Global Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Stroke Volumes and Cerebrovascular Events: A 1-Year Follow-up.

Background And Objectives: Declines in stroke admission, IV thrombolysis (IVT), and mechanical thrombectomy volumes were reported during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a paucity of data on the longer-term effect of the pandemic on stroke volumes over the course of a year and through the second wave of the pandemic. We sought to measure the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the volumes of stroke admissions, intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), IVT, and mechanical thrombectomy over a 1-year period at the onset of the pandemic (March 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021) compared with the immediately preceding year (March 1, 2019, to February 29, 2020).

MR Fingerprinting for Liver Tissue Characterization: A Histopathologic Correlation Study.

Background Liver MR fingerprinting (MRF) enables simultaneous quantification of T1, T2, T2*, and proton density fat fraction (PDFF) maps in single breath-hold acquisitions. Histopathologic correlation studies are desired for its clinical use. Purpose To compare liver MRF-derived metrics with separate reference quantitative MRI in participants with diffuse liver disease, evaluate scan-rescan repeatability of liver MRF, and validate MRF-derived measurements for histologic grading of liver biopsies.

Serum vitamin D status inversely associates with a prevalence of severe sarcopenia among female patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Sarcopenia is an age-related disease with an increased risk of mortality. It is emerging that low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] affects the sarcopenic state in general, but in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), these associations are not understood although the prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency is high in RA. We conducted a cross-sectional study of older female outpatients from our cohort (KURAMA) database.

Impact of event-free survival status after stem cell transplantation on subsequent survival of patients with lymphoma.

We evaluated the impact of event-free survival (EFS) status at 24 months (EFS24) and 60 months (EFS60) after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) using registry data. Patients who underwent their first autologous HSCT (auto-HSCT) or allogeneic HSCT (allo-HSCT) for lymphoma between 1981 and 2018 were included. Overall survival was compared with that of the age-, sex, and calendar period-matched general population.

Habitual fish intake negatively correlates with prevalence of frailty among patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Frailty is a geriatric syndrome characterized by anabolic-catabolic imbalance and multisystem dysregulation resulting in increased adverse health outcomes, and is closely related with dietary habits in the general population. Although chronic inflammatory diseases are thought to accelerate development of frailty, correlations between rheumatoid arthritis (RA), frailty and dietary habits have not been examined. We performed a cross-sectional study using our cohort database (KURAMA cohort), and classified 306 participants into three groups (robust, prefrail and frail) according to the Study of Osteoporotic Fracture (SOF) criteria.

Blood-brain barrier permeability in Parkinson's disease patients with and without dyskinesia.

Objective: Recent studies on a rodent model of Parkinson's disease (PD) have raised the possibility of increased blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability, demonstrated by histology, autoradiography, and positron emission tomography (PET). However, in human PD patients, in vivo evidence of increased BBB permeability is lacking. We examined the hypothesis that levodopa treatment increases BBB permeability in human subjects with PD, particularly in those with levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID).

Efficacy and safety of tisagenlecleucel in Japanese adult patients with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Background: Tisagenlecleucel demonstrated a high rate of durable response in adult patients with relapsed/refractory (r/r) diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in the pivotal global phase 2 JULIET study. Here, we report the efficacy and safety of tisagenlecleucel in the Japanese subgroup.

Methods: JULIET (NCT02445248) is a single-arm, open-label, multicenter, phase 2 study involving adult patients with r/r DLBCL who either relapsed after or were ineligible for autologous stem cell transplant.

Alteration in the Plasma Concentrations of Endogenous Organic Anion-Transporting Polypeptide 1B Biomarkers in Patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Treated with Paclitaxel.

Paclitaxel has been considered to cause OATP1B-mediated drug-drug interactions at therapeutic doses; however, its clinical relevance has not been demonstrated. This study aimed to elucidate in vivo inhibition potency of paclitaxel against OATP1B1 and OATP1B3 using endogenous OATP1B biomarkers. Paclitaxel is an inhibitor of OATP1B1 and OATP1B3, with K of 0.

Transport characteristics of 5-aminosalicylic acid into colonic epithelium: Involvement of sodium-coupled monocarboxylate transporter SMCT1-mediated transport system.

