Relationship between Chemotherapy-Induced Diarrhea and Intestinal Microbiome Composition.

Background And Aim: Fluoropyrimidines (FPs) are key drugs in many chemotherapy regimens; however, recipients are often prone to diarrhea due to gastrointestinal toxicity. Disruption of the intestinal epithelial barrier function by FPs leads to dysbiosis, which may exacerbate intestinal epithelial cell damage as a secondary effect and trigger diarrhea. However, despite studies on chemotherapy-induced changes in the intestinal microbiome of humans, the relationship between dysbiosis and diarrhea is unclear.

Serum IL-13 Predicts Response to Golimumab in Bio-Naïve Ulcerative Colitis.

A certain number of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) are refractory to anti-TNF-α antibodies; biomarkers are thus needed to predict treatment efficacy. This study aimed to evaluate whether serum biomarkers that were reported to be associated with UC or anti-TNF-α antibody could predict the response to golimumab, a human anti-TNF-α monoclonal antibody, in bio-naïve patients with UC. We prospectively enrolled 23 consecutive patients with UC who were treated with golimumab.

Risk Factors for Nephrotoxicity due to Tacrolimus Therapy for Ulcerative Colitis.

Background And Aims: The calcineurin inhibitor tacrolimus is reportedly effective for moderate/severe ulcerative colitis (UC); however, it is also reportedly associated with nephrotoxicity. We investigated the risk factors for tacrolimus-induced nephrotoxicity and whether renal impairment adversely affected the outcomes of tacrolimus treatment in patients with UC.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of 93 patients with UC who were administered tacrolimus leading to high trough levels (10-15 ng/mL) for 2 weeks and low trough levels (5-10 ng/mL) for 3 months.

Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of Golimumab for the Prediction of Long-Term Clinical Remission in Patients with Ulcerative Colitis.

Background And Aims: A considerable number of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) who initially respond to golimumab (GLM), an anti-TNF-α antibody, gradually lose clinical response. Therapeutic drug monitoring has been proposed to optimize serum anti-TNF-α antibody concentrations before the loss of response; however, little is known about ideal serum GLM concentrations. We aimed to evaluate whether the serum GLM trough levels (TLs) early after the initiation of induction therapy affect the long-term outcomes in UC and to identify the early GLM TLs that should be targeted for better long-term outcomes.

Recurrence after ESD curative resection for early gastric cancer.

Background: Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is gaining ground as a minimally invasive treatment for early gastric cancer (EGC) that has a negligible risk of lymph node metastasis. According to the 5th edition of Japanese gastric cancer treatment guidelines, annual or biannual follow-up with endoscopy is recommended, but follow-up with abdominal ultrasonography or computed tomography (CT) for surveillance of metastases is not recommended after the eCuraA resection. However, we experienced a case of lymph node recurrence following ESD resulting in eCuraA.

Enhancement of -linked N-acetylglucosamine modification promotes metastasis in patients with colorectal cancer and concurrent type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Reversible post-translational modification of serine and threonine residues by -linked N-acetylglucosamine (-GlcNAc), termed -GlcNAcylation has been indicated to regulate the activities of a number of different proteins. Augmented -GlcNAcylation contributes to the etiologies of type 2 diabetes mellitus (TDM) and cancer. Moreover, diabetic conditions increase the risk of colorectal cancer.

Approach for differentiating trophoblast cell lineage from human induced pluripotent stem cells with retinoic acid in the absence of bone morphogenetic protein 4.

Introduction: Placental transport is the first step in chemotherapeutic safety evaluations during pregnancy. However, a well-established in vitro model is not available. We previously reported that a trophoblast layer model using differentiating choriocarcinoma JEG-3 cells (DJEGs) can be used for placental drug transport studies.

Superficial non-ampullary duodenal cancer identified by small-bowel capsule endoscopy: a case report (with video).

Herein, we report for the first time a case of a surficial superficial non-ampullary duodenal cancer causing obscure intestinal bleeding that was identified by small-bowel capsule endoscopy and treated by endoscopic mucosal resection. A 73-year-old man underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy to identify the cause of anemia. Although conventional duodenoscopy revealed a flat, elevated 5-mm lesion with a central recess and "milk-white mucosa" at the inferior duodenal angulus, capsule endoscopy revealed a white nodular 5-mm lesion with central recess at the duodenum slightly to the anal side from the major duodenal papilla.

[Effect of an educational admission program for patients at the conservative phase of chronic kidney disease (CKD)].

Purpose: We have been conducting a 1-week educational admission program for patients at the conservative phase of chronic kidney disease (CKD) since 2006. In this study we evaluated the effect of the program.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 469 patients who could be followed for 12 months after a 1-week educational admission program for CKD out of a total of 700 patients who attended the program between October 2006 and April 2012.