Overwintering at multiple life stages in Schizotetranychus shii (Acari: Tetranychidae), a specialist of evergreen chinquapin.

Spider mites (Acari: Tetranychidae) overwinter as eggs or adult females, but some do so as multiple life stages on evergreen hosts. However, proximate factors influencing such overwintering stages remain poorly understood. This study investigated photoperiodic responses and life-stage compositions during winter in a population of Schizotetranychus shii, a specialist of Japanese chinquapin (Fagaceae).

Efficacy of liposomal irinotecan + 5-FU/LV vs. S-1 in gemcitabine-refractory metastatic pancreatic cancer: a real-world study using inverse probability of treatment weighting.

Background: S-1 monotherapy had previously been widely used as a second-line treatment for pancreatic cancer (PC) after gemcitabine-based chemotherapy mainly in Japan. Based on the results of the NAPOLI-1 trial, the recommended second-line therapy is now liposomal irinotecan plus fluorouracil/folinic acid (nal-IRI + 5-FU/LV). However, there have been no studies comparing nal-IRI + 5-FU/LV therapy with S-1 monotherapy.

Dexamethasone is non-inferior to antihistamine plus dexamethasone premedication in preventing ramucirumab plus nab-paclitaxel infusion-related reactions in gastric cancer: a multicenter retrospective study.

Purpose: Ramucirumab (RAM) is recommended as premedication with H-receptor antagonists (HRA) to prevent infusion-related reactions (IRRs). However, RAM is a human antibody with a low incidence of IRRs. We evaluated the noninferiority of non-HRA (dexamethasone [DEX] alone) premedication to HRA (plus DEX) premedication in terms of IRRs in patients with gastric cancer receiving RAM plus nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel (nab-PTX).

Successful myomectomy using barbed sutures at 15 weeks of gestation: A case report.

To date, there are no reports on the use of barbed sutures in myomectomy during pregnancy. Herein, successful laparotomic myomectomy at 15 weeks of gestation using barbed sutures is described. A 38-year-old pregnant woman with a large myoma (16 × 11 cm) underwent myomectomy at 15 weeks and 4 days of gestation because of strong pain at the myoma site, a high level of inflammatory markers with degeneration of uterine fibroids, and severe anemia caused by denaturation of myoma.

A Multicenter, Phase II Trial of Schedule Modification for Nab-Paclitaxel in Combination with Ramucirumab for Patients with Previously Treated Advanced Gastric or Gastroesophageal Junction Cancer: The B-RAX Trial (JACCRO GC-09).

Background: This study investigated whether schedule modification of bi-weekly nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel (nab-PTX) plus ramucirumab (RAM) is efficacious against gastric cancer (GC) or gastroesophageal junction cancer (GJC).

Patients And Methods: Patients with unresectable GC or GJC who were previously treated with fluoropyrimidine-containing regimens received nab-PTX (100 mg/m) on days 1, 8, and 15 and RAM (8 mg/kg) on days 1 and 15 of a 28-day cycle. Based on the incidence of severe adverse events (AEs) during the first cycle, patients were modified to bi-weekly therapy from the second cycle.

Fatigue in patients with cancer receiving outpatient chemotherapy: a prospective two-center study.

Background: Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is one of the most common symptoms in patients with cancer. However, CRF has not been sufficiently evaluated as it involves various factors. In this study, we evaluated fatigue in patients with cancer receiving chemotherapy in an outpatient setting.

Pattern of disease progression during third-line or later chemotherapy with nivolumab associated with poor prognosis in advanced gastric cancer: a multicenter retrospective study in Japan.

Background: Accelerated tumor growth during immunotherapy in pre-existing measurable lesions, hyperprogressive disease (HPD), has been reported. However, progression of non-measurable lesions and new lesions are frequently observed in patients with advanced gastric cancer (AGC).

Methods: This retrospective study involved AGC patients at 24 Japanese institutions who had measurable lesions and received nivolumab after ≥ 2 lines of chemotherapy.

Phase IIb study of pembrolizumab combined with S-1 + oxaliplatin or S-1 + cisplatin as first-line chemotherapy for gastric cancer.

The KEYNOTE-659 study evaluated the efficacy and safety of first-line pembrolizumab plus S-1 and oxaliplatin (SOX) (cohort 1) or S-1 and cisplatin (SP) (cohort 2) for advanced gastric/gastroesophageal junction (G/GEJ) cancer in Japan. Herein, we update the results of cohort 1 and describe the results of cohort 2. This open-label phase IIb study enrolled patients with advanced programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1)-positive (combined positive score ≥ 1) human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative G/GEJ adenocarcinoma.

Long-term outcomes of an esophagus-preserving chemoradiotherapy strategy for patients with endoscopically unresectable stage I thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Background And Purpose: To assess the long-term outcomes of a multimodal approach for maximum esophagus preservation in operable patients with endoscopically unresectable stage I thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).

Materials And Methods: The medical records of patients with stage I thoracic ESCC treated with our protocol between 1992 and 2005 were retrospectively reviewed. Our protocol consisted of neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy, followed by either additional definitive chemoradiotherapy for good responders (CRT group) or surgery for moderate or poor responders (CRT-S group) after an interim appraisal.

Clinical Impact of Primary Tumor Location in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Patients Under Later-Line Regorafenib or Trifluridine/Tipiracil Treatment.

