clinical outcomes in such patients, early-phase trials of investigational therapies lack sufficient context for comparison.

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Senescent cells promote cancer development and progression through chronic inflammation caused by a senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). Although various senotherapeutic strategies targeting senescent cells have been developed for the prevention and treatment of cancers, technology for the in vivo detection and evaluation of senescent cell accumulation has not yet been established. Here, we identified activatable fluorescent probes targeting dipeptidylpeptidase-4 (DPP4) as an effective probe for detecting senescent cells through an enzymatic activity-based screening of fluorescent probes.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Transporter research usually focuses on well-known substrates, which limits understanding of how transporters work for less common micromolecules like micronutrients and d-serine, a potential kidney function biomarker.
  • - The study identifies two renal transport systems for d-serine: ASCT2, a previously unrecognized small amino acid transporter, and sodium-coupled monocarboxylate transporters (SMCTs), which reveals d-serine’s role as a non-canonical substrate.
  • - The findings show that ASCT2 is primarily responsible for d-serine transport, especially in pathological conditions, and highlight the need for broader research into the transport systems of trace micromolecules in health and disease contexts.
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Article Synopsis
  • The study explores the use of Bayesian borrowing (BB) methods to improve the estimates of treatment effectiveness by enhancing an external control arm constructed from real-world data for patients with first-line non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
  • It examines the overall survival rates of patients treated with chemotherapy plus cetuximab compared to a constructed external control using historical trial data, revealing that BB provided more precise hazard ratio estimates than the matched patients in the randomized controlled trial (RCT).
  • Challenges were encountered in replicating overall survival estimates with the external control arm, attributed to factors like unmeasured confounding and variations in treatment timelines, highlighting how BB can refine effectiveness estimates and reveal biases when external data sources are suitably applied.
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Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small lipid bilayers released from cells that contain cellular components such as proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, and metabolites. Biological information is transmitted between cells via the EV content. Cancer and senescent cells secrete more EVs than normal cells, delivering more information to the surrounding recipient cells.

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  • * Researchers created 12 different types of natural lipid-based nanoparticles (N-LNPs) with varying sizes, membrane fluidities, and stiffness to study how these factors affect their uptake in cells.
  • * The study included both in vitro and animal experiments, highlighting how the engineered properties of N-LNPs influence their behavior in biological systems, aiding in the design of more effective pharmaceuticals.
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Senescent cells secrete inflammatory proteins and small extracellular vesicles (sEVs), collectively termed senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), and promote age-related diseases. Epigenetic alteration in senescent cells induces the expression of satellite II (SATII) RNA, non-coding RNA transcribed from pericentromeric repetitive sequences in the genome, leading to the expression of inflammatory SASP genes. SATII RNA is contained in sEVs and functions as an SASP factor in recipient cells.

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  • Teicoplanin shows promise as a treatment for severe Clostridioides difficile infections (CDI) based on mouse model studies, but clinical effectiveness hasn't been fully established yet.* -
  • In the experiments, teicoplanin was found to be as effective as vancomycin, another antibiotic, in improving survival rates and reducing toxin levels in infected mice.* -
  • Teicoplanin not only helped prevent recurrence of diarrhea after treatment but also demonstrated better antibacterial properties in vitro compared to vancomycin, suggesting its potential for CDI treatment.*
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Introduction: An ideal endogenous molecule for measuring glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is still unknown. However, a rare enantiomer of serine, d-serine, is useful in GFR measurement. This study explored the potential of other d-amino acids for kidney function assessment.

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Objective: Improving quality of life (QOL) after surgery is very important. Recently, preoperative anxiety has been suggested to predict postoperative health-related (HR) QOL, however the accuracy of anxiety measurement remains problematic. We examined the relationship between preoperative anxiety level and postoperative HRQOL using qualitative and quantitative assessment of anxiety.

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Background: CD44 and CD133 are stem cell markers in colorectal cancer (CRC). CD44 has distinctive isoforms with different oncological properties like total CD44 (CD44T) and variant CD44 (CD44V). Clinical significance of such markers remains elusive.

