Publications by authors named "Nakagawara K"
Background: Coronary artery calcification (CAC) detected through chest computed tomography (CT) strongly predicts cardiovascular events in asymptomatic individuals undergoing primary prevention. Few studies with limited sample sizes have investigated the predictive value of CAC for cardiovascular complications in COVID-19. This study examined the impact of CAC on cardiovascular complications using a large-scale COVID-19 database.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: We examined shifts in labor productivity and their economic ramifications among adult patients with long COVID in Japan.
Methods: A total of 396 patients were categorized into three groups based on symptom progression: non-long COVID, long COVID recovered, and long COVID persistent. Patient-reported outcomes were assessed at three time intervals: 3, 6, and 12 months after COVID-19 diagnosis.
Sectm1a Depletion Promotes Neutrophil Recruitment during Pneumococcal Pneumonia.
Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol
December 2024
Airway epithelial cells (AECs) play an essential role in the immune response during bacterial pneumonia. Secreted and transmembrane 1a (Sectm1a) is specifically expressed in AECs during early (SP) infection. However, its function remains largely unexplored.
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- The study aimed to explore how serum ferritin and KL-6 levels can predict severe outcomes in COVID-19 patients, like death or needing intensive care.
- Data from nearly 2,500 patients showed that different combinations of these markers were linked to different patient profiles and mortality rates.
- Notably, using both markers together was better at predicting critical outcomes than using either marker on its own.
Background: Antitumor effect of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells against solid tumors is limited due to various factors, such as low infiltration rate, poor expansion capacity, and exhaustion of T cells within the tumor. NR4A transcription factors have been shown to play important roles in T-cell exhaustion in mice. However, the precise contribution of each NR4a factor to human T-cell differentiation remains to be clarified.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: A short period of disuse of 1-2 weeks due to factors such as illness or injury can lead to muscle atrophy, affecting both athletic performance and health. Recent research has shown that uridine 5'-monophosphate (5'-UMP) can counteract disuse-induced muscle atrophy by increasing PGC-1α expression and inhibiting atrogin-1 expression. However, the effect of 5'-UMP on disuse muscle atrophy in humans remains unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Renal impairment is a predictor of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) severity. No studies have compared COVID-19 outcomes in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and patients with impaired renal function without a prior diagnosis of CKD. This study aimed to identify the impact of pre-existing impaired renal function without CKD on COVID-19 outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: No comprehensive analysis of the pulmonary sequelae of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Japan based on respiratory function tests and chest computed tomography (CT) has been reported. We evaluated post-COVID-19 conditions, especially focusing on pulmonary sequelae assessed by pulmonary function tests and chest CT.
Methods: For this prospective cohort study, we enrolled 1069 patients who presented pneumonia at the time of admission in 55 hospitals from February 2020 to September 2021.
Article Synopsis
- - This study investigated how CT scans measuring lung volume can predict serious outcomes in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, using data from 1,200 patients in 4 hospitals and employing AI to assess lung fields.
- - Results showed that patients with lower predicted total lung volume (TLC) had significantly higher rates of critical complications like bacterial infections and heart failure compared to those with higher volumes (14.2% vs 3.3%).
- - The study concluded that lower lung volume on CT scans is linked to worse outcomes and slower recovery in COVID-19 patients, highlighting its potential as a prognostic tool in clinical settings.
Article Synopsis
- Low Hounsfield unit values from vertebral bone CT scans indicate low bone mineral density (BMD), which is a risk factor for osteoporosis and potentially affects COVID-19 outcomes.
- A study examined 1,132 Japanese COVID-19 inpatients to see how low BMD relates to severe clinical outcomes, finding that patients with low BMD experienced more critical outcomes, especially during the first four waves of COVID-19.
- The research revealed that patients requiring oxygen during hospitalization had a significant decrease in BMD over three months, suggesting that low BMD can help predict severe disease in COVID-19 patients and may worsen over time.
T cell exhaustion impairs tumor immunity and contributes to resistance against immune checkpoint inhibitors. The nuclear receptor subfamily 4 group A (NR4a) family of nuclear receptors plays a crucial role in driving T cell exhaustion. In this study, we observe that NR4a1 and NR4a2 deficiency in CD8 tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) results in potent tumor eradication and exhibits not only reduced exhaustion characteristics but also an increase in the precursors/progenitors of exhausted T (Pre-Tex) cell fraction.
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- Muscle quantification via chest CT is shown to be a promising prognostic indicator for COVID-19 outcomes, focusing particularly on pectoralis and erector spinae muscles.
- A study involving 1410 COVID-19 patients revealed that lower muscle density, especially in the erector spinae, correlates with more severe disease and poorer outcomes, regardless of sex.
- Patients with low CT density in both muscle groups (Group D) faced significantly worse clinical outcomes compared to those with high density (Group A), highlighting the importance of these muscle parameters in assessing prognosis.
Article Synopsis
- * A study of 1656 Japanese patients identified rapid worsening of CXR findings—as indicated by increased lung infiltrates within 48 hours of hospital admission—as a significant risk factor for severe complications.
