Acute esophageal necrosis after cellulitis in an obese patient with diabetes mellitus.

A 59-year-old obese Japanese man with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus presented with severe heartburn for 3 days after inguinal cellulitis and exacerbated glycemic control, without any signs of upper gastrointestinal bleeding. The patient had a high plasma glucose level (34.0 mmol/L) and was dehydrated.

Ultrafast thermal-free photoluminescence of coherently extended single quantum states.

The coherent volume of single quantum states of matter is typically smaller than that of photons by several orders of magnitude, and hence, interactions between photons and single quantum states are normally very weak. This limits the speed of radiative decay of matter states in free space. Recent efforts to speed-up radiative processes have been focused on creating a small mode volume of photons using cavity systems, or on realizing spontaneous synchronization among quantum emitters to create a dipole at the macroscopic scale, which accelerates photon emission up to a couple of hundred femtoseconds.

Safety and Efficacy of Nivolumab in Patients With Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma and End-stage Renal Disease at 2 Centers.

Introduction: There is scarce information regarding nivolumab treatment for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). This study investigated the safety and efficacy of nivolumab in patients with mRCC and ESRD.

Materials And Methods: This 2-center retrospective study evaluated 62 patients who were administered nivolumab for mRCC between June 2013 and August 2018.

Synergetic Enhancement of Light-Matter Interaction by Nonlocality and Band Degeneracy in ZnO Thin Films.

This study aims to reveal the full potential of ZnO as an ultrafast photofunctional material. Based on nonlocal response theory to incorporate the spatially inhomogeneous quality of the samples coupled with experimental observations of linear and nonlinear optical responses, we establish the ultrafast radiative decay of excitons in ZnO thin films that reaches the speed of excitonic dephasing at room temperature in typical semiconductors at a couple tens of femtoseconds. The consistency between the observed delay-time dependence of the transient-grating signals and the theoretical prediction reveals that the ultrafast radiative decay is due to the synergetic effects of the giant light-exciton interaction volume and the radiative coupling between multicomponent excitons.

Risk of Deterioration of Geriatric Traumatic Brain Injury in Patients Treated with Antithrombotic Drugs.

Objective: Developed countries have rapidly aging populations and the use of antithrombotic drugs is increasing. We investigated the effects of antithrombotic drugs and reversal of these drugs in patients with geriatric traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Methods: Age, sex, mechanism of injury, Glasgow Coma Scale on admission, head computed tomography findings, antithrombotic therapy, acute exacerbation, and outcomes at discharge were examined in 711 patients with geriatric TBI, complicated with traumatic intracranial hemorrhage using data from the Japan Neurotrauma Data Bank Project 2015 (JNTDB P2015).

Primed histone demethylation regulates shoot regenerative competency.

Acquisition of pluripotency by somatic cells is a striking process that enables multicellular organisms to regenerate organs. This process includes silencing of genes to erase original tissue memory and priming of additional cell type specification genes, which are then poised for activation by external signal inputs. Here, through analysis of genome-wide histone modifications and gene expression profiles, we show that a gene priming mechanism involving LYSINE-SPECIFIC DEMETHYLASE 1-LIKE 3 (LDL3) specifically eliminates H3K4me2 during formation of the intermediate pluripotent cell mass known as callus derived from Arabidopsis root cells.

Association between immune-related adverse events and prognosis in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with nivolumab.

Objectives: Immune-related adverse events (irAEs) develop in a subset of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors. The relationship between presence of irAEs and prognosis in these patients remains unknown. Thus, we evaluated the prognostic impact of irAEs caused by nivolumab therapy in mRCC patients who had received prior molecular-targeted therapies.

Prognostic Markers for Refined Stratification of IMDC Intermediate-Risk Metastatic Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma Treated with First-Line Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Therapy.

Background: Patients in the International Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Database Consortium (IMDC) intermediate-risk group have heterogeneous prognoses and thus may benefit from improved risk stratification.

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze inflammatory parameters such as C-reactive protein (CRP) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as prognostic markers for IMDC intermediate-risk patients.

Methods: Patients with metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (n = 71) with IMDC intermediate risk who received tyrosine kinase inhibitors as first-line therapy were included in this retrospective study.

Efficacy of axitinib in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma refractory to nivolumab therapy.

We reviewed the clinical efficacy of axitinib after nivolumab treatment failure in six patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC); the patients had received nivolumab treatment following vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) inhibitors. Most had undergone radical nephrectomy; five had clear-cell carcinoma and acquired cystic disease-associated carcinoma. The patients were finally diagnosed with progressive disease during nivolumab treatment.

Impact of Frailty on Medium-Term Outcome in Asymptomatic Patients After Carotid Artery Stenting.

Objective: There are few reports on the relationship between carotid artery stenting (CAS) and frailty. In this study, medium-term outcome after CAS in patients with asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis was examined to see the effect of frailty itself.

Methods: A retrospective study was performed in 71 consecutive patients who were treated with CAS for asymptomatic lesions from January 2007 to June 2014.

Prolyl Isomerase Pin1 Suppresses Thermogenic Programs in Adipocytes by Promoting Degradation of Transcriptional Co-activator PRDM16.

Non-shivering thermogenesis in adipocytes provides defense against low temperatures and obesity development, but the underlying regulatory mechanism remains to be fully clarified. Based on both markedly increased Pin1 expression in states of excess nutrition and resistance to obesity development in Pin1 null mice, we speculated that adipocyte Pin1 may play a role in thermogenic programs. Adipose-specific Pin1 knockout (adPin1 KO) mice showed enhanced transcription of thermogenic genes and tolerance to hypothermia when exposed to cold.

Correlation between the magnitude of best tumor response and patient survival in nivolumab therapy for metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

The correlation between the magnitudes of best tumor response (bTR) and patient survival in immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) remains unclear. In this article, we retrospectively investigated the prognostic association of the magnitude of bTR in nivolumab therapy for mRCC. Fifty-five patients treated with nivolumab after failure of at least one molecular-targeted therapy were evaluated.

Efficacy and safety of ipragliflozin as add-on therapy to insulin in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (IOLITE): a 36-week, open-label extension of a 16-week, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study.

Objective: To examine long-term efficacy/safety of ipragliflozin, a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor, added to ongoing insulin therapy in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: We conducted a 36-week, open-label extension of ipragliflozin therapy following a 16-week, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind period (treatment periods II and I, respectively). Prior to the open-label period, patients taking insulin with/without a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor were randomized to receive placebo or 50 mg once-daily ipragliflozin.

β-Hydroxy-β-methyl Butyrate/L-Arginine/L-Glutamine Supplementation for Preventing Hand-Foot Skin Reaction in Sorafenib for Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Background/aim: Sorafenib is standard treatment for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Hand-foot skin reaction (HFSR) is a notorious side-effect of this therapy. This study evaluated prophylactic benefits of an oral nutritional supplement (ONS) on sorafenib-associated HFSR in advanced HCC.

Kinetics of cytokine mRNA and protein expression by plastic adherent cells in the thymus after split-dose irradiation.

Whole body irradiation causes significant apoptosis in various tissues such as the thymus. If apoptotic cells outnumber the phagocytic capacity of macrophages, apoptosis becomes secondary necrosis, inducing inflammatory cytokine expression in macrophages. Radiation also induces thymic lymphomas in C57BL/6 mice after four consecutive irradiations with 1.

Elsberg syndrome related to varicella zoster virus infection with painless skin lesions in an elderly woman with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) are at increased risk of infections, with the urinary tract being the most frequent infection site. Incomplete bladder emptying, frequent urination and abdominal distension are typical symptoms of urinary tract infections (UTIs). A 68-year-old female with a long history of poorly controlled type 2 DM (T2DM) visited our hospital complaining of urinary retention, which was initially diagnosed as cystitis by another doctor.

Identification and Evaluation of the Face System of a Child Android Robot Affetto for Surface Motion Design.

Faces of android robots are one of the most important interfaces to communicate with humans quickly and effectively, as they need to match the expressive capabilities of the human face, it is no wonder that they are complex mechanical systems containing inevitable non-linear and hysteresis elements derived from their non-rigid components. Identifying the input-output response properties of this complex system is necessary to design surface deformations accurately and precisely. However, to date, android faces have been used without careful system identification and thus remain black boxes.

Cilostazol decreases duration of spreading depolarization and spreading ischemia after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Objective: Traditionally, angiographic vasospasm (aVS) has been thought to cause delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH). However, successful treatment of aVS alone does not result in improved neurological outcome. Therefore, there may be other potential causes of poor neurological outcome, including spreading depolarization (SD).

Effect of Changes in Skeletal Muscle Mass on Oncological Outcomes During First-Line Sunitinib Therapy for Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma.

Background: Sarcopenia is a state of degenerative skeletal muscle wasting induced by cancer cachexia.

Objective: To evaluate the prognostic impact of changes in skeletal muscle mass (SMM) during first-line sunitinib therapy on oncological outcomes in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC).

Patients And Methods: Sixty-nine patients were evaluated retrospectively.

Cerebral infarction associated with benign mucin-producing adenomyosis: report of two cases.

Background: Cerebral infarction associated with a malignant tumor is widely recognized as Trousseau syndrome. In contrast, few cases of cerebral infarction associated with benign tumors have been reported. We present two cases of embolic stroke that seemed to be caused by mucin-producing adenomyosis.

Immediate Progressive Disease in Patients with Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Treated with Nivolumab: a Multi-Institution Retrospective Study.

Background: Investigations on rapid disease progression in patients with urologic malignancies treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors are currently lacking.

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess cases of rapid disease progression/immediate development of progressive disease (immediate PD) in patients with pretreated metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) treated with nivolumab.

Patients And Methods: Forty patients were retrospectively evaluated.

DNA methylation marker to estimate the breast cancer cell fraction in DNA samples.

Estimation of the cancer cell fraction in breast cancer tissue is important for exclusion of samples unsuitable for multigene prognostic assays and a variety of molecular analyses for research. Here, we aimed to establish a breast cancer cell fraction marker based on DNA methylation. First, we screened genes unmethylated in non-cancerous mammary tissues and methylated in breast cancer tissues using microarray data from the TCGA database, and isolated 12 genes.