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Showing papers by "Gifu University of Medical Science published in 2013"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Functional near infrared spectroscopy measurement is useful in the evaluation of changes of neuronal activities during rehabilitation tasks in TBI patients.
Abstract: To investigate cerebral reactions to cognitive rehabilitation tasks, oxyhemoglobin changes were compared in 9 patients with cognitive impairments after traumatic brain injury (TBI) and 47 healthy controls using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) during nine cognitive rehabilitation tasks employed at Nagoya City Rehabilitation Center. Forty-seven measurement channels were placed on the frontal to temporal cortices, and organized into seven channel regions. Oxyhemoglobin changes were normalized based on the mean oxyhemoglobin value at the resting state, and integrated throughout a task. Statistical analyses of the differences between the TBI patients and controls were performed with the two-sided Mann-Whitney U test. Oxyhemoglobin changes were high for both controls and TBI patients in the lateral frontal regions. Oxyhemoglobin changes in TBI patients tended to be higher than controls in the medial frontal regions for most training tasks, and significant differences (p < 0.05) were seen for two tasks in the medial frontal regions. Different regions were activated during the tasks in TBI patients compared to controls. fNIRS measurement is useful in the evaluation of changes of neuronal activities during rehabilitation tasks in TBI patients.

28 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
22 Feb 2013-PLOS ONE
TL;DR: The inhibition of HB-EGF-CTF nuclear translocation with telmisartan may be a novel strategy in preventing cell proliferation.
Abstract: Background & Aims Current treatment target toward advanced colorectal cancers is mainly focused on the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling, but its additive effects with chemotherapy are still limited. A disintegrin and metalloproteinase (ADAM) cleaves the proheparin-binding epidermal growth factor like growth factor (proHB-EGF). And soluble HB-EGF activates EGFR. In parallel, the carboxy-terminal fragment of proHB-EGF (HB-EGF-CTF) translocates into the inner nuclear membrane, and subsequently exerts on the regulation of cell proliferation by binding nuclear promyelocytic leukemia zinc finger (PLZF) protein, a transcriptional repressor, thereby causing its nuclear export. We hypothesized that the inhibition of HB-EGF-CTF nuclear translocation may be a new strategy in preventing cell proliferation.

27 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results suggest that flagellin glycosylation is ubiquitous in most phytopathogenic bacteria and that flagescence is required for virulence in Xcc.
Abstract: Glycosylation of flagellin is known to be involved in filament stabilization, motility, and virulence in Pseudomonas syringae. Here we investigated flagellin glycosylation in other phytopathogenic bacteria. Analyses of deduced amino acid sequences, glycostaining, and molecular masses of purified flagellins revealed that flagellins from all phytopathogenic bacteria investigated were glycosylated. Furthermore, the flagellin in a glycosylation-defective mutant of Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc) had a reduced molecular mass, and motility and virulence of the mutant toward host leaves decreased. These results suggest that flagellin glycosylation is ubiquitous in most phytopathogenic bacteria and that flagellin glycosylation is required for virulence in Xcc.

14 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results suggest that severe WMLs in the elderly with OH are involved in impaired perception of verticality, resulting in inducing subjective dizziness.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: The morbidity of orthostatic hypotension (OH) increases with aging and the elderly often complain of dizziness associated with OH, which is implicated in white matter lesions (WMLs) on MRI However little is known how WMLs are contributed to the development of dizziness in elderly patients OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the involvement of cerebral WMLs in the vertical perception in the elderly with OH METHODS: This study consisted of 71 dizzy patients who underwent the examinations including the Schellong orthostatic test and subjective visual vertical (SVV) test RESULTS: The male patients aged 65 years with OH (19 ± 09 ◦ ) showed a significantly higher magnitude of variance of SVV, which reflects an impaired vertical perception, in comparison with the male patients aged 65 years without OH and the male patients aged < 65 years with OH (10 ± 04 ◦ ,0 9± 04 ◦ , p< 005) The variance of SVV significantly correlated with the volume of WMLs in both sides on MRI in the male, but not female patients ( p< 001) CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that severe WMLs in the elderly with OH are involved in impaired perception of verticality, resulting in inducing subjective dizziness

