Kumamoto University

About: Kumamoto University is a education organization based out in Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Cancer & Population. The organization has 19602 authors who have published 35513 publications receiving 901260 citations. The organization is also known as: Kumamoto Daigaku.

Indications for surgery in patients with asymptomatic meningiomas based on an extensive experience.

Abstract: Object. To determine the indications for surgery in patients harboring asymptomatic meningiomas, the authors retrospectively analyzed the natural course and surgical outcome of asymptomatic meningiomas and then compared these to the natural course and surgical outcome of symptomatic meningiomas. Methods. Between 1989 and 2003, 1434 patients harboring meningiomas, who were treated in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, were enrolled in this study. Six hundred three patients had asymptomatic lesions and 831 had symptomatic ones. The authors analyzed the sizes of the lesions at detection, their growth over time, and any appearances of symptoms associated with previously asymptomatic meningiomas. The authors then compared the surgery-related morbidity rates associated with asymptomatic and symptomatic meningiomas arising at different locations. Of the 603 asymptomatic meningiomas, 351 (58.2%) were treated conservatively. Tumor growth was observed in 25 (37.3%) of 67 patients who participated in follow up for longer than 5 years, and symptoms developed in 11 (16.4%) of the 67 patients over a mean follow-up period of 3.9 years. Among the 213 patients with surgically treated asymptomatic meningiomas, the morbidity rate was 4.4% in patients younger than 70 years of age and 9.4% in those 70 years of age or older. Although the total morbidity rate was lower in patients with asymptomatic lesions than in those with symptomatic ones, it exceeded 6% in patients whose asymptomatic tumors were located at the convexity or falx. Conclusions. Approximately 63% of asymptomatic meningiomas did not exhibit tumor growth, and only 6% of all patients with these lesions experienced symptoms during the observation period. To avoid surgery-related incidences of morbidity in patients with asymptomatic meningiomas, conservative treatment with close follow-up review may be the best therapeutic strategy.

Advanced oxidation protein products activate vascular endothelial cells via a RAGE-mediated signaling pathway.

Abstract: The accumulation of advanced oxidation protein products (AOPPs) has been linked to vascular lesions in diabetes, chronic renal insufficiency, and atherosclerosis. However, the signaling pathway involved in AOPPs-induced endothelial cells (ECs) perturbation is unknown and was investigated. AOPPs modified human serum albumin (AOPPs-HSA) bound to the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) in a dose-dependent and saturable manner. AOPPs-HSA competitively inhibited the binding of soluble RAGE (sRAGE) with its preferential ligands advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Incubation of AOPPs, either prepared in vitro or isolated from uremic serum, with human umbilical vein ECs induced superoxide generation, activation of NAD(P)H oxidase, ERK 1/2 and p38, and nuclear translocation of NF-kappaB. Activation of signaling pathway by AOPPs-ECs interaction resulted in overexpression of VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 at both gene and protein levels. This AOPPs-triggered biochemical cascade in ECs was prevented by blocking RAGE with either anti-RAGE IgG or excess sRAGE, but was not affected by the neutralizing anti-AGEs IgG. These data suggested that AOPPs might be new ligands of endothelial RAGE. AOPPs-HSA activates vascular ECs via RAGE-mediated signals.

Geochemical evidence for melt migration and reaction in the upper mantle

Abstract: THE segregation of melts from the Earth's upper mantle into the crust is an important process in the chemical evolution of the crust–mantle system. The processes of melt formation and migration in the upper mantle are inadequately understood, but some important characteristics of these processes can be inferred from upper-mantle rocks exposed at the Earth's surface. The Horoman peridotite body in northern Japan is a layered upper-mantle rock. The major-element compositions of the layers are consistent with their formation as residues from varying extents of melting; however, abundances of rare-earth elements (REE) require additional processes to have occurred1, such as post-melting enrichment (metasomatism) resulting from reaction with a migrating fluid phase. We report here that chondrite-normalized REE patterns in clinopyroxenes show abrupt changes in slope, which vary with stratigraphic position and rock type. These data can be modelled by chromatographic fractionation as melts migrated through and interacted with peridotite, creating compositional heterogeneities in the upper mantle. In the Horoman peridotite these heterogeneities occur on a scale length of tens of metres.