Clinical significance of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms incidentally detected in patients with extrapancreatic gastrointestinal malignancies with a focus on pancreatic cancer development.

Background: Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm is occasionally detected in the preoperative images of patients with gastrointestinal malignancies. Despite numerous studies examining the incidence of extrapancreatic malignancies in patients with intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm, limited data exist on the prevalence of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm in those with gastrointestinal malignancies. Given that intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm is a known risk factor for pancreatic cancer, this study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm in patients who underwent radical surgery for extrapancreatic gastrointestinal malignancies and its impact on pancreatic cancer development.

Characteristics of virus and antibody response in an immunocompromised patient with persistent SARS-CoV-2 infection.

We have previously reported a clinical case in which a hospitalized patient with a history of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for acute myeloid leukemia was persistently infected with SARS-CoV-2. This study investigated the neutralizing activity of patient sera against cultured viruses isolated at each time point. We also continued to decipher and analyze the whole-genome sequence of the virus.

A Bridge to Curative Surgery for Obstructive Colorectal Cancer: Self-expandable Metallic Stent Decompression Tube.

Background/aim: Self-expandable metallic stent (SEMS) placement is becoming the standard bridge-to-surgery (BTS) strategy for potentially curable left-sided obstructive colorectal cancer (OCRC). The study objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of SEMS placement as a BTS strategy for both right- and left-sided OCRC.

Patients And Methods: We retrospectively compared the short- and long-term outcomes of patients with OCRC who underwent placement of a SEMS versus a trans-nasal/anal decompression tube (DCT).

An inflammatory paradox: strategies inflammophilic oral pathobionts employ to exploit innate immunity via neutrophil manipulation.

Inflammatory dysbiotic diseases present an intriguing biological paradox. Like most other infectious disease processes, the alarm bells of the host are potently activated by tissue-destructive pathobionts, triggering a cascade of physiological responses that ultimately mobilize immune cells like neutrophils to sites of active infection. Typically, these inflammatory host responses are critical to inhibit and/or eradicate infecting microbes.

Complete genome sequence of strain JM503A, a genetically tractable dental abscess clinical isolate.

is a pathobiont of humans that is often found in abundance at sites of mucosal inflammation as well as within malignant tumors. Here, we report the complete genome sequence of strain JM503A, which is a genetically tractable clinical isolate derived from a human odontogenic abscess specimen.

Association between Sense of Coherence, Disease-Specific Symptoms, and Health-Related Quality of Life among Japanese Patients with Ulcerative Colitis: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Introduction: We examined the associations among disease-related symptoms, health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and sense of coherence (SOC) in Japanese patients with ulcerative colitis (UC).

Methods: This cross-sectional survey involved patients and physicians at 23 hospitals specializing in UC treatment in Japan (December 2019-December 2020). Multiple linear regression analysis was performed using scores on the Mental Health and General Health subscales of the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey as outcomes and SOC as the main independent variable.

Mass spectrometry and split luciferase complementation assays reveal the MecA protein interactome of .

MecA is a highly conserved adaptor protein encoded by prokaryotes from the phylum. MecA mutants exhibit similar pleiotropic defects in a variety of organisms, although most of these phenotypes currently lack a mechanistic basis. MecA mediates ClpCP-dependent proteolysis of its substrates, but only several such substrates have been reported in the literature and there are suggestions that proteolysis-independent regulatory mechanisms may also exist.

Employing Cloning-Independent Mutagenesis of Parvimonas micra for the Study of Cell Wall Biogenesis.

The cell wall plays an important structural role for bacteria and is intimately tied to a variety of critical processes ranging from growth and differentiation to pathogenesis. Our understanding of cell wall biogenesis is primarily derived from a relatively small number of heavily studied model organisms. Consequently, these processes can only be inferred for the vast majority of prokaryotes, especially among groups of uncharacterized and/or genetically intractable organisms.

Virus evolution and reduced viral viability during treatment of persistent COVID-19 Omicron BA.5 infection in an immunocompromised host.

We present the clinical course of a 72-year-old female with COVID-19 and a history of hematologic stem cell transplantation for acute myeloid leukemia. We performed serial analyses of viral load and whole-genome amplification. The virus growth was evaluated by a real-time polymerase chain reaction assay.

Who is in the driver's seat? Parvimonas micra: An understudied pathobiont at the crossroads of dysbiotic disease and cancer.

Recent advances in our understanding of microbiome composition at sites of inflammatory dysbiosis have triggered a substantial interest in a variety of historically understudied bacteria, especially among fastidious obligate anaerobes. A plethora of new evidence suggests that these microbes play outsized roles in establishing synergistic polymicrobial infections at many different sites in the human body. Parvimonas micra is a prime example of such an organism.

