Effects of Transradial Access on In-Hospital Outcomes in Percutaneous Coronary Intervention for Coronary Artery Bypass Graft: Insights from the Japanese Nationwide Database.

Because of its superior safety profile and improved outcomes, trans-radial percutaneous coronary intervention (TRI) has become the preferred access in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of native coronary disease. This study investigated the impact of TRI on in-hospital outcomes after PCI for coronary artery bypass graft vessels (GV-PCI). We analyzed patients who underwent GV-PCI in 2019-2022 from the Japanese nationwide registry.

Effect of empagliflozin on ventricular arrhythmias in patients with type 2 diabetes treated with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator: the EMPA-ICD trial.

Background: Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors reduce the risk of hospitalization for heart failure and cardiovascular death with type 2 diabetes; however, their effect on arrhythmias is unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of empagliflozin on ventricular arrhythmias in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: A total of 150 patients with type 2 diabetes who were treated with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator or cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (ICD/CRT-D) were randomized to once-daily empagliflozin or placebo for 24 weeks.

Mid-term outcomes of delivery catheter-based and stylet-based right ventricular septal pacing: Follow-up results from a multicenter, prospective, randomized study.

Background: The Mt FUJI study was a multicenter, prospective, randomized, single-blind, controlled trial comparing delivery catheter-based and stylet-based right ventricular (RV) lead placement at the RV septum. This study extended the follow-up duration to 1 year after implantation.

Methods: Seventy patients with pacemaker indications for atrioventricular block were randomly assigned to the delivery catheter and stylet groups.

Geographical variation in patient characteristics and outcomes in heart failure with mildly reduced and preserved ejection fraction.

Aims: Compared to heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction, HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), and HF with mildly reduced ejection fraction (HFmrEF) are increasing in prevalence, yet little is known about the geographic variation in patient characteristics, treatments and outcomes among these two HF phenotypes. The aim of this study was to investigate geographic differences in HFpEF and HFmrEF.

Methods And Results: We conducted an individual patient analysis of five clinical trials enrolling patients with HFpEF or HFmrEF from North America (NA), Latin America (LA), Western Europe (WE), Central/Eastern Europe and Russia (CEER), and Asia-Pacific (AP).

Prognostic Significance of Serum Uric Acid and Exercise Capacity in Older Adults Hospitalized for Worsening Cardiovascular Disease.

Elevated serum uric acid (sUA) is associated with the risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD). Here, we examined the prognostic significance of sUA and exercise capacity in 411 Japanese adults (age, ≥65; mean, 81 years) hospitalized for worsening CVD. When the patients were stratified by sUA into three groups (<5.

Functionalized Surface Coatings for Rigid Contact Lenses.

This research evolves into a comparative study of three different phenolic composites as coatings for rigid contact lenses, with a particular emphasis on enhancing their antifouling properties and hydrophobicity. The primary layer, comprised of diverse phenolic compounds, serves as a sturdy foundation. An exclusive secondary layer, featuring synthetic peptoids, is introduced to further minimize biofouling.

KEAP1-NRF2 system regulates age-related spermatogenesis dysfunction.

Purpose: The average fatherhood age has been consistently increasing in developed countries. Aging has been identified as a risk factor for male infertility. However, its impact on various mechanisms remains unclear.

Low Natriuretic Peptide Levels and Outcomes in Patients With Heart Failure and Preserved Ejection Fraction.

Background: Although some patients with heart failure (HF) with mildly reduced/preserved ejection fraction have low natriuretic peptide levels, there are no large-scale systematic studies of how common these individuals are or what happens to them.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the proportion of patients in the I-PRESERVE (Irbesartan in Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction) trial with an N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) level <125 pg/mL, their clinical characteristics, and outcomes.

Methods: I- PRESERVE enrolled patients with symptomatic HF and a LVEF ≥45% but who did not have NT-proBNP or body mass index inclusion/exclusion criteria.

Systemic immune response of burns from the acute to chronic phase.

Immune responses that occur following burn injury comprise a series of reactions that are activated in response to damaged autologous tissues, followed by removal of damaged tissues and foreign pathogens such as invading bacteria, and tissue repair. These immune responses are considered to be programmed in living organisms. Developments of modern medicine have led to the saving of burned patients who could not be cured previously; however, the programmed response is no longer able to keep up, and various problems have arisen.

Randomized Trial for Evaluation in Secondary Prevention Efficacy of Combination Therapy-Statin and Eicosapentaenoic Acid (RESPECT-EPA).

Background: Low plasma levels of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) are associated with cardiovascular events. This trial aimed to assess the clinical benefits of icosapent ethyl in patients with coronary artery disease, a low EPA/arachidonic acid (AA) ratio, and statin treatment.

Methods: In this prospective, multicenter, randomized, open-label, blinded end-point study, patients with stable coronary artery disease and a low EPA/AA ratio (<0.

