Study on Image Features That Can Evaluate the Extent of Mammary Glands.

The purpose of this study is to identify image features in images with well-spread mammary glands, which are difficult to determine with human observation skills. We prepared images with sufficient mammary gland spread and images with insufficient mammary gland spread. We extracted image features from each and used statistical processing to examine the differences between the images.

Intestinal butyric acid-mediated disruption of gut hormone secretion and lipid metabolism in vasopressin receptor-deficient mice.

Objectives: Arginine vasopressin (AVP), known as an antidiuretic hormone, is also crucial in metabolic homeostasis. Although AVP receptor-deficient mice exhibit various abnormalities in glucose and lipid metabolism, the mechanism underlying these symptoms remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the involvement of the gut hormones including glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and microbiota as essential mediators.

The bilevel chamber revealed differential involvement of vasopressin and oxytocin receptors in female mouse sexual behavior.

Arginine vasopressin (AVP) and oxytocin (OT) are well-known as neuropeptides that regulate various social behaviors in mammals. However, little is known about their role in mouse female sexual behavior. Thus, we investigated the role of AVP (v1a and v1b) and OT receptors on female sexual behavior.

Analysis of Electrocardiograms and Behavior in Mice from Pregnancy to Lactation Period.

Changes in the mother-offspring relationship are presumably accompanied by dynamic changes in the autonomic nervous system. Although temporal measurements of autonomic activity have been performed in human mothers and infants, the analysis of long-term changes remains unexplored. Mouse mothers can form social bonds with their pups and have a short period of pregnancy and lactation, which makes them useful for the examination of physiological changes from pregnancy to pup-rearing.

DNMT1/PKR double knockdowned HepG2 (HepG2-DP) cells have high hepatic function and differentiation ability.

HepG2 cells are widely used as a human hepatocytes model, but their functions, including drug metabolism, are inferior to primary hepatocytes. We previously reported that the hepatic gene expressions in HepG2 cells were upregulated by treatment with zebularine, which is an inhibitor of DNA methylation, through the inhibition of both DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) and double-stranded RNA-dependent protein kinase (PKR). In this study, we established a new HepG2 cell subline, HepG2-DP cells, by stable double knockdown of DNMT1 and PKR and evaluated its function.

Difference in infantile mother preference is associated with adult anxiety/object recognition in C57BL/6 mice.

We previously reported that mice pups showed individual differences in mother preferences at 16 days old; some pups show high preference to their mother, and other pups show low preference to it. In this study, we examined whether these individual differences were associated with anxiety-like behavior and cognition functions in adulthood. We found that pups showing low mother preference exhibit low anxiety-like behavior and impaired object cognition in adulthood.

Low-density cell culture enhances hepatic function through tight junction formation in HepG2 cells.

Background Information: An in vitro evaluation system using cultured hepatocytes is the most useful method in preclinical research, such as drug metabolism and toxicity test. Human hepatocytes should be used in an in vitro evaluation system because the expression of drug-metabolizing enzymes varies among animal species. HepG2 cells, a liver cancer-derived cell line, are widely used as a human hepatocyte model; however, their hepatic functions are generally weak.

Relationship between infantile mother preference and neural regions activated by maternal contact in C57BL/6 mice.

Mutual attachment between mother and pup is important to enable the mother to care for her pup and for the pup to receive care from its mother. Pups eventually leave their mothers, which is also very important to their growth. The mechanism of preference by which pups transfer attachment from their mother to others remains unknown.

Associations among amino acid, lipid, and glucose metabolic profiles in childhood obesity.

Background: Plasma-free amino acid profiles have been reported to correlate with obesity and glucose metabolism, and have been studied as potentially useful biomarkers of lifestyle-related diseases affecting metabolism in adulthood. However, knowledge of these relationships is lacking in children, despite the growing public health problem posed by childhood obesity. The aim of this study was to assess whether plasma-free amino acid profiles can serve as useful biomarkers of lifestyle-related diseases in children with obesity.

Modulation of male mouse sociosexual and anxiety-like behaviors by vasopressin receptors.

Although the involvement of two types of vasopressin (AVP) receptors, v1a and v1b, in neural regulation of social behavior is well documented in rodents, there is no report on combined actions of them in regulation of social behavior. In this study, we investigated behavioral differences between wild-type (WT) and v1a and v1b double knockout (dKO) mice. For this, we measured olfactory preference, sexual behavior with receptive females (four weekly tests) in an enriched large observation cage, and anxiety-like behaviors.

Reducing artifacts of gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MRI with oxygen inhalation in patients with prior episode of arterial phase motion: intra-individual comparison.

Purpose: To determine whether oxygen inhalation reducing artifacts in patients with previous transient severe motion (TSM) on gadoxetate-disodium-enhanced MRI.

Materials And Methods: Fifty-one patients with TSM on previous gadoxetate-disodium-enhanced MRI (Baseline examination) were evaluated. Image quality in the examination with oxygen inhalation (Oxygen examination) and that in Baseline examination and the examination before Baseline examination without oxygen inhalation (Past examination) were qualitatively compared in dynamic study.

Hepatic fat quantification using automated six-point Dixon: Comparison with conventional chemical shift based sequences and computed tomography.

Purpose: To compare automated six-point Dixon (6-p-Dixon) MRI comparing with dual-echo chemical-shift-imaging (CSI) and CT for hepatic fat fraction in phantoms and clinical study.

Materials And Methods: Phantoms and fifty-nine patients were examined both MRI and CT for quantitative fat measurements.

Results: In phantom study, linear regression between fat concentration and 6-p-Dixon showed good agreement.

Measuring hepatic functional reserve using T1 mapping of Gd-EOB-DTPA enhanced 3T MR imaging: A preliminary study comparing with Tc GSA scintigraphy and signal intensity based parameters.

Purpose: To determine the utility of liver T1-mapping on gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriamine-pentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA) enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for the measurement of liver functional reserve compared with the signal intensity (SI) based parameters, technetium-99m-galactosyl serum albumin (Tc-GSA) scintigraphy and indocyanine green (ICG) clearance.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective study included 111 patients (Child-Pugh-A 90; -B 21) performed with both Gd-EOB-DTPA enhanced liver MR imaging and Tc-GSA (76 patients with ICG). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to compare diagnostic performances of T1-relaxation-time parameters [pre-(T1pre) and post-contrast (T1hb) Gd-EOB-DTPA], SI based parameters [relative enhancement (RE), liver-to-muscle-ratio (LMR), liver-to-spleen-ratio (LSR)] and Tc-GSA scintigraphy blood clearance index (HH15)] for Child-Pugh classification.

Uniform vascular enhancement of lower-extremity artery on CT angiography using test-injection monitoring at the central level of the scan range: a simulation flow phantom study with clinical correlation.

Rationale And Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of variable contrast injection durations and scanning delay determined by test injection analysis of computed tomography angiography (CTA) of peripheral arteries.

Materials And Methods: We used a flow phantom that simulates the hemodynamics in a lower extremity artery. We set the flow rate at the pump to 2.