Heat-sterilizable antibody mimics designed on the cold shock protein scaffold from hyperthermophile Thermotoga maritima.

Antibodies and antibody mimics are extensively used in the pharmaceutical industry, where stringent safety standards are required. Implementing heat sterilization during or after the manufacturing process could help prevent contamination by viruses and bacteria. However, conventional antibodies and antibody mimics are not suitable for heat sterilization because they irreversibly denature at high temperatures.

Efficacy of Paclitaxel and Cetuximab in Recurrent/Metastatic Oral Cancer Cases Following Superselective Intraarterial Chemoradiotherapy: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background/aim: The therapeutic efficacy of the paclitaxel (PTX) + cetuximab (Cmab) combination regimen was investigated in patients with recurrence or metastasis after superselective intraarterial chemoradiotherapy (SSIACRT) for oral cancer, and the safety was retrospectively examined.

Patients And Methods: All enrolled patients with advanced oral cancer or who had refused surgery over 10 years from December 2012 to December 2022 underwent SSIACRT for 6 to 9 weeks [cisplatin (CDDP): total 160-630 mg/m and radiotherapy: total 50-70 Gy]. Nine cases (tongue cancer, maxillary gingival cancer, and mandibular gingival cancer; three cases each) were subjected to PTX + Cmab therapy.

Post hoc analysis of the characteristics and treatment needs of patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and their caregivers and their physicians' awareness of those treatment needs according to the duration after diagnosis of DLB.

Objectives: To investigate the differences in patient/caregiver characteristics, their treatment needs, and the attending physician's understanding of those treatment needs according to the duration after diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB).

Methods: This was a post hoc analysis of a multicenter, cross-sectional, questionnaire survey study. A total of 263 patient-caregiver pairs were reclassified into two groups according to the median duration after diagnosis of DLB as follows: short (<24 months; S-group) and long (≥24 months; L-group) post-DLB diagnosis duration.

A narrative review of chemokine receptors CXCR1 and CXCR2 and their role in acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a severe form of acute respiratory failure characterised by extensive inflammatory injury to the alveolocapillary barrier leading to alveolar oedema, impaired gas exchange and, ultimately, hypoxaemia necessitating the use of supplemental oxygen combined with some degree of positive airway pressure. Although much heterogeneity exists regarding the aetiology, localisation and endotypic characterisation of ARDS, what remains largely undisputed is the role of the innate immune system, and in particular of neutrophils, in precipitating and propagating lung injury. Activated neutrophils, recruited to the lung through chemokine gradients, promote injury by releasing oxidants, proteases and neutrophil extracellular traps, which ultimately cause platelet aggregation, microvascular thrombosis and cellular death.

Factors Associated with Quality of Life in Patients with Dementia with Lewy Bodies: Additional Analysis of a Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Quality of life (QOL) and treatment needs of patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and their caregivers are important factors to consider when developing treatment strategies.

Objective: To investigate factors associated with QOL in patients with DLB, and to examine factors associated with activities of daily living (ADL) if ADL was associated with QOL.

Methods: We previously conducted a questionnaire survey study to investigate the treatment needs of patients with DLB and their caregivers.

Differences in the treatment needs of patients with dementia with Lewy bodies and their caregivers and differences in their physicians' awareness of those treatment needs according to the clinical department visited by the patients: a subanalysis of an observational survey study.

Background: We investigated whether the treatment needs of patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and their caregivers, along with their attending physicians' perception of those treatment needs, differ according to the clinical department visited by the patients.

Methods: This was a subanalysis of a multicenter, cross-sectional, observational survey study. Data from the main study were classified according to the clinical department visited by the patient: psychiatric group (P-group), geriatric internal medicine group (G-group), and neurology group (N-group).

Eating problems in people with dementia with Lewy bodies: Associations with various symptoms and the physician's understanding.

Objectives: Eating problems frequently occur in people with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), but few studies have investigated the clinical background of this phenomenon. This study examined the relationship between eating problems and various symptoms of DLB and the relation between the treatment needs for DLB people with eating problems and the understanding of their eating problems by caregivers and physicians.

Design, Measurements, And Participants: This was a subanalysis of a cross-sectional, questionnaire-based survey study.

Valuable interaction with cognitive remediation and optimal antipsychotics for recovery in schizophrenia (VICTORY-S): study protocol for an interventional, open-label, randomized comparison of combined treatment with cognitive remediation and lurasidone or paliperidone.

Background: Cognitive impairment, a core feature of schizophrenia, is associated with poor outcomes. Pharmacotherapy and psychosocial treatment, when used alone, have inadequate effect sizes for cognitive impairment, leading to recent interest in combination interventions. A previous study examined the additive effect of cognitive remediation on lurasidone in patients with schizophrenia, which was negative.

Resistance against two lytic phage variants attenuates virulence and antibiotic resistance in .

Background: Bacteriophage therapy is becoming part of mainstream Western medicine since antibiotics of clinical use tend to fail. It involves applying lytic bacteriophages that self-replicate and induce cell lysis, thus killing their hosts. Nevertheless, bacterial killing promotes the selection of resistant clones which sometimes may exhibit a decrease in bacterial virulence or antibiotic resistance.

Efficacy and Safety of Reparixin in Patients with Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia: A Phase 3, Randomized, Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Study.

Introduction: Polymorphonuclear cell influx into the interstitial and bronchoalveolar spaces is a cardinal feature of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), principally mediated by interleukin-8 (IL-8). We sought to determine whether reparixin, a novel IL-8 pathway inhibitor, could reduce disease progression in patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 pneumonia.

