Predictive factors for failure of neoadjuvant docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil therapy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Recently, neoadjuvant chemotherapy comprising docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil showed promising efficacy for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. However, some patients do not achieve curative resection despite neoadjuvant chemotherapy using these drugs. This study aimed to clarify the pretherapeutic characteristics of these patients.

Intraarticular Nodular Fasciitis of the Elbow Confirmed by Gene Fusion.

Nodular fasciitis is a benign, usually self-limiting myofibroblastic proliferation with a predilection for the upper extremities, trunk, and head and neck, and almost all of which harbor the fusion. Since nodular fasciitis is not widely recognized to arise within the joints, it may therefore cause diagnostic confusion in this uncommon setting. We report an unusual tumor of an 11-year-old patient who presented with a 6-month history of right elbow swelling and pain.

Early Postoperative Serum Lactate Levels Predict Anastomotic Leakage After Minimally Invasive Esophagectomy.

Background: Anastomotic leakage (AL) is a major complication after esophagectomy for esophageal cancer, and the significance of elevated postoperative lactate levels in the occurrence of AL is unclear.

Patients And Methods: We evaluated 583 patients who underwent minimally invasive esophagectomy for esophageal cancer. Serum lactate levels were measured immediately after esophagectomy and in the morning on postoperative days (POD) 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Adrenal ganglioneuroma with nodal metastases on I-MIBG SPECT/CT and F-FDG PET/CT.

Ganglioneuroma is a well-differentiated tumor originating from neural crest cells of the sympathetic nervous system. Although benign, a few cases have been reported that ganglioneuroma can metastasize to other sites. We report a case of adrenal ganglioneuroma with para-aortic nodal metastases with low FDG and MIBG uptake.

Esophagectomy for esophageal cancer in patients with a history of total pharyngolaryngectomy: a Japanese nationwide retrospective cohort study.

Background: Second primary esophageal cancer often develops in patients with head and neck cancer, and esophagectomy in patients with a history of total pharyngolaryngectomy (TPL) is challenging. However, the clinical outcomes of these patients have yet to be examined in a multicenter setting.

Methods: We evaluated the surgical outcomes of a nationwide cohort of 62 patients who underwent esophagectomy for esophageal cancer with a history of TPL.

Long-term safety and efficacy of daridorexant in Japanese patients with insomnia disorder.

Objective/background: The short-term efficacy and safety of daridorexant, a dual orexin receptor antagonist, has been demonstrated in Japanese patients with insomnia disorder. The objective of this study was to evaluate, in a non-overlapping patient population to the short-term study, the long-term safety and efficacy of daridorexant in Japanese patients with insomnia disorder.

Patients/methods: In this Phase 3 open-label study conducted in Japan, 154 patients with insomnia disorder were randomized to daridorexant 50 mg (n = 102) or 25 mg (n = 52) for 52 weeks.

"Bloomy rind sign" in varicella-zoster virus brainstem meningoencephalitis.

The bloomy rind sign, characterized by band-like abnormalities along the surface of the brainstem on magnetic resonance imaging without contrast enhancement, has been considered a specific imaging marker for leptomeningeal metastasis from lung adenocarcinoma. In this study, we describe the case of an 85-year-old male with a 3-week history of headache, fever, and progressive cognitive impairment. The patient was diagnosed with varicella-zoster virus brainstem meningoencephalitis and magnetic resonance imaging revealed hyperintensities along the brainstem surface on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery and diffusion-weighted imaging that mimicked a bloomy rind sign.

Conserved cysteine residues in Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus ORF34 are necessary for viral production and viral pre-initiation complex formation.

Unlabelled: Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV) ORF34 plays a significant role as a component of the viral pre-initiation complex (vPIC), which is indispensable for late gene expression across beta- and gammaherpesviruses. Although the key role of ORF34 within the vPIC and its function as a hub protein have been recognized, further clarification regarding its specific contribution to vPIC functionality and interactions with other components is required. This study employed a deep learning algorithm-assisted structural model of ORF34, revealing highly conserved amino acid residues across human beta- and gammaherpesviruses localized in structured domains.

Fully robotic side-to-side stapled anastomosis provides less anastomotic leakage than conventional minimally invasive approach in Ivor Lewis esophagectomy.

Introduction: This study evaluates surgical outcomes of minimally invasive Ivor Lewis esophagectomy (ILE) for esophageal and esophagogastric cancer, with the comparison of the robotic approach (RA) and the conventional minimally invasive approach (CA).

Methods: Selected patients who underwent minimally invasive ILE for esophageal cancer were included between January 2017 and December 2023. We retrospectively investigated the patients' background characteristics and the short-term surgical outcomes.

Anatomical factor associated with thoracic procedural difficulty in robot-assisted minimally invasive esophagectomy.

