Safety and Efficacy of Trifluridine/Tipiracil Administered After Anti-PD-1 Therapies for Advanced Gastric Cancer.

Background/aim: The phase III TAGS trial of trifluridine/tipiracil showed a survival benefit compared with placebo as a third- or later-line treatment in patients with advanced gastric cancer (AGC), in which only a few patients had a history of previous treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Patients And Methods: We retrospectively reviewed consecutive patients with AGC who received trifluridine/tipiracil monotherapy as third- or later-line chemotherapy at our institution. Clinical outcomes were assessed in both overall population and patients with previous anti-PD-1 therapies.

Prediction of the position of external markers using a recurrent neural network trained with unbiased online recurrent optimization for safe lung cancer radiotherapy.

Background And Objective: During lung cancer radiotherapy, the position of infrared reflective objects on the chest can be recorded to estimate the tumor location. However, radiotherapy systems have a latency inherent to robot control limitations that impedes the radiation delivery precision. Prediction with online learning of recurrent neural networks (RNN) allows for adaptation to non-stationary respiratory signals, but classical methods such as real-time recurrent learning (RTRL) and truncated backpropagation through time are respectively slow and biased.

A Real-Time Four-Dimensional Reconstruction Algorithm of Cine-Magnetic Resonance Imaging (Cine-MRI) Using Deep Learning.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to propose algorithms and methods for achieving high accuracy in tracking and interception irradiation technology for tumors that move by respiration using MR-linac (MRIdian®, ViewRay Inc.) and to use deep learning to predict the movement of moving tumors in real time during radiation therapy and reconstruct cine magnetic resonance imaging (cine-MRI) into four-dimensional (4D) movies. Methods In this study, we propose a reconstruction algorithm using 4DCT for treatment planning taken before irradiation as training data in consideration of the actual treatment flow.

Relevance of pharmacogenetic polymorphisms with response to docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil chemotherapy in esophageal cancer.

Purpose: Docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil (DCF) have high response rates, but severe neutropenia is frequently observed. The occurrence of neutropenia is associated with high histological response in solid tumors, and it might be associated with tumor shrinkage after DCF therapy. This study aimed to determine the genetic polymorphisms involved in the clinical response to preoperative DCF therapy in esophageal cancer patients.

Significance of chemotherapy-free interval and tumor regression grade in patients with recurrent esophageal squamous cell carcinoma receiving chemotherapy with fluorouracil and platinum after esophagectomy following preoperative chemotherapy.

Background: In Japan, standard treatment for locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) includes preoperative chemotherapy with fluorouracil plus cisplatin followed by esophagectomy. However, its efficacy is unclear in patients with recurrent disease with < 6 months of chemotherapy-free interval (CFI) after preoperative chemotherapy followed by esophagectomy and in those with ≥ 6 months of CFI and poor pathological response to prior preoperative chemotherapy.

Method: We retrospectively evaluated the efficacy of fluorouracil plus platinum in patients with recurrent ESCC who received preoperative chemotherapy followed by curative esophagectomy.

Prediction of the motion of chest internal points using a recurrent neural network trained with real-time recurrent learning for latency compensation in lung cancer radiotherapy.

During the radiotherapy treatment of patients with lung cancer, the radiation delivered to healthy tissue around the tumor needs to be minimized, which is difficult because of respiratory motion and the latency of linear accelerator (LINAC) systems. In the proposed study, we first use the Lucas-Kanade pyramidal optical flow algorithm to perform deformable image registration (DIR) of chest computed tomography (CT) scan images of four patients with lung cancer. We then track three internal points close to the lung tumor based on the previously computed deformation field and predict their position with a recurrent neural network (RNN) trained using real-time recurrent learning (RTRL) and gradient clipping.

Retrospective cohort study of nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel plus ramucirumab versus paclitaxel plus ramucirumab as second-line treatment in patients with advanced gastric cancer.

Background: Nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel (nab-PTX) has shown non-inferiority to paclitaxel (PTX) as second-line therapy for advanced gastric cancer (AGC) with fewer infusion-related reactions. The efficacy and safety of nab-PTX plus ramucirumab (RAM) was reported in a phase II trial; however, there is no randomized trial comparing this regimen with PTX plus RAM in patients with AGC. This retrospective study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of nab-PTX plus RAM versus PTX plus RAM in patients with AGC.

ABCB1 and ABCC2 genetic polymorphism as risk factors for neutropenia in esophageal cancer patients treated with docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil chemotherapy.

Purpose: The combination of docetaxel, cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (DCF) is a newly developed chemotherapy regimen for esophageal cancer. Severe neutropenia is dose-limiting toxicity of docetaxel and it is well known to be frequently occurred during DCF chemotherapy. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between severe neutropenia and genetic polymorphisms in patients treated with preoperative DCF chemotherapy.

