oalib

Publish in OALib Journal

ISSN: 2333-9721

APC: Only $99

Submit
Search Results: 1 - 10 of 611 matches for " Masafumi Horie "
All listed articles are free for downloading (OA Articles)
Page 1 /611
Display every page Item
Normalization of Serum Alkaline Phosphatase in Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis Associated with Ulcerative Colitis  [PDF]
Mitsuro Chiba, Hidehiko Tsuda, Satoko Tsuda, Masafumi Komatsu, Yasuo Horie, Hirohide Ohnishi
Health (Health) , 2014, DOI: 10.4236/health.2014.610122
Abstract: Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is commonly associated with ulcerative colitis (UC). PSC progresses independently of UC ultimately resulting in liver failure. There is no established medical treatment to improve the natural course of PSC. Normalization of serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in early stage might delay the progress of PSC. A 20-year-old female, had a sudden attack of right hypochondralgia with high fever and abnormal liver function tests without elevation of bilirubin: ALP 478 IU/L, aspartate aminotransferase 360 IU/L, alanine aminotransferase 174 IU/L. Abnormal liver function tests returned to normal after the attacks. Morphological examinations initially indicated then confirmed a diagnosis of PSC. One month after displaying PSC symptoms administration of ursodeoxycholic acid was initiated. Similar attacks of cholangitis were repeated several times over the following two years. Even in the absence of these attacks, she always suffered postprandial hypochondralgia. There was no acute cholangitis in the year prior to the last hospitalization due to abdominal pain and bloody diarrhea. Findings were consistent with UC in the form of entire colitis. Sulfasalazine, metronidazole and semi-vegetarian diet (SVD) were initiated. Metronidazole is routinely used in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in our practice with the expectation of elimination of any potentially pathogenic bacteria. SVD was designed for IBD hoping to increase beneficial bacteria. A remission of UC was ascertained during hospitalization. Elevated ALP, in the absence of clinical cholangitis, was decreased to normal after the therapy for UC.
Relationships among Smoking Habits, Airflow Limitations, and Metabolic Abnormalities in School Workers
Masafumi Horie, Satoshi Noguchi, Wakae Tanaka, Yasushi Goto, Hisanao Yoshihara, Masaki Kawakami, Masaru Suzuki, Yoshio Sakamoto
PLOS ONE , 2013, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0081145
Abstract: Background Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is caused mainly by habitual smoking and is common among elderly individuals. It involves not only airflow limitation but also metabolic disorders, leading to increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Objective We evaluated relationships among smoking habits, airflow limitation, and metabolic abnormalities. Methods Between 2001 and 2008, 15,324 school workers (9700 males, 5624 females; age: ≥30 years) underwent medical checkups, including blood tests and spirometry. They also responded to a questionnaire on smoking habits and medical history. Results Airflow limitation was more prevalent in current smokers than in ex-smokers and never-smokers in men and women. The frequency of hypertriglyceridemia was higher in current smokers in all age groups, and those of low high-density-lipoprotein cholesterolemia and diabetes mellitus were higher in current smokers in age groups ≥ 40 s in men, but not in women. There were significant differences in the frequencies of metabolic abnormalities between subjects with airflow limitations and those without in women, but not in men. Smoking index was an independent factor associated with increased frequencies of hypertriglyceridemia (OR 1.015; 95% CI: 1.012–1.018; p<0.0001) and low high-density-lipoprotein cholesterolemia (1.013; 1.010–1.016; p<0.0001) in men. Length of smoking cessation was an independent factor associated with a decreased frequency of hypertriglyceridemia (0.984; 0.975–0.994; p = 0.007). Conclusions Habitual smoking causes high incidences of airflow limitation and metabolic abnormalities. Women, but not men, with airflow limitation had higher frequencies of metabolic abnormalities.
An Integrated Expression Profiling Reveals Target Genes of TGF-β and TNF-α Possibly Mediated by MicroRNAs in Lung Cancer Cells
Akira Saito, Hiroshi I. Suzuki, Masafumi Horie, Mitsuhiro Ohshima, Yasuyuki Morishita, Yoshimitsu Abiko, Takahide Nagase
PLOS ONE , 2013, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0056587
Abstract: EMT (epithelial-mesenchymal transition) is crucial for cancer cells to acquire invasive phenotypes. In A549 lung adenocarcinoma cells, TGF-β elicited EMT in Smad-dependent manner and TNF-α accelerated this process, as confirmed by cell morphology, expression of EMT markers, capacity of gelatin lysis and cell invasion. TNF-α stimulated the phosphorylation of Smad2 linker region, and this effect was attenuated by inhibiting MEK or JNK pathway. Comprehensive expression analysis unraveled genes differentially regulated by TGF-β and TNF-α, such as cytokines, chemokines, growth factors and ECM (extracellular matrices), suggesting the drastic change in autocrine/paracrine signals as well as cell-to-ECM interactions. Integrated analysis of microRNA signature enabled us to identify a subset of genes, potentially regulated by microRNAs. Among them, we confirmed TGF-β-mediated induction of miR-23a in lung epithelial cell lines, target genes of which were further identified by gene expression profiling. Combined with in silico approaches, we determined HMGN2 as a downstream target of miR-23a. These findings provide a line of evidence that the effects of TGF-β and TNF-α were partially mediated by microRNAs, and shed light on the complexity of molecular events elicited by TGF-β and TNF-α.
