Impact of concurrent antibody-drug conjugates and radiotherapy on symptomatic radiation necrosis in breast cancer patients with brain metastases: a multicenter retrospective study.

Aim: We aimed to investigate the impact of concurrent antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) and radiotherapy on symptomatic radiation necrosis (SRN) in breast cancer patients with brain metastases (BM).

Methods: This multicenter retrospective study uses four institutional data. Eligibility criteria were histologically proven breast cancer, diagnosed BM with gadolinium-enhanced MRI, a Karnofsky performance status of 60 or higher, and radiotherapy for all BM lesions between 2017 and 2022.

Association of the Number of Teeth With Physical Function and Length of Hospital Stay After Hip Fracture Surgery: A Prospective Observational Study at a Tertiary Hospital in Japan.

Objectives: Although lower-extremity muscle strength is associated with physical function, there are challenges in assessing the muscle strength of patients after hip surgery due to pain or limited cognitive function. The number of teeth is a characteristic that can be easily examined. Although the relationship between the number of teeth and physical function has been reported in recent years, there are no reports examining the relationship with prognosis in patients with hip fractures.

Correlations between intraplan and postplan parameters in I-125 permanent prostate brachytherapy using loose seeds or linked seeds.

The purpose of this study was to determine the most appropriate seed arrangement by comparing two different methods (linked seeds and loose seeds). A total of sixty-one patients (28 linked seed brachytherapy cases and 33 loose seed brachytherapy cases) with clinically localized prostate cancer were treated with I-125 permanent prostate brachytherapy. Modified peripheral loading was the method used for seed placement.

Benefits of mindfulness in academic settings: trait mindfulness has incremental validity over motivational factors in predicting academic affect, cognition, and behavior.

Background: Achievement motivation research has established that motivational factors predict academic affect, cognition, and behavior. Recent studies have shown that trait mindfulness might also predict these academic outcomes. However, it remains unclear whether trait mindfulness has incremental validity over motivational factors.

Superiority of sucrase-isomaltase to CD10 for immunohistochemical detection of intestinal absorptive cell phenotype in differentiated-type gastric adenocarcinoma.

Gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC) can be divided immunophenotypically into gastric, intestinal, or mixed gastric and intestinal phenotypes. Cadherin 17 (CDH17) and CD10 have been used as comprehensive markers for intestinal epithelial cells and for small intestinal absorptive cells in GACs, respectively. Sucrase-isomaltase (SI) and CD10 are expressed in small intestinal absorptive cells and SI is more frequently expressed than CD10 in gastric intestinal metaplasia (IM).

Predictors of Secondary Bladder Cancer in Patients with Prostate Cancer Treated with Brachytherapy: A Single-institution Study of a Japanese Cohort.

Purpose: The incidence of secondary bladder cancer after treatment for localized prostate cancer (PCa) remains unclear. In this study, PCa cases treated with brachytherapy (BT) were evaluated to assess the incidence of a second malignancy of bladder cancer in a Japanese cohort.

Materials And Methods: Overall, 969 patients treated with BT at our hospital between July 2006 and January 2019 were included in the study cohort.

Clinicopathological and prognostic significance of immunophenotypic characterization of endocervical adenocarcinoma using CLDN18, CDH17, and PAX8 in association with HPV status.

In 2020, the WHO published a new system for classifying invasive endocervical adenocarcinoma based on histological features and high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. However, immunophenotypes of each histological subtype require further investigation. We immunohistochemically analyzed 66 invasive endocervical adenocarcinomas using three cell-lineage-specific markers: claudin 18 (CLDN18) for gastric, cadherin 17 (CDH17) for intestinal, and PAX8 for Müllerian epithelial cells.

Periprosthetic Fracture Resembling Atypical Femoral Fracture After Fixation With Retrograde Intramedullary Nail in Elderly Women: A Report of Two Cases.

Background/aim: The number of individuals diagnosed with and requiring medical treatment for osteoporosis continues to increase due to global population aging and the high awareness of osteoporosis. Bone-modifying agents (BMAs) including bisphosphonate and denosumab are widely used for osteoporosis, and atypical femoral fracture (AFF) is also gaining attention as a severe potential side effect of long-term BMA treatment. The definition of AFF excludes periprosthetic femoral fracture; here, we describe two cases of a periprosthetic femoral fracture that resembled AFF.

Correlation analysis of the proportion of monocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells in colorectal cancer patients.

Monocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells (mMDSCs) are a class of immunosuppressive immune cells with prognostic value in many solid tumors. It is reported that the proportion of mMDSCs in the peripheral blood can be a predictive marker for response to cancer immunotherapy. In this study, we performed a correlation analysis of the proportion of mMDSCs in freshly-drawn peripheral blood, levels of plasma proteins, and demographic factors in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients, to find factors that could be used to predict mMDSC proportions.

Advanced cadaver-based educational seminar for trauma surgery using saturated salt solution-embalmed cadavers.

Aim: Senior surgeons in Japan who participated in "cadaver-based educational seminar for trauma surgery (CESTS)" subsequently stated their interest in seminars for more difficult procedures. Therefore, we held a 1-day advanced-CESTS with saturated salt solution (SSS)-embalmed cadavers and assessed its effectiveness for surgical skills training (SST).

Methods: Data were collected from three seminars carried out from September 2015 to January 2018, including a 10-point self-assessment of confidence levels (SACL) questionnaire on nine advanced surgical skills, and evaluation of seminar content before, just after, and half a year after the seminar.

Phase II study of ceritinib in alectinib-pretreated patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase-rearranged metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer in Japan: ASCEND-9.

