Predictors of Left Atrial Thrombi for Subsequent Thromboembolisms: Risk Factors Derived from Echocardiography.

Background: Evidence regarding the management of left atrial thrombi (LATs) is limited.

Objectives: We aimed to investigate factors associated with subsequent thromboembolism in patients with LATs and explored potential management approaches.

Methods: This multicenter retrospective study consecutively enrolled patients who underwent morphological assessment of LAT using echocardiography.

Excimer LASER coronary atherectomy for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction: Insights from a multicenter registry.

Background: Excimer laser coronary atherectomy (ELCA) is used for thrombotic culprit lesions in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), but its effectiveness is still unclear.

Methods: Consecutive patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention within 24 h of onset were retrospectively investigated. Patients were divided into ELCA and non-ELCA groups.

Case Report: Drug-coated balloon after intravascular lithotripsy for the treatment of severely calcified coronary artery lesion.

In patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), severely calcified lesions remain a great challenge even in the drug-eluting stent (DES) era. Intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) is effective for modification of severely calcified lesions prior to DES implantation. However, the efficacy of PCI with drug-coated balloon (DCB) following IVL has not been fully elucidated.

Borderline Range Determined Using Data From Validation Study of Alternative Methods for Skin Sensitization: ADRA, IL-8 Luc Assay, and EpiSensA.

Most predictive models that use alternatives to animal experiments divide judgements into two classes with a cutoff value for each model. However, if the results of alternative methods are close to the cutoff values, the true result may be ambiguous because of variability in the data. Therefore, the OECD GL497 uses a judgement method that establishes a borderline range (BR) around a cutoff value using a statistical method.

Methods for treating coronary eruptive calcified nodules.

Eruptive calcified nodules (CNs) are a manifestation of severely calcified plaques, which exist in acute coronary syndrome (ACS), non-ACS lesions. Optical coherence tomography is crucial for diagnosing and treating eruptive CNs in clinical practice. Management of eruptive CNs is still a challenge for interventional cardiologists.

Evaluation of the immunotoxicity potential of nanomaterials using THP-1 cells.

With the expansion of nanomaterials (NMs) usage, concerns about their toxicity are increasing, and the wide variety of NMs makes it difficult to assess their toxicity. Therefore, the development of a high-throughput, accurate, and certified method to evaluate the immunotoxicity of NMs is required. In this study, we assessed the immunotoxicity potential of various NMs, such as nanoparticles of silver, silica, and titanium dioxide, using the human Cell Line Activation Test (h-CLAT) at the cellular level.

The impact of novel scoring balloon and cutting balloon after orbital atherectomy on severely calcified coronary lesion as assessed by optical coherence tomography.

Background: Debulking devices are often followed by a scoring or cutting balloon in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for severely calcified lesions. However, there are limited data on balloon preparation after orbital atherectomy (OA) assessed using optical coherence tomography (OCT).

Aim: We aimed to compare the effects of a novel scoring and cutting balloon on calcified coronary lesions with OCT.

Predictors of target lesion failure after percutaneous coronary intervention with a drug-coated balloon for de novo lesions.

Background: There are limited data about determinant factors of target lesion failure (TLF) in lesions after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) using a drug-coated balloon (DCB) for de novo coronary artery lesions, including optical coherence tomography (OCT) findings.

Aims: The present study aims to investigate the associated factors of TLF in de novo coronary artery lesions with DCB treatment.

Methods: We retrospectively enrolled 328 de novo coronary artery lesions in 328 patients who had undergone PCI with a DCB.

Hemostatic balance between pro- and anticoagulant is maintained during glucocorticoid treatment.

Background: Glucocorticoids are associated with an increased risk of venous thrombosis. Glucocorticoid treatment increases coagulation factor and anticoagulant levels; however, its effect on hemostatic function remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the changes in comprehensive coagulation profiles after glucocorticoid treatment in noninflammatory diseases to elucidate the direct contribution of glucocorticoids to hemostatic function.

The inter-laboratory validation study of EpiSensA for predicting skin sensitization potential.

The Epidermal Sensitization Assay (EpiSensA) is a reconstructed human epidermis (RhE)-based gene expression assay for predicting the skin sensitization potential of chemicals. Since the RhE model is covered by a stratified stratum corneum, various kinds of test chemicals, including lipophilic ones and pre-/pro-haptens, can be tested with a route of exposure akin to an in vivo assay and human exposure. This article presents the results of a formally managed validation study of the EpiSensA that was carried out by three participating laboratories.

Diagnosis and Prognostic Value of the Underlying Cause of Acute Coronary Syndrome in Optical Coherence Tomography-Guided Emergency Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

Background The prognostic impact of optical coherence tomography-diagnosed culprit lesion morphology in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) has not been systematically examined in real-world settings. Methods and Results This investigator-initiated, prospective, multicenter, observational study was conducted at 22 Japanese hospitals to identify the prevalence of underlying ACS causes (plaque rupture [PR], plaque erosion [PE], and calcified nodules [CN]) and their impact on clinical outcomes. Patients with ACS diagnosed within 24 hours of symptom onset undergoing emergency percutaneous coronary intervention were enrolled.

