Comparison Between Cz-C3/C4 and C3-C4 Montages to Protect Against Peripheral Stimulation in Transcranial Facial Motor-Evoked Potential Monitoring.

Introduction: In facial motor-evoked potential monitoring, efforts to reduce peripheral stimulation are necessary because it can cause false-negatives. The effects of peripheral stimulation on Cz-C3/C4 and C3-C4 montages were compared.

Methods: Facial motor-evoked potentials were recorded from bilateral orbicularis oculi (Oculi) and oris (Oris) muscles.

Effect of anaesthesia on cemented hemiarthroplasty -A multicentre retrospective study (TRON study).

Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the survival rate, postoperative complications, and walking ability in cemented hemiarthroplasty (HA) for displaced femoral neck fractures according to the anaesthesia method.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of a multicentre group (the TRON group). Three hundred fifty-eight patients who underwent cemented HA between 2015 and 2019 were selected; 289 patients of ≥75 years of age with no missing data were included.

Number of concomitant drugs with thrombocytopenic adverse effects and the extent inflammatory response resolution are risk factors for thrombocytopenia in patients treated with linezolid for more than 14 days.

Prolonged treatment with linezolid (LZD) is known to cause thrombocytopenia. However, some patients do not develop thrombocytopenia despite long-term administration of LZD. To determine the risk factors for LZD-associated thrombocytopenia in patients undergoing long-term LZD therapy, we conducted a retrospective cohort study among 212 patients receiving LZD treatment between December 2011 and June 2014 at a tertiary referral university hospital in Nagoya, Japan.

[Successful treatment of pre-engraftment disseminated fusariosis with high-dose liposomal amphotericin B in a cord blood transplant recipient].

A 47-year-old man with acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic-related changes relapsed after an allogenic bone marrow transplant and received a cord blood transplant as salvage therapy. The patient developed febrile neutropenia that was resistant to broad-spectrum antibiotics and multiple, painful, nodular skin lesions on his trunk and extremities before engraftment. A skin biopsy and blood culture found mold, and the subsequent microscopic examination, mass spectrometry, and DNA sequencing of the fungal colonies identified Fusarium solani.

Active surveillance in response to the identification of a single carbapenemase-producing Escherichia coli at a Japanese university hospital.

This report described the experience of active surveillance culture implemented in response to the identification of a single carbapenemase-producing Escherichia coli in a Japanese university hospital. It revealed a horizontal transmission event and an additional asymptomatic carrier of carbapenemase-producing Escherichia coli with unique drug susceptibility and resistance gene profiles. Early implementation of active surveillance culture as a part of multifaceted infection control measures appeared to be useful to control further transmission of carbapenemase-producing Escherichia coli even in the low endemic facility.

Risk factors for and role of OprD protein in increasing minimal inhibitory concentrations of carbapenems in clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Purpose: This study examined the risk factors for, and molecular mechanisms underlying, the increase in carbapenem minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) in clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Methodology: Consecutive clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa were collected.

Collaboration with an infection control team for patients with infection after spine surgery.

Background: The risk of infection, including surgical site infection (SSI), after spine surgery has increased due to aging and more immunocompromised hosts. An infection control team (ICT) is responsible for management of health care-associated infections at our institution.

Methods: The study subjects were 40 patients (18 men and 22 women with an average age of 54 years) referred to the ICT after spine surgery since 2010.

Pneumococcal biliary tract infections - How rare are they?

Pneumococcal biliary tract infections (PBTIs) were reported as rare due to the bacterium's bile solubility. The purpose of this study was to determine the occurrence and clinical characteristics of PBTIs. A retrospective case series review was conducted from January 2006 to August 2014 at a tertiary referral university hospital in Japan.

The first point prevalence survey of health care-associated infection and antimicrobial use in a Japanese university hospital: A pilot study.

Background: Point prevalence surveys (PPSs) in Japanese hospitals have not yet been reported. The purpose of this pilot PPS study was to evaluate the epidemiology of health care-associated infections (HAIs) and antimicrobial use in a Japanese tertiary university hospital.

Methods: A 1-day, cross-sectional PPS was performed at a Japanese university hospital.

Massive mediastinal cryptococcosis in a young immunocompetent patient.

Pulmonary cryptococcosis with lymph node involvement is relatively rare in immunocompetent patients. We report a case of pulmonary cryptococcosis with massive mediastinal lymphadenopathy in an immunocompetent young patient. In this report, a 17-year-old boy presented with high-grade fever and persistent cough.

Concomitant methotrexate and tacrolimus augment the clinical response to abatacept in patients with rheumatoid arthritis with a prior history of biological DMARD use.

This observational retrospective study examined whether abatacept efficacy could be augmented with concomitant methotrexate (MTX) or tacrolimus (TAC) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who experienced failure with prior biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and in whom favorable therapeutic efficacy is difficult to achieve. All patients with a prior biological DMARD history who were treated with abatacept for 52 weeks and registered in a Japanese multicentre registry were included. Clinical efficacy and safety of abatacept according to the concomitant drug used, i.