Clinical experience of ceritinib in patients who progressed on alectinib is limited. In this prospective phase II study, we evaluated the activity of ceritinib in alectinib-pretreated patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-rearranged metastatic (stage IIIB/IV) non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in Japan. All patients were required to have ≥1 measurable lesion per RECIST, 1.

Apolipoproteins C-II and C-III as nutritional markers unaffected by inflammation.

Background: Rapid turnover proteins (RTPs), such as transthyretin (TTR), retinol binding protein (RBP), and transferrin (Tf), provide an accurate assessment of nutritional status but are susceptible to inflammation. Lipid-related markers, which have short half-lives in serum, may be better suited for nutritional assessment. We sought to identify sensitive nutritional markers unaffected by inflammation.

Phase 3 study of ceritinib vs chemotherapy in ALK-rearranged NSCLC patients previously treated with chemotherapy and crizotinib (ASCEND-5): Japanese subset.

Background: In the global, Phase 3, ASCEND-5 study, ceritinib improved progression-free survival (PFS) vs chemotherapy in patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-rearranged non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had previously progressed on crizotinib and platinum-based chemotherapy. Here, we report efficacy and safety in a subset of Japanese patients from the ASCEND-5 study.

Methods: Patients with advanced ALK-rearranged NSCLC received oral ceritinib 750 mg/day or chemotherapy (intravenous pemetrexed 500 mg/m2 or docetaxel 75 mg/m2 [investigator's choice], every 21 days).

HCN4 pacemaker channels attenuate the parasympathetic response and stabilize the spontaneous firing of the sinoatrial node.

Key Points: The contribution of HCN4 pacemaker channels in the autonomic regulation of the sino-atrial node (SAN) has been a matter of debate. The transgenic overexpression of HCN4 did not induce tachycardia, but reduced heart rate variability, while the conditional knockdown of HCN4 gave rise to sinus arrhythmia. The response of the SAN to β-adrenergic stimulation was not affected by overexpression or knockdown of HCN4 channels.

Fractional laser-assisted percutaneous drug delivery via temperature-responsive liposomes.

Liposomes are used for transdermal delivery of drugs and vaccines. Our objective was to develop temperature-responsive (TR) liposomes to achieve temperature-dependent, controlled release of an encapsulated drug, and use fractional laser irradiation to enhance transdermal permeability of these liposomes. TR-liposomes prepared using a thermosensitive polymer derived from poly-N-isopropylacrylamide, N,N-dimethylacrylamide, egg phosphatidylcholine, and dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine, delivered fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated ovalbumin (OVA-FITC) as a model drug.

Elderly-onset hereditary pulmonary alveolar proteinosis and its cytokine profile.

Background: Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is a rare lung disease characterized by surfactant accumulation, and is caused by disruption of granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) signaling. Abnormalities in CSF2 receptor alpha (CSF2RA) were reported to cause pediatric hereditary PAP. We report here the first case of CSF2RA-mutated, elderly-onset hereditary (h) PAP.

Transcutaneous drug delivery by liposomes using fractional laser technology.

Objective: Transdermal delivery of hydrophilic peptides remains a challenge due to their poor cellular uptake and transdermal penetration. We hypothesize that combination of a CO fractional laser to enhance percutaneous absorption and liposomes as transdermal carriers would improve skin penetration of hydrophilic drugs.

Study Design: NA.

Effectiveness of cadaver-based educational seminar for trauma surgery: skills retention after half-year follow-up.

Aim: In Japan, trauma surgery training remains insufficient, and on-the-job training has become increasingly difficult because of the decreasing number of severe trauma patients and the development of non-operative management. Therefore, we assessed whether a 1-day cadaver-based seminar is effective for trauma surgery training.

Methods: Data were collected from 11 seminars carried out from January 2013 to March 2014, including a 10-point self-assessment of confidence levels (SACL) for 21 surgical skills and an evaluation of the contents before, just after, and a half-year after the seminar.

Remitted epilepsy with dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor involving the thalamus.

Dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumors (DNT) are benign hamartomatous tumors characterized by intractable epilepsy and common localization in the supratentorial cortex, but thalamic involvement in DNT is extremely rare. A 2-year 4-month-old boy presented with intractable epilepsy due to a tumorous lesion in the frontal lobe expanding to the thalamus. Under chronic intracranial electrocorticography guidance, partial lesionectomy with adjacent cortical resection was performed, and the lesion was pathologically diagnosed as DNT, complex form.

Therapeutic effects of intra-articular ultra-purified low endotoxin alginate administration on an experimental canine osteoarthritis model.

Objective: This study aimed to elucidate the therapeutic effects of intra-articular administration of ultra-purified low endotoxin alginate (UPLE-alginate) on osteoarthritis (OA) using a canine anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT) model.

Design: We used 20 beagle dogs. ACLT was performed on the left knee of each dog and a sham operation was performed on the right knee as a control.

Thiol-reactive amphiphilic block copolymer for coating gold nanoparticles with neutral and functionable surfaces.

Nanoparticles designed for biomedical applications are often coated with polymers containing reactive functional groups, such as -COOH and -NH, to conjugate targeting ligands or drugs. However, introducing highly charged surfaces promotes binding of the nanoparticles to biomolecules in biological systems through ionic interactions, causing the nanoparticles to aggregate in biological environments and consequently undergo strong non-specific binding to off-target cells and tissues. Developing a unique polymer with neutral surfaces that can be further functionalized directly would be critical to develop suitable nanomaterials for nanomedicine.