Publications by authors named "Kei Saito"

Objectives: Covered self-expandable metallic stents (CSEMS) are effective for managing malignant distal biliary obstruction (MDBO). However, migration is a significant problem, which requires prevention. The novel multihole fully CSEMS (MHSEMS), which features multiple small holes on the covered membrane, is expected to prevent migration.

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Somatosensory training, which involves repetitive somatosensory stimulation, has been employed to enhance somatosensory performance by modulating excitability in the primary somatosensory cortex. This process, known as perceptual learning, can benefit stroke patients with somatosensory deficits. However, its effectiveness in both healthy individuals and stroke patients has not been thoroughly investigated.

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Purpose: The aim of this multicenter retrospective study was to evaluate the impact of statin use on clinical outcomes in patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer (PC) receiving gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel (GnP) in a large Japanese cohort.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records including data on the use of concomitant medications in patients with unresectable PC receiving GnP between January 2015 and January 2019 at 10 hospitals. Prognostic factors for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated.

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Background: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is often performed in elderly patients for stone removal and biliary drainage following common bile duct stones or malignant biliary obstruction. Safety in ERCP should be considered in elderly patients due to complications and decreased activities of daily living (ADL), but there are no adequate pretest evaluation criteria. In recent years, the usefulness of the comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) for planning treatment and predicting prognosis has been reported.

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Paper-based packaging can offer a sustainable replacement for plastics. However, paper provides a poor barrier to water, oxygen and moisture. This study presents a novel renewable lignocellulosic composite made from a hydrophobic photo-reversible coating deposited onto a cellulose nanofiber film that has improved barrier properties and can be reprocessed.

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Background: Grating orientation discrimination (GOD) is commonly used to assess somatosensory spatial processing. It allows discrimination between parallel and orthogonal orientations of tactile stimuli applied to the fingertip. Despite its widespread application, the underlying mechanisms of GOD, particularly the role of cortico-cortical interactions and local brain activity in this process, remain elusive.

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Proton conductors have potential applications such as fuel cells, electrolysis cells, and sensors. These applications require new materials with high proton conductivity and high chemical stability at intermediate temperatures. Herein we report a series of new hexagonal perovskite-related oxides, BaAlSnO ( = Gd, Dy, Ho, Y, Er, Tm, and Yb).

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Unlabelled: Probiotics refer to living microorganisms that exert a variety of beneficial effects on human health. On the contrary, they also can cause infection, produce toxins within the body, and transfer antibiotic-resistant genes to the other microorganisms in the digestive tract necessitating a comprehensive safety assessment. This study aimed to conduct functional genomic analysis and some relevant biochemical tests to uncover the probiotic potentials of subsp.

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Haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) with posttransplant cyclophosphamide is an alternative treatment for aplastic anemia-paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) syndrome with poor prognostic factors. Ravulizumab treatment for PNH before HSCT might have a beneficial effect.

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The aim of this study was to clarify the effects of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) to the left cymba concha on the pain perception using nociceptive withdrawal reflex (NWR), which is known to be associated with chronic pain, and to investigate whether there is a relationship between taVNS-induced suppression of the NWR and parasympathetic activation. We applied either 3.0 mA, 100 Hz taVNS for 120 s on the left cymba concha (taVNS condition) or the left earlobe (Sham condition) for 20 healthy adults.

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Purpose: No studies of the relationship between grayscale sonographic findings and pancreatic fat content have been reported to date. This study aimed to investigate the correlation between echogenicity and fat content of resected specimens using quantitative analysis.

Methods: Forty-two consecutive patients who underwent pancreatoduodenectomy or distal pancreatectomy for pancreatic tumors were enrolled in this study.

