Kanazawa Medical University

About: Kanazawa Medical University is a education organization based out in Kanazawa, Japan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Cancer. The organization has 3103 authors who have published 6322 publications receiving 144592 citations. The organization is also known as: Kanazawa ika daigaku.

Relationship between shift work and onset of hypertension in a cohort of manual workers.

Abstract: Objectives This study investigated the possibility of a relationship between blood pressure level and rotating 3-shift work in a prospective follow-up of workers in a zipper and aluminum sash factory in Japan. Methods Altogether 1551 men aged 18-49 years were followed prospectively for 5 years, and the cumulative incidence of hypertension among 3-shift workers was compared with that of day workers. A multiple logistic analysis was used for adjusting for base-line characteristics such as age, body mass index, blood pressure, and drinking habit. Results In the younger age group, the relative risk of the rotating 3-shift workers during the observational period was increased compared with that of day workers after adjustment for the confounding factors. In the older group, the cumulative incidence of hypertension was not higher for workers who had continued shift work. However, a relatively high risk of hypertension was found for workers who converted from 3-shift work to day work when compared with those who remained on shift work and day work. Conclusion It is suggested that there is an association between 3-shift work and blood pressure.

Two-Year Life Expectancy in Patients With Critical Limb Ischemia

Abstract: Objectives This study sought to estimate the 2-year life expectancy (2YLE) (estimated survival rate >50% at 2 years) in patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI) using the risk score based on predictors of all-cause mortality within 2 years. Background It has been reported that 2YLE is one of the important factors in the decision making of the revascularization strategy. However, little is known about the probability and the prognostic factors of a 2YLE. Method This study was performed as a multicenter retrospective analysis. Between March 2004 and December 2011, 995 CLI patients with follow-up period >730 days undergoing endovascular therapy (EVT) were identified and analyzed. Results Within 2 years, 412 patients (41%) died, and a cardiovascular cause accounted for 47% of deaths. On multivariate analysis, the independent prognostic factors were age 65 to 79 years (odds ratio [OR]: 1.9), 80 years of age or older (OR: 3.7), body mass index (BMI) 18.0 to 19.9 kg/m2 (OR: 1.5), BMI Conclusions The independent prognostic factors for the 2YLE were age, BMI, nonambulatory status, hemodialysis, cerebrovascular disease, LVEF, and tissue loss. A 2YLE score of ≥8 points indicated a

Colonization by Clostridium difficile of neonates in a hospital, and infants and children in three day-care facilities of Kanazawa, Japan.

Abstract: The intestinal-carriage rates of i>Clostridium difficile in neonates hospitalized in the University Hospital’s Center for Perinatal and Reproductive Health and in infants and children enrolled in two day-nurseries and a kindergarten were examined. Swab samples from the floors of these facilities were also analyzed to determine the extent of environmental contamination by this organism. C. difficile was found in the stool of only one of 40 neonates during the normal 1-week stay in the hospital after delivery. The isolate from the neonate was identical to that of her mother, as determined by PCR ribotyping, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis, and toxin gene type, suggesting that the C. difficile-positive neonate acquired the organism from her mother rather than from the environment. By contrast, 47 (48.0%) of the 98 infants and children, comprising 50 enrolled in two daynurseries who were ≤3 years old and 48 enrolled in a kindergarten who were 2–5 years old, carried C. difficile. The carriage rate in infants under 2 years of age was much higher (84.4%) than in children 2 years old and older (30.3%). When analyzed according to age group, the carriage rates were 100, 75.0, 45.5, 24.0, 38.5, and 23.5% in infants and children 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years old, respectively. The observation that several children were colonized with the same type of C. difficile strain in each day-care facility, and that the floors of day-nursery A and kindergarten C were contaminated with C. difficile strains identical to those colonizing the intestines of children enrolled in those facilities suggests that cross-infection of C. difficile among children occurs through C. difficile-carrying children or their contaminated environments. [Int Microbiol 2005; 8(1):43-48]

Overexpression of Aurora-A potentiates HRAS-mediated oncogenic transformation and is implicated in oral carcinogenesis.

Abstract: Aurora kinases are known to play a key role in maintaining mitotic fidelity, and overexpression of aurora kinases has been noted in various tumors. Overexpression of aurora kinase activity is thought to promote cancer development through a loss of centrosome or chromosome number integrity. Here we observed augmentation of G12V-mutated HRAS-induced neoplastic transformation in BALB/c 3T3 A31-1-1 cells transfected with Aurora-A. Aurora-A-short hairpin RNA (shRNA) experiments showed that the expression level of Aurora-A determines susceptibility to transformation. Aurora-A gene amplification was noted in human patients with tongue or gingival squamous carcinoma (4/11). Amplification was observed even in pathologically normal epithelial tissue taken at sites distant from the tumors in two patients with tongue cancer. However, overexpression of Aurora-A mRNA was observed only within the tumors of all patients examined (11/11). Our data indicate that Aurora-A gene amplification and overexpression play a role in human carcinogenesis, largely due to the effect of Aurora-A on oncogenic cell growth, rather than a loss of maintenance of centrosomal or chromosomal integrity.