Clinical impact of renal impairment on the safety and efficacy of S-1 plus oxaliplatin in patients with advanced gastric cancer: a single institutional study.

Backgrounds: S-1 plus oxaliplatin appears effective in chemo-naïve patients with advanced gastric cancer. However, comprehensive safety and efficacy data for S-1 plus oxaliplatin is limited for patients with impaired renal function.

Methods: We retrospectively extracted data from advanced gastric cancer patients with normal renal function (normal group, CLcr ≥ 60 ml/min), who were treated with standard doses of S-1 (80 mg/m2) plus oxaliplatin (100 mg/m2), and patients with impaired renal function (impaired group, CLcr < 60 ml/min) who were treated with standard or reduced doses of S-1 (60 mg/m2 or 40 mg/m2) plus standard doses of oxaliplatin.

Development of a markerless tumor-tracking algorithm using prior four-dimensional cone-beam computed tomography.

Respiratory motion management is a huge challenge in radiation therapy. Respiratory motion induces temporal anatomic changes that distort the tumor volume and its position. In this study, a markerless tumor-tracking algorithm was investigated by performing phase recognition during stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) using four-dimensional cone-beam computer tomography (4D-CBCT) obtained at patient registration, and in-treatment cone-beam projection images.

Impact of pharmacy collaborating services in an outpatient clinic on improving adverse drug reactions in outpatient cancer chemotherapy.

Background: Collaboration between pharmacists, doctors, and nurses in outpatient treatment is beneficial; however, such services are limited in Japan due to the lack of a healthcare reimbursement fee for outpatient pharmacy services at outpatient clinic.

Objective: We evaluated the impact of a service in which clinical pharmacists collaborated with an oncologist at an outpatient clinic in the treatment of adverse drug reactions in outpatient cancer chemotherapy.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study using patients' medical records and treatment diaries.

Quantification of susceptibility change at high-concentrated SPIO-labeled target by characteristic phase gradient recognition.

Phase map cross-correlation detection and quantification may produce highlighted signal at superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles, and distinguish them from other hypointensities. The method may quantify susceptibility change by performing least squares analysis between a theoretically generated magnetic field template and an experimentally scanned phase image. Because characteristic phase recognition requires the removal of phase wrap and phase background, additional steps of phase unwrapping and filtering may increase the chance of computing error and enlarge the inconsistence among algorithms.

Tumor growth suppression by gadolinium-neutron capture therapy using gadolinium-entrapped liposome as gadolinium delivery agent.

Neutron capture therapy (NCT) is a promising non-invasive cancer therapy approach and some recent NCT research has focused on using compounds containing gadolinium as an alternative to currently used boron-10 considering several advantages that gadolinium offers compared to those of boron. In this study, we evaluated gadolinium-entrapped liposome compound as neutron capture therapy agent by in vivo experiment on colon-26 tumor-bearing mice. Gadolinium compound were injected intravenously via tail vein and allowed to accumulate into tumor site.

Diastereoselective synthesis of meso-pillar[6]arenes by bridging between hydroquinone units in an alternating up-and-down manner.

We report the first synthesis of bridged pillararenes. Meso-form pillar[6]arenes were diastereo-selectively formed by bridging units of a per-hydroxylated pillar[6]arene in an alternating up-and-down manner with dialkyldichlorosilanes.

A study of internal defect testing with the laser-EMAT ultrasonic method.

This paper studies the ultrasonic detection and evaluation of internal volume defects in metals using laser generation and electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) detection. A finite element model is developed to simulate the interaction of laser-generated ultrasonic waves with the defect in the material. Not only have the directly scattered shear waves been observed, but also the mode-converted creeping waves on the defect surface.

Cyclic host liquids for facile and high-yield synthesis of [2]rotaxanes.

We developed "cyclic host liquids (CHLs)" as a new type of solvent. The CHLs are a nonvolatile liquid over a wide temperature range, are biocompatible and recyclable, have high thermal stability, and are miscible with many organic solvents. Compared with typical complexation systems, the CHL system is extremely efficient for maintaining host-guest complexation because an additional solvent is not required.

The influence of internal and skin temperatures on active cutaneous vasodilation under different levels of exercise and ambient temperatures in humans.

