Effect of statin on the 5 years clinical outcomes in dialysis patients treated with sirolimus-eluting stent.

Objective: The optimal medication therapies are recommended in patients with coronary artery disease even after the coronary revascularization. However, the information of optimal medical therapy in dialysis population is scant. We assessed the efficacy of statin on the clinical outcomes after Sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) implantation in patients with and without dialysis.

Factors predicting clinical impairment after surgery for cervical spinal schwannoma.

Cervical spinal schwannoma is benign, and outcomes after surgical resection are generally excellent. A surgical dilemma sometimes arises as to whether to perform total tumor removal, which carries a risk of sacrificing the nerve root, or subtotal removal, where the risk can be tumor recurrence. The purpose of this study was to identify factors with the potential to predict clinical impairment after surgery for cervical spinal schwannomas.

Upregulation of miR-18a-5p contributes to epidermal necrolysis in severe drug eruptions.

Background: Toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) is a severe drug-induced cutaneous reaction. Although one of the primary histologic features of TEN is keratinocyte apoptosis, its exact mechanism remains unknown.

Objectives: We investigated the role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in the pathogenesis of severe drug eruptions and evaluated the possibility that miRNA can be a disease marker.

Inner retinal layer comparisons of eyes with exudative age-related macular degeneration and eyes with age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma.

Background: The incidence of glaucoma increases with age, as does age-related macular degeneration (AMD), with the reported incidence of glaucoma among AMD subjects being 5.4 %. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) can detect glaucomatous changes in the inner retina with high sensitivity.

Genotypic relationships between Taenia saginata, Taenia asiatica and their hybrids.

Partial sequences of the DNA polymerase delta (pold) gene from Taenia saginata-like adult worms were sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that pold gene sequences were clearly divided into two clades, differing from each other in five to seven nucleotides. There is little doubt that T.

Hyperammonemia in idiopathic epileptic seizure.

Objective: It is known that patients with convulsion often present hyperammonemia. The elevation of ammonia levels in convulsion is considered to occur along with extensive muscle contractions, but the details remain unclear. In emergency pathologies, such as cardiopulmonary arrest or hemorrhagic shock without muscle contraction, red blood cells are known to produce ammonia through acidosis, leading to hyperammonemia.

Postural abnormality as a risk marker for leg deep venous thrombosis in Parkinson's disease.

Background: Pulmonary thromboembolism is a common cause of death in patients with autopsy-confirmed Parkinsonism. This study investigated the incidence of leg deep vein thrombosis in Parkinson's disease and relationships between deep vein thrombosis and clinical/laboratory findings, including postural abnormalities as assessed by photographic measurements.

Methods: This cross-sectional study assessed the presence of deep vein thrombosis using bilateral leg Doppler ultrasonography in 114 asymptomatic outpatients with Parkinson's disease.

Screening for group B streptococci with reduced penicillin susceptibility in clinical isolates obtained between 1977 and 2005.

Group B streptococcus (GBS; Streptococcus agalactiae) is a leading cause of neonatal invasive infections, and until recently, it was thought to be completely susceptible to penicillin. However, we recently identified several clinical GBS isolates with reduced penicillin susceptibility (PRGBS) whose minimum inhibitory concentrations of penicillin were >0.12 μg/ml, which is above the susceptibility breakpoint set by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute.

Spontaneous disappearance of coronary pseudoaneurysm due to coronary artery perforation following percutaneous coronary intervention.

In recent years, while therapeutic outcome after percutaneous coronary intervention is improving due to the introduction of drug-eluting stent and device development, procedure-related complications including coronary perforation may ineluctably occur though at low-frequency, even if careful manipulations are performed under IVUS guidance. Meanwhile, coronary pseudoaneurysm subsequent to coronary perforation is one of the complications at chronic phase infrequently experienced following percutaneous coronary intervention. To date, the incidence and natural history of pseudoaneurysm following coronary artery perforation remain unclear.

Blood lactate/ATP ratio, as an alarm index and real-time biomarker in critical illness.

Objective: The acute physiology, age and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II score and other related scores have been used for evaluation of illness severity in the intensive care unit (ICU), but there is still a need for real-time and sensitive prognostic biomarkers. Recently, alarmins from damaged tissues have been reported as alarm-signaling molecules. Although ATP is a member of the alarmins and its depletion in tissues closely correlates with multiple-organ failure, blood ATP level has not been evaluated in critical illness.

Rewarming for accidental hypothermia in an urban medical center using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

Background: Accidental hypothermia complicated by cardiac arrest carries a high mortality rate in urban areas. For moderate hypothermia cases conventional rewarming methods are usually adequate, however in severe cases extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is known to provide the most efficient rewarming with complete cardiopulmonary support. We report a case of severe hypothermia complicated by prolonged cardiac arrest successfully resuscitated using ECMO.

