The patient was a 51-year-old man who had undergone living donor liver transplantation for type B cirrhosis at the age of 37 years, and had a history of immunosuppressive drug use. He had developed focal seizures starting from his right upper limb, and MRI showed a lesion in the subcortical white matter of his left parietal lobe. Sensory disturbance and paralysis progressed in his right upper and lower limbs, and his brain lesion rapidly enlarged.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Epicardial connections between the right pulmonary vein (PV) and the right atrium have been reported.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of our new pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) strategy with identification of these epicardial connections.
Methods: Overall, 235 patients with atrial fibrillation were included.
Background: Endovascular thrombectomy is recognized as a pivotal treatment for acute ischemic stroke due to large vessel occlusion. Prolonged door-to-puncture time correlates with decreased patient independence after acute ischemic stroke. This study aimed to assess whether a streamlined workflow, including nurse recognition of conjugate gaze deviation, could reduce door-to-puncture time in endovascular thrombectomy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCryptochromes (CRYs) are multifunctional molecules that act as a circadian clock oscillating factor, a blue-light sensor, and a light-driven magnetoreceptor. Cry genes are classified into several groups based on the evolutionary relationships. Cryptochrome 6 gene (Cry6) is present in invertebrates and lower vertebrates such as amphibians and fishes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: An aneurysm arising in an upper basilar artery (BA) fenestration is extremely rare. The authors reported a case involving successful endovascular treatment of an aneurysm arising from the minor limb of an upper BA fenestration.
Observations: A 65-year-old woman presented with an incidentally detected upper BA aneurysm arising from the minor limb of an upper BA fenestration.
Aims: Fibrosis-4 index (FIB-4 index), calculated by age, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and platelet count, is a simple marker to evaluate liver fibrosis and is associated with right-sided heart failure. However, the clinical relevance of FIB-4 in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) remains unclear. We investigated the prognostic implication of the FIB-4 index regarding right ventricular dysfunction in patients with HFpEF.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRemote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) is a promising strategy for protecting against ischemic reperfusion injury. This study is a secondary analysis of a randomized study that aimed to evaluate the effect of RIPC on the early increase in serum creatinine (SCr) following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), which is associ-ated with contrast-induced acute kidney injury. Patients with stable angina undergoing elective PCI were assigned to control, RIPC, and continuous infusion of nicorandil (nicorandil) groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOur hospital serves as the main hub for eight remote island hospitals(RIHs)in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. The shortage of stroke physicians, which has led to overwork, is a major concern. Several "task-shifting" systems were adopted to avoid physician burnout.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAvian magnetoreception is assumed to occur in the retina. Although its molecular mechanism is unclear, magnetic field-dependent formation and the stability of radical-containing photointermediate(s) are suggested to play key roles in a hypothesis called the radical pair mechanism. Chicken cryptochrome4 (cCRY4) has been identified as a candidate magnetoreceptive molecule due to its expression in the retina and its ability to form stable flavin neutral radicals (FADH) upon blue light absorption.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOur hospital, located on the mainland, serves as a hub center for nine hospitals on the remote islands of Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. There are no stroke specialists on these islands. We can transfer emergency patients from these islands to our hospital at any time, using a teleradiology system and three types of helicopter transport.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Malondialdehyde-modified low-density lipoprotein (MDA-LDL) is a predictive marker of cardiovascular events in patients with stable angina pectoris. However, little is known about this marker in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). We investigated the prognostic relevance of MDA-LDL to cardiovascular outcomes in patients with ACS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA 46-year-old woman with a history of Graves' disease presented with the chief complaints of appetite loss, weight loss, fatigue, nausea, and sweating. She was diagnosed with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), thyroid storm, and influenza A. She was treated with an intravenous insulin drip, intravenous fluid therapy, intravenous hydrocortisone, oral potassium iodine, and oral methimazole.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA 69-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital because of a sudden severe headache without a history of head trauma. CT and MRI revealed an acute subdural hematoma (ASDH) extending from the right interhemispheric space to the posterior fossa bilaterally, with a small amount of subarachnoid hemorrhage that was predominantly localized to the left side of the basal cistern. CT angiogram demonstrated a long protruding ruptured aneurysm at the junction of the right internal carotid and posterior communicating arteries (IC/PC AN) with a posteroinferior projection, associated with a small bleb located near the tentorial edge close to the ipsilateral posterior clinoid process, for which she received clipping surgery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The presence of coronary artery calcification (CAC) and its severity predict future cardiovascular events and is used for risk stratification. However, the association of CAC with heart failure (HF) in patients without a history of coronary artery disease (CAD) remains unclear. This study aimed to determine the correlations of CAC with N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and HF events in patients without a history of CAD or HF.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cystatin C is an endogenous marker of kidney function that overcomes the limitations of serum creatinine. High serum cystatin C levels have been associated with increased cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to determine the associations between serum cystatin C levels and structural and functional cardiac changes in patients with stage 2 or 3 chronic kidney disease (CKD).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The aim of this study was to verify independent risk factors of pressure equalization problems associated with hyperbaric oxygen (HBO(2)) therapy.
Methods: We reviewed a single-institutional study of 1609 patients with 17604 treatments who had HBO(2) therapy in a multiplace chamber, in which the factors examined and their relationship to complications were assessed, using multivariate analyses, to determine the significantly independent risk factors of complications related to HBO(2) therapy.
Results: The compression rate was 0.