Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a charger, a charge eliminator, and a controller. The charger charges a surface of an image carrier. The charge eliminator eliminates residual charge from the surface of the image carrier charged by the charger. The controller performs control to reduce a level of charge elimination performed by the charge eliminator during a third period compared to a level of charge elimination performed by the charge eliminator during a second period in which an image for determining an image-forming condition is formed. The third period is a period other than the second period within a first period that is a period, other than a period of normal image formation, during which the surface of the image carrier is charged by the charger.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image processing unit and a switching unit. The image processing unit includes: a charging unit that is provided to face an image carrier and applies a direct current voltage on which an alternating voltage of a first frequency is superimposed to charge the image carrier; an electrostatic latent image forming unit that forms an electrostatic latent image on the charged image carrier with light scanning based on image information; a developing unit that develops the electrostatic latent image; and a transfer unit that transfers the developed image to a recording medium. When an image density based on the image information is greater than or equal to a specific image density, the switching unit switches a frequency of the alternating voltage at least during charging performed by the charging unit to a second frequency different from the first frequency.

Abstract: It is intended to provide an antitumor drug having an excellent therapeutic effect, which is excellent in terms of antitumor effect and safety. There is provided an antibody-drug conjugate in which an antitumor compound represented by the following formula is conjugated to an anti-TROP2 antibody via a linker having a structure represented by the following formula: -L1-L2-LP-NH—(CH2)n1-La-(CH2)n2-C(?O)— wherein the anti-TROP2 antibody is connected to the terminal of L1, and the antitumor compound is connected to the carbonyl group of the —(CH2)n2-C(?O)— moiety with the nitrogen atom of the amino group at position 1 as a connecting position.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes image forming devices which each forms a developer image on a latent image carrier, transfers the developer image onto an intermediate transfer member, and cleans the latent image carrier by using a plate-shaped cleaning member, the intermediate transfer body, and a controller. The developer used in one of the image forming devices is a low-electrostatic-propensity developer having an electrification performance lower than those of the developers used in the other image forming devices. The controller has a control mode for executing a supply operation in which the low-electrostatic-propensity developer used in the one of the image forming devices is transferred onto the intermediate transfer body and at least a part of the low-electrostatic-propensity developer is reversely transferred onto the latent image carriers of the other image forming devices and caused to reach the respective plate-shaped cleaning members.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes image forming devices which each forms a developer image on a latent image carrier, transfers the developer image onto an intermediate transfer member, and cleans the latent image carrier by using a plate-shaped cleaning member, the intermediate transfer body, and a controller. The developer used in one of the image forming devices is a low-electrostatic-propensity developer having an electrification performance lower than those of the developers used in the other image forming devices. The controller has a control mode for executing a supply operation in which the low-electrostatic-propensity developer used in the one of the image forming devices is transferred onto the intermediate transfer body and at least a part of the low-electrostatic-propensity developer is reversely transferred onto the latent image carriers of the other image forming devices and caused to reach the respective plate-shaped cleaning members.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a monoclonal antibody or an antibody fragment thereof, which binds to the extracellular region of human Trop-2 with high affinity and exhibits high ADCC activity and high antitumor activity; a hybridoma which produces the antibody; a DNA which encodes the antibody; a vector which comprises the DNA; a transformant obtainable by introducing the vector; a process for producing an antibody or an antibody fragment thereof using the hybridoma or the transformant; and a therapeutic agent or a diagnostic agent using the antibody fragment thereof.

Abstract: The present invention aims at developing a gene delivery system which has a high selectivity to a target cell and can introduce and express a gene with high efficiency, particularly developing such a system for use in a gene delivery therapy using a viral vector. The present invention provides a method for targeting a drug, which comprises the step of delivering a drug containing a therapeutic gene to a target site using an anti-PAP2a antibody.

Abstract: Intravenous administration of bone marrow cells collected from rat bone marrow or peripheral blood to a rat cerebral infarction model was found to be effective in treating cerebral infarction. Human and murine bone marrow stem cells showed similar effects. Mesenchymal cells such as bone marrow cells, cord blood cells, or peripheral blood cells can be used as agents for in vivo administration against cranial nerve diseases.

Abstract: Mesodermal stem cells or ES cells, prepared from the mononuclear cell fraction isolated from bone marrow fluid or umbilical blood, were found to differentiate into neural stem cells, neurons, or glial cells when cultured in a basal culture medium. In addition, the differentiation of the mesodermal stem cells or ES cells into neural cells was promoted through the addition of an ischemic brain extract to the above-mentioned basal culture medium. Furthermore, the neural cells obtained using the above-described method for inducing differentiation were revealed to have neural regeneration potency in a brain infarction model, a dementia model, a spinal cord injury model and a demyelination model. In addition, according to the present invention, mesodermal stem cells can be differentiated into neural cells by immortalizing the mesodermal stem cells by highly expressing or activating an immortalization gene in the mesodermal stem cells and culturing the cells under an appropriate condition.