Waste Research Trends in Japan in the Past Ten Years: Review of What We Had Done before the Catastrophic Events of March 2011  [PDF]
Masafumi Tateda
Journal of Environmental Protection (JEP) , 2012, DOI: 10.4236/jep.2012.311165
Abstract: This study analyzes waste research of the past decade in order to determine Japanese trends as well as to learn the problems of Japanese research. The results show that waste research has focused mainly on treatment, management, and recycling, and that research on prior processes such as reduction, collection, and transportation has been very limited. It was also found that research placed stress mostly on materials rather than people and the trend was very similar to that of a ministry oriented research fund. It seems that Japanese waste research has been neither balanced nor strategic. We therefore conclude that a government direction on waste studies might be not appropriate. Japan and Japanese researchers must change their ways of thinking in order not to repeat these mistakes.
High-Quality Three-Dimensional Computed Tomography Angiography of Abdominal Viscera with Small Focal Spot, Low Tube Voltage, and Iterative Model Reconstruction Technique  [PDF]
Masafumi Uchida
Open Journal of Radiology (OJRad) , 2015, DOI: 10.4236/ojrad.2015.51002
Abstract: Purpose: To evaluate the quality of three-dimensional (3D) CT angiography images of the abdominal viscera with small focal spot, low tube voltage, and iterative model reconstruction technique (IMR). Materials and Methods: Seven patients with suspected disease of the pancreatobiliary system had undergone CT with high-quality CTA protocol in the present study. There were 5 men and 2 women, ranging in age from 52 to 80 years (mean: 64 years). Results: Depiction of abdominal small artery, small portal vein was possible in all cases. In two cases that we were able to compare, it was superior to standard CTA in small vascular depiction in CTA made clearly in high quality protocol. Conclusions: Although the use of small focal spot, low tube voltage, and IMR can produce higher-quality images of abdominal vessels than standard CTA, this improvement is not significant at elevated radiation doses.
Geometric Interpretation of Electromagnetism in a Gravitational Theory with Torsion and Spinorial Matter
Kenichi Horie
Physics , 1996,
Abstract: Possible geometric frameworks for a unified theory of gravity and electromagnetism are investigated: General relativity is enlarged by allowing for an arbitrary complex linear connection and by constructing an extended spinor derivative based on the complex connection. Thereby the spacetime torsion not only is coupled to the spin of fermions and causes a four-fermion contact interaction, but the non-metric vector-part of torsion is also related to the electromagnetic potential. However, this long-standing relation is shown to be valid only in a special U(1) gauge, and it is a formal consequence of the underlying extended geometry.
Geometric Interpretation of Electromagnetism in a Gravitational Theory with Space--Time Torsion
Kenichi Horie
Physics , 1994,
Abstract: A complete geometric unification of gravity and electromagnetism is proposed by considering two aspects of torsion: its relation to spin established in Einstein--Cartan theory and the possible interpretation of the torsion trace as the electromagnetic potential. Starting with a Lagrangian built of Dirac spinors, orthonormal tetrads, and a complex rather than a real linear connection we define an extended spinor derivative by which we obtain not only a very natural unification, but can also fully clarify the nontrivial underlying fibre bundle structure. Thereby a new type of contact interaction between spinors emerges, which differs from the usual one in Einstein--Cartan theory. The splitting of the linear connection into a metric and an electromagnetic part together with a characteristic length scale in the theory strongly suggest that gravity and electromagnetism have the same geometrical origin.
New Insight into the Relation between Torsion and Electromagnetism
Kenichi Horie
Physics , 1995,
Abstract: In several unified field theories the torsion trace is set equal to the electromagnetic potential. Using fibre bundle techniques we show that this is no leading principle but a formal consequence of another geometric relation between space-time and electromagentism.
Inequivalent Quantizations of Gauge Theories
Kenichi Horie
Physics , 1999, DOI: 10.1142/S0217751X99001020
Abstract: It is known that the quantization of a system defined on a topologically non-trivial configuration space is ambiguous in that many inequivalent quantum systems are possible. This is the case for multiply connected spaces as well as for coset spaces. Recently, a new framework for these inequivalent quantizations approach has been proposed by McMullan and Tsutsui, which is based on a generalized Dirac approach. We employ this framework for the quantization of the Yang-Mills theory in the simplest fashion. The resulting inequivalent quantum sectors are labelled by quantized non-dynamical topological charges.
An Upper Limit of AC Huffman Code Length in JPEG Compression
Kenichi Horie
Mathematics , 2009,
Abstract: A strategy for computing upper code-length limits of AC Huffman codes for an 8x8 block in JPEG Baseline coding is developed. The method is based on a geometric interpretation of the DCT, and the calculated limits are as close as 14% to the maximum code-lengths. The proposed strategy can be adapted to other transform coding methods, e.g., MPEG 2 and 4 video compressions, to calculate close upper code length limits for the respective processing blocks.
Page 1 /611
Display every page Item


Home
Copyright © 2008-2017 Open Access Library. All rights reserved.