To clarify the influence of internal and skin temperature on the active cutaneous vasodilation during exercise, the body temperature thresholds for the onset of active vasodilation during light or moderate exercise under different ambient temperature conditions were compared. Seven male subjects performed 30 min of a cycling exercise at 20 % or 50 % of peak oxygen uptake in a room maintained at 20, 24, or 28 °C. Esophageal (Tes) and mean skin temperature (Tsk) as measured by a thermocouple, deep thigh temperature (Tdt) by the zero-heat-flow (ZHF) method, and forearm skin blood flow by laser-Doppler flowmetry (LDF) were monitored.

The effect of starting or stopping skin cooling on the thermoregulatory responses during leg exercise in humans.

To assess the effects of starting or stopping leg cooling on the thermoregulatory responses during exercise, 60 min of cycling exercise at 30% of maximal oxygen uptake was performed under 4 conditions using tube trouser perfused with water at 10 °C; no leg cooling (NC), starting of leg cooling after 30 min of exercise (delayed cooling, DC), continuous leg cooling (CC), and stopping of continuous leg cooling after 30 min of exercise (SC) at an environmental temperature of 28.5 °C. During exercise under the DC conditions, an instantaneous increase in the esophageal temperature (Tes), a suppression of the cutaneous vascular conductance at the forearm (%CVC), and a decrease in the mean skin temperature (Tsk) were observed after leg cooling.

Correction of chemical shift misregistration by images from two different bandwidths.

One major effect caused by the different chemical shift frequencies of water and fat is the misregistration between the two components in MR images. Methods to correct misregistration are required in clinical MRI for accurate localization and artifact reduction. One of the methods uses the images scanned at opposite readout gradients to separate water and fat signal in the k-space.

Selective complexation of n-alkanes with pillar[5]arene dimers in organic media.

A pillar[5]arene dimer was synthesized by linking a mono-hydroxylated pillar[5]arene with 1,4-bis(bromomethyl)benzene. The pillar[5]arene dimer formed stronger complexes with n-alkanes than did a monomeric pillar[5]arene.

Phase gradient imaging for positive contrast generation to superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle-labeled targets in magnetic resonance imaging.

Positive contrast imaging methods produce enhanced signal at large magnetic field gradient in magnetic resonance imaging. Several postprocessing algorithms, such as susceptibility gradient mapping and phase gradient mapping methods, have been applied for positive contrast generation to detect the cells targeted by superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles. In the phase gradient mapping methods, smoothness condition has to be satisfied to keep the phase gradient unwrapped.

Monofunctionalized pillar[5]arenes: synthesis and supramolecular structure.

The first synthesis of a monohydroxy pillar[5]arene has been carried out, by controlling the de-O-methylation of per-methylated pillar[5]arene. Using monohydroxy pillar[5]arene as an intermediate, mono-guest-functionalized pillar[5]arene was prepared. It formed a self-inclusion complex in CDCl(3) whereas in acetone-d(6) dethreading of the guest moiety took place.

Relationship between mean body temperature calculated by two- or three-compartment models and active cutaneous vasodilation in humans: a comparison between cool and warm environments during leg exercise.

The aim of this study was to assess whether the three-compartment model of mean body temperature (Tb3) calculated from the esophageal temperature (Tes), temperature in deep tissue of exercising muscle (Tdt), and mean skin temperature (Tsk) has the potential to provide a better match with the thermoregulatory responses than the two-component model of mean body temperature (Tb2) calculated from Tes and Tsk. Seven male subjects performed 40 min of a prolonged cycling exercise at 30% maximal oxygen uptake at 21°C or 31°C (50% relative humidity). Throughout the experiment, Tsk, Tb2, Tb3, and Tdt were significantly (P < 0.

[Studies on structure of light degradation products of (-)-(S)-10-(1-aminocyclopropyl)-9-fluoro-3-methyl-7-oxo-2,3-dihyd ro-7H- pyrido[1,2,3-de][1,4]benzoxazine-6-carboxylic acid (T-3761) in aqueous solution and solid state].

The structures of light degradation products of (-)-(S)-10-(1-aminocyclopropyl)-9-fluoro-3-methyl-7-oxo-2,3-dih ydr o-7H- pyrido[1,2,3-de][1,4]benzoxazine-6-carboxylic acid (T-3761) in aqueous solution and in the solid state were investigated. In aqueous solution, ten products were detected using HPLC and in the solid state, one main product was detected. All these light degradation products were isolated and their structures were elucidated.

[Study of metabolism of T-3761 in animal].

The metabolism of T-3761 in mouse, rat, rabbit, dog and monkey was studied. Four metabolites, other than unchanged T-3761, were detected and identified as follows: T-3761 glucuronide; T-3761M1, adduct of glucose; T-3761M2 and T-3761M3, compounds metabolized at 1-aminocyclopropyl ring. In urine of mouse, T-3761 glucuronide was mainly detected, but in urine of other animals, T-3761 was mainly detected.