Background: Robotic surgical systems with full articulation of instruments, tremor filtering, and motion scaling can potentially overcome the procedural difficulties in endoscopic surgeries. However, whether robot-assisted minimally invasive esophagectomy (RAMIE) can overcome anatomical difficulties during thoracoscopic esophagectomy remains unclear. This study aimed to clarify the anatomical and clinical factors that influence the difficulty of RAMIE in the thoracic region.

Minimally Invasive Esophagectomy Provides Better Short- and Long-Term Outcomes Than Open Esophagectomy in Locally Advanced Esophageal Cancer.

Background: Minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) has been increasingly performed for locally advanced esophageal cancer in place of open transthoracic esophagectomy (OE). This study explored the significance of MIE for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), focusing mainly on the depth of primary esophageal tumors.

Methods: This study retrospectively assessed short- and long-term outcomes of patients who underwent esophagectomy for ESCC from 2005 through 2021.

Treatment strategies for insomnia in Japanese primary care physicians' practice: A Web-based questionnaire survey.

Background: It is unclear how primary care physicians manage insomnia after the introduction of novel hypnotics such as orexin receptor antagonists and melatonin receptor agonists. This Web-based questionnaire survey aimed to examine treatment strategies for insomnia in Japanese primary care practice.

Methods: One-hundred-and-seventeen primary care physicians were surveyed on the familiarity of each management option for insomnia on a binary response scale (0 = "unfamiliar"; 1 = "familiar") and how they managed insomnia using a nine-point Likert scale (1 = "I never prescribe/perform it"; 9 = "I often prescribe/perform it").

Treatment of sleep-related eating disorder with suvorexant: A case report on the potential benefits of replacing benzodiazepines with orexin receptor antagonists.

Background: Nocturnal eating behavior in patients with sleep-related eating disorder (SRED) is difficult to control and can become chronic, causing weight gain and psychological distress. Here, we report a case of SRED comorbid with major depressive disorder successfully treated by switching from brotizolam to suvorexant, that is, from a benzodiazepine to an orexin receptor antagonist.

Case Presentation: A 25-year-old woman complained of night snacking with partial/complete amnesia and sleepwalking for 1 year.

Blockade of CD80/CD86-CD28 co-stimulation augments the inhibitory function of peptide antigen-specific regulatory T cells.

Mixed lymphocyte culture under the blockade of CD80/CD86-CD28 co-stimulation induces anergic (completely hyporesponsive) T cells with immune suppressive function (inducible suppressing T cells: iTS cells). Previously, iTS cell therapy has demonstrated outstanding benefits in clinical trials for organ transplantation. Here, we examined whether peptide antigen-specific iTS cells are inducible.

Gastric conduit reconstruction after esophagectomy.

A high risk of complications still accompanies gastric conduit reconstruction after esophagectomy. In this narrative review, we summarize the technological progress and the problems of gastric conduit reconstruction after esophagectomy. Several types of gastric conduits exist, including the whole stomach and the narrow gastric tube.

Biochemical characterization of Bombyx mori Dicer-2 that dices double-stranded RNAs into 20-nt small RNA.

We detected enzymatic activity that generates 20-nucleotide (nt) RNA from double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) in crude extracts prepared from various silkworm (Bombyx mori) organs. The result using knocked-down cultured cells indicated that this dicing activity originated from B. mori Dicer-2 (BmDcr2).

Analysis of the interaction between the ORF42 and ORF55 proteins encoded by Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus.

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) causes Kaposi's sarcoma, primary effusion lymphoma, and multicentric Castleman disease. The tegument is a structure that is unique to herpesviruses that includes host and viral proteins, including the viral ORF42 and ORF55 proteins. Alphaherpesvirus tegument proteins have been well studied, but much is unknown regarding KSHV.

A prospective study of the association of weekend catch-up sleep and sleep duration with mortality in middle-aged adults.

Unlabelled: Health effects of weekend catch-up sleep (CUS) could differ depending on both the ability to obtain sufficient sleep during weekdays and amount of weekend CUS required to compensate for sleep lost during the week. Using data from 3128 middle-aged (40-64 years) participants of the Sleep Heart Health Study, we examined the longitudinal association of these two aspects of sleep with all-cause mortality. CUS was calculated as the difference in self-reported habitual sleep duration between weekends and weekdays, and classified into no, short (1 h), and long (2 h or more) CUS.

Structural features of T-DNA that induce transcriptional gene silencing during agroinfiltration.

() is used for the transient expression of foreign genes by the agroinfiltration method, but the introduction of foreign genes often induces transcriptional and/or post-transcriptional gene silencing (TGS and/or PTGS). In this study, we characterized the structural features of T-DNA that induce TGS during agroinfiltration. When cells harboring an empty T-DNA plasmid containing the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter were infiltrated into the leaves of line 16c with a GFP gene over-expressed under the control of the same promoter, no small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) were derived from the GFP sequence.