Evaluating the timing of triple therapy initiation for the treatment of asthma in Japan: prompt versus delayed.

Objective: In Japan, the optimal initiation timing and efficacy of single-inhaler triple therapy (SITT) in asthma management remain unexplored. This study investigated SITT initiation timing following an asthma exacerbation, and examined patient demographics and clinical characteristics.

Methods: Observational, retrospective cohort study in patients with asthma aged ≥15 years who initiated SITT following their earliest observed asthma exacerbation (February-November 2021), using data from Japanese health insurance claims databases (JMDC and Medical Data Vision [MDV]).

Real-world characteristics of patients with asthma initiating fluticasone furoate/umeclidinium/vilanterol single-inhaler triple therapy in Japan.

Background: Real-world data assessing characteristics of patients with asthma initiating inhaled corticosteroid/long-acting muscarinic antagonist/long-acting β-agonist (ICS/LAMA/LABA) triple therapy in Japan are limited.

Methods: Descriptive, observational study of patients with asthma aged ≥15 years newly initiating single- or multiple-inhaler triple therapy (SITT: fluticasone furoate/umeclidinium/vilanterol [FF/UMEC/VI], SITT: indacaterol/glycopyrronium bromide/mometasone furoate [IND/GLY/MF] or MITT) or ICS/LABA using JMDC/Medical Data Vision (MDV) health insurance databases from February 2021-February 2022 (first prescription date: index date). Patients were assigned to three non-mutually exclusive cohorts: A) new FF/UMEC/VI initiators; B) new FF/UMEC/VI, IND/GLY/MF, or MITT initiators; C) new FF/UMEC/VI, IND/GLY/MF, MITT or ICS/LABA initiators as initial maintenance therapy (IMT).

Relationship Between Asthma Control Status and Health-Related Quality of Life in Japan: A Cross-Sectional Mixed-Methods Study.

Introduction: There is limited information regarding multidimensional relationships between asthma control and health-related quality of life (HRQoL), work productivity, and asthma symptom burden in Japan. Furthermore, systematic qualitative investigations about asthma burden have not been performed.

Methods: This cross-sectional, mixed-methods study included Japanese patients (≥ 20 years) with asthma adherent to inhaled corticosteroids/long-acting β-agonists (ICS/LABA).

A rare case of hepatocellular carcinoma with bile duct invasion diagnosed by peroral cholangioscopy.

Video 1Peroral cholangioscopy showed a 20-mm-diameter, stalked, floating, round mass in the hilar region. The surface of the tumor was covered with white fur, and the tumor tissue was partially exposed in a map-like pattern. The mass was penetrable even with a guidewire, and it bled easily.

Ischemic stroke disrupts the endothelial glycocalyx through activation of proHPSE via acrolein exposure.

Infiltration of peripheral immune cells after blood-brain barrier dysfunction causes severe inflammation after a stroke. Although the endothelial glycocalyx, a network of membrane-bound glycoproteins and proteoglycans that covers the lumen of endothelial cells, functions as a barrier to circulating cells, the relationship between stroke severity and glycocalyx dysfunction remains unclear. In this study, glycosaminoglycans, a component of the endothelial glycocalyx, were studied in the context of ischemic stroke using a photochemically induced thrombosis mouse model.