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.

Alpha-fetoprotein-producing gastric carcinoma with enteroblastic differentiation.

Abstract: Background. Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is a useful tumor marker for hepatoma and yolk sac tumor. Recently, elevations of serum AFP were reported in patients with other malignancies, especially gastric cancers. Two distinct tumor morphologies, hepatoid and clear cell, have been correlated with AFP production. Methods. Two patients with AFP-producing gastric carcinoma were evaluated with immunohistochemical, ultrastructural, and biochemical studies. Results. In Patient 1, the primary and metastatic carcinomas consisted homogeneously of tubulopapillary carcinoma with clear cytoplasm. In Patient 2, the cancer was composed of three different areas: tubulopapillary carcinoma with clear cytoplasm, tumor cartilage, and so-called hepatoid carcinoma. The morphologic characteristics of tubulopapillary carcinoma with clear cytoplasm were similar to those of the developing gut epithelium at the stage of 2–4 months' gestation. The elution patterns of the serum AFP on lectin-affinity sepharose column study also suggested a correlation with fetal gut differentiation. Conclusions. AFP-producing clear cell gastric carcinomas are differentiated into fetal intestine. One patient also had hepatocytic and cartilaginous differentiation, indicative of a blastomatous characteristic of the tumor. These tumors arose in association with intestinal metaplasia.

Differences in cardiovascular disease risk factors between Japanese in Japan and Japanese-Americans in Hawaii: the INTERLIPID study.

Abstract: Despite increase in serum total cholesterol, high smoking rate, and frequency of adverse blood pressure levels in Japan, coronary heart disease (CHD) incidence and mortality apparently remain substantially lower at all ages in Japan than in the US and other Western societies. To better understand these differences, we compared CHD biomedical risk factors and dietary variables in Japanese living in Japan and 3rd and 4th generation Japanese emigrants living a primarily Western lifestyle in Hawaii, in an ancillary study of the INTERMAP. Men and women aged 40-59 years were examined by common standardized methods-four samples in Japan (574 men, 571 women) and a Japanese-American sample in Hawaii (136 men, 131 women). Average systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressures were significantly higher in men in Japan than in Hawaii; there were no significant differences in women. The treatment rate of hypertension was much lower in Japan than Hawaii. Smoking prevalence was higher, markedly so for men, in Japan than Hawaii. Body mass index, serum total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, HbA1c, and fibrinogen were significantly lower in Japan than in Hawaii; high-density lipoprotein cholesterol was higher in Japan. Total fat, saturated fatty acid intake, and Keys dietary lipid score were lower in Japan than in Hawaii. Polyunsaturated/saturated fatty acid ratio and omega-3 fatty acid intake were higher in Japan than in Hawaii. In conclusion, levels of several, especially lipid, CHD risk factors were generally lower in Japanese in Japan than in Japanese in Hawaii. These differences were smaller for women than men between Japan and Hawaii. They may partly explain lower CHD incidence and mortality in Japan than Western industrialized countries.

Association between hepatic steatosis, insulin resistance and hyperinsulinaemia as related to hypertension in alcohol consumers and obese people

Abstract: The presence of hepatic steatosis was determined in 180 middle-aged male workers by ultrasonography and was found in 39 (22%) of them. Body mass index (BMI), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) and serum levels of asparate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (gamma-GTP) were higher in the subjects with hepatic steatosis. Although the volume of alcohol consumed in a week did not differ between the subjects with and without hepatic steatosis, the hepatic steatosis was thought to relate to both increased body mass and alcohol consumption because the elevations of serum AST and gamma-GTP in the subjects depended largely on alcohol consumption but not on BMI. The results of 75 g oral glucose tolerance test showed a higher blood glucose at 120 minutes and a higher plasma immunoreactive insulin at baseline, 60 and 120 minutes in the subjects with hepatic steatosis, being adjusted for age, BMI and alcohol consumption. The significant association between serum gamma-GTP and BP, which had been often observed in alcohol consumers, was no longer significant after adjustment for plasma insulin levels whereas plasma insulin showed a significant association with BP. These results suggest the possibility that hypertension in alcohol consumers, and also in obese people, relates at least partly to hyperinsulinaemia associated with progression in hepatic steatosis.

Polymorphisms in the multidrug resistance-1 (MDR1) gene influence the response to atorvastatin treatment in a gender-specific manner.

Abstract: To test the hypothesis that variations in the multidrug resistance-1 gene influence the response to statin treatment, 2 prevalent polymorphisms (G2677T/A and C3435T) were examined in 344 hypercholesterolemic patients treated with atorvastatin (10 mg). The C3435T polymorphism was significantly and independently associated with a smaller reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and with a larger increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, relative to variant allele carriers, in a gender-specific manner. Also, haplotype determination combined with these polymorphisms identified a subgroup that showed a striking response to treatment, which was not defined by a single polymorphism.

Vascular RAGE transports oxytocin into the brain to elicit its maternal bonding behaviour in mice.

Abstract: Oxytocin sets the stage for childbirth by initiating uterine contractions, lactation and maternal bonding behaviours. Mice lacking secreted oxcytocin (Oxt−/−, Cd38−/−) or its receptor (Oxtr−/−) fail to nurture. Normal maternal behaviour is restored by peripheral oxcytocin replacement in Oxt−/− and Cd38−/−, but not Oxtr−/− mice, implying that circulating oxcytocin crosses the blood-brain barrier. Exogenous oxcytocin also has behavioural effects in humans. However, circulating polypeptides are typically excluded from the brain. We show that oxcytocin is transported into the brain by receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) on brain capillary endothelial cells. The increases in oxcytocin in the brain which follow exogenous administration are lost in Ager−/− male mice lacking RAGE, and behaviours characteristic to abnormalities in oxcytocin signalling are recapitulated in Ager−/− mice, including deficits in maternal bonding and hyperactivity. Our findings show that RAGE-mediated transport is critical to the behavioural actions of oxcytocin associated with parenting and social bonding.