The association between microRNA-21 and hypertension-induced cardiac remodeling.

Hypertension is a major public health problem among the aging population worldwide. It causes cardiac remodeling, including hypertrophy and interstitial fibrosis, which leads to development of hypertensive heart disease (HHD). Although microRNA-21 (miR-21) is associated with fibrogenesis in multiple organs, its contribution to cardiac remodeling in hypertension is poorly understood.

Surfactant protein A as a biomarker of outcomes of anti-fibrotic drug therapy in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive and fibrosing lung disease with poor prognosis. Pirfenidone and nintedanib are anti-fibrotic drugs used for patients with IPF. These drugs reduce the rate of decline in forced vital capacity (FVC).

Prehospital characteristics, incidence trends, and outcome of emergency self-inflicted injury patients with gas substances: a population-based descriptive study in Osaka, Japan.

Aim: Little is known about the detailed characteristics of patients using gas substances for self-inflicted injury in prehospital settings. The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics, incidence trends, and outcomes of patients who used gas substances for self-inflicted injury in Osaka City, Japan, using ambulance records.

Methods: This was a retrospective observational study that used data from 2009 to 2015.

Strong Coupling of a Single Ion to an Optical Cavity.

Strong coupling between an atom and an electromagnetic resonator is an important condition in cavity quantum electrodynamics. While strong coupling in various physical systems has been achieved so far, it remained elusive for single atomic ions. Here, we achieve a coupling strength of 2π×(12.

Respiratory reactance in forced oscillation technique reflects disease stage and predicts lung physiology deterioration in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic progressive disease. Although pulmonary function test (PFT) is useful for evaluating the progression of IPF, obtaining adequate results in advanced cases can be challenging. Conversely, the forced oscillation technique (FOT) can be noninvasively performed, even in patients with severely deteriorated lung function.

Hypocomplementemia is related to elevated serum levels of IgG subclasses other than IgG4 in IgG4-related kidney disease.

Objectives: This study investigated the clinical features of IgG4-RKD patients with hypocomplementemia compared with those without it, so as to clarify the factors related to hypocomplementemia.

Methods: In this single-center retrospective study, we analyzed the clinical features of 25 patients with IgG4-RKD according to the presence/absence of hypocomplementemia. Additionally, we validated the results of a single-center study in a separate large multicenter cohort of 328 patients with IgG4-RD, and searched for factors related to hypocomplementemia.

Impact of nighttime and weekends on outcomes of emergency trauma patients: A nationwide observational study in Japan.

The impact of time of day or day of week on the survival of emergency trauma patients is still controversial. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of these patients according to time of day or day of week of emergency admission by using data from the nationwide Japan Trauma Data Bank (JTDB).This study enrolled 236,698 patients registered in the JTDB database from 2004 to 2015, and defined daytime as 09:00 AM to 16:59 PM and nighttime as 17:00 PM to 08:59 AM, weekdays as Monday to Friday, and weekends as Saturday, Sunday, and national holidays.

Blood Flow Pattern Analysis for Carotid Plaque Evaluation.

Background And Purpose: Previous studies suggested that turbulent flow is closely related to plaque vulnerability. Two-dimensional (2D) flow analysis is a novel modality that enables real-time blood flow analysis by picturing particle movement in the contrast medium. We evaluated flow patterns in the carotid plaque to investigate the correlation between blood flow and plaque vulnerability.

Derivation of Fluoroquinolone-Resistant Mutants from Multiple Lineages of Haemophilus influenzae and Identification of Mutations Associated with Fluoroquinolone Resistance.

is a pathogenic bacterium that causes respiratory and otolaryngological infections. The increasing prevalence of β-lactamase-negative high-level ampicillin-resistant (high-BLNAR) is a clinical concern. Fluoroquinolones are alternative agents to β-lactams.

Aberrant populations of circulating T follicular helper cells and regulatory B cells underlying idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Background: T follicular helper (Tfh) cells have been identified as a new category of helper T cells, which express CXCR5 on their surface and induce the production of antigen-specific antibodies. Many investigations have found morbid proliferation and/or activation of Tfh cells in systemic autoimmune and allergic diseases. It is also known that Tfh cells are regulated by regulatory B (Breg) cells in the deteriorating such diseases.

Activated circulating T follicular helper cells and skewing of T follicular helper 2 cells are down-regulated by treatment including an inhaled corticosteroid in patients with allergic asthma.

Background: CXCR5 T follicular helper (T) cells primarily promote B cells to produce an antigen-specific antibody through germinal centers (GCs). T cells exist in circulation, and circulating(c) T2 cells, a subset of cT cells, are able to help naïve B cells produce IgE in healthy individuals. Conversely, IL-10-producing regulatory B (Breg) cells inhibit an accelerated immune response.

Insufficient serum L-ficolin is associated with disease presence and extent of pulmonary Mycobacterium avium complex disease.

