Publications by authors named "Sakagami T"

A 59-year-old woman presented with multiple mediastinal masses 6 months after post-thymectomy for type B2 thymoma. A diagnosis of small-cell carcinoma (SmCC) via a computed tomography-guided biopsy and fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography revealed no primary lesions outside the anterior mediastinum. The pathologically reevaluated post-thymectomy specimen showed no neuroendocrine differentiation.

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Background: Sensitization to mucus plugs, and bacterial colonization may coexist and relate to a refractory phenotype during follow-up in asthma with bronchiectasis and allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA).

Objective: This study aimed to clarify the features of -sensitized refractory asthma with bronchiectasis and determine the refractory phenotype in this population and ABPA.

Methods: This study included cases of the oldest available -specific IgE data and chest computed tomography images from a nationwide survey of refractory asthma with bronchiectasis.

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Resurgence is a transient recovery of a previously extinguished target response following a worsening of reinforcement conditions for an alternative response. Laboratory studies with nonhuman animals typically assess resurgence in free-operant situations where subjects can freely emit responses. The purpose of the current study was to investigate whether resurgence would be observed in a discrete-trial procedure where only a single response could occur in each trial, using rats as subjects.

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  • F-FDG PET/CT is commonly used to monitor non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but its impact on the effectiveness of osimertinib treatment for patients with EGFR mutations is not well understood.
  • A study of 74 patients found that those with a higher maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) in their primary tumors had shorter progression-free survival (PFS) compared to those with lower SUVmax, although overall survival (OS) remained similar.
  • High SUVmax was identified as an independent negative predictor for PFS in patients receiving osimertinib, indicating its potential as a useful marker for treatment outcomes.
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  • - Dysfunctional breathing (DB) is a commonly overlooked issue in asthma patients in Japan, prompting a study to understand its clinical characteristics through a questionnaire survey conducted in three regions (Niigata, Kumamoto, and Tokyo) between September and November 2021.
  • - The survey involved 2,087 asthma patients, with 217 classified as having DB based on their Nijmegen questionnaire scores; significant differences emerged between DB and non-DB groups concerning factors like sex, disease duration, asthma control, and mental health.
  • - Results indicated that asthma patients with DB often experienced symptoms of depression and had poorly controlled asthma, highlighting a need for larger studies to further explore these findings and potential interventions.
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Background: With the development of endoscopic imaging, superficial pharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma can now be detected during routine endoscopy. Recently, the effectiveness of endoscopic resection for superficial pharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma have been reported.

Methods: This study had a retrospective single-center design that included patients with superficial pharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma who underwent endoscopic resection.

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Background: Over the last decade, novel anticancer drugs have improved the prognosis for recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (RM-SCCHN). However, this has increased healthcare expenditures and placed a heavy burden on patients and society. This study investigated the frequency of use and costs of select palliative chemotherapy regimens in Japan.

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  • The study explored the role of minor salivary glands in the hypopharynx as potential markers for ensuring safe surgical removal of superficial hypopharyngeal cancers while minimizing complications.
  • The research involved examining 23 cadaver specimens to assess the presence, size, and depth of minor salivary glands across different hypopharyngeal regions and analyzing resected tissues from 5 patients with cancer.
  • Findings indicated that these glands were commonly found, especially in the postcricoid area, and their locations could help determine safe margins during surgery, suggesting they are effective indicators for surgical strategies.
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  • The PACIFIC trial established durvalumab as the standard treatment after chemoradiotherapy for unresectable locally advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC), but its effects on patients aged 75 and older were unclear.
  • A study reviewed 214 patients on durvalumab and used propensity score matching to assess its efficacy in elderly patients, revealing 2-year progression-free survival (PFS) at 42.2% and overall survival (OS) at 77.1%.
  • Although older patients had a significantly shorter OS compared to younger ones, the effectiveness for disease control was similar across age groups, and the treatment was tolerated well by elderly patients, supporting durvalumab's use in this population.
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The tumor suppressor TP53 gene, the most frequently mutated gene in human cancers, produces the product tumor protein p53, which plays an essential role in DNA damage. p53 protein mutations may contribute to tumorigenesis by loss of tumor suppressive functions and malignancy of cancer cells via gain-of-oncogenic functions. We previously reported that mutant p53 proteins form aggregates and that cytoplasmic p53 aggregates were associated with poor prognosis in human ovarian cancer.

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  • AE-IIPs are serious conditions linked to poor outcomes in patients with idiopathic interstitial pneumonias.
  • A unique case study highlights that F-FDG PET/CT imaging was able to detect signs of AE-IIPs in a lung cancer patient just 18 days after a bronchoscopy, prior to respiratory failure.
  • This report is the first to examine F-FDG PET/CT findings during the early stages of AE-IIPs, potentially enhancing our understanding of the disease’s mechanisms.
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  • * Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), like pembrolizumab, typically have limited responses in these cases but can be beneficial after osimertinib fails.
  • * A reported patient showed a lasting positive response to pembrolizumab after initially progressing on osimertinib, indicating that ICIs could be a valuable treatment option for early progressors.
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Pembrolizumab is a major treatment for recurrent or advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, data on its use and pharmacokinetics (PK) in older patients are limited. This open-label, multicenter, observational study evaluated real-world data on the safety, efficacy, and PK of pembrolizumab in older patients with NSCLC.