Background: Primary tumor location (PTL) is an important prognostic and predictive factor in the first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Although regorafenib (REG) and trifluridine/tipiracil (FTD/TPI) have been introduced recently, the clinical impact of PTL in these treatments is not well understood.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively evaluated patients with mCRC who were registered in a multicenter observational study (the REGOTAS study).

A randomized, double-blind, phase II study of oral histone deacetylase inhibitor resminostat plus S-1 versus placebo plus S-1 in biliary tract cancers previously treated with gemcitabine plus platinum-based chemotherapy.

Purpose: Effective second-line chemotherapy options are limited in treating advanced biliary tract cancers (BTCs). Resminostat is an oral histone deacetylase inhibitor. Such inhibitors increase sensitivity to fluorouracil, the active form of S-1.

Application and limitation of radiomics approach to prognostic prediction for lung stereotactic body radiotherapy using breath-hold CT images with random survival forest: A multi-institutional study.

Purpose: To predict local recurrence (LR) and distant metastasis (DM) in early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients after stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) in multiple institutions using breath-hold computed tomography (CT)-based radiomic features with random survival forest.

Methods: A total of 573 primary early stage NSCLC patients who underwent SBRT between January 2006 and March 2016 and met the eligibility criteria were included in this study. Patients were divided into two datasets: training (464 patients in 10 institutions) and test (109 patients in one institution) datasets.

Risk factors for severe gastrointestinal toxicity in patients receiving palliative radiotherapy for metastatic bone tumors: association with the use of molecular-targeted agents.

This study aimed to investigate whether the use of molecular-targeted agents could affect gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity in palliative radiotherapy (RT) for metastatic bone tumors in the abdominopelvic region. We collected data of patients who received palliative RT for bone metastases in the abdominopelvic region between 2013 and 2014 from six institutions. Data of 395 patients were collected and184 patients received molecularly targeted therapy, of whom 80 received vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-targeted agents.

Safety and efficacy of pembrolizumab in combination with S-1 plus oxaliplatin as a first-line treatment in patients with advanced gastric/gastroesophageal junction cancer: Cohort 1 data from the KEYNOTE-659 phase IIb study.

Aim: The KEYNOTE-659 study evaluated the efficacy and safety of pembrolizumab in combination with chemotherapy as the first-line treatment in Japanese patients with advanced gastric/gastroesophageal junction (G/GEJ) cancer. In this paper, we report results from cohort 1 (S-1 plus oxaliplatin [SOX] with pembrolizumab).

Methods: This was a non-randomised, multicentre, open-label phase IIb study in patients with advanced programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1)-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative G/GEJ tumours.

Multicenter phase II study of biweekly CAPIRI plus bevacizumab as second-line therapy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (JSWOG-C3 study).

Background: Triweekly capecitabine plus irinotecan (CAPIRI) was not a replacement for fluorouracil, leucovorin, and irinotecan (FOLFIRI) in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) because of the potential for greater toxicity. Recently, it has reported that mCAPIRI is well tolerated and non-inferior to FOLFIRI. In this study, we conducted a multicenter phase II trial to assess the efficacy and safety of biweekly CAPIRI plus bevacizumab as second-line chemotherapy for mCRC with reduced toxicity and preserved efficacy.

Pancreatic cancer arising from the remnant pancreas after pancreatectomy: a multicenter retrospective study by the Kyushu Study Group of Clinical Cancer.

Background: After initial pancreatic resection, local recurrence of pancreatic cancer (PC) or new primary PC can develop in the remnant. There are limited data available regarding this so-called remnant PC. The aim of this retrospective study was to clarify the clinical features and establish a treatment strategy for remnant PC.

Tumor Sidedness and Enriched Gene Groups for Efficacy of First-line Cetuximab Treatment in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer.

Molecular differences in tumor locations may contribute to the sidedness-specific response to cetuximab in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). We investigated genes associated with the response to cetuximab treatment depending on tumor sidedness. Our study included 77 patients with mCRC (13/63, right/left) with exon 2 wild-type tumors from phase II trials of first-line therapy with cetuximab.

Immune-related Genes to Dominate Neutrophil-lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) Associated With Survival of Cetuximab Treatment in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer.

Background: Few clinical studies have investigated the association between neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and treatment with cetuximab-based chemotherapy in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). The NLR may reflect immune cells modulating specific cytokine signals in the tumor microenvironment; however, which immune-related genes affect the NLR remain unclear.

Patients And Methods: In 77 patients with KRAS exon2 wild-type mCRC from prospective trials of first-line chemotherapy with cetuximab, expression levels of 354 immune-related genes were measured in tissue samples obtained from all patients by the HTG EdgeSeq Oncology Biomarker Panel.

Tc-GSA SPECT/CT fusion imaging for hepatectomy candidates with extremely deteriorated ICG value.

Purpose: The value of indocyanine green (ICG) test is negatively affected in patients with intrahepatic shunt, ICG excretory defect, or jaundice. This study evaluated Tc-GSA SPECT/CT fusion imaging for assessing liver function in patients with severely deteriorated ICG values.

Materials And Methods: Thirteen hepatectomy candidates with ICG retention rates over 40% were retrospectively analyzed.

Chemoradiotherapy for Initially Unresectable Locally Advanced Cholangiocarcinoma.

Objective: Surgical resection is the only available treatment for achieving long-term survival in cholangiocarcinoma. The purpose of this study is to elucidate the utility of chemoradiotherapy for initially unresectable locally advanced cholangiocarcinoma.

Methods: Unresectable locally advanced cholangiocarcinoma was defined as those in which radical surgery could not be achieved even with aggressive surgical procedure.