Down-regulation of miR-223 contributes to the formation of Gottron's papules in dermatomyositis via the induction of PKCɛ.

Background: Dermatomyositis (DM) is characterized by skin manifestations accompanying and preceding muscle weakness. Gottron's papules, one of the skin manifestations, are of great diagnostic value because they are specific to DM. However, the pathogenesis of Gottron's papules remains unclear.

Significantly high level of late-night free cortisol to creatinine ratio in urine specimen in patients with subclinical Cushing's syndrome.

Objective: Absence of a late-night cortisol nadir is a consistent biochemical abnormality in patients with cortisol-producing adenoma. We evaluated the abnormality of late-night urinary free cortisol to creatinine ratio (late-night UFCCR) in patients with subclinical Cushing's syndrome (SCS).

Methods: Fifty-eight patients with incidentally detected adrenocortical adenomas [SCS: 9; nonfunctioning adenoma (NF): 49] were enrolled as subjects.

Cross-sectional and prospective study of the association between lung function and prediabetes.

Objectives: A growing body of evidence suggests that there is a relationship between impaired lung function and the risk of developing diabetes mellitus (DM). However, it is not known if this reflects a causal effect of lung function on glucose metabolism. To clarify the relationship between lung function and the development of DM, we examined the incidence of newly diagnosed prediabetes (a precursor of DM) among subjects with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) at baseline.

Early surgical intervention for spinal infection in patients with malignancy requiring chemotherapy: report of two cases and review of the literature.

Advances in chemotherapy for various malignancies have contributed to the increased life expectancy of patients. If such a patient has a concurrent infection, his/her oncologist would hesitate to perform prompt chemotherapy owing to the risk of inducing sepsis. Therefore, the treatment of infection would have priority over initiating chemotherapy for the malignancy.

Surgical treatment of infective endocarditis in patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis.

Background And Aim Of The Study: Infective endocarditis (IE) is a devastating complication in patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis (HD). The study aim was to reveal the characteristics and outcomes of surgically managed IE in chronic HD patients.

Methods: Between April 1998 and August 2011, a total of 119 patients underwent surgery to treat IE.

Identification of disulphide stress-responsive extracytoplasmic function sigma factors in Rothia mucilaginosa.

Rothia mucilaginosa is known as a member of commensal bacterial flora in the oral cavity and has received attention as a potential opportunistic pathogen. We previously determined the genomic sequence of R. mucilaginosa DY-18, a clinical strain with biofilm-like structures isolated from an infected root canal of a tooth with persistent apical periodontitis.

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) induces peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors and ameliorates experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), one of the n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, is a neuroprotective lipid with anti-inflammatory properties. We investigated the possible therapeutic effect of EPA on experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). EAE mice were fed a diet with or without EPA.

Carotid arterial intraplaque hemorrhage and calcification influences cerebral hemodynamics.

We evaluated associations between cerebral blood flow (CBF) and histopathological features in atherosclerotic lesions of the internal carotid artery. Cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) and CBF were measured in 72 patients with unilateral carotid artery stenosis who underwent Xe-CT before carotid endarterectomy. Collateral blood flow was estimated as stump pressure.

Identification of the genes involved in the biofilm-like structures on actinomyces oris K20, a clinical isolate from an apical lesion.

Introduction: Although the production of biofilm is thought to be crucial in the pathogenesis of abscess formations caused by oral resident microorganisms, the particular mechanisms are still unknown. The aim of this study was to identify gene(s) responsible for maintaining the cell surface-associated meshwork-like structures, which are found in some biofilm-producing bacteria, in a clinical isolate of Actinomyces oris K20.

Methods: Random insertional mutagenesis by using transposon EZ-Tn5 was performed against the strain K20.

Anaerobic coculture of microalgae with Thermosipho globiformans and Methanocaldococcus jannaschii at 68°C enhances generation of n-alkane-rich biofuels after pyrolysis.

We tested different alga-bacterium-archaeon consortia to investigate the production of oil-like mixtures, expecting that n-alkane-rich biofuels might be synthesized after pyrolysis. Thermosipho globiformans and Methanocaldococcus jannaschii were cocultured at 68°C with microalgae for 9 days under two anaerobic conditions, followed by pyrolysis at 300°C for 4 days. Arthrospira platensis (Cyanobacteria), Dunaliella tertiolecta (Chlorophyta), Emiliania huxleyi (Haptophyta), and Euglena gracilis (Euglenophyta) served as microalgal raw materials.

Ultrashort optical-vortex pulse generation in few-cycle regime.

We generated a 2.3-cycle, 5.9-fs, 56-μJ ultrashort optical-vortex pulse (ranging from ~650 to ~950 nm) in few-cycle regime, by optical parametric amplification.