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Pulmonary tumor embolisms (PTEs) are primarily caused by adenocarcinoma. However, only a few cases of oropharyngeal carcinoma have been reported. We herein report a 47-year-old man who presented with a fever, cough, and dyspnea 6 months after treatment for stage II oropharyngeal carcinoma.

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The reaction of allyl bromide derivatives with the enolate prepared from enantioenriched N-C axially chiral -(2,5-di--butylphenyl)-3,4-dihydroquinolin-2-one (lactam) and -thione (thiolactam) proceeded in a completely regio- and stereoselective manner to afford S2 and S2'-like products, respectively. Furthermore, through the conversion of thiolactam to lactam, the regiodivergent and stereoselective synthesis of N-C axially chiral lactams bearing a chiral tertiary α-carbon was achieved.

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  • Anti-MDA5 antibody-positive dermatomyositis (DM) can lead to interstitial lung disease (ILD) and rare complications like pneumomediastinum, which is the presence of air in the mediastinum.
  • A case was reported where a patient with DM-ILD experienced worsening symptoms, including hypotension and respiratory failure during treatment, due to increased subcutaneous and mediastinal emphysema.
  • Timely intervention with mediastinal drainage through video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery significantly improved the patient's condition, highlighting the need for quick diagnosis and treatment of these serious complications.
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  • - The study aimed to determine how the amount of microvessels in tumors impacts the effectiveness of EGFR-TKIs in treating patients with mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
  • - Data from 40 post-operative NSCLC patients treated with EGFR-TKIs were analyzed, focusing on the ratio of microvascular area to tumor area (RMV), which was measured using specific techniques.
  • - Results showed that patients with a high RMV had significantly shorter progression-free survival (PFS) compared to those with low RMV, indicating that high RMV is a negative predictor of treatment outcomes.
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  • Gastrointestinal symptoms, specifically diarrhea and nausea, are common with nintedanib treatment, especially in patients with systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD).
  • A study compared adverse gastrointestinal events between SSc-ILD and idiopathic interstitial pneumonias (IIPs) patients who were treated with nintedanib, finding no significant difference in treatment duration.
  • Results showed that SSc-ILD patients experienced more nausea and similar rates of diarrhea compared to those with IIPs, suggesting a need for improved management of these adverse effects in SSc-ILD patients.
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It is unclear which factor Xa (FXa) inhibitors are associated with higher bleeding risk in patients with respiratory diseases, and there are no studies on the association between prothrombin time-international normalized ratio (PT-INR) and bleeding risk. We conducted a retrospective cohort study comparing 1-year-outcomes and PT-INR between patients with respiratory diseases treated with rivaroxaban (R group, n = 82) or edoxaban (E group, n = 138) for atrial fibrillation or venous thromboembolism from 2013 to 2021. The most frequent event of all bleeding discontinuations was respiratory bleeding in both groups (7.

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Acoel flatworms possess epidermal sensory-receptor cells on their body surfaces and exhibit behavioral repertoires such as geotaxis and phototaxis. Acoel epidermal sensory receptors should be mechanical and/or chemical receptors; however, the mechanisms of their sensory reception have not been elucidated. We examined the three-dimensional relationship between epidermal sensory receptors and their innervation in an acoel flatworm, Praesagittifera naikaiensis.

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The gut microbiota has emerged as a key regulator of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) efficacy. Therapeutic approaches aimed at manipulating the microbiota through targeted reconstitution to enhance cancer treatment outcomes have garnered considerable attention. A single live microbial biotherapeutic bacterium, MIYAIRI 588 strain (CBM588), has been shown to enhance the effects of ICI monotherapy in patients with advanced lung cancer.

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  • Osimertinib is the main treatment for advanced lung cancer with EGFR mutations, but its effectiveness in patients over 75 years is not well-studied.
  • A study analyzed 538 patients, showing no significant difference in progression-free survival between elderly (median 16.9 months) and non-elderly (median 22.1 months) patients, though older patients had shorter treatment durations and higher discontinuation rates due to side effects.
  • Despite these challenges, elderly patients had a median overall survival of 30 months, while non-elderly patients' survival data was still ongoing.
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  • The study focuses on improving genetic analysis for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) due to poor nucleic acid integrity in existing samples.
  • A new sampling method was tested using 128 samples from 44 patients, which included genetic analysis samples (GASs) collected quickly from large tumors, resulting in better DNA and RNA quality compared to other sample types.
  • The findings suggest that GASs should be routinely collected during hospital procedures for better genetic analysis, while parakeratinized components (PKCs) could be used when viable material is scarce.
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