Methods: In this Phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter study, hospitalized adult patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia were randomized 2:1 to receive oral reparixin 1200 mg three times daily or placebo for up to 21 days or until hospital discharge.

Questionnaire survey of satisfaction with medication for five symptom domains of dementia with Lewy bodies among patients, their caregivers, and their attending physicians.

Background: The real-world status of satisfaction with medication for dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) has not been elucidated. We assessed the satisfaction of patients with DLB, their caregivers, and their attending physicians (trios) with medication according to the clinical symptom domains of DLB.

Methods: This was a subanalysis of a cross-sectional, questionnaire-based, survey study of trios.

Duality of Nrf2 in iron-overload cardiomyopathy.

Cardiomyopathy deeply affects quality of life and mortality of patients with b-thalassemia or with transfusion-dependent myelodysplastic syndromes. Recently, a link between Nrf2 activity and iron metabolism has been reported in liver ironoverload murine models. Here, we studied C57B6 mice as healthy control and nuclear erythroid factor-2 knockout (Nrf2-/-) male mice aged 4 and 12 months.

Treatment needs of dementia with Lewy bodies according to patients, caregivers, and physicians: a cross-sectional, observational, questionnaire-based study in Japan.

Background: Understanding the treatment needs of patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is essential to develop treatment strategies. We examined the treatment needs of patients with DLB and their caregivers and the extent to which the attending physicians understand these treatment needs.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional, observational study conducted using questionnaires for patients, caregivers, and physicians.

Study of clinical factors, focus score, lymphocyte type and NF-κB pathway in Sjögren's syndrome.

Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is an autoimmune disease that occurs predominantly in middle-aged and older women. Although focus score (FS) and lesion grade are determined at pathological diagnosis, few reports have examined whether these results reflect clinical symptoms. In this study, we examined and compared the results of comprehensive immunohistochemical staining of lymphocytes and NF-κB pathway in labial gland biopsies, clinical test data, and radionuclide imaging findings.

Engineering anaerobic digestion via optimizing microbial community: effects of bactericidal agents, quorum sensing inhibitors, and inorganic materials.

Anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge (SS) is one of the effective ways to reduce the waste generated from human life activities. To date, there are many reports to improve or repress methane production during the anaerobic digestion of SS. In the anaerobic digestion process, many microorganisms work positively or negatively, and as a result of their microbe-to-microbe interaction and regulation, methane production increases or decreases.

[Environmental factors for the development of hematopoietic neoplasms in children].

Parental age at birth has been investigated in patients diagnosed with pediatric cancer. The Japan Children's Cancer Registry1985-2007 recruited 5,510 patients with leukemia and 8,782 with other cancers. The proportion of patients born to mother and father aged >40 years showed a higher trend in leukemia than that in other cancers (odds ratio [OR] 1.

Pathogenesis of taste impairment and salivary dysfunction in COVID-19 patients.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly transmissible pandemic disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The characteristics of the disease include a broad range of symptoms from mild to serious to death, with mild pneumonia to acute respiratory distress syndrome and complications in extrapulmonary organs. Taste impairment and salivary dysfunction are common early symptoms in COVID-19 patients.

Infantile neuroblastoma and maternal occupational exposure to medical agents.

Background: Healthcare workers are often exposed to hazardous agents and are at risk for adverse health consequences that affect not only themselves but also their infants. This study aimed to examine whether such occupational exposure increased the risk of childhood cancer in offspring.

Methods: We used the dataset of the Japan Environment and Children's Study, a nationwide birth cohort involving over 100,000 mother-child pairs.

Diluted Luria-Bertani medium vs. sewage sludge as growth media: comparison of community structure and diversity in the culturable bacteria.

Because colony formation is essential to seek bacterial functions by the direct observation of phenotype, the diversification of colony formation for culturable bacteria is a big challenge in the research field of Environmental Biotechnology. In this study, the biodiversity of cultivable bacteria (colony or liquid culture) was compared by using Luria-Bertani (LB) medium and waste sewage sludge (WSS) under different dilutions and temperatures. When WSS was used as a bacterial source, whereas the highest number of colonies was found at the concentration of WSS (5%), a particular concentration of LB (10%) or WSS (1%) as a growth medium showed the best number of the operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of colonies.

Efficacy and Safety of Zonisamide in Dementia with Lewy Bodies Patients with Parkinsonism: A Post Hoc Analysis of Two Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trials.

Background: Although previous phase II and III clinical trials conducted in Japan showed that zonisamide improved parkinsonism in patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), some differences in efficacy outcomes were observed between the trials.

Objective: We aimed to further examine the efficacy and safety of zonisamide in DLB patients with parkinsonism in a post hoc analysis of pooled data from the previous phase II and III trials.

Methods: Both trials featured a 4-week run-in period followed by a 12-week treatment period with a double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, randomized, multicenter trial design.

Protein Ingredient in Saliva on Oral Dryness Patients Caused by Calcium Blocker.

Oral dryness as a side effect of certain drugs is increasing. The aim of this study was to examine the change of the protein ingredient in saliva of oral dryness patients caused by calcium blocker. Six patients taking calcium blocker and six healthy elderly were enrolled.

Effectiveness of oral moisturizing gel and flavor on oral moisture and saliva volume: A clinical study.

Statement Of Problem: Oral dryness leads to problems in the oral cavity and pharynx and problems with dental prostheses. Although some moisturizing agents relieve the symptoms of oral dryness, the influence of the flavor of the moisturizing agent on the symptoms of oral dryness has not been clarified.

Purpose: The purpose of this clinical study was to examine the effectiveness of moisturizing gels with different flavors.