The sympathetic nervous system is crucial for responding to environmental changes. This regulation is coordinated by the spinal sympathetic preganglionic neurons (SPNs), innervating both postganglionic neurons and the adrenal gland. Despite decades of research supporting the concept of selective control within this system, the neural circuit organization responsible for the output specificity remains poorly understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) is a complex procedure involving the dissection of the superior mesenteric artery and vein. However, a safe and standardized technique for dissecting the jejunal veins (JVs) in the mesojejunum during PD remains elusive.
Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 198 patients who underwent open PD with mesojejunum dissection using an anterior artery-first approach and evaluated anatomical variations in the first JV trunk (FJVT) and its tributaries.
Selective vulnerability offers a conceptual framework for understanding neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease, where specific neuronal types are selectively affected and adjacent ones are spared. However, the applicability of this framework to neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly those characterized by atypical social behaviors, such as autism spectrum disorder, remains uncertain. Here we show that an embryonic disturbance, known to induce social dysfunction in male mice, preferentially impaired the gene expression crucial for neural functions in parvocellular oxytocin (OT) neurons-a subtype linked to social rewards-while neighboring cell types experienced a lesser impact.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRed meat and processed meat intake has been linked to increased risk of type 2 diabetes; however, evidence from Asia is limited and inconsistent. We prospectively examined the association of intake of total meat and its subtype with type 2 diabetes in a Japanese working population. Participants were 2709 workers aged 18-78 years who reported no history of diabetes when they responded to a health survey for the first time between 2012 and 2019.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn 87-year-old woman was hospitalized for liver abscesses and cholangitis due to common bile duct stones. She developed worsening anemia and abdominal pain. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography revealed an intrahepatic pseudoaneurysm and an arteriovenous fistula between the hepatic arteries and inferior vena cava.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe extracellular matrix (ECM) of cancer tissues is rich in dense collagen, contributing to the stiffening of these tissues. Increased stiffness has been reported to promote cancer cell proliferation, invasion, metastasis, and prevent drug delivery. Replicating the structure and mechanical properties of cancer tissue in vitro is essential for developing cancer treatment drugs that target these properties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Advanced primary care models are key in moving primary care practices toward greater accountability for the quality and cost of a beneficiary's care. One critical but often overlooked detail in model design is the beneficiary attribution methodology. Attribution results are key inputs in calculating practice payments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Biliary obstruction due to compression by a B-cell solid tumor occurs rarely. A few reports have described biliary reconstruction surgery for obstructive jaundice caused by Burkitt's lymphoma. However, there are no detailed reports on pediatric cases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe development of high-throughput anticancer drug screening methods using patient-derived cancer cell (PDC) lines that maintain their original characteristics in an in vitro three-dimensional (3D) culture system poses a significant challenge to achieving personalized cancer medicine. Because stromal tissue plays a critical role in the composition and maintenance of the cancer microenvironment, in vitro 3D-culture using reconstructed stromal tissues has attracted considerable attention. Here, a simple and unique in vitro 3D-culture method using heparin and collagen together with fibroblasts and endothelial cells to fabricate vascularized 3D-stromal tissues for in vitro culture of PDCs is reported.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Recent trials have shown that glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists considerably reduce atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Oxidative stress, a surrogate marker of cardiovascular risk, is associated with glucose variability. However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies have compared the effects of injectable semaglutide and dulaglutide therapies on oxidative stress and glucose variability assessed via continuous glucose monitoring (CGM).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJoint go and no-go effects (joint Simon effects; JSEs) are considered to have a stimulus-response compatibility effect on joint reaction time tasks (joint Simon task) caused by the presence of other people. Additionally, JSEs are known to be associated with various social factors and are therefore a potential clinical marker for communicative function; however, the relationship with the personality that is associated with communication skills remains unclear. In this study, we focused on the association between JSE and personality traits.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Although SARS-CoV-2 RNAemia has been reported to strongly impact patients with severe COVID-19, the clinical characteristics of patients with COVID-19 harboring detectable intracellular SARS-CoV-2 RNA remain unknown.
