A Web-Based Education Program About Primary Palliative Care for Heart Failure: A Study Protocol of Wait-Listed Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: The number of patients with heart failure (HF) is rapidly increasing as palliative care is being integrated into HF management and the need for a nursing workforce to meet these demands grows. To address this, we have developed a Web-based educational program on primary palliative care for HF among general registered nurses caring for patients with HF in Japan.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the program's effectiveness on nurse-reported palliative care practice, difficulty, and knowledge.

Perspectives of hospitalized heart failure patients: preferred and perceived participation roles in treatment decisions.

Shared decision-making (SDM) is a pivotal process in seeking optimal individual treatment and incorporating clinical evidence and patients' autonomous preferences. However, patients' actual attitudes toward participation in decision-making for state-of-the-art heart failure (HF) treatment remain unclear. We conducted a questionnaire-based survey distributed by nurses and physicians specializing in HF care to assess patients' preferred and perceived participation roles in treatment decision-making during the index hospitalization, rated on five scales (from extremely passive to purely autonomous attitudes).

Social Isolation and Implementation of Advanced Care Planning Among Hospitalized Patients With Heart Failure.

Background The implementation of advance care planning (ACP) in heart failure management is insufficient. Social isolation (SI) could be a barrier to ACP initiation, albeit the relationship between SI and patients' preference for ACP or end-of-life care remains unknown. Methods and Results We conducted a questionnaire survey, including assessments of SI using the 6-item Lubben Social Network Scale as well as patients' perspectives on ACP and end-of-life care.

Elderly aortic stenosis patients' perspectives on treatment goals in transcatheter aortic valvular replacement.

Aims: Transcatheter aortic valvular replacement (TAVR) is increasingly being performed for elderly patients with aortic stenosis (AS), and current guidelines acknowledge the importance of shared decision-making in their management. This study aimed to evaluate elderly symptomatic severe AS patients' perspectives on their treatment goals and identify factors that influence their treatment choice.

Methods And Results: We performed a pre-procedural cross-sectional survey using a questionnaire at a single university hospital.

Preferences on advance care planning and end-of-life care in patients hospitalized for heart failure.

Aims: Early engagement in advance care planning (ACP) is recommended in heart failure (HF) management. We investigated the preferences of patients with HF regarding ACP and end-of-life (EOL) care, including their desired timing of ACP initiation.

Methods And Results: Data were collected using a 92-item questionnaire survey, which was directly distributed to hospitalized patients by dedicated physicians and nurses in a university hospital setting.

Prognostic Understanding and Preference for the Communication Process with Physicians in Hospitalized Heart Failure Patients.

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a highly prevalent, heterogeneous, and life-threatening condition. Precise prognostic understanding is essential for effective decision making, but little is known about patients' attitudes toward prognostic communication with their physicians.

Methods And Results: We conducted a questionnaire survey, consisting of patients' prognostic understanding, preferences for information disclosure, and depressive symptoms, among hospitalized patients with HF (92 items in total).

Propionibacterium acnes-associated Sarcoidosis Possibly Initially Triggered by Interferon-alpha Therapy.

A 46-year-old woman with uveitis was referred to our respiratory diseases department in July 2018. Her medical history included transient bilateral hilar mediastinal lymphadenopathy (BHL) and multiple pulmonary nodules in May 2013 during pegylated interferon-alpha and ribavirin treatment for chronic hepatitis C infection. Five years post-treatment, chest X-ray revealed BHL and nodular recurrence.

Patient confidence regarding secondary lifestyle modification and knowledge of 'heart attack' symptoms following percutaneous revascularisation in Japan: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: To assess patient perspectives on secondary lifestyle modification and knowledge of 'heart attack' after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for coronary artery disease (CAD).

Design: Observational cross-sectional study.

Setting: A single university-based hospital centre in Japan.

Synergistic effects of interferon-beta and nivolumab in oral mucosal melanoma.

Mucosal melanoma is a rare aggressive cancer with a very poor prognosis. Clinical and pathological characteristics of mucosal melanoma differ from those of cutaneous melanoma and there are no established management guidelines for mucosal melanoma. Complete surgical excision is one of the most effective treatments for localized lesions, while targeted therapies and immunotherapies, such as monoclonal antibodies that target cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated molecule-4, and the programmed death (PD)-1/PD-ligand 1 pathway inhibitors, are treatment options for unresectable or metastatic lesions.

Multicentric Reticulohistiocytosis with Dermatomyositis-like Eruptions.

A 68-year-old man presented with polyarthritis, proximal muscle weakness, and erythema of the face, arms, neck, and anterior chest that resembled the V-neck sign. Initially, dermatomyositis (DM) was considered because of the erythema, polyarthritis, and muscle weakness. He also had mediastinal and hilar lymphadenopathy on contrast-enhanced computed tomography.

Combination of pulse therapy with terbinafine tablets and topical terbinafine cream for the treatment of dermatophyte onychomycosis: a pilot study.

We performed a pilot study to assess the safety and efficacy of pulse therapy with terbinafine tablets in 66 patients with dermatophyte onychomycosis. One pulse consisted of oral terbinafine tablets (500 mg/day) given for 1 week followed by a 3-week interval. Topical 1% terbinafine cream was applied daily.

A Chinese-Japanese boy with black dot ringworm due to Trichophyton violaceum.

A 4-year and 8-month-old Chinese-Japanese boy, who had been visiting Dalian, China frequently, developed multiple alopecia lesions 1 year previously. At his initial visit to our department, multiple patchy alopecia with black dots was observed in the parietal scalp area. Multiple erythematous macules were also seen on the face, nape and right dorsum of the hand.

How do patients with neglect see a horizontal line? Analysis of performances in coloured line bisection task.

Twelve patients with left unilateral spatial neglect were examined with a newly devised "coloured line bisection task". They were presented with a horizontal line printed in blue on one side and in red on the other side; the proportions of the blue and red segments were varied. Immediately after placement of the subjective midpoint, the line was concealed and the patients were asked to name the colours of the right and left ends.

Image of a line is not shrunk but neglected. Absence of crossover in unilateral spatial neglect.

Patients with left unilateral spatial neglect following right hemisphere lesions usually err rightward when bisecting a horizontal line. For very short lines (e.g.