Impairment of Cognitive Function Increases Mortality Risk in Relation to Cardiac Sympathetic Denervation and Renal Dysfunction in Patients With Systolic Heart Failure.

Background: In contrast to the well-known prognostic values of the cardiorenal linkage, it remains unclear whether impaired cognitive function affects cardiac prognosis in relation to cardiac sympathetic innervation and renal function in patients with heart failure (HF).

Methods And Results: A total of 433 consecutive HF patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) <50% underwent the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and a neuropsychological test for screening of cognition impairment or subclinical dementia. Following metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) scintigraphy, patient outcomes with a primary endpoint of lethal cardiac events (CEs) were evaluated for a mean period of 14.

Safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and antitumor activity of adavosertib in Japanese patients with advanced solid tumors: A phase I, open-label study.

Introduction: We aimed to assess the safety, pharmacokinetic profile, and antitumor activity of adavosertib monotherapy in Japanese patients with advanced solid tumors.

Materials And Methods: This was a single-center, open-label, phase I study with two consecutive cohorts (250 mg and 200 mg cohorts). Patients received adavosertib at 250 mg or 200 mg, orally once daily for 5 days on and 2 days off for Weeks 1 and 2 of a 21-day cycle.

Peptide Cyclization by the Use of Acylammonium Species.

Although cyclic peptides have become increasingly important as drugs, the most conventional peptide cyclization method using moderately active coupling agents suffers from a lot of waste and high cost as well as long reaction times and burdensome purification. Herein, we report an unconventional approach to peptide cyclization that uses acylammonium species generated from inexpensive and less wasteful Me NBn and ClCO i-Pr. Using this approach, we observed the desired rapid activation of the C-terminus of cyclization precursors by an acylammonium ion for rapid and epimerization/dimerization-free cyclization of synthetically challenging peptides, including a difficult cyclization involving N-methyl amide bond formation.

Phase I Study of Tremelimumab Monotherapy or in Combination With Durvalumab in Japanese Patients With Advanced Solid Tumors or Malignant Mesothelioma.

Background: The primary objective of this phase I, open-label trial was to assess safety and tolerability of tremelimumab monotherapy and combination therapy with durvalumab in Japanese patients with advanced cancer. Tremelimumab is a fully human monoclonal antibody against CTLA-4 in clinical trials; durvalumab is a monoclonal antibody against PD-L1 for the treatment of bladder and lung cancer.

Methods: In part 1, tremelimumab 3 or 10 mg/kg was given every 4 weeks (Q4W) for 6 doses, and thereafter every 12 weeks until discontinuation (n = 8); subsequently tremelimumab 10 mg/kg Q4W for 6 doses/Q12W and thereafter until discontinuation was administered in 41 patients with malignant pleural or peritoneal mesothelioma (MPM).

Tolerability and efficacy of durvalumab, either as monotherapy or in combination with tremelimumab, in patients from Asia with advanced biliary tract, esophageal, or head-and-neck cancer.

Background: Agents targeting the programmed cell death-1 pathway have demonstrated encouraging activity across multiple solid tumor types. The dose expansion phase of this phase I study evaluated the safety, tolerability, and antitumor activity of durvalumab monotherapy, and durvalumab plus tremelimumab (an anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 monoclonal antibody) combination therapy, in patients from Asia with biliary tract cancer (BTC), esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), or head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).

Methods: Patients with advanced BTC, ESCC, or HNSCC with disease progression during or following ≥1 platinum-based therapy received durvalumab monotherapy (10 mg/kg every 2 weeks) or durvalumab plus tremelimumab (durvalumab 20 mg/kg every 4 weeks [Q4W] plus tremelimumab 1 mg/kg Q4W for 4 doses, followed by durvalumab 20 mg/kg Q4W).

Kounis syndrome caused by protamine shock after coronary intervention: A case report.

We report a case of Kounis syndrome that led to shock after protamine administration during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). A man in his 50s was admitted to the nearest hospital following the onset of acute myocardial infarction. Coronary angiography showed a single-vessel lesion in the left anterior descending artery (LAD).

Single-shot higher-order transport-of-intensity quantitative phase imaging using deep learning.