13 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results described here support the idea of an unknown γδ T cell‐dependent mechanism in the regulation of RSV‐affected, allergen‐induced allergic airway responses.
Abstract: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection has been hypothesized to be a risk factor for the development of allergy and asthma, but epidemiologic studies in humans still remain inconclusive. The association between RSV infection and allergic diseases may be dependent on an atopic background and previous history of RSV infection. It has been reported that RSV infection before sensitization to an allergen decreased the production of Th2-like cytokines in the lung and the levels of allergen-specific Th2-type antibodies in the serum. However, the underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. In the present study, the role of pulmonary γδ T cells in RSV-affected, allergen-induced airway inflammation was investigated. BALB/c mice were sensitized to or challenged with ovalbumin (OVA) and infected with RSV either before or after the sensitization period. It became clear that sensitization and challenge of mice with OVA induced a large influx of γδ T cells to the lungs. However, prior RSV infection inhibited the infiltration of γδ T cells as well as activated γδ T cells, characterized by expression of CD40L or CD69 molecular in the cell surface. Moreover, prior RSV infection elevated the type 1 cytokine gene expression but suppressed type 2 cytokine expression in the lung γδ T cells. Adoptive transfer of γδ T cells from OVA-sensitized and challenged mice increased airway inflammation, suggesting that γδ T cells may play a proinflammatory role in allergic responses. These results described here support the idea of an unknown γδ T cell-dependent mechanism in the regulation of RSV-affected, allergen-induced allergic airway responses. J. Med. Virol. 85:149–156, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

11 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The low-frequency component of systolic pressure could be an index of the muscle sympathetic nerve activity during tilt during pre- and post-bed rest, which is altered after space flight and exposure to simulated microgravity.
Abstract: Both spectral power within the low-frequency component, i.e., 0.04 to 0.15 Hz, of systolic pressure and muscle sympathetic nerve activity are increased during head-up tilt. The nerve activity during tilt is altered after space flight and exposure to simulated microgravity. In the present study, correlations of the low-frequency component and the nerve activity were analyzed before and after 20 days of -6° of head-down bed rest. Measurements were performed at -6° head-down bed rest, 0° (flat), and 30° and 60° head-up tilt (HUT). Mean arterial pressure during HUT was not different between pre- and post-bed rest, but muscle sympathetic nerve activity in post-bed rest significantly increased at tilt angles of -6°, 0°, 30°, and 60° compared with those during pre-bed rest. The low-frequency component of systolic pressure also significantly increased during post-bed rest compared with pre-bed rest at tilts of 0°, 30°, and 60°. The nerve activity and the frequency component were linearly correlated for individual (r(2) = 0.51-0.88) and averaged (r(2) = 0.60) values when the values included both pre- and post-bed rest. Thus, the low-frequency component of systolic pressure could be an index of the muscle sympathetic nerve activity during tilt during pre- and post-bed rest.

11 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this study, glutathione-S-transferase pull-down assay and mass spectrometry enabled identification of the DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs) as a novel interaction partner for LEF1.
Abstract: Lymphocyte enhancer factor 1 (LEF1), a member of the LEF/T-cell-specific factor (TCF) family of the high mobility group domain transcription factors, acts downstream in canonical Wnt signaling. Aberrant transactivation of LEF1 contributes to the tumorigenesis of colonic neoplasms, sebaceous skin tumors, and lymphoblastic leukemia. LEF1-associated proteins are crucial for regulating its transcriptional activity. In this study, glutathione-S-transferase pull-down assay and mass spectrometry enabled identification of the DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs) as a novel interaction partner for LEF1. The interaction between LEF1 and DNA-PKcs was confirmed using in vivo co-immunoprecipitation. Furthermore, double immunofluorescence observations showed that LEF1 and DNA-PKcs colocalized in the nuclei of colon adenocarcinoma cell lines. Identification of the interaction between LEF1 and DNA-PKcs may provide clues for a novel therapy for cancer treatment as well as for understanding LEF1-mediated transcriptional regulation.