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Article Synopsis
  • Hypotaurine, a key antioxidant found in fetal plasma and the placenta, is linked to fetal growth, particularly in ezrin-knockout mice where its levels are low.
  • The study measured the expression of hypotaurine transporters, particularly GAT2, in the placenta throughout mid-to-late gestation and discovered that GAT2 levels increased significantly in this period.
  • Results indicated that GAT2 is crucial for the uptake of hypotaurine from fetal circulation, primarily located in the syncytiotrophoblasts of the placenta, which could influence fetal development.
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  • Sarcopenia, the loss of skeletal muscle mass and function, affects survival rates in patients with biliary tract cancer, but its impact on overall survival is less clear.
  • A study of 386 patients used CT scans to measure skeletal muscle index (SMI) and skeletal muscle density (SMD) and found that patients with sarcopenia had shorter progression-free survival (PFS).
  • The research suggests that monitoring and improving muscular quantity and quality could be beneficial, emphasizing the need for nutritional and physical interventions in these patients.
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Background/aims: The sensitivities of endoscopic -papillary pathologic diagnosis of biliary tract cancer (BTC) are unsatisfactory. Recently, the diagnostic utility of the endoscopic scraper device, Trefle for biliary stricture has been reported. The Trefle can be guided to the target biliary stricture over the guidewire and is as easy to use as the conventional brush catheter (CBC).

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Proton conductors are attractive materials with a wide range of potential applications such as proton-conducting fuel cells (PCFCs). The conventional strategy to enhance the proton conductivity is acceptor doping into oxides without oxygen vacancies. However, the acceptor doping results in proton trapping near dopants, leading to the high apparent activation energy and low proton conductivity at intermediate and low temperatures.

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Properly patterned deposition of cell wall polymers is prerequisite for the morphogenesis of plant cells. A cortical microtubule array guides the two-dimensional pattern of cell wall deposition. Yet, the mechanism underlying the three-dimensional patterning of cell wall deposition is poorly understood.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates post-ERCP pancreatitis (PEP), aiming to create a predictive model to identify patients at risk for this complication during ERCP procedures.
  • - A nomogram was developed using data from 2224 patients, identifying five key risk factors for PEP, with endoscopic papillary balloon dilation being the most critical.
  • - The model demonstrated strong prediction accuracy, with a concordance index of 0.72, and showed that PEP occurred in 5.0% of moderate-risk and 14% of high-risk patients in the validation group.
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  • - The study investigates the effectiveness of a new cannulation strategy using balloon enteroscopy-assisted endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (BE-ERCP) for patients who have undergone Roux-en-Y gastrectomy, as traditional biliary cannulation can be difficult in this population.
  • - A retrospective review of 52 patients showed an overall biliary cannulation success rate of 96.6%, with different success rates for three scope positions: straight (48%), J-retroflex (28%), and the newly tested alpha-retroflex (24%).
  • - The findings suggest that the alpha-retroflex position is a feasible and safe addition to existing cannulation strategies for BE-ERCP, with no adverse events reported
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Article Synopsis
  • * Researchers evaluated bile samples from 113 patients and identified four up-regulated miRNAs that were significantly associated with PC and BTC, with miR-1275 showing particularly strong results in distinguishing these cancers from controls.
  • * A combination of bile cytology and the miRNA miR-1275 achieved a high sensitivity (77.5%) and perfect specificity (100%), indicating a significantly improved diagnostic capability compared to bile cytology alone.
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Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is an adverse event associated with gemcitabine administration. Gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel, which is now a first-line chemotherapy regimen for pancreatic cancer (PC), may increase the risk of ILD; however, large-scale clinical data on this are limited. Thus, this study aimed to elucidate the incidence and risk factors of ILD in patients with PC receiving gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel.

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The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plays a key role in tactile perceptual discrimination performance. Both transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) and anodal transcranial pulsed current stimulation (tPCS) have been shown to modulate neural activity in cortical regions. In this study, we aimed to determine whether tRNS and anodal tPCS over the left DLPFC would improve tactile perceptual discrimination performance of the right index finger in healthy neurological individuals.

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Tactile perception is a complex phenomenon that is processed by multiple cortical regions via the primary somatosensory cortex (S1). Although somatosensory gating in the S1 using paired-pulse stimulation can predict tactile performance, the functional relevance of cortico-cortical connections to tactile perception remains unclear. We investigated the mechanisms by which corticocortical and local networks predict tactile spatial acuity in 42 adults using magnetoencephalography (MEG).

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