Predicting diagnoses from illness experiences with common cold symptoms before physician consultation: a mixed-methods research.

Objectives: We aimed to explore whether patients' illness experiences with common cold symptoms could help with predicting the final diagnosis before consultation.

Design: Exploratory sequential design of mixed methods: Qualitative and quantitative studies used inductive qualitative content analysis and multinomial regression analysis, respectively.

Setting: Consecutive patients at the primary care clinic of a general hospital.

Why does activated partial thromboplastin time prolongation occur in severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome?

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is caused by infection with SFTS virus and this mortality rate is 16.2% to 30%. An 85-year-old male patient presented to the emergency department of the hospital with primary complaints of fever and consciousness disturbance.

Effect of probiotics during vonoprazan-containing triple therapy on gut microbiota in Helicobacter pylori infection: A randomized controlled trial.

Background: Probiotics are beneficial to patients with Helicobacter pylori infections by modulating the gut microbiota. Biofermin-R (BFR) is a multiple antibiotic-resistant lactic acid bacteria preparation of Enterococcus faecium 129 BIO 3B-R and is effective in normalizing the gut microbiota when used in combination with antibiotics. This study aimed to determine the effect of BFR in combination with vonoprazan (VPZ)-based therapy on gut microbiota.

A computer support system for neurological anatomical diagnosis.

Objectives: Accurate neurological diagnoses are often difficult to make due to the complexity of the neuroanatomy involved. This study was performed to evaluate the usefulness of a computer system with easily retrievable anatomical information as a support for arriving at more accurate anatomic diagnoses.

Patients And Methods: Anatomical information from an initial physical examination was programmed into a computer with stored neuroanatomical charts of the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves.

[Computer supporting system of neurological topodiagnosis].

Neurological topodiagnosis has some considerable difficulties because of the complex anatomy involved. One answer to this problem is making a computer system able to map the pathways responsible for the patients' symptoms and also able to pinpoint the causative lesions. We introduced a new computer system for such purpose.

Inhibitory effects of safe and novel SOD derivatives, galactosylated-SOD, on hepatic warm ischemia/reperfusion injury in pigs.

Background/aims: Oxygen-derived free radicals such as superoxide play an important role in ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury during and after extensive liver surgery or liver transplantation. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) has protective effects against hepatic IR injury. The effect of native SOD is, however, limited because of rapid elimination from the blood circulation and poor affinity for liver cells.

Successful treatment of bleeding due to ileal varices in a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma.

This case report concerns a 62-year-old female who was known to have cirrhosis. An endoscopic examination showed no evidence of haemorrhaging due to either oesophageal or gastric varices. Angiographic studies demonstrated extravasation from the ileal varices.

Transcatheter arterial embolization for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma resulting in a curative resection: report of two cases.

Transcatheter hepatic arterial embolization and lipiodolization have been reported to be effective palliative treatments for patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma. We experienced 2 patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma which were initially considered to be unresectable due to the extreme extension of the primary lesions. Therefore, transcatheter hepatic arterial embolization with lipiodolization were selected as the treatments of choice.

Antibody studies of factor VIII inhibitor in a case with Waldenström's macroglobulinemia.

We report a case of Waldenström's macroglobulinemia with prominent bleeding tendency; laboratory investigation revealed an elevated activated partial thromboplastin time. Further laboratory evaluation showed circulating factor VIII anticoagulant, deemed polyclonal IgG, with a titer of 700 Bethesda Units/ml. The factor VIII inactivation kinetics of the patient plasma were identical to those of a type II inhibitor, and the inhibitor was found to recognize the A2 domain of the factor VIII heavy chain.

The significance of measuring the serum total bile acids levels during orthotopic liver transplantation.

Background/aims: Bile acid is confined to the enterohepatic circulation and consists of intestinal absorption and hepatic elimination. We investigated whether measuring the serum total bile acids (TBA) levels was useful for both evaluating the function of the grafted liver and predicting the outcome in porcine orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT).

Methodology: Twenty-two female Yorkshire pigs undergoing OLT were divided into 2 groups as follows: Group A consisted of 11 pigs which survived over 7 days with an uneventful early post-operative course, while Group B consisted of 11 pigs which died within 5 days due to hepatic failure.

Utility of technetium-99m-labeled-galactosyl human serum albumin scintigraphy for estimating the hepatic functional reserve.

Technetium-99m-diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid-galactosyl-human serum albumin (Tc-GSA) is a receptor binding agent, specific for asialoglycoprotein receptor, that resides exclusively on the plasma membrane of mammalian hepatocytes. The usefulness of Tc-GSA for estimating the hepatic functional reserve was retrospectively evaluated in patients undergoing a hepatic resection. Tc-GSA scintigraphy was performed in 35 patients before hepatectomy, and the hepatic uptake ratio (LHL15) was calculated.

Systematic laparoscopic left lateral segmentectomy of the liver for hepatocellular carcinoma.

A systematic technique for the resection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) prevents the dissemination of cancer cells through the portal vein of the remnant liver. We successfully performed a systematic laparoscopic left lateral segmentectomy in a 62-year-old man with HCC. The tumor was located in the left lateral segment of the liver, and measured approximately 4 cm in diameter.

Primary leiomyosarcoma of the jejunal mesentery: report of a case.

The occurrence of a primary leiomyosarcoma of the mesentery is rare. A 61-year-old man was admitted to the hospital complaining of an abdominal mass. The findings of both abdominal ultrasonography and a computed tomography (CT) scan revealed an irregular and heterogeneous mass located in the mesentery.

Preventive effects of superoxide dismutase derivatives modified with monosaccharides on reperfusion injury in rat liver transplantation.

Background: Superoxide dismutase (SOD) derivatives modified with monosaccharides such as mannosylated SOD (Man-SOD) and galactosylated SOD (Gal-SOD) are taken up by parenchymal and nonparenchymal cells of the liver, respectively, via receptor-mediated endocytosis. We examined the preventive effects of Man- or Gal-SOD on cold ischemia-reperfusion injury in orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) in rats.

Methods: Male Lewis rats underwent OLT.

A case of hepatocellular carcinoma with marked hyperfibrinogenemia.

The present report concerns a case of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with marked hyperfibrinogenemia. The plasma fibrinogen level reached as high as 1,704 mg/dl. Since treatment against HCC resulted in reduction of plasma fibrinogen and PIVKA-II, an HCC marker, the hyperfibrinogenemia appears to be related to HCC.

Indocyanine green elimination test in orthotopic liver recipients.

Objective: To determine its predictive capability on graft quality and resultant clinical outcome, the indocyanine green (ICG) elimination test was performed by a spectrophotometric method and a noninvasive finger-piece method with 50 orthotopic liver transplantations.

Background: Early detection of poor-functioning hepatic grafts is one of the most important issues in liver transplantation, but no reliable methods exist.

Methods: The ICG test was performed after 50 orthotopic liver transplantations on postoperative days 1, 3, and 7.