Phase angle variability on bleeding risks in hemodialysis patients.

Background: This study investigated the association between Phase Angle (PhA), measured by bioelectrical impedance analysis, and bleeding risk in hemodialysis patients to evaluate PhA as a predictive marker for bleeding events.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 102 hemodialysis patients who underwent PhA measurements between July 2019 and April 2024. Demographic data, medical histories, dialysis parameters, and bleeding events were collected.

Applicability of artificial intelligence-based computer-aided detection (AI-CAD) for pulmonary tuberculosis to community-based active case finding.

Background: Artificial intelligence-based computer-aided detection (AI-CAD) for tuberculosis (TB) has become commercially available and several studies have been conducted to evaluate the performance of AI-CAD for pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in clinical settings. However, little is known about its applicability to community-based active case-finding (ACF) for TB.

Methods: We analysed an anonymized data set obtained from a community-based ACF in Cambodia, targeting persons aged 55 years or over, persons with any TB symptoms, such as chronic cough, and persons at risk of TB, including household contacts.

Analysis of a tuberculosis outbreak in an office: Hokkaido, Japan, 2019-2020.

Background: In August 2018, a male worker (Pt1) in an office was diagnosed with smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). This study aims to characterize the cases found in the TB outbreak in the office.

Methods: The risks of TB disease or infection were compared among the staff members by seating locations.

Extremely low F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake in the brain of a patient with metastatic neuroblastoma and its recovery after chemotherapy: A case report.

Commonly, physiological F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake in the brain can be observed in F-FDG positron emission tomography. Abnormal uptake of F-FDG in the brain suggests disorders of central nervous system. Here, we present a case of extremely low F-FDG uptake in the brain of a 4-year-old girl with whole-body metastatic neuroblastoma.

The adeno-associated virus rh10 vector is an effective gene transfer system for chronic spinal cord injury.

Treatment options for chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) remain limited due to unfavourable changes in the microenvironment. Gene therapy can overcome these barriers through continuous delivery of therapeutic gene products to the target tissue. In particular, adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors are potential candidates for use in chronic SCI, considering their safety and stable gene expression in vivo.

[A Case of Rocuronium-induced Anaphylaxis in a Man with Kounis Syndrome in which Basophil Activation Test was Valuable in Determining the Causative Agent].

We experienced rocuronium-induced anaphylaxis in a 62-year-old man who was scheduled for laparoscopic ileocecal excision for cecal cancer under general anes- thesia. The patient did not have a preoperative history and examinations suggestive of heart disease, or pre- disposing factors for myocardial infarction. Just after induction of anesthesia, we noticed abnormally low blood pressure and ST segment elevation on his elec- trocardiogram.

[Outcomes of Bridge to Surgery for Obstructive Colorectal Cancer after Metallic Stent Placement in Our Hospital].

Recently, the endoscopic placement of self-expanding metallicstents (SEMSs)has become widespread for the treatment of acute malignant colorectal obstruction. This study was designed to evaluate the clinical outcomes of 22 patients with obstructive colorectal cancer who underwent SEMS placement as a bridge to surgery(BTS)from January 2012 to December 2015. The subjects comprised 15 men and 7 women with a mean age of 68.

Phase II study of FOLFOX4 with "wait and go" strategy as first-line treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of FOLFOX4 using "wait and go" strategy in treating metastatic colorectal cancer.

Methods: The conventional FOLFOX4 was repeated every 2 weeks. We waited until the recovery of symptoms from persistent neurotoxicity within an added period of 2 weeks, before performing the next cycle ("wait and go" strategy).

Expression of tight-junction-associated proteins in human gastric cancer: downregulation of claudin-4 correlates with tumor aggressiveness and survival.

Background: Claudin, occludin, and zonula occludens (ZO)-1 are known as tight-junction-associated proteins. The aim of this study was to examine the expression of these proteins in gastric carcinoma.

Methods: Gastric cancer tissues (n = 124) were obtained from 124 patients who underwent gastrectomy at our hospital between January 2000 and December 2004.

Usefulness of intraoperative esophagogastroduodenoscopy in a patient with lupus enteritis.

A 19-year-old Japanese woman had melena 2 months after systemic lupus erythematosus was diagnosed. Colonoscopy showed diffuse ulceration with bleeding in the ileum, suggesting that the melena was due to ischemic enteritis associated with lupus enteritis. Because treatment with high doses of steroid, anticoagulants, and cyclophosphamide pulse was ineffective, surgical intervention was planned.

Traffic of infused bone marrow cells after genetically-labeled syngeneic bone marrow transplantation following lethal irradiation in mice.

Unlabelled: Bone marrow (BM) cells are considered the source of stem cells for various organs. However, how quickly BM cells can penetrate and constitute lymphoid organs remains elusive. In the present study, we addressed this issue in a model using genetically-labeled syngeneic BM transplantation (BMT).

Ornithine decarboxylase activity as a prognostic marker for colorectal cancer.

Ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) is a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of polyamines, which are essential for cell proliferation. ODC activity was measured in 47 colorectal cancer patients, 5 patients with adenoma of colorectum and 4 healthy volunteers. Mean ODC activities of cancer tissue, non-cancerous mucosa from cancer-bearing colorectum, adenoma tissue, and normal mucosa from healthy volunteers were 435+/-392, 154+/-173, 295+/-202, 103+/-60 pmol CO2/h/mg protein, respectively.

[A case of advanced gastric cancer responding remarkably to neo-adjuvant combination chemotherapy using CPT-11 plus S-1].

Adjuvant chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer has not yet been established. We report a patient with advanced gastric cancer responding remarkably to neo-adjuvant combination chemotherapy consisting of CPT-11 and S-1. The patient was a 69-year-old woman diagnosed with large type 3 advanced gastric cancer with esophageal invasion and having No.

[Comparisons of standard treatments for colorectal cancer between Japan and Western Countries].

In order to distinguish the differences in standard treatment for colorectal cancer between Japan and Western countries, we compared several issues in clinical practice guidelines (guidance) of Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom. Endoscopic resection is not common in Western countries, so its feasibility and efficacy should be determined in Japan. Laparoscopic resection, however, is applied to more advanced diseases.

Detection of cancer cells disseminated in bone marrow using real-time quantitative RT-PCR of CEA, CK19, and CK20 mRNA in patients with gastric cancer.

Background: To determine the significance of bone marrow disseminated tumor cells in gastric cancer, we investigated the mRNA expression levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cytokeratin 19 (CK19), and cytokeratin 20 (CK20) using the real-time quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RQ-PCR).

Methods: Bone marrow samples were aspirated from the sternum at the time of surgery in 65 patients with resectable gastric cancer. Total RNA was extracted from bone marrow; and the expression levels of CEA, CK19, and CK20 mRNA were determined by RQ-PCR using an ABI PRISM 7000 and quantified against the GAPDH mRNA level.

Low serum ferritin levels as a clue to colonic cancer detection in two patients with coronary artery disease: a case report.

We diagnosed colonic cancer using low serum ferritin levels as a clue in two patients with cardiac or cardiopulmonary disease. In the course of the follow-up, the serum ferritin levels decreased to less than 18 ng/mL without significant appearance of iron-deficiency anemia. One patient showed positive immunological fecal occult blood test results whereas the other not.

Understanding the response of dendritic cells to activation by streptococcal preparation OK-432.

Background: The streptococcal preparation OK-432 induces maturation of T cells and dendritic cells (DCs). However, the mechanisms by which OK-432 induces DC maturation are not well understood.

Materials And Methods: The effects of OK-432 and TNF-alpha on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were compared.

[Experimental study for a combination chemo-immunotherapy using dendritic cells].

This study was designed to seek for the optimal anticancer agents for a combination of chemotherapy and specific immunotherapy using dendritic cells (DC) in gastric cancer. We investigated the immuno-suppressive activity of anticancer agents on human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), apoptosis inducing activity on gastric cancer cells and expression of Toll-like receptor (TLR)-4 mRNA on immatureDCs (iDCs) by paclitaxel (TXL) and docetaxel (TXT). We further compared the cytotoxicity of cytotixic T lymphocytes (CTLs) induced by DCs pulsed with tumor cell lysate and apoptotic cells induced by TXT.

Prediction of sensitivity to fluoropyrimidines by metabolic and target enzyme activities in gastric cancer.

Background: This study was designed to investigate the role of thymidylate synthase (TS), dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD), and thymidine phosphorylase (TP) in tumor progression and sensitivity to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU).

Methods: A total of 275 tumor samples from 275 patients with gastric cancer were utilized in this study. TS activity was determined in 130 samples by 5-fluorodeoxyuridine monophosphate binding assay.

Chronic intestinal pseudoobstruction ileus in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis: outcome of a stoma construction and its histopathological features.

We report the first case of a chronic intestinal pseudoobstruction (CIPO) in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in whom a stoma was constructed at the sigmoid colon to decompress intracolonic pressure. The treatment improved quality of life in this patient, suggesting that surgical resection of the colon to decompress intracolonic pressure would be one of the options for the treatment of intractable CIPO. The resected specimen obtained from the sigmoid colon was found to be palisaded, with nuclei crowded in some areas of the inner circular muscle layer and thickened, with zonal or focal myxoid regions with interstitial fibrosis, composed of collagenous and elastic fibers, in the outer longitudinal muscle layer.

Carbohydrate expression profile of colorectal cancer cells is relevant to metastatic pattern and prognosis.

Carbohydrate expression of cancer cells is closely related to the metastatic nature of colorectal cancer. In the present study we investigated the relevance of carbohydrate expression profiles of colorectal cancer cells in the primary lesion to metastatic distribution patterns as well as prognosis in 134 cases. Carbohydrate expression was estimated by histochemistry with 17 kinds of lectins and 3 kinds of Lewis-related monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), and correlations between the staining and clinicopathological parameters were examined.