Publications by authors named "Ohkubo N"

Objective: High disease activity status (HDAS) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is associated with adverse long-term outcomes. We examined the frequency of lupus low disease activity state (LLDAS) and remission (REM) attainment in HDAS patients and whether their attainment was associated with improved patient outcomes.

Methods: Demographic, clinical and outcomes data, collected prospectively from a multinational cohort between 2013 and 2020, were analysed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Women's health issues like menstruation, childbirth, and menopause affect work performance and overall career progression while also posing mental and physical challenges.
  • A study was conducted on 27,720 working women in Japan to examine how menstruation-related and menopausal symptoms impact their quality of life and work performance.
  • The research aims to enhance understanding of these health issues to improve healthcare systems and boost business performance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The vector effects of microplastics (MPs) in natural marine environments and their contribution to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) bioaccumulation in fish are still unknown. This study, therefore, aimed to evaluate the effects of MPs on carrying PAHs under conditions close to the actual marine environments. The PAH content sorbed onto MPs from seawater positively correlated with the octanol/water partition coefficient (log K) in both polyethylene and polystyrene MPs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: This study investigated the efficacy, safety, and predictive factors of belimumab (BEL) in induction therapy for patients with proliferative lupus nephritis (LN) in real-world settings.

Methods: Patients with biopsy-proven ISN/RPS class III or IV LN, with or without coexisting class V LN, who underwent standard of care (SoC), glucocorticoid (GC), and either mycophenolate mofetil or cyclophosphamide treatments were included. Participants were treated with SoC (SoC group, n = 32) or BEL and SoC (BEL+SoC group, n = 30).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: The study aimed to determine the efficacy and safety of biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) in the treatment of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) complicated by rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: Patients with PMR which could be classified as RA and who were treated with bDMARDs were included in the analysis. The primary endpoint was the clinical Polymyalgia Rheumatica Activity Score (Clin-PMR-AS) after 26 weeks of treatment, and the secondary endpoint was adverse events during the observation period.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Validation of protective associations of the lupus low disease activity state (LLDAS) against flare, irreversible damage, health-related quality of life, and mortality has enabled the adoption of treat-to-target strategies in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Previous validation studies were of short duration, limiting the ability to detect longer term signals in flare rate and irreversible damage. In addition, previous studies have focused on percent time at target, rather than actual periods of time that are more useful in clinical practice and trials.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to determine if achieving Lupus Low Disease Activity State (LLDAS) leads to better outcomes for patients with newly diagnosed systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
  • Data was collected from a longitudinal SLE cohort in 13 countries, focusing on patients diagnosed within the last year, revealing that these patients had higher disease activity and use of glucocorticoids, but less organ damage initially compared to older patients in the study.
  • Results showed that while fewer patients in the recent onset group were in LLDAS at the start, they were more likely to achieve it during follow-up and LLDAS attainment was linked to a lower risk of disease flare-ups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * Data from a large international cohort of 1,850 mSACQ patients revealed that reducing GCs by 1 mg/day did not increase the risk of overall or severe flares; in fact, the use of antimalarials was linked to a lower risk of flares.
  • * Tapering GCs was found to reduce the risk of damage accrual for patients starting with higher prednisolone doses (over 5 mg/day
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Targets of treatment for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) include the Lupus Low Disease Activity State (LLDAS), remission, and complete remission. Whether treatment can be tapered after attaining these targets and whether tapering is safer in patients in complete remission compared with LLDAS are unknown. We aimed to assess the odds of disease flares after treatment tapering in stable disease, versus continuing the same therapy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to investigate how biological and targeted synthetic DMARDs (b/tsDMARDs) affect bone metabolism in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) over a 52-week period.
  • A total of 1164 RA patients were monitored, revealing that those not on anti-osteoporotic agents (anti-OP) experienced a significant decline in bone mineral density (BMD) despite improved disease activity, while those on anti-OP maintained stable BMD.
  • The findings suggest that osteoporosis may worsen in RA patients not receiving anti-OP during b/tsDMARD treatment, indicating the need for regular BMD monitoring for early osteoporosis management.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Disease activity monitoring in SLE includes serial measurement of anti-double stranded-DNA (dsDNA) antibodies, but in patients who are persistently anti-dsDNA positive, the utility of repeated measurement is unclear. We investigated the usefulness of serial anti-dsDNA testing in predicting flare in SLE patients who are persistently anti-dsDNA positive.

Methods: Data were analysed from patients in a multinational longitudinal cohort with known anti-dsDNA results from 2013 to 2021.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: To date, there is no standard established laparoscopic surgical method for managing urachal remnants because of their rarity, and several questions remain unanswered. Are there any problems for considering the operative indications about patients' factors for example, body mass index and so on? This study aimed to determine the feasible surgical method for managing urachal remnants and presents the operative outcomes of our cases in relation to the findings from the existing literature.