Single-shot higher-order transport-of-intensity quantitative phase imaging (SHOT-QPI) is proposed to realize simple, in-line, scanless, and single-shot QPI. However, the light-use efficiency of SHOT-QPI is low because of the use of an amplitude-type computer-generated hologram (CGH). Although a phase-type CGH overcomes the problem, the accuracy of the measured phase is degraded owing to distortion of the defocused intensity distributions, which is caused by a quantization error of the CGH.

Pupil-modulation ghost phase imaging.

Computational ghost imaging (CGI) allows us to reconstruct images under a low signal-to-noise-ratio condition. However, CGI cannot retrieve phase information; it is unsuitable for observation of transparent objects such as living cells. A phase imaging method with CGI architecture is proposed.

Single-shot higher-order transport-of-intensity quantitative phase imaging based on computer-generated holography.

The imaging quality of quantitative phase imaging (QPI) based on the transport of intensity equation (TIE) can be improved using a higher-order approximation for defocused intensity distributions. However, this requires mechanically scanning an image sensor or object along the optical axis, which in turn requires a precisely aligned optical setup. To overcome this problem, a computer-generated hologram (CGH) technique is introduced to TIE-based QPI.

Hepatocellular carcinoma with regional lymphadenopathy caused by sarcoid-like reaction: a case report.

Background: Sarcoid-like reaction (SLR) is a histological pattern of granulomatous inflammation that is clinically differentiated from sarcoidosis. Since SLR is known to occur in several neoplasias and occasionally causes lymphadenopathy and mimics metastatic malignancy, it needs to be considered whether lymphadenopathy is due to metastasis or SLR for the choice of cancer treatment. Few cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with SLR have been reported.

Rapid and Mild Lactamization Using Highly Electrophilic Triphosgene in a Microflow Reactor.

Lactams are cyclic amides that are indispensable as drugs and as drug candidates. Conventional lactamization includes acid-mediated and coupling-agent-mediated approaches that suffer from narrow substrate scope, much waste, and/or high cost. Inexpensive, less-wasteful approaches mediated by highly electrophilic reagents are attractive, but there is an imminent risk of side reactions.

Deep-learning-based binary hologram.

Binary hologram generation based on deep learning is proposed. The proposed method can reduce the severe effect of quality degradation from binarizing gray-scaled holograms by optimizing the neural network to output binary amplitude holograms directly. In previous work on binary holograms, the calculation time for generating binary holograms was long.

Multidisciplinary approach to assess the toxicities of arsenic and barium in drinking water.

Well water could be a stable source of drinking water. Recently, the use of well water as drinking water has been encouraged in developing countries. However, many kinds of disorders caused by toxic elements in well drinking water have been reported.

Deep ghost phase imaging.

Deep-learning-based single-pixel phase imaging is proposed. The method, termed deep ghost phase imaging (DGPI), succeeds the advantages of computational ghost imaging, i.e.

Transport-of-intensity phase imaging with polarization directed flat lenses.

A phase imaging technique based on the transport of intensity equation with polarization directed flat lenses is demonstrated. Transport-of-intensity phase imaging enables one to obtain a phase distribution from through-focus intensity distributions by solving the transport of intensity equation. In general, the through-focus intensity distributions are obtained by mechanical scanning of an image sensor or target object.

Demonstration of Improved Renal Congestion After Heart Failure Treatment on Renal Perfusion Imaging With Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasonography.

Renal congestion is a critical pathophysiological component of congestive heart failure (CHF). To quantify renal congestion, contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) was performed at baseline and after treatment in 11 CHF patients and 9 normal subjects. Based on the time-contrast intensity curve, time to peak intensity (TTP), which reflects the perfusion rate of renal parenchyma, and relative contrast intensity (RCI), an index reflecting renal blood volume, were measured.

Heat shock protein 70 is a key molecule to rescue imbalance caused by low-frequency noise.

A previous study showed that people living in urban areas are generally exposed to low-frequency noise (LFN) with frequencies below 100 Hz and sound levels of 60-110 dB in daily and occupational environments. Exposure to LFN has been shown to affect balance in humans and mice. However, there is no information about prevention of LFN-mediated imbalance because of a lack of information about the target region based on health risk assessment of LFN exposure.