Masayuki Sato

Bio: Masayuki Sato is an academic researcher from Tohoku University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Ketene & Cache. The author has an hindex of 28, co-authored 300 publications receiving 2995 citations. Previous affiliations of Masayuki Sato include Yamaguchi University & Eisai.

Characterization of heart failure patients with mid-range left ventricular ejection fraction-a report from the CHART-2 Study.

Abstract: Background The new category of heart failure (HF), HF with mid-range left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) (HFmrEF), has recently been proposed. However, the clinical features of HFmrEF, with reference to HF with preserved LVEF (HFpEF) and HF with reduced LVEF (HFrEF) in the same HF cohort, remain to be fully examined. Methods and results In the Chronic Heart Failure Analysis and Registry in the Tohoku District-2 Study, we examined 3480 consecutive HF patients with echocardiography data consisting of 2154 HFpEF (LVEF ≥50%), 596 HFmrEF (LVEF 40–49%) and 730 HFrEF (LVEF <40%). While clinical characteristics and prognostic factors of HFmrEF were intermediate between HFpEF and HFrEF, prognosis of HFmrEF resembled HFpEF and the prognostic impact of cardiovascular medications in HFmrEF resembled that of HFrEF. Analysis of LVEF transition among the three groups revealed that HFmrEF and HFrEF dynamically transitioned to other categories, especially within 1 year, whereas HFpEF did not; HFmrEF at registration transitioned to HFpEF and HFrEF by 44% and 16% at 1 year, and 45% and 21% at 3 years, respectively. Landmark analysis demonstrated that, regardless of HF stages at registration, HFmrEF patients at 1 year had mortality comparable to that of HFpEF patients, which was better than HFrEF patients, but HFmrEF patients at registration had increased mortality when transitioned to HFrEF at 1 year. Conclusions These results indicate that clinical characteristics of HFmrEF are intermediate between HFpEF and HFrEF and that HFmrEF dynamically transitions to HFpEF or HFrEF, especially within 1 year, suggesting that HFmrEF represents a transitional status or an overlap zone between HFpEF and HFrEF, rather than an independent entity of HF.

Infrequent somatic mutations of the p73 gene in various human cancers.

Abstract: AimsIt has already been reported that loss of heterozygosity (LOH) on chromosome 1p is frequent in a variety of human cancers. This finding implies the presence of some important tumour suppressor genes in this region.p73, a candidate tumour suppressor gene identified recently in chromosome band 1p36.33, encodes a protein highly homologous to p53. To investigate the role of thep73gene in human carcinogenesis, we studied genetic alterations of this gene in various human cancers.MethodsWe analysed the entire coding exons as well as their surrounding exon-intron boundaries of thep73gene in 185 cases of various types of tumours (47 breast cancers, 43 colorectal cancers, 31 gastric cancers, 23 neuroblastomas, 21 lung cancer cell lines, and 20 pancreatic cancer cell lines); they are known as a group of tumours with frequent LOHs in the 1p region. PCR-SSCP analysis was performed and tumours in which aberrant migrating sized bands were observed were subjected to direct sequencing analyses.ResultsOf the 185 cases, only one somatic mis-sense mutation of glutamine from arginine at codon 269 in exon 7 was found in one breast cancer. In addition, several polymorphisms were found at codons 137, 336, 349, and 610, as well as in introns 6, 8, and 9. Monoallelic expression was also observed in pancreatic cancer cell lines.ConclusionsOur results suggest that inactivation of thep73gene does not play a major role in the tumour types analysed in the present study.

Performance evaluation of a vector supercomputer SX-aurora TSUBASA

Abstract: A new SX-Aurora TSUBASA vector supercomputer has been released, and it features a new system architecture and a new execution model to achieve high sustained performance, especially for memory-intensive applications. In SX-Aurora TSUBASA, the vector host (VH) of a standard x86 Linux node is attached to the vector engine (VE) of the newly developed vector processor. An application is executed on the VE, and only system calls are offloaded to the VH. This new execution model can avoid redundant data transfers between the VH and VE that can easily become a bottleneck in the conventional execution model. This paper examines the potential of SX-Aurora TSUBASA. First, the basic performance is clarified by evaluating benchmark programs. Then, the effectiveness of the new execution model is examined by using a microbenchmark. Finally, the potential of SX-Aurora TSUBASA is clarified through evaluations of practical applications.

Organocatalysis by N-Heterocyclic Carbenes

Abstract: In the investigation of efficient chemical transformations, the carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions play an outstanding role. In this context, organocatalytic processes have achieved considerable attention. 1 Beside their facile reaction course, selectivity, and environmental friendliness, new synthetic strategies are made possible. Particularly, the inversion of the classical reactivity (Umpolung) opens up new synthetic pathways. 2 In nature, the coenzyme thiamine (vitamin B1), a natural thiazolium salt, utilizes a catalytic variant of this concept in biochemical processes as nucleophilic acylations. 3 The catalytically active species is a nucleophilic carbene. 4