3,136 results match your criteria: "Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences[Affiliation]"

Effects of focal cortical cooling on somatosensory evoked potentials in rats.

Brain Res

October 2024

Department of Information Technology and Human Factors, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan; Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba Japan. Electronic address:

Although the focal brain cooling technique is widely used to examine brain function, the effects of cortical temperature at various levels on sensory information processing and neural mechanisms remain underexplored. To elucidate the mechanisms of temperature modulation in somatosensory processing, this study aimed to examine how P1 and N1 deflections of somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) depend on cortical temperature and how excitatory and inhibitory inputs contribute to this temperature dependency. SEPs were generated through electrical stimulation of the contralateral forepaw in anesthetized rats.

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While cysteine (CysSH) is known to be exported into the extracellular space, its biological significance is not well understood. The present study examined the movement of extracellular CysSH using stable isotope-labeled cystine (CysSSCys), which is transported into cells and reduced to CysSH. Exposure of HepG2 cells to 100 µM stable isotope-labeled CysSSCys resulted in 70 µM labeled CysSH in cell medium 1 h after CysSSCys exposure.

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Background: The mitochondrial carrier homolog 2 (MTCH2) is a mitochondrial outer membrane protein regulating mitochondrial metabolism and functions in lipid homeostasis and apoptosis. Experimental data on the interaction of MTCH2 with viral proteins in virus-infected cells are very limited. Here, the interaction of MTCH2 with PA subunit of influenza A virus RdRp and its effects on viral replication was investigated.

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Purpose: The challenges of fertility loss owing to cancer treatment persist long after treatment. However, psychosocial care for fertility among cancer survivors who have completed cancer treatment is insufficient. This systematic review examined psychosocial experiences related to the potential loss of fertility and unsuccessful pregnancy after treatment in cancer survivors of reproductive age to identify psychosocial care needs.

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haploinsufficiency induces an eye-open-at-birth phenotype in the DBA/2 background.

MicroPubl Biol

April 2024

Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.

Autotaxin, encoded by the gene, produces lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), which exerts numerous biological functions via its cognate receptors. null mutant mice die by embryonic day 9.5 owing to aberrant vascular development in the yolk sac, preventing analysis after that period.

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Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may have led to an increase in home deaths due to hospital bed shortage and hospital visitation restrictions. This study aimed to examine changes in the proportion of home deaths before and after the COVID-19 pandemic and identify associated factors.

Methods: We used publicly available nationwide data to describe the proportion of home deaths among total deaths from 2015 to 2021.

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Patients with ulcerative colitis sometimes need a total colectomy with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis due to medically refractory disease or colitis-associated neoplasia. Up to 50% of patients with ulcerative colitis postoperatively develop pouchitis and the rate of chronic inflammatory pouch conditions requiring pouch excision or diverting ileostomy is reported to be 10%. In order to diagnose and monitor pouchitis, pouchoscopy is essential to assess endoscopic inflammatory findings of the J pouch and to survey neoplasia development, particularly in the remnant distal rectum.

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Assessment of retention of training in improving the accuracy of needle penetration depth.

J Phys Ther Sci

May 2024

Program in Disability Sciences, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba: 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki 305-8573 Japan.

[Purpose] This study aimed to assess whether the effects of training in fine motor skills, such as improving the accuracy of acupuncture depth, persisted after the training was completed. [Participants and Methods] Fifteen students (age, 28.0 ± 8.

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Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis treated by poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(cysteine) block copolymer-based self-assembling antioxidant nanoparticles.

J Control Release

June 2024

Department of Materials Science, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8573, Japan; Master's School of Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tennoudai 1-1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8573, Japan; Center for Research in Radiation, Isotope and Earth System Sciences (CRiES), University of Tsukuba, Tennoudai 1-1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8573, Japan; Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; High-value Biomaterials Research and Commercialization Center (HBRCC), National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei 10608, Taiwan. Electronic address:

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), now known as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), involves oxidative stress caused by the overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Small-molecule antioxidants have not been approved for antioxidant chemotherapy because of severe adverse effects that collapse redox homeostasis, even in healthy tissues. To overcome these disadvantages, we have been developing poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(cysteine) (PEG-block-PCys)-based self-assembling polymer nanoparticles (Nanoes), releasing Cys after in vivo degradation by endogenous enzymes, to obtain antioxidant effects without adverse effects.

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Molecular Basis of Neuronal and Microglial States in the Aging Brain and Impact on Cerebral Blood Vessels.

Int J Mol Sci

April 2024

Master's and Doctoral Programs in Biology, Institute of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba 305-8577, Ibaraki, Japan.

Brain aging causes a wide variety of changes at the molecular and cellular levels, leading to the decline of cognitive functions and increased vulnerability to neurodegenerative disorders. The research aimed at understanding the aging of the brain has made much progress in recent decades. Technological innovations such as single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq), proteomic analyses, and spatial transcriptomic analyses have facilitated the research on the dynamic changes occurring within neurons, glia, and other cells along with their impacts on intercellular communication during aging.

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Visual motion information plays an important role in the control of movements in sports. Skilled ball players are thought to acquire accurate visual information by using an effective visual search strategy with eye and head movements. However, differences in catching ability and gaze movements due to sports experience and expertise have not been clarified.

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Article Synopsis
  • * The study identifies THEMIS2 as a protein that inhibits the signaling of activating NK receptors, affecting NK cell effectiveness.
  • * Reducing THEMIS2 improved NK cell functions in experiments, suggesting it could be a target for new cancer therapies by enhancing NK cell activity.
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Prediction error in implicit adaptation during visually- and memory-guided reaching tasks.