7 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is reported that the Vitek 2 AST-N124 card was unreliable for the detection of ISMR Klebsiella pneumoniae because of falsely low meropenem MICs.
Abstract: In a recent article, Harino et al. evaluated the ability of several commercial automated susceptibility testing systems for the detection of the meropenem resistance of imipenem-susceptible meropenem-resistant (ISMR) Klebsiella pneumoniae due to the production of both CTX-M-2 and IMP-6 (1). They reported that the Vitek 2 AST-N124 card was unreliable for the detection of ISMR Klebsiella pneumoniae because of falsely low meropenem MICs.…

4 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jul 2013
TL;DR: Soft-copy display of phase-contrast mammograms is feasible with LCDs, while detectability of fibers and masses was best with bilinear interpolation and use of an air gap.
Abstract: Liquid crystal display (LCD) of mammograms provides soft-copy results that differ in conventional and phase contrast mammography (PCM) PCM potentially offers the highest quality of sharpness and graininess, an edge emphasis effect on the object, and the highest image resolution However, when the image is displayed on an LCD, the resolution depends on the pixel pitch and the PCM image data must be diminished We investigated the observed effect on spatial resolution and contrast when conventional or phase contrast mammograms are viewed on an LCD Using the tissue-equivalent phantom (Model 1011A), a conventional mammogram and a magnification radiography image were obtained with a PCM system This phantom contains simulated fibers, microcalcifications, and masses The PCM image was reduced 1/175 to render it consistent with life size mammography using the nearest neighbor, bilinear, and bicubic interpolation methods The images were displayed on a five million (5M)-pixel LCD with 100 % magnification Ten mammography technicians observed the reduction images displayed on LCDs and reported their results In the detectability of the microcalcifications, there was no significant difference between conventional mammograms and reduced PCM images Regarding fibers and masses, detectability using reduced images was higher than those of conventional images The detectability using images reduced by the nearest-neighbor method was lower than those of images reduced by two other interpolation methods Bilinear interpolation was affected by the smoothing effect, while CNR was increased In addition, since the noise of PCM image was reduced by an air gap effect, high detectability of key image features was found Soft-copy display of phase-contrast mammograms is feasible with LCDs, while detectability of fibers and masses was best with bilinear interpolation and use of an air gap

4 citations


Proceedings ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is concluded that the CAD system for torso FDG-PET scans with temporal subtraction technique might improve the diagnostic accuracy of radiologist in cancer therapy evaluation.
Abstract: Diagnostic imaging on FDG-PET scans was often used to evaluate chemotherapy results of cancer patients. Radiologists compare the changes of lesions' activities between previous and current examinations for the evaluation. The purpose of this study was to develop a new computer-aided detection (CAD) system with temporal subtraction technique for FDGPET scans and to show the fundamental usefulness based on an observer performance study. Z-score mapping based on statistical image analysis was newly applied to the temporal subtraction technique. The subtraction images can be obtained based on the anatomical standardization results because all of the patients' scans were deformed into standard body shape. An observer study was performed without and with computer outputs to evaluate the usefulness of the scheme by ROC (receiver operating characteristics) analysis. Readers responded as confidence levels on a continuous scale from absolutely no change to definitely change between two examinations. The recognition performance of the computer outputs for the 43 pairs was 96% sensitivity with 31.1 false-positive marks per scan. The average of area-under-the-ROC-curve (AUC) from 4 readers in the observer performance study was increased from 0.85 without computer outputs to 0.90 with computer outputs (p=0.0389, DBM-MRMC). The average of interpretation time was slightly decreased from 42.11 to 40.04 seconds per case (p=0.625, Wilcoxon test). We concluded that the CAD system for torso FDG-PET scans with temporal subtraction technique might improve the diagnostic accuracy of radiologist in cancer therapy evaluation.

2 citations


Book ChapterDOI
21 Jul 2013
TL;DR: The visual acuity was statistically improved by continuous accommodation training which will promote a ciliary muscle-stretching effect on eyesight and asthenopia of the young.
Abstract: By relaxing the contracted focus-adjustment muscles around the eyeball, such as the ciliary and extraocular muscles, improvement of the pseudo-myopia is expected. This understanding has led to the accommo-dation training in which the visual target is given by stereoscopic video clips. In this study, we verify short-term effects of the accommodation training on eyesight of visual inspection workers (22 females) suffering from eye fatigue and 12 middle-aged persons. In the Measurement 1, the workers were trained in 3 days. Moreover, the middle-aged were investigated on several trials of the eyesight recovering apparatus in the Measurement 2. In the Measurement 3, we verify the effects of the accommodation training on eyesight and asthenopia of the young. The accommodation training is compared with close work on VDTs. As a result, the visual acuity was statistically improved by continuous accommodation training which will promote a ciliary muscle-stretching effect.