Development of an Sensitisation Test Using a Coculture System of Human Bronchial Epithelium and Immune Cells.

Chemical respiratory sensitisation is a serious health problem. However, to date, there are no validated test methods available for identifying respiratory sensitisers. The aim of this study was to develop an sensitisation test by modifying the human cell line activation test (h-CLAT) to detect respiratory sensitisers and distinguish them from skin sensitisers.

Drug-coated balloon strategy following orbital atherectomy for calcified coronary artery compared with drug-eluting stent: One-year outcomes and optical coherence tomography assessment.

Background: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for calcified coronary artery remains challenging in the drug-eluting stent (DES) era. While recent studies reported the efficacy of orbital atherectomy (OA) combined with DES for calcified lesion, the effectiveness of drug-coated balloon (DCB) following OA has not been fully elucidated.

Methods: Between June 2018 and June 2021, 135 patients who received PCI for calcified de novo coronary lesions with OA were enrolled and divided into two groups; OA followed by DCB (n = 43) if the target lesion achieved acceptable preparation, or second- or third-generation DESs (n = 92) if the target lesion showed suboptimal preparation between June 2018 and June 2021.

Predictors of coronary artery injury after orbital atherectomy as assessed by optical coherence tomography.

Purpose: The association between the extent of the wire and device bias as assessed by optical coherence tomography (OCT) in the healthy portion of the vessel and the risk of coronary artery injury after orbital atherectomy (OA) has not been fully elucidated. Thus, purpose of this study is to investigate the association between pre-OA OCT findings and post-OA coronary artery injury by OCT.

Methods: We enrolled 148 de novo lesions having calcified lesion required OA (max Ca angle > 90°) in 135 patients who underwent both pre- and post-OA OCT.

Validation study for in vitro skin irritation test using reconstructed human skin equivalents constructed by layer-by-layer cell coating technology.

The aim of this study is to validate an in vitro skin irritation test (SIT) using three-dimensional reconstructed human epidermal (RhE) skin equivalents prepared by layer-by-layer (LbL) method (LbL-3D Skin) in a series of interlaboratory studies. The goal of these validation studies is to evaluate the ability of this in vitro test to reliably discriminate skin irritant from nonirritant chemicals, as defined by OECD and UN GHS. This me-too validation study is to assess the within- and between-laboratory reproducibility, as well as the predictive capacity, of the LbL-3D Skin SIT in accordance with performance standards for OECD TG 439.

Simple algorithm to narrow down the candidates to receive echocardiography in patients with chronic liver disease for suspected pulmonary hypertension.

Aims: Portopulmonary hypertension (PoPH) is a subtype of pulmonary arterial hypertension related to portal hypertension. The definitive diagnosis of PoPH is made by invasive right heart catheterization. Alternatively, pulmonary arterial hypertension may be recognized noninvasively from the tricuspid regurgitant pressure gradient (TRPG), measured by echocardiography.

Pilot trial comparing COVID-19 publication database to conventional online search methods.

Background And Objectives: Literature review using search engines results in a list of manuscripts but does not provide the content contained in the manuscripts. Our goal was to evaluate user performance-based criteria of concept retrieval accuracy and efficiency using a new database system that contained information extracted from 1000 COVID-19 articles.

Methods: A sample of 17 students from the University of Vermont were randomly assigned to use the COVID-19 publication database or their usual preferred search methods to research eight prompts about COVID-19.

[International trend regarding immunotoxicity evaluation with New Approach Methods (NAMs)].

We have ongoing projects that are developing New Approach Methods (NAMs) for systematic toxicology. One NAM is to develop the immunotoxicity evaluation with non-animal test methods for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)Test Guideline (TG). The development of this evaluation includes the following steps: 1) adverse outcome pathway (AOP), 2) detailed review paper, 3) test methods based on AOP, 4) validation study of test methods for developing TGs, and 5) integrated approaches to testing and assessment (IATA).

Rationale and design of the TACTICS registry: Optical coherence tomography guided primary percutaneous coronary intervention for patients with acute coronary syndrome.

Background: Recent retrospective investigations have suggested that optical coherence tomography (OCT) enables the diagnosis of underlying acute coronary syndrome (ACS) causes such as plaque rupture, plaque erosion, and calcified nodule. The relationships of these etiologies with clinical outcomes, and the clinical utility of OCT-guided primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) are not systematically studied in real-world ACS treatment settings.

Methods: The TACTICS registry is an investigator-initiated, prospective, multicenter, observational study to be conducted at 21 hospitals in Japan.

Comparison of MECHANISM of early and late vascular responses following treatment of ST-elevation acute myocardial infarction with two different everolimus-eluting stents: a randomized controlled trial of biodegradable versus durable polymer stents.

The early and mid-term arterial healing profile of biodegradable polymer-coated everolimus-eluting stents (BP-EES) is unclear, especially in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) culprit lesions. This study aimed to compare early- and mid-term arterial healing between durable polymer-coated everolimus-eluting stents (DP-EES) and BP-EES in STEMI patients. In a prospective, multicenter, non-inferiority trial, STEMI patients were randomized to receive BP-EES (n = 60) or DP-EES (n = 60).