Methods: We analyzed the data of 16 patients (7 women and 9 men; age range, 19-48 years) who underwent surgery for urachal remnants between January 2013 and March 2019 at our institution.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The estuarine resident crustacean sand shrimp, Crangon uritai, has a higher tolerance to neonicotinoid insecticides than that of the kuruma prawns, Penaeus japonicus. However, the reason for the differential sensitivities between the two marine crustaceans remains to be understood. This study explored the mechanism underlying differential sensitivities based on insecticide body residues after exposing both said crustaceans to two insecticides (acetamiprid and clothianidin) with or without oxygenase inhibitor piperonyl butoxide (PBO) for 96 h.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The selection and categorisation of laboratory tests in disease activity measures used within systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) trial endpoints lack strong evidence. We aimed to determine whether longitudinal improvements in routinely measured laboratory tests are associated with measures of clinical improvement in patients with baseline active SLE.

Methods: We included patients from a multicentre longitudinal cohort (recruited between May 1, 2013, and Dec 31, 2019) with active SLE (SLEDAI-2K ≥6) coinciding with an abnormality in at least one of 13 routine laboratory tests, at a visit designated as baseline.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Treat-to-target goals for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have been validated to protect against organ damage and to improve quality of life. We aimed to investigate the association between lupus low disease activity state (LLDAS) and remission and risk of mortality in patients with SLE. We hypothesised that LLDAS has a protective association with mortality risk.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with immune dysfunction. UBASH3A as a negative regulator of T cell receptors (TCRs) signaling is a susceptible factor in RA. The aim of this study was to determine the role of UBASH3A in RA pathogenesis, by assessing the role of super-enhancer (SE) in the control of UBASH3A expression in CD4 T cells and the contribution of the latter in proinflammatory cytokine production in patients with RA.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: In trials of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the SLE Responder Index (SRI) is the most commonly used primary efficacy end point but has limited validation against long-term outcomes. We aimed to investigate associations of attainment of a modified version of the SRI (mSRI) with key clinical outcomes in SLE patients with up to 5 years of follow-up.

Methods: We used data from a large multicenter, longitudinal SLE cohort in which patients received standard of care.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: We validated the one-year effectiveness of strategic treatment with biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) based on peripheral T-lymphocytic phenotyping and explored the impact of treatment on T helper lymphocytic phenotypes.

Methods: Ninety-seven patients were registered in this study. One-year treatment response was compared between the two groups: the strategic bDMARDs treatment group ( = 41), in which bDMARDs were selected based on peripheral blood lymphocyte analysis, and the standard bDMARDs treatment group ( = 56), in which the patients underwent no strategic selection of bDMARDs and phenotyping.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In this study, we elucidated the desorption potency of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) sorbed on microplastics (MP; polyethylene) in the digestive tract of two fish species: gastric red seabream and agastric mummichog. In our in vitro assay system using the real gut sample of unexposed fish, the digestive tract was firstly removed from the fish and divided into three parts. Then, MP that had previously been sorbed with 16 PAHs were incubated with extracts of the gut contents or tissue with buffer or only a buffer.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In aquatic arthropods, molting is a pivotal physiological process for normal development, but it may also expose them to higher risks from xenobiotics, because the organism may take up additional water during that time. This study aimed to assess the effects of molting on bioconcentration and survival after 96-h exposure to insecticide fipronil with or without oxygenase (CYP450s) inhibitor piperonyl butoxide (PBO) of two estuarine resident marine crustacean species: the sand shrimp Crangon uritai and the kuruma prawn Penaeus japonicus, with 96-h LC value of fipronil = 2.0 µg/L and 0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: We explored whether serum cytokines could be used as biomarkers for optimal use of tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNF-i) and interleukin (IL)-17 inhibitors (IL-17-i) in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA).

Methods: In cohort 1 (47 patients treated with IL-17-i [n=23] or TNF-i [n=24] for ≥1 year), we identified serum cytokines that predicted the achievement of Disease Activity in Psoriatic Arthritis-remission (DAPSA-REM), Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) 90, and Minimal Disease Activity after 1 year of TNF-i or IL-17-i therapy. Subsequently, we developed treatment strategies based on the identified cytokines; initiation of IL-17-i therapy in patients with low IL-22 concentrations (IL-22 <0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The unmet need in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with the current standard of care is widely recognised, but few studies have quantified this. The recent definition of treat-to-target endpoints and other thresholds of uncontrolled disease activity provide an opportunity to formally define unmet need in SLE. In this study, we enumerated the prevalence of these states and examined their association with adverse outcomes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In some coastal areas, sediments are contaminated with various chemical compounds, causing significant threats to marine organisms. Therefore, the development of remediation techniques is important. Here, we focused on bioremediation using marine benthic animals such as aquatic oligochaetes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF