Kagawa University

About: Kagawa University is a education organization based out in Takamatsu, Japan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Cancer & Population. The organization has 6028 authors who have published 11918 publications receiving 224111 citations. The organization is also known as: Kagawa Daigaku.

Hypertension and related diseases in the era of COVID-19: a report from the Japanese Society of Hypertension Task Force on COVID-19.

Abstract: Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has affected more than seven million people worldwide, contributing to 0.4 million deaths as of June 2020. The fact that the virus uses angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE)-2 as the cell entry receptor and that hypertension as well as cardiovascular disorders frequently coexist with COVID-19 have generated considerable discussion on the management of patients with hypertension. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic necessitates the development of and adaptation to a "New Normal" lifestyle, which will have a profound impact not only on communicable diseases but also on noncommunicable diseases, including hypertension. Summarizing what is known and what requires further investigation in this field may help to address the challenges we face. In the present review, we critically evaluate the existing evidence for the epidemiological association between COVID-19 and hypertension. We also summarize the current knowledge regarding the pathophysiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection with an emphasis on ACE2, the cardiovascular system, and the kidney. Finally, we review evidence on the use of antihypertensive medication, namely, ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers, in patients with COVID-19.

Differential gene expression of growth hormone (GH)-releasing hormone (GRH) and GRH receptor in various rat tissues.

Abstract: Growth hormone (GH)-releasing hormone (GRH) acts on specific receptors in the anterior pituitary to stimulate the synthesis and release of GH. Recent reports suggest that GRH is also synthesized in extrahypothalamic tissues. To evaluate the potential roles of extrahypothalamic GRH, we studied the gene expression of GRH and GRH receptors in various rat tissues by reverse transcribed (RT)-polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Total RNA was extracted from twenty-three rat organs and RT-PCR was performed with GRH and GRH receptor primers. Highly-sensitive RT-PCR-Southern blotting showed that GRH and GRH receptor mRNA coexist in the widespread tissues (14 of 25 tissues). GRH mRNA was relatively abundant in the cerebral cortex, brain stem, testis, and placenta, while GRH receptor mRNA was abundant in renal medulla and renal pelvis. Northern blot hybridization using poly A+ RNA indicated that the transcript of GRH receptor gene found in the renal medulla was similar to the longer transcript (about 4 Kb) of pituitary ...

Why and how do the shapes of surface-enhanced Raman scattering spectra change? Recent progress from mechanistic studies

Abstract: The present review is focused on understanding the enhancement mechanisms in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) from the point of view of the various spectral changes, which have brought considerable confusion in this research field and have obstructed practical SERS applications. The electromagnetic mechanism provides us with the quantitative explanation of unexpected SERS spectral changes, such as larger Raman intensities for anti-Stokes peaks than for Stokes peaks and overtone peak intensities comparable with fundamental ones. Other mechanisms classified as chemical effects, i.e. the resonance Raman and the charge transfer mechanisms, are also introduced to explain the spectral changes in SERS. These mechanisms may explain the emergence of non-totally symmetric vibrational modes in SERS spectra, which is usually forbidden in Raman spectra. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Transcriptome analysis of Cymbidium sinense and its application to the identification of genes associated with floral development

Abstract: Cymbidium sinense belongs to the Orchidaceae, which is one of the most abundant angiosperm families C sinense, a high-grade traditional potted flower, is most prevalent in China and some Southeast Asian countries The control of flowering time is a major bottleneck in the industrialized development of C sinense Little is known about the mechanisms responsible for floral development in this orchid Moreover, genome references for entire transcriptome sequences do not currently exist for C sinense Thus, transcriptome and expression profiling data for this species are needed as an important resource to identify genes and to better understand the biological mechanisms of floral development in C sinense In this study, de novo transcriptome assembly and gene expression analysis using Illumina sequencing technology were performed Transcriptome analysis assembles gene-related information related to vegetative and reproductive growth of C sinense Illumina sequencing generated 54,248,006 high quality reads that were assembled into 83,580 unigenes with an average sequence length of 612 base pairs, including 13,315 clusters and 70,265 singletons A total of 41,687 (4988%) unique sequences were annotated, 23,092 of which were assigned to specific metabolic pathways by the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) Gene Ontology (GO) analysis of the annotated unigenes revealed that the majority of sequenced genes were associated with metabolic and cellular processes, cell and cell parts, catalytic activity and binding Furthermore, 120 flowering-associated unigenes, 73 MADS-box unigenes and 28 CONSTANS-LIKE (COL) unigenes were identified from our collection In addition, three digital gene expression (DGE) libraries were constructed for the vegetative phase (VP), floral differentiation phase (FDP) and reproductive phase (RP) The specific expression of many genes in the three development phases was also identified 32 genes among three sub-libraries with high differential expression were selected as candidates connected with flower development RNA-seq and DGE profiling data provided comprehensive gene expression information at the transcriptional level that could facilitate our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of floral development at three development phases of C sinense This data could be used as an important resource for investigating the genetics of the flowering pathway and various biological mechanisms in this orchid