Long-term exposure to particulate matter and all-cause and cause-specific mortality in an analysis of multiple Asian cohorts.

Background: Exposure to ambient air pollution is associated with a significant number of deaths. Much of the evidence associating air pollution with adverse effects is from North American and Europe, partially due to incomplete data in other regions limiting location specific examinations. The aim of the current paper is to leverage satellite derived air quality data to examine the relationship between ambient particulate matter and all-cause and cause-specific mortality in Asia.

Interpersonal psychotherapy for comorbid prolonged grief disorder and persistent depressive disorder in a Japanese patient: A case report.

Background: Prolonged grief disorder (PGD) is a new diagnostic entity. However, treatment for PGD is not yet available. Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) may be effective for PGD.

A Scale of Parent-to-Child Emotions (SPCE): Development and validation of a short form.

Aim: Parents' emotions towards a child are extremely important. The Scale of Parent-to-Child Emotions (SPCE) consists of five basic and four self-conscious emotion domains for assessment of parental emotional states. Abridgement of the SPCE is needed for research and clinical settings.

Bronchial occlusion with endobronchial Watanabe spigots using a two-scope technique for massive haemoptysis.

Massive haemoptysis is a life-threatening condition whose cause needs to be identified rapidly so that prompt interventions can ensue. Bronchial occlusion with endobronchial Watanabe spigots (EWSs) may be useful when endovascular treatment or surgery proves to be difficult. An 84-year-old woman developed massive haemoptysis during percutaneous mitral valve repair for refractory heart failure due to severe mitral regurgitation (MR).

Classification of transient epileptic amnesia attacks: Two types of amnestic seizures, the pure amnesia type and partial amnesia type.

Aim: Transient epileptic amnesia (TEA) is a type of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy characterized by recurrent amnesia attacks. In 1998, Zeman et al. proposed the following diagnostic criteria for TEA: (1) recurrent, witnessed episodes of amnesia (TEA attacks); (2) other cognitive functions remain intact during attacks; and (3) evidence of epilepsy.

Association between marital satisfaction of female patients with persistent depressive disorder, and their own and husbands' autism spectrum disorder or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder traits.

Aim: Patients' and spouses' neurodevelopmental traits may influence marital relationships, which are significantly associated with depressive symptoms. However, no studies have examined marital relationships in persistent depressive disorder (PDD) in terms of neurodevelopmental traits. This study aimed to explore the association between the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) traits of female PDD patients and both partners' (patient and husband) marital satisfaction.

Adolescent psychiatry of Y. Kasahara and succeeding research on in Europe and in Japan.

This paper will focus on the works of one of Japan's representative psychiatrists, Yomishi Kasahara, particularly on his works in the 1970s in which he proposed the concept of student apathy, and will discuss how this work was carried over into a contemporary topic, the study of "." Kasahara's well-known paper "Clinical Classification of Depression" (Kasahara and Kimura, 1975) described the present state of patients with Type III as "they do not have a complete set of symptoms as in Type I, but sometimes show dependency, strong exaggeration, complication of other neurotic symptoms, little tendency of self-reproaching, and tendency of accusing others"; the two subtypes as Type III-1 "those that remain at the neurotic level" and Type III-2 "those that transiently drop to the psychotic level." We have summarized and introduced below the case presented in the paper with this Type III-1.

Clinical clues for suspecting wild-type transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis in patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance: a case report.

Background: Myeloproliferative disorders, including monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), are often associated with amyloid light-chain (AL)-type cardiac amyloidosis (CA) but occasionally with wild-type transthyretin (ATTR) CA. In recent years, ATTR amyloidosis has attracted necessity for its reliable diagnosis with the addition of new treatments. Usually, both wild-type ATTR CA and AL-type CA present with marked cardiac hypertrophy, but renal dysfunction is milder in wild-type ATTR amyloidosis than in AL-type amyloidosis.

Synthetic retinoid-mediated preconditioning of cancer-associated fibroblasts and macrophages improves cancer response to immune checkpoint blockade.

Background: The proliferation of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) hampers drug delivery and anti-tumor immunity, inducing tumor resistance to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy. However, it has remained a challenge to develop therapeutics that specifically target or modulate CAFs.

Methods: We investigated the involvement of Meflin cancer-restraining CAFs (rCAFs) in ICB efficacy in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) and urothelial carcinoma (UC).

Usefulness of bicarbonate-based Impella purge solution in a patient with heparin-induced thrombocytopenia: the first case report of long-term management in Japan.

Percutaneous mechanical circulatory support utilizing micro-axial flow pumps, such as the Impella group of devices, has become a life-saving technique in the treatment of refractory cardiogenic shock, with ever-increasing success rates. A 30-year-old man presented with acute decompensated heart failure and a severely reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (17%). Despite initial treatment with inotropic drugs and intra-aortic balloon pump support, his hemodynamic status remained unstable.