Factors contributing to the improvement in Japanese Health Assessment Questionnaire after 3 years of treatment with abatacept in biologic-naïve rheumatoid arthritis patients: Interim results of a long-term, observational, multicentre study in Japan (ORIGAMI).

Objectives: We investigated the long-term effectiveness, safety, and factors affecting Japanese Health Assessment Questionnaire (J-HAQ) improvement during abatacept treatment in Japanese rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.

Methods: The Orencia® Registry in Geographically Assembled Multicenter Investigation (ORIGAMI) study is an ongoing observational study of biologic-naïve RA patients with moderate disease activity treated with subcutaneous abatacept (125 mg, once weekly). Patients treated with conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs) were extracted from the Institute of Rheumatology, Rheumatoid Arthritis (IORRA) registry as a historical, weighted control group.

Effectiveness and safety of subcutaneous abatacept in biologic-naïve RA patients at Week 52: A Japanese multicentre investigational study (ORIGAMI study).

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of abatacept over 52 weeks in biologic-naïve rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with moderate disease activity in the prospective, 5-year, observational study (ORIGAMI study) in Japan.

Methods: Abatacept (125 mg) was administered subcutaneously once a week. Clinical outcomes included Simplified Disease Activity Index (SDAI) remission at Week 52 (primary endpoint), Japanese Health Assessment Questionnaire (J-HAQ), EuroQol 5-Dimension Questionnaire (EQ-5D), treatment retention, and safety.

Risk of serious infection, malignancy, or death in Japanese rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with a combination of abatacept and tacrolimus: a retrospective cohort study.

To evaluate whether combinatorial use of abatacept (ABT) and tacrolimus (Tac) increases the risk of adverse events compared to their individual use in Japanese rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of RA patients using the Japanese multicenter database and analyzed the data of RA patients registered from April 2010 to March 2019 by comparing three treatment groups who received Tac, ABT, or a combination of both. We included patients who had initiated treatment with ABT or Tac and excluded patients who used tumor necrosis factor inhibitors, IL-6 inhibitors, and Jak inhibitors in the first year of our study.

Roles of CD34+ cells and ALK5 signaling in the reconstruction of seminiferous tubule-like structures in 3-D re-aggregate culture of dissociated cells from neonatal mouse testes.

Tissue reconstruction in vitro can provide, if successful, a refined and simple system to analyze the underlying mechanisms that drive the morphogenesis and maintain the ordered structure. We have recently succeeded in reconstruction of seminiferous cord-like and tubule-like structures using 3-D re-aggregate culture of dissociated testicular cells. In testis formation, endothelial cells that migrated from mesonephroi to embryonic gonads have been shown to be critical for development of testis cords, but how endothelial cells contribute to testis cord formation remains unknown.

Synthesis of ultrasmall Li-Mn spinel oxides exhibiting unusual ion exchange, electrochemical, and catalytic properties.

The efficient surface reaction and rapid ion diffusion of nanocrystalline metal oxides have prompted considerable research interest for the development of high functional materials. Herein, we present a novel low-temperature method to synthesize ultrasmall nanocrystalline spinel oxides by controlling the hydration of coexisting metal cations in an organic solvent. This method selectively led to Li-Mn spinel oxides by tuning the hydration of Li(+) ions under mild reaction conditions (i.

Differences in clinical manifestations, treatment, and concordance rates with two major sets of criteria for Behçet's syndrome for patients in the US and Japan: data from a large, three-center cohort study.

Objective: To compare Behçet's syndrome (BS) cohorts from the US and Japan in terms of rates of concordance with the International Study Group (ISG) criteria and Japanese criteria, disease manifestations, and treatment.

Methods: All BS patients seen at the NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases in the US and the Kameda Medical Center and St. Luke's International Hospital in Japan between 2003 and 2010 were included.

An observational study of tocilizumab and TNF-α inhibitor use in a Japanese community hospital: different remission rates, similar drug survival and safety.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness, drug survival and safety of tocilizumab compared with TNF-α inhibitors in clinical practice.

Methods: Patients in the Cohort of Arthritis Biologic Users at Kameda Institute (CABUKI) registry who were on biologics during July 2003 to October 2010 were included. Remission rates at 6 months, Kaplan-Meier drug survival estimates and serious adverse event (SAE) rates were compared.

Caveolin-3 is Up-Regulated in the Physiological Left Ventricular Hypertrophy Induced by Voluntary Exercise Training in Rats.

Various substances have been introduced in relation with cardiac hypertrophy almost always with controversy in their roles in signal transduction. Those controversies may attribute to the diversity of cardiac hypertrophy. We previously showed that calcineurin was activated in physiological left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) induced by voluntary exercise training, but not in decompensated pressure-overload LVH.

Neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia associated with anti-human platelet antigen-3a antibody.

A sister and brother with neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenic purpura (NAITP) caused by maternal anti-human platelet antigen (HPA)-3a are reported. The children had transient severe thrombocytopenia in the newborn period, and were treated with intravenous gamma-globulin and platelet concentrates from random donors. Although the sister had intracranial hemorrhage on day 2 postnatally, the development of the child has been normal and no neurological sequelae have been observed.