5-Aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) is conventionally used as a first line drug for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Because 5-ASA is well absorbed in the small intestine, very high dose of 5-ASA is required to deliver it to the large intestine which is a target site. Interestingly, 5-ASA is reported to be transported into the large intestine as well as the small intestine via unknown transport system.

Hybrid emergency room system improves timeliness of angioembolization for pelvic fracture.

Background: Timely angioembolization (AE) is known to improve outcomes of patients with hemorrhage resulting from pelvic fracture. The hybrid emergency room system (HERS) is a novel trauma resuscitation room equipped with a computed tomography scanner, fluoroscopy equipment, and an operating room setup. We hypothesized that the HERS would improve the timeliness of AE for pelvic fracture.

Amidoxime Functionalization of Algal/Polyethyleneimine Beads for the Sorption of Sr(II) from Aqueous Solutions.

There is a need for developing new sorbents that incorporate renewable resources for the treatment of metal-containing solutions. Algal-polyethyleneimine beads (APEI) (reinforced with alginate) are functionalized by grafting amidoxime groups (AO-APEI). Physicochemical characteristics of the new material are characterized using FTIR, XPS, TGA, SEM, SEM-EDX, and BET.

Pazopanib interacts with irinotecan by inhibiting UGT1A1-mediated glucuronidation, but not OATP1B1-mediated hepatic uptake, of an active metabolite SN-38.

Purpose: Pazopanib is an orally active, multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor. A previous phase I study demonstrated that coadministration of pazopanib with irinotecan increases the area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) for SN-38, an active metabolite of irinotecan. To clarify the possible mechanism underlying that drug-drug interaction, we investigated the potential for pazopanib to inhibit UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT)1A1 and organic anion-transporting polypeptide (OATP)1B1, which are involved in detoxification and hepatic uptake of SN-38, respectively.

Afadin Facilitates Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-Induced Network Formation and Migration of Vascular Endothelial Cells by Inactivating Rho-Associated Kinase Through ArhGAP29.

Objective: We previously reported that afadin, an actin filament-binding protein, regulated vascular endothelial growth factor-induced angiogenesis. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the mechanisms of how Rho-associated kinase is activated in afadin-knockdown human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and how its activation is involved in defects of vascular endothelial growth factor-induced network formation and migration of the cells.

Amide Proton Transfer MR Imaging of Endometrioid Endometrial Adenocarcinoma: Association with Histologic Grade.

Purpose To evaluate the utility of amide proton transfer (APT) imaging in estimating histologic grades of endometrioid endometrial adenocarcinoma (EEA). Materials and Methods The institutional review board approved this prospective study. Between June 2012 and March 2016, 32 patients with EEA underwent magnetic resonance (MR) imaging.

Hypokalemia and Pendrin Induction by Aldosterone.

Aldosterone plays an important role in regulating Na-Cl reabsorption and blood pressure. Epithelial Na channel, Na-Cl cotransporter, and Cl/HCO exchanger pendrin are the major mediators of Na-Cl transport in the aldosterone-sensitive distal nephron. Existing evidence also suggests that plasma K concentration affects renal Na-Cl handling.

No pharmacokinetic alteration of docetaxel following coadministration of aprepitant 3 h before docetaxel infusion.

Purpose: Aprepitant, a CYP3A4 substrate, effectively prevents chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. Oral aprepitant 1 h before intravenous infusion of docetaxel does not change the pharmacokinetics of docetaxel. In practical combination chemotherapy, oral aprepitant is given 3 h before docetaxel infusion.

Purification and characterization of polyphenol oxidase from cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L.).

Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) of cauliflower was purified to 282-fold with a recovery rate of 8.1%, using phloroglucinol as a substrate. The enzyme appeared as a single band on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE).

Pharmacokinetic interaction study of sulphasalazine in healthy subjects and the impact of curcumin as an in vivo inhibitor of BCRP.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE An ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter, breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP)/ABCG2, limits oral bioavailability of sulphasalazine. Here we examined the effect of curcumin, the principal curcuminoid of turmeric, on oral bioavailability of microdoses and therapeutic doses of sulphasalazine in humans. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH Effects of curcumin were measured on the ATP-dependent sulphasalazine uptake by hBCRP-expressing membrane vesicles and on oral bioavailability of sulphasalazine in wild-type and Bcrp(-/-) mice.