Importance of methotrexate therapy concomitant with tocilizumab treatment in achieving better clinical outcomes for rheumatoid arthritis patients with high disease activity: an observational cohort study.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of concomitant use of MTX and baseline characteristics for remission in the treatment of RA with tocilizumab (TCZ) in daily clinical practice.

Methods: A total of 240 RA patients who received TCZ were selected from the multicentre Tsurumai Biologics Communication Registry. Predictive baseline factors for remission [28-item DAS (DAS28) < 2.

Longterm retention rate and risk factor for discontinuation due to insufficient efficacy and adverse events in Japanese patients with rheumatoid arthritis receiving etanercept therapy.

Objective: Assessing retention rate and risk factor for drug discontinuation is important for drug evaluation. We examined a 3-year retention rate and the risk factor for discontinuation due to insufficient efficacy (IE) and adverse events (AE) in Japanese patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who are receiving etanercept (ETN).

Methods: Data were collected from 588 patients treated with ETN as a first biologic from the Tsurumai Biologics Communication Registry.

Alexithymia, depression, inflammation, and pain in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: We previously reported that depression and inflammation have independent effects on pain severity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Alexithymia is a personality trait characterized by deficits in cognitive processing and regulation of emotions. A broad association between alexithymia and various health problems has been suggested, including depression, inflammation, and pain.

Clinical efficacy of abatacept compared to adalimumab and tocilizumab in rheumatoid arthritis patients with high disease activity.

Favourable clinical results in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with high disease activity (HDA) are difficult to achieve. This study evaluated the clinical efficacy of abatacept according to baseline disease activity compared to adalimumab and tocilizumab. This study included all patients registered in a Japanese multicenter registry treated with abatacept (n = 214), adalimumab (n = 175), or tocilizumab (n = 143) for 24 weeks.

Monitoring C-reactive protein levels to predict favourable clinical outcomes from tocilizumab treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objectives: The inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) directly stimulates C-reactive protein (CRP) expression. The present study aimed to examine how clinical treatment outcomes of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with tocilizumab (TCZ), a humanised monoclonal anti-IL-6 receptor antibody, are related to CRP levels monitored for 52 weeks.

Methods: One hundred and twenty-two RA patients who underwent TCZ treatment between May 2008 and September 2009 were registered in the Tsurumai Biologics Communication Registry.

Clinical efficacy of abatacept in Japanese rheumatoid arthritis patients.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the treatment retention and efficacy of abatacept, the first member of a new class of biologic agents, in Japanese rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients during clinical practice.

Methods: A retrospective multicenter study was conducted with patients who underwent abatacept therapy for 24 weeks (n = 143).

Results: Patients at baseline had a mean age of 63.

A selective estrogen receptor modulator inhibits tumor necrosis factor-α-induced apoptosis through the ERK1/2 signaling pathway in human chondrocytes.

Tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) is a pleiotropic cytokine mediating inflammatory as well as cell death activities, and is thought to induce chondrocytic chondrolysis in inflammatory and degenerative joint diseases. Selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs), such as raloxifene, which are commonly used in clinical settings act as estrogen agonists or antagonists. It is assumed that estrogens have a potential role in cartilage protection; however, the precise molecular mechanism for the protective effects of estrogens is unclear.

Pneumococcal polyarticular septic arthritis after a single infusion of infliximab in a rheumatoid arthritis patient: a case report.

Introduction: We present a case of Streptococcus pneumoniae polyarticular septic arthritis in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis receiving a single infusion of infliximab.

Case Presentation: A 38-year-old Japanese man with a 5-year history of seronegative rheumatoid arthritis had previously received sulphasalazine and methotrexate therapies and was on regular low-dose prednisolone therapy. Despite these treatments, his disease activity remained high and infliximab was introduced in addition to methotrexate, prednisolone, and folic acid.

Effect of total arthroplasty combined with anti-tumor necrosis factor agents in attenuating systemic disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

We assessed the effect of total large-joint arthroplasty combined with anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We studied 45 RA patients (age 57.91 ± 12.

Early aggressive intervention with tocilizumab for rheumatoid arthritis increases remission rate defined using a Boolean approach in clinical practice.

The goal of treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA) should be remission, for which a new definition was proposed in 2011. To determine which patients can achieve the new Boolean-based definition of remission in clinical practice, we analyzed factors associated with remission in 123 patients who received tocilizumab for 52 weeks. We found that patients with short disease duration (<4.

Study protocol of a multicenter registry of patients with rheumatoid arthritis starting biologic therapy in Japan: Tsurumai Biologics Communication Registry (TBCR) study.

Biologic agents have proven to be effective against rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in clinical trials and post-marketing surveillance (PMS) studies. However, limited follow-up periods and strict criteria for recruitment might lead to an underestimation of adverse events. To document the long-term course of patients with RA treated with biologics in clinical settings, we established the Tsurumai Biologics Communication Registry (TBCR).