A method to prepare photosystem I (PSI) particles is described. Spinach leaves are used to prepare broken chloroplasts that are then solubilized by using a detergent (Triton X-100). Solubilized chloroplasts are then applied on an ion-exchange column. Eluted by a linear concentration gradient of NaCl, fractions enriched in PSI particles are collected and applied on a small hydroxyapatite column....

Owing to the fact that prostate cancer is the second cause of death behind lung cancer, several diagnostic strategies have been introduced in the past years. Among these prostate specific antigen is widely acknowledged to be the simplest and routine clinical parameter the purpose of this study is to reveal the contribution of the prostate specific antigen (PSA) in the diagnosis and tracking of ...

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to evaluate the relation between the kinetics of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) decline after the initiation of androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) and overall survival (OS) in men with metastatic, hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (HSPC). METHODS The authors' institutional database was used to identify a cohort of men with metastatic HSPC who were t...

OBJECTIVE To test the expandability of active surveillance (AS) to Gleason score 3+4 cancers by assessing the unfavorable disease risk in a large multi-institutional cohort. MATERIALS AND METHODS We performed a retrospective analysis including 2,323 patients with localized Gleason score 3+4 prostate cancer who underwent a radical prostatectomy between 2005 and 2013 from 6 academic centers. We...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether the age-specific reference ranges for serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) concentration generated for white men are applicable to other races. PATIENTS AND METHODS Three-hundred and thirty-five healthy Japanese men, aged 40-79 years, residing in the small fishing village of Shimamaki-mura, Japan, agreed to enter this prospective, community-based study. All und...

INTRODUCTION We analyzed whether expansion of existing active surveillance (AS) protocols to include men with biopsy Gleason score (GS) 3+4 prostate cancer (PCa) would significantly alter pathologic and biochemical outcomes of potential candidates of AS. METHODS Among patients who underwent radical prostatectomy at our center between 2006 and 2013, we identified 577 patients (group A) who pre...

OBJECTIVE We examined the efficacy of an artificial neural network analysis (ANNA) based on parameters available from previously existing examinations for improving the predictive accuracy of prostate cancer screening in the Japanese population. METHODS Two hundred and twenty-eight patients with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) of 2-10 ng/ml were enrolled in this study. Two artificial neural n...

PURPOSE This study was conducted to identify the predictive factors for prostate cancer in patients with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels equal to or less than 4 ng/ml. MATERIALS AND METHODS A retrospective study of medical records was conducted on 292 patients with initial serum PSA ≤4 ng/ml among 2,305 patients who underwent prostate biopsy from January 2003 to December 2008. Prostate...

PURPOSE It is debated whether treatment delay worsens oncologic results in localized prostate cancer (PCa). Few studies have focused on the role of a delay between the time of biopsy and the time of surgery. Thus, we aimed to investigate the effect of the time period between biopsy and surgery on Gleason score upgrading (GSU). MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 290 patients who underwent radica...