Abstract: The present invention aims at developing a gene delivery system which has a high selectivity to a target cell and can introduce and express a gene with high efficiency, particularly developing such a system for use in a gene delivery therapy using a viral vector. The present invention provides a method for targeting a drug, which comprises the step of delivering a drug containing a therapeutic gene to a target site using an anti-PAP2a antibody.

Abstract: Intravenous administration of bone marrow cells collected from rat bone marrow or peripheral blood to a rat cerebral infarction model was found to be effective in treating cerebral infarction. Human and murine bone marrow stem cells showed similar effects. Mesenchymal cells such as bone marrow cells, cord blood cells, or peripheral blood cells can be used as agents for in vivo administration against cranial nerve diseases.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a method for more efficiently differentiating CD34+ cells derived from umbilical cord blood into megakaryocytic lineage cells and for generating platelets. Coculture of CD34+ cells derived from umbilical cord blood with immortalized stromal cells in the presence of cytokines has enabled cell proliferation up to the 100,000-fold level, which has been impossible to achieve to date.

Abstract: Intravenous administration of bone marrow cells collected from rat bone marrow to a rat cerebral infarction model was found to be effective in treating cerebral infarction. Human and murine bone marrow stem cells showed similar effects. Mesenchymal cells such as bone marrow cells, cord blood cells, or peripheral blood cells can be used as agents for in vivo administration against cranial nerve diseases.

Abstract: It is intended to provide a drug which is efficacious in treating a prion disease and has a high safety. A remedy for a prion disease which contains a mesenchymal stem cell as the active ingredient and a method of producing the same. A remedy for a prion disease which contains a mesenchymal stem cell, in particular, a mesenchymal stem cell having an anti-prion antibody gene transferred thereinto as the active ingredient and a method of producing the same. These remedies can not only prevent the progress of a prion disease but also contribute to the recovery of nerve dysfunction caused by the disease.

Abstract: The present invention provides methods for treating ischemic diseases, which comprise the step of administering angiopoietin-1 (Ang1) or an Ang1-encoding vector. The present invention also provides ischemic disease treatment kits which comprise Ang1. Ang1-expressing vectors were prepared, and each was administered alone intramyocardially to rats in the acute phase of myocardial infarction to express Ang1 in the local cardiac muscle. The results indicate that marked effects have been obtained, such as decrease in post-infarction mortality rate, increase in blood vessel number in myocardium, reduction of myocardial infarct size, and improvement of cardiac function. Administration of the required VEGF was not necessary for the angiogenic activity of Ang1. Furthermore, when an Ang1viral expression vector was administered alone to an animal model of severe limb ischemia, in which ischemia had been induced by arterial ligation, a remarkable limb salvage effect was obtained.

Abstract: Intravenous administration of bone marrow cells collected from rat bone marrow or peripheral blood to a rat cerebral infarction model was found to be effective in treating cerebral infarction. Human and murine bone marrow stem cells showed similar effects. Mesenchymal cells such as bone marrow cells, cord blood cells, or peripheral blood cells can be used as agents for in vivo administration against cranial nerve diseases.

Abstract: Disclosed is a therapeutic autologous-cell delivery support system 100, in which a therapeutic autologous cell extracted from a member is reserved in reserve means 34, and an autologous-cell delivery request from the member which includes ID information and positional information is received. Membership information is retrieved in accordance with the received ID information, and the membership information and positional information of the member is output. When the reserve means is provided in plural number at geographically different locations, one reserve means having a shortest delivery time is selected in accordance with the positional information included in the delivery request. The delivery request can be issued using ID information storage means 11 for transmitting the ID information, in a simple operation, or automatically issued using a monitor of physical data.

Abstract: The method developed herein is for expanding cord blood-derived hematopoietic stem cells to a degree that is sufficiently safe for clinical application, such as the transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells into adult patients. Further, to prepare a number of mesenchymal stem cells or mesenchymal cells that have conventionally been available only in an extremely small number, an immortalizing gene such as that of telomerase is introduced alone into mesenchymal stem cells, mesenchymal cells or the like, so as to induce the differentiation of the expanded mesenchymal stem cells.

Abstract: Mesodermal stem cells or ES cells, prepared from the mononuclear cell fraction isolated from bone marrow fluid or umbilical blood, were found to differentiate into neural stem cells, neurons, or glial cells when cultured in a basal culture medium. In addition, the differentiation of the mesodermal stem cells or ES cells into neural cells was promoted through the addition of an ischemic brain extract to the above-mentioned basal culture medium. Furthermore, the neural cells obtained using the above-described method for inducing differentiation were revealed to have neural regeneration potency in a brain infarction model, a dementia model, a spinal cord injury model and a demyelination model.

Abstract: The present inventors extensively researched a method of angiogenesis with low vascular permeability by intramuscular injection of angiopoietin-1 prior to VEGF165 into rabbit ischemic hind limb models using a relatively safe plasmid vector. As a result, the present inventors developed a local administration method that produces a high angiogenic induction effect and prevents the adverse effects of edema caused by administration of VEGF alone.