Effects of a Preoperative Psychological Expectation-focused Intervention in Patients Undergoing Valvular Surgery - the Randomized Controlled ValvEx (valve patients' expectations) Study.

Background: Many patients experience a reduced quality of life for months after heart surgery. Besides medical factors, psychological factors such as preoperative expectations influence the recovery process. The ValvEx study investigated whether an expectation-focused preoperative intervention before heart valve surgery would i) increase positive realistic expectations, ii) reduce preoperative anxiety and iii) improve the postoperative recovery process.

Limiting serine availability during tumor progression promotes muscle wasting in cancer cachexia.

Cancer cachexia is a multifactorial syndrome characterized by a progressive loss of body weight occurring in about 80% of cancer patients, frequently representing the leading cause of death. Dietary intervention is emerging as a promising therapeutic strategy to counteract cancer-induced wasting. Serine is the second most-consumed amino acid (AA) by cancer cells and has emerged to be strictly necessary to preserve skeletal muscle structure and functionality.

Efficacy and safety of filgotinib as induction and maintenance therapy for Crohn's disease (DIVERSITY): a phase 3, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial.

Background: There is a need for efficacious therapies for patients with Crohn's disease that are better tolerated and more durable than available treatments. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of filgotinib, an oral Janus kinase 1 preferential inhibitor, for treating Crohn's disease.

Methods: This phase 3, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial was conducted in 371 centres in 39 countries.

Rational design and synthesis of novel N-benzylindole-based epalrestat analogs as selective aldose reductase inhibitors: An unexpected discovery of a new glucose-lowering agent (AK-4) acting as a mitochondrial uncoupler.

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most frequent metabolic diseases associated with hyperglycemia. Although antidiabetic drugs reduce hyperglycemia, diabetic patients suffer from abnormal fluctuations in blood glucose levels leading to the onset of long-term complications. Aldose reductase inhibitors are considered a promising strategy for regulating the occurrence of diabetic-specific comorbidities.

Safety and efficacy of filgotinib in Japanese patients with rheumatoid arthritis: Week 156 interim results in FINCH 4.

Objectives: To describe safety and efficacy of filgotinib 200 or 100 mg (FIL200/FIL100) in Japanese patients with rheumatoid arthritis in a long-term extension (LTE; NCT03025308).

Methods: Patients who completed any of three parent studies (NCT02889796: inadequate response [IR] to methotrexate [MTX]; NCT02873936: IR to biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs; NCT02886728: MTX-naïve) without rescue therapy could enter the LTE; patients taking FIL continued their dosage, and those who received comparators were rerandomised to FIL200 or FIL100. This analysis includes week 156 interim results.