- * Factors contributing to this rapid deterioration include existing health conditions, elevated body temperature, and specific genetic variants, highlighting the importance of early detection and monitoring.
Article Synopsis
- * It found that 64.6% of patients had preexisting hypertension, which independently increased the risk of critical outcomes like death or needing intensive care (OR: 1.35).
- * Moreover, abnormal BP readings (either too low or too high) and elevated pulse pressure on admission were linked to severe outcomes, especially in those without hypertension, highlighting the importance of monitoring BP in COVID-19 patients.
Article Synopsis
- Chest CT imaging can calculate areas of epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) and abdominal visceral adipose tissue (Abd-VAT), which are linked to COVID-19 severity; EAT may serve as a better predictor than Abd-VAT due to its role in inflammation.
- A study aimed to investigate the relationship between various adipose tissue areas and COVID-19 outcomes, particularly focusing on EAT, using a multicenter database of patients and their chest CT images.
- Analysis of 1077 COVID-19 patients showed that those with higher EAT areas, especially those with known risk factors, had significantly greater severity of the disease, indicating EAT's strong association with COVID-19 outcomes.
Article Synopsis
- This study investigates the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in CT imaging to quantify pneumonia severity in COVID-19 patients and its ability to predict critical outcomes and lung complications.
- A total of 1,200 hospitalized COVID-19 patients were assessed, revealing that those with a higher percentage of lung lesions experienced significantly worse outcomes, such as the need for intensive oxygen support and higher mortality rates.
- Follow-up scans showed that patients with more severe pneumonia at admission and other factors like age and sex contributed further to the risk of ongoing lung issues post-discharge.
Article Synopsis
- * Data from 1200 enrolled patients showed a decline in symptoms over time, from 93.9% during hospitalization to 33.0% at 12 months, with those experience long COVID symptoms reporting lower quality of life and higher anxiety and depression.
- * Identified risk factors for long COVID included being female, middle-aged, requiring oxygen, and being in critical condition during hospitalization, providing valuable insights for future research in Japan.
Article Synopsis
- * After vaccination, 13.5% of patients experienced symptom improvement, 3.6% had worsening symptoms, while 82.9% saw no change in their long COVID symptoms.
- * The most common symptoms that improved post-vaccination were dyspnea and alopecia, but many symptoms like sleep disturbance and myalgia persisted, indicating that vaccination did not significantly impact long COVID for most patients.
Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) is considered a paramount microbe, especially in East Asia, including Japan. The commonly used commercial Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MIC) assay using Middlebrook 7H9 (7H9) medium deviates from the latest Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines. Alternatively, measurement with cation-adjusted Mueller-Hinton broth (CAMHB) that conforms to CLSI standards is not yet widely available.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInterleukin (IL)-6 is abundantly expressed in the tumor microenvironment and is associated with poor patient outcomes. Here, we demonstrate that the deletion of the suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3) in T cells potentiates anti-tumor immune responses by conferring the anti-tumorigenic function of IL-6 in mouse and human models. In Socs3-deficient CD8 T cells, IL-6 upregulates the expression of type I interferon (IFN)-regulated genes and enhances the anti-tumor effector function of T cells, while also modifying mitochondrial fitness to increase mitochondrial membrane potential and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and to promote metabolic glycolysis in the energy state.
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- The study investigates the relationship between COVID-19 and ABO blood group/genotype in a large Japanese population, including 1,790 patients and 611 healthy controls.
- Blood group A was found to be more common and blood group O less common among COVID-19 patients, while genotype OO was also less frequent in this group.
- Blood group AB was identified as a significant risk factor for severe disease, while blood group O appeared to provide some protective effect against infection.
Objectives: Although SARS-CoV-2 RNAemia has been reported to strongly impact patients with severe COVID-19, the clinical characteristics of patients with COVID-19 harboring detectable intracellular SARS-CoV-2 RNA remain unknown.
Methods: We included adult patients who had developed COVID-19 between February and September 2020. Total white blood cells derived from the buffy coat of peripheral whole blood were used to detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA using the Illumina COVIDSeq test.
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of baricitinib in COVID-19 patients, specifically its role in reducing the need for invasive mechanical ventilation and identifying which patient groups benefit most.
- Conducted by the Japan COVID-19 Task Force, it included 3309 patients across 70 hospitals, comparing those on baricitinib to matched controls.
- Results showed that baricitinib significantly lowered the need for invasive ventilation (9% vs. 18.8%) and was especially beneficial for patients requiring oxygen support or those with severe symptoms, despite similar ICU admission and mortality rates between groups.
Background: The long-term exercise tolerance changes in patients with nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTM-PD) are of great interest because of its chronic course. This study aimed to characterize the associations between changes over time in six-minute walking test (6MWT) parameters and clinical parameters in patients with NTM-PD.
Methods: Overall, 188 patients with NTM-PD, visiting outpatient clinics at Keio University Hospital from April 2012 to March 2020 were included in the study.