Small and large intestinal cancer in patients with Crohn's disease studied by surgeons.

Purpose: The current study summarized the clinical course and treatment outcomes of intestinal cancer in CD seen in our department and explored the steps to take in the future.

Methods: Subjects were patients who had been diagnosed with CD at our hospital and who underwent surgery in our department from 1985 to 2020.

Results: Thirty-one patients had CD and intestinal cancer, including 6 with cancer of the small intestine and 25 with cancer of the large intestine.

Development of the First Tractable Genetic System for Parvimonas micra, a Ubiquitous Pathobiont in Human Dysbiotic Disease.

Parvimonas micra is a Gram-positive obligate anaerobe and a typical member of the human microbiome. P. micra is among the most highly enriched species at numerous sites of mucosal dysbiotic disease and is closely associated with the development of multiple types of malignant tumors.

[A Case of Anastomotic Stenosis with Reconstructed Small Intestine Mucosal Damage during Taking S-1 Orally after Gastrectomy for Gastric Cancer].

An 83-year-old woman underwent laparoscopic distal gastrectomy and Billroth Ⅱ reconstruction for gastric cancer. Since histopathological examination revealed that the lesion was Stage ⅢA, she had started taking S-1 as an adjuvant chemotherapy 7 weeks after gastrectomy. Seventeen days later after taking S-1 administration, she felt nauseous and self-interrupted.

The transcription regulator BrsR serves as a network hub of natural competence protein-protein interactions in .

Genome evolution is an essential and stringently regulated aspect of biological fitness. For bacteria, natural competence is one of the principal mechanisms of genome evolution and is frequently subject to multiple layers of regulation derived from a plethora of environmental and physiological stimuli. Here, we present a regulatory mechanism that illustrates how such disparate stimuli can be integrated into the natural competence phenotype.

Laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy for intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm-associated pancreatic cancer: A case report.

Introduction And Importance: Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) of the pancreas is often found incidentally during examination for other diseases. In addition to the risk of malignant transformation, patients with IPMN are at risk of developing pancreatic cancer. We report a case of pancreatic tail cancer that developed separately from a preexisting IPMN after minimally invasive esophagectomy for cancer of the esophagogastric junction and was resected successfully by laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy.

Group A Induced Activation of Human Plasminogen Is Required for Keratinocyte Wound Retraction and Rapid Clot Dissolution.

Invasive outcomes of Group A (GAS) infections that involve damage to skin and other tissues are initiated when these bacteria colonize and disseminate an open wound to gain access to blood and deeper tissues. Two critical GAS virulence factors, Plasminogen-Associated M-Protein (PAM) and streptokinase (SK), work in concert to bind and activate host human plasminogen (hPg) in order to create a localized proteolytic environment that alters wound-site architecture. Using a wound scratch assay with immortalized epithelial cells, real-time live imaging (RTLI) was used to examine dynamic effects of hPg activation by a PAM-containing skin-trophic GAS isolate (AP53RS) during the course of infection.

Live Cell Microscopy and Flow Cytometry to Study Streptolysin S-Mediated Erythrocyte Hemolysis.

The ability to induce hemolysis, the rupturing of erythrocytes with the consequent release of their intracellular contents, is a phenotypic hallmark of a number of microbial toxins. Streptococcus pyogenes or Group A Streptococcus (GAS) is a human pathogen responsible for a wide range of diseases from mild pharyngitis to severe conditions such as toxic shock syndrome. GAS produces a powerful hemolytic toxin called streptolysin S (SLS).

[Trajectory of evacuees' health condition after the Great East Japan Earthquake: Health survey of residents in prefabricated temporary housing and private rented housing in the Miyagi prefecture].

Objectives The Great East Japan Earthquake occurred in March 2011. As of November 2018, 1100 survivors of its still lived in the Miyagi prefecture's temporary housing. Previous studies revealed that the residential relocation to temporary housing from their own houses due to damages caused by the earthquake exacerbated the evacuees' health.

Anorectal cancer surveillance in Crohn's disease.

Objectives: One of the characteristics of colorectal cancer complicating Crohn's disease (CD) in the Japanese population is that it frequently occurs in the lower anorectal site. This study aimed to examine CD patients biopsied in the lower anorectal sites to investigate the significance and problems associated with this method of cancer surveillance.

Methods: Among 116 patients with CD duration of ≥10 years, we examined patients diagnosed with cancer using histological examination of the lower anorectal site (287 times).

Commensal Neisseria Kill Neisseria gonorrhoeae through a DNA-Dependent Mechanism.

The mucosa is colonized with commensal Neisseria. Some of these niches are sites of infection for the STD pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Ngo). Given the antagonistic behavior of commensal bacteria toward their pathogenic relatives, we hypothesized that commensal Neisseria may negatively affect Ngo colonization.