News from Japan

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 15-Dec-2025 04:11 ET (15-Dec-2025 09:11 GMT/UTC)

16-Jun-2025

MHP-Net: A revolutionary AI model for accurate liver tumor segmentation for diagnosis and therapy

Institute of Science Tokyo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Signaling a major advance in small-data AI for medical imaging, a research team from Institute of Science Tokyo has developed a novel artificial intelligence model called “MHP-Net,” which delivers cutting-edge performance in liver tumor segmentation with a limited dataset. Unlike conventional models that require thousands of patient cases, this model uses sampling of 3D patches obtained from 7 to 28 tumors. Also, it outperforms the top entry of the MICCAI 2017 (worldwide liver tumor segmentation competition).

Journal

IEEE Access

Funder

JST-Mirai Program

16-Jun-2025

One-step route to complex molecules using ortho-quinodimethanes

Waseda University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The Diels–Alder reaction is a widely used tool for building complex ring structures but often requires difficult-to-make starting materials. Researchers from Waseda University, along with other collaborators, developed a palladium-catalyzed method to generate reactive ortho-quinodimethanes using simple, commercially available compounds. This one-step, multicomponent reaction efficiently produces diverse polycyclic molecules. Their discovery of a unique benzyl–palladium intermediate offers a practical, faster approach to synthesizing biologically important and structurally complex compounds, including natural products.  

Journal

Chem

16-Jun-2025

New genetic clues explain speed of insulin depletion in Japanese patients with type 1 diabetes

Kindai University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a nationwide multicenter prospective longitudinal study conducted as part of the Japanese Type 1 Diabetes Database Study (TIDE-J)—a national project led by the National Center for Global Health and Medicine and the Japan Diabetes Society—researchers from Kindai University tracked 314 Japanese patients with type 1 diabetes for up to 14 years. They identified human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genotypes and clinical markers predicting β-cell depletion, enabling individualized treatment strategies for rapid disease progression.

Journal

Diabetes Care

15-Jun-2025

High-speed AFM and 3D modelling help towards understanding the dynamics of a protein implicated in several cancers

Nano Life Science Institute (NanoLSI), Kanazawa University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at the Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University observe and model how the enzyme ADAR1 interacts with double-stranded RNA, which may be useful for future cancer treatment strategies.

Journal

Nature Communications