Background: The incidence of infectious disease caused by nontuberculous mycobacteria is increasing worldwide. Pulmonary Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) disease is difficult to treat with chemotherapy, and its mechanism of infection, infection route, disease onset, and severity remain unknown. Ficolins are oligomeric defense lectins.

Lessons from Vessel Wall Imaging of Intracranial Aneurysms: New Era of Aneurysm Evaluation beyond Morphology.

Recent basic studies have clarified that aneurysmal wall inflammation plays an important role in the pathophysiology of intracranial aneurysms. However, it remains an interdisciplinary challenge to visualize aneurysm wall status in vivo. MR-vessel wall imaging (VWI) is a current topic of advanced imaging techniques since it could provide an additional value for unruptured intracranial aneurysms (UIAs) risk stratification.

A strategy for improving the prognosis of non-occlusive mesenteric ischemia (NOMI): a single-center observational study.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine the prognostic factors of non-occlusive mesenteric ischemia (NOMI) and to examine treatment strategies that could improve its prognosis.

Methods: We retrospectively identified 30 patients who underwent emergency laparotomy for NOMI in Kansai Medical University Hospital (Hirakata, Japan) from April 2013 to December 2017. We examined prognostic factors related to discharge outcome and also examined the prognostic impact of open abdominal management and second look operation strategy (OSS) by dividing the patients into the non-OSS group and the OSS group.

A Novel Mechanism of Preferential Enrichment Phenomenon Observed for the Cocrystal of (RS)-2-{4-[(4-Chlorophenoxy)methyl]phenoxy}propionic Acid and Isonicotinamide.

A new entry of chiral anti-hyperlipoproteinemia drug is reported, showing an excellent preferential enrichment (PE) phenomenon which is not caused by a polymorphic transition during crystallization, but is proposed to occur by a novel mechanism involving partially irregular stacking of R and S homochiral two-dimensional (2D) sheets with a large dipole moment, followed by selective redissolution of one homochiral 2D sheet into the mother liquor during crystallization. The cocrystal composed of (RS)-2-{4-[(4-chlorophenoxy)methyl]phenoxy}propionic acid (CPPPA) and achiral isonicotinamide exhibited a substantial enrichment in the mother liquor up to 93 % ee by simply repeating recrystallization under nonequilibrium conditions using high supersaturation. Furthermore, the deposited crystals with low ee values obtained at the end of PE experiment were second harmonic generation (SHG)-positive, indicating the formation of homochiral domains in the deposited crystals, which reflects the proposed mechanism of PE.

Endovascular Revascularization Improves the Central Hemodynamics and Augmentation Index in Patients with Peripheral Artery Disease.

Objective To evaluate the effect of endovascular therapy (EVT) on the central blood pressure (CBP) and augmentation index (AIx) in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD). Methods The CBP and AIx were assessed by radial applanation tonometry the day before and the day after EVT. We compared the differences in the therapeutic effects between the stenotic and occlusive lesions and between the iliac and superficial femoral artery (SFA) lesions.

[Review of High-Risk Factors and Adjuvant Chemotherapy Indication in T4-pStage Ⅱ Colon Cancer].

Background: T4 is one of the high-risk factors, but the efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy for T4-Stage Ⅱ colon cancer are unclear.

Method: We retrospectively reviewed 211 patients with primary pStage Ⅱ colon cancer who underwent radical resection between 2004 and 2015.

Results: The 5-year overall survival rate(OS)of Stage ⅡA/ⅡB/ⅡC were 90.

Feasibility of rapid on-site cytological evaluation of lung cancer by a trained pulmonologist during bronchoscopy examination.

Objective: Rapid on-site cytological evaluation (ROSE) in bronchoscopy is a useful ancillary technique. ROSE is usually performed by a cytopathologist or cytotechnologist. However, because of staff shortages and reduced availability, ROSE cannot be performed in every hospital.

IgG4-related disease in the Japanese population: a genome-wide association study.

Background: IgG4-related disease is a newly recognised immunopathological entity that includes autoimmune pancreatitis, IgG4-related sialadenitis, and IgG4-related kidney disease. To understand the genetic landscape of IgG4-related disease, we did a genome-wide association study.

Methods: We did a genome-wide association study of Japanese individuals, initially screening 857 patients with IgG4-related disease at 50 Japanese research institutions and DNA samples from 2082 healthy control participants from the Nagahama Prospective Genome Cohort for the Comprehensive Human Bioscience.

DIpartite: A tool for detecting bipartite motifs by considering base interdependencies.

It is extremely important to identify transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs). Some TFBSs are proposed to be bipartite motifs known as two-block motifs separated by gap sequences with variable lengths. While position weight matrix (PWM) is commonly used for the representation and prediction of TFBSs, dinucleotide weight matrix (DWM) enables expression of the interdependencies of neighboring bases.