Sci Rep

April 2024

Institute of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1, Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8574, Japan.

Article Synopsis
  • Human movements rely on motor adaptation to maintain accuracy, which involves two systems: explicit and implicit adaptation.
  • This study investigated how visual memory impacts prediction error during implicit visuomotor adaptation by comparing visually-guided and memory-guided reaching tasks.
  • Results showed higher adaptation and retention rates in the visually-guided task due to more reliable prediction error processing, suggesting that task type influences visuomotor adaptation rates.
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Gut microbiota of one-and-a-half-year-old food-allergic and healthy children.

Allergol Int

October 2024

Department of Pediatrics, University of Tsukuba Hospital, Ibaraki, Japan; Department of Child Health, Institute of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.

Background: Intestinal bacteria may play a role in the development of food allergies. This study aimed to analyze and compare the gut microbiota of food-allergic children with that of healthy children of the same age.

Methods: Stool samples were collected from one-and-a-half-year-old food-allergic (FA group, n = 29) and healthy controls (HC group, n = 19).

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This study investigated the association between obesity and short-term patient-reported outcomes after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The primary outcomes were the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index's (WOMAC) pain and function scores. Data were collected preoperatively and 2 and 4 weeks after surgery.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how factors like age, sex, body mass index, and diabetes mellitus affect the risk of developing fever after aortic valve replacement surgery.
  • It analyzed data from 87 patients and used statistical methods to determine which factors were significant.
  • The key finding is that patients with diabetes mellitus were actually less likely to experience postoperative fevers above 38°C, contrary to common expectations.
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Endocrine Regulation of Aging in the Fruit Fly .

Zoolog Sci

February 2024

Life Science Center for Survival Dynamics, Tsukuba Advanced Research Alliance (TARA), University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8577, Japan,

The past few decades have witnessed increasing research clarifying the role of endocrine signaling in the regulation of aging in both vertebrates and invertebrates. Studies using the model organism fruit fly have largely advanced our understanding of evolutionarily conserved mechanisms in the endocrinology of aging and anti-aging. Mutations in single genes involved in endocrine signaling modify lifespan, as do alterations of endocrine signaling in a tissue- or cell-specific manner, highlighting a central role of endocrine signaling in coordinating the crosstalk between tissues and cells to determine the pace of aging.

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Purpose: This study investigated the factors associated with oral frailty among community-dwelling older adults. In particular, we compared the factors between individuals in the young-old and old-old groups and clarified the differences between the two groups.

Methods: We measured the basic attributes, body composition, grip strength, gait function, oral function, cognitive function, and daily living function using the Kihon checklist in older people living independently in T City, Aichi Prefecture.

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Objectives: This study investigated the relationship between health checkups, cervical cancer screenings, and breast cancer screenings (collectively referred to as wellness examinations) of wives and health checkups of their husbands. We aimed to develop strategies to encourage wellness examinations among married individuals in Japan.

Methods: This study used the 2019 Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions, focusing on married couples aged 40-64.

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Functional regions that regulate biological phenomena are interspersed throughout eukaryotic genomes. The most definitive approach for identifying such regions is to confirm the phenotype of cells or organisms in which specific regions have been mutated or removed from the genome. This approach is invaluable for the functional analysis of genes with a defined functional element, the protein-coding sequence.

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The colonization factor CS6 of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli contributes to host cell invasion.

Microb Pathog

May 2024

Department of Infectious Diseases, Research Institute, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan; Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. Electronic address:

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is one of the main causes of diarrhea in children and travelers in low-income regions. The virulence of ETEC is attributed to its heat-labile and heat-stable enterotoxins, as well as its colonization factors (CFs). CFs are essential for ETEC adherence to the intestinal epithelium.

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In high jump, the thigh and shank rotations mainly induce the effective energy for height () by directly or indirectly (via joint work) converting horizontal-kinetic energy. Meanwhile, inter-individual differences in may not only be explained by large contributors. Here we show that the components due to relatively small contributor segments share variance with total while those due to the two largest contributor segments do not, by analyzing high jump of 15 male jumpers (personal best: 1.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study examined poor sleep quality among Japanese student-athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and a year later in 2021, involving surveys from six universities with a total of 1,672 participants.
  • - Results showed that poor sleep quality was reported by 33.6% in 2020 and 36.6% in 2021, with different associated lifestyle habits and psychological factors influencing sleep issues each year.
  • - In both years, psychological distress was a common risk factor, but the factors contributing to poor sleep were more pandemic-specific in 2020 while resembling pre-pandemic habits in 2021.
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The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for advance care planning (ACP) as a way to help mitigate the various care concerns that accompanied the healthcare crisis. However, unique obstacles to typical ACP practice necessitated the need for guidance and innovation to help facilitate these vital conversations. The aim of this systematic review was to identify the various ACP barriers and facilitators that arose during the pandemic and determine how ACP practice was affected across different contexts and among different populations.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study examines the diagnostic accuracy of cystoscopy, highlighting how it varies based on the experience of the physician conducting the procedure.
  • Researchers compared eye movement patterns of 24 medical students and 10 urologists while observing cystoscopic images, focusing on their ability to detect lesions, especially with the help of artificial intelligence (AI).
  • Results showed that urologists had a broader and more efficient gaze across images, indicating better lesion identification skills, while medical students were more focused on AI-detected lesions, suggesting differences in their observational strategies.
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