Methods: We included adult patients who had developed COVID-19 between February and September 2020. Total white blood cells derived from the buffy coat of peripheral whole blood were used to detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA using the Illumina COVIDSeq test.
Although mRNA coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines have been reported for high effectiveness against symptoms, it remains unclear whether post-vaccination infections are less symptomatic than infections in vaccine-naive individuals. We included patients with COVID-19 diagnosed by polymerase chain reaction tests during Japan's alpha and delta variant epidemics. COVID-19 symptoms at approximately 4 weeks were compared based on COVID-19 vaccination status.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe relationship between Holter electrocardiography (ECG) and atrial fibrillation (AF) diagnosis in the real world has not been widely evaluated in Japan.This is a claims-based retrospective study using a health insurance claims database provided by DeSC Healthcare Corporation. We identified patients with at least one Holter for any purpose during the data period from April 2015 to November 2020 and without diagnosis of AF before the tests (n = 19,739).
View Article and Find Full Text PDF: In Japan, freeze-dried live attenuated varicella-zoster vaccine BIKEN is available for adults aged ≥50 years to prevent herpes zoster (HZ). A prospective cohort study of 1200 healthy adults and 300 patients with underlying illness confirmed vaccine safety between 2016 and 2017. However, evidence of vaccine effectiveness (VE) is limited.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Caregivers of people with dementia frequently experience an elevated level of psychological distress and burden. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a group-format multi-component programme which is based on cognitive behavioural therapy and positive psychology.
Methods: Family caregivers of dementia were allocated (1:1) to the intervention group and the wait-list control group, stratified by age (<65 years, ≥65 years) and care status (at home or in an institution).
Cancer Immunol Immunother
April 2023
Adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) is a CD4-positive peripheral T cell lymphoma caused by human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1). Although ATLL is quite difficult to be cured, up-regulation of cellular immunity such as HTLV-1 Tax-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) has been proved to be important to obtain long-term survival. At present, no efficacious method to activate ATLL-specific cellular immunity is available.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSoft tissue regeneration remains a challenge in reconstructive surgery. So far, both autologous fat implantations and artificial implants methods used in clinical applications lead to various disadvantages and limited lifespan. To overcome these limitations and improve the graft volume maintenance, reproducing a mature adipose tissue already including vasculature structure before implantation can be the solution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Several psychiatric diseases impair temporal processing. Temporal processing is thought to be based on two domains: supra-second intervals and sub-second intervals. Studies show that temporal processing in sub-second intervals is mainly an automated process.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Motor dysfunctions, such as slower walking speed, precede the occurrence of dementia and mild cognitive impairment, suggesting that walking parameters are effective biomarkers for detecting early sub-clinical cognitive risk. It is often also concurrent with self-complained cognitive dysfunction, called motoric cognitive risk (MCR) syndrome. Our preliminary study found several walking parameters, obtained by a three-dimensional motion capture system, to be correlated with computer-based assessments of various cognitive function modalities, although the sample size was small.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Pancreatoduodenectomy is the standard procedure for duodenal carcinoma of the third or fourth portion. As an alternative option, we developed a novel segmental resection (SR) with partial mesopancreatic and mesojejunal excision (pMME) that enhances radicality. In this report, the surgical technique with video and outcomes are described.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe real-world effectiveness of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines in Japan remains unclear. This case-control study evaluated the vaccine effectiveness (VE) of two doses of mRNA vaccine, BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273, against the delta (B.1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIt is widely accepted that uptake and efflux transporters on clearance organs play crucial roles in drug disposition. Although in vitro transporter assay system can identify the intrinsic properties of the target transporters, it is not so easy to precisely predict in vivo pharmacokinetic parameters from in vitro data. Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging is a useful tool to directly assess the activity of drug transporters in humans.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) is a relatively refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma caused by human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1). The objective of this study was to investigate the characteristics of long-term survivors with ATLL.
Methods: We conducted an observational study of 75 aggressive-type ATLL patients.