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Background: Granulosa cell tumors (GCTs) are uncommon sex cord-stromal ovarian neoplasms. We report a case of GCT presenting in the chest, 18 years after oophorectomy for ovarian cystadenocarcinoma.

Case Presentation: A 63-year-old female was admitted to our hospital for evaluation of a right hilar lesion.

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We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the efficacy profiles of metronidazole (MNZ) and vancomycin (VCM) in pediatric and adolescent patients with Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI). A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted using four electronic databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Clinicaltrials.gov) through July 6, 2022.

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d-Amino acids, rare enantiomers of amino acids, have been identified as biomarkers and therapeutic options for COVID-19. Methods for monitoring recovery are necessary for managing COVID-19. On the other hand, the presence of SARS-CoV2 virus in the blood is associated with worse outcomes.

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Senescent cells exhibit several typical features, including the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), promoting the secretion of various inflammatory proteins and small extracellular vesicles (EVs). SASP factors cause chronic inflammation, leading to age-related diseases. Recently, therapeutic strategies targeting senescent cells, known as senolytics, have gained attention; however, noninvasive methods to detect senescent cells in living organisms have not been established.

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Background: Astrephomene is an interesting green algal genus that, together with Volvox, shows convergent evolution of spheroidal multicellular bodies with somatic cells of the colonial or multicellular volvocine lineage. A recent whole-genome analysis of A. gubernaculifera resolved the molecular-genetic basis of such convergent evolution, and two species of Astrephomene were described.

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Aims/introduction: This study evaluated the safety and effectiveness of dulaglutide in patients with type 2 diabetes in the real-world setting in Japan.

Materials And Methods: This prospective, observational post-marketing surveillance study was conducted for 36 months (July 2016 to July 2021) in Japan. Investigators reported data via an electronic data capture system.

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Article Synopsis
  • A combination of chlorhexidine gluconate and alcohol (CHG-alcohol) is recommended for surgical skin prep to reduce the risk of surgical site infections (SSI), but there's no clear agreement on the ideal concentration of CHG.
  • A systematic review and meta-analysis compared SSI rates between CHG-alcohol and povidone-iodine across different CHG concentrations, specifically 0.5%, 2.0%, 2.5%, and 4.0%.
  • The findings indicated that 0.5% and 2.0% CHG-alcohol significantly reduced SSI rates compared to povidone-iodine, while higher concentrations did not show a notable difference, affirming the effectiveness of lower
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We aimed to investigate if Computed tomography (CT) attenuation values can help improve the identification of age-related changes in the thymus. We assessed CT images of 405 patients aged 0 to 80 years. We measured the area of the anterior mediastinum at the level of the carina and its average CT attenuation value.

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Background: Colonial and multicellular volvocine green algae have been extensively studied recently in various fields of the biological sciences. However, only one species (Pandorina morum) has been cryopreserved in public culture collections.

Results: Here, we investigated conditions for cryopreservation of the multicellular volvocine alga Gonium pectorale using vegetative colonies or cells and zygotes.

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It is important to distinguish tumour recurrence from other conditions that could show high accumulation on 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET). We describe the case of a 78-year-old woman who underwent partial resection of the left lower lung lobe for carcinoid treatment 20 years previously. Five years earlier, chest radiography revealed an abnormal shadow, and chest computed tomography (CT) showed partial atelectasis in the left S8.

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Osteoarthritis (OA), the most common aging-related joint disease, is caused by an imbalance between extracellular matrix synthesis and degradation. Here, we discover that both strands of microRNA-455 (miR-455), -5p and -3p, are up-regulated by Sox9, an essential transcription factor for cartilage differentiation and function. Both miR-455-5p and -3p are highly expressed in human chondrocytes from normal articular cartilage and in mouse primary chondrocytes.

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The thermodynamic (PCN-222) and kinetic (PCN-224) products of porphyrinic Zr-metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) were synthesized via an anodic dissolution approach for the first time. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of MOF polymorphs being controlled by electrolysis. The selective formation of PCN-222 requires an amorphous component to be present on the electrode during the initial reaction process.

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