Post-transcriptional control of immune responses and its potential application.

Inflammation is the host response against stresses such as infection. Although the inflammation process is required for the elimination of pathogens, uncontrolled inflammation leads to tissue destruction and inflammatory diseases. To avoid this, the inflammatory response is tightly controlled by multiple layers of regulation.

Application of Cancer Organoid Model for Drug Screening and Personalized Therapy.

Drug screening-i.e., testing the effects of a number of drugs in multiple cell lines-is used for drug discovery and development, and can also be performed to evaluate the heterogeneity of a disease entity.

Role of Perivascular Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cells in Angiogenesis After Brain Ischemia.

Background Oligodendrocyte precursor cells ( OPC s) regulate neuronal, glial, and vascular systems in diverse ways and display phenotypic heterogeneity beyond their established role as a reservoir for mature oligodendrocytes. However, the detailed phenotypic changes of OPC s after cerebral ischemia remain largely unknown. Here, we aimed to investigate the roles of reactive OPC s in the ischemic brain.

Erythroplasia of Queyrat treated with imiquimod 5% cream: The necessity of regimen guidelines.

Development of noninvasive treatments for erythroplasia of Queyrat, a carcinoma in situ, is expected. This case suggests topical imiquimod might be a candidate with regimens consisting of much longer duration of the treatment than for genital warts and the maintenance phase of the treatment course to prevent the relapse.

Pulse Pressure is a Stronger Predictor Than Systolic Blood Pressure for Severe Eye Diseases in Diabetes Mellitus.

Background Evidence of the role of systolic blood pressure ( SBP ) in development of severe diabetic retinopathy is not strong, although the adverse effect of low diastolic blood pressure has been a partial explanation. We assessed the predictive ability of incident severe diabetic retinopathy between pulse pressure ( PP ) which considers both SBP and diastolic blood pressure, compared with SBP . Methods and Results Eligible patients (12 242, 83% men) aged 19 to 72 years from a nationwide claims database were analyzed for a median observational 4.

The intracellular Ca2+ concentration is elevated in cardiomyocytes differentiated from hiPSCs derived from a Duchenne muscular dystrophy patient.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common and severe form of muscular dystrophy. The major symptoms of this condition are walking difficulties, dyspnea caused by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, and cardiomyopathy. Recent advances in ventilator support devices have dramatically decreased mortality caused by respiratory distress.

Pharmacogenomic-pharmacokinetic study of selective estrogen-receptor modulators with intra-patient dose escalation in breast cancer.

Background: An association between CYP2D6 polymorphisms and tamoxifen (TAM) efficacy has not been confirmed, partly due to unreliable prediction of active metabolite exposure solely by CYP2D6 activity. The efficacy of TAM dose escalation appears limited in poor TAM metabolizers. Since the chlorine atom on the side chain of toremifene (TOR) prevents 4-hydroxylation by CYP2D6, its contribution to active conversion of TOR is minor.

Effectiveness of spiritual care using spiritual pain assessment sheet for advanced cancer patients: A pilot non-randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To obtain preliminary knowledge to design a randomized controlled trial to clarify the effects of spiritual care using the Spiritual Pain Assessment Sheet (SpiPas).

Method: The study was designed as a nonrandomized controlled trial. The study took place between January 2015 and July 2015 in a hematology and oncology ward and two palliative care units in Japan.

Verification of a dose rate-responsive dynamic equilibrium model on radiation-induced mutation frequencies in mice.

We have proposed a mathematical model (WAM model) expressing increment of the dose-rate dependent mutation frequency caused by artificial radiations. In this model, it is defined that the pool of mutant cells in dynamic equilibrium in organisms. We verified the accuracy of the WAM prediction of mutation frequency in mice.

Dialysis-related practice patterns among hemodialysis patients with cancer.

Rationale Aims And Objectives: With the achievement of longevity in hemodialysis patients, the risk of comorbid cancer has begun to draw attention. In the present study, we examined dialysis-related practice patterns and compared those patterns by cancer status.

Methods: Using data from the Japan Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study phase 4, we evaluated 2153 hemodialysis patients.

Variations and characteristics of quality indicators for maintenance hemodialysis patients: A systematic review.

Aims: Several quality indicators (QIs) to improve the quality of practice for hemodialysis patients have been implemented. However, the variations and characteristics of these indicators in terms of their use and feasibility have not been investigated. We conducted a systematic review to evaluate the variations and characteristics of existing QIs for maintenance hemodialysis patients.

Dormancy in cancer.

The idea of tumor dormancy originated from clinical findings that recurrence of cancer occurs several years or even several decades after surgical resection of the primary tumor. Tumor mass dormancy was proposed as a model, where there is equal balance between increases in the number of cancer cells by proliferation and decreases as a result of cell death. Tumor mass dormancy includes angiogenic dormancy and immune-mediated dormancy.

The relationship between the houseboundedness and frailty of community-dwelling elderly persons.

This study aimed to verify whether the incidence of frailty in elderly individuals is higher among those who are housebound than those who are not. This study found no correlation between elderly people's houseboundedeness and physical, mental, social, and overall frailty. However, the Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI) frailty score and grip strength value were higher in non-housebound elderly persons than in housebound elderly ones.

Efficiency of acoustic radiation force impulse imaging for the staging of graft fibrosis after liver transplantation.

Aim: Liver biopsy is the gold standard for assessing liver fibrosis (LF) after liver transplantation (LT), but its invasiveness limits its utility. This study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of liver stiffness measurement (LSM) using acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging to assess LF after LT.

Methods: Between September 2013 and January 2017, 278 patients who underwent liver biopsy after LT in Kyoto University Hospital (Kyoto, Japan) were prospectively enrolled.

Usefulness of fecal calprotectin by monoclonal antibody testing in adult Japanese with inflammatory bowel diseases: a prospective multicenter study.

Background/aims: Noninvasive objective monitoring is advantageous for optimizing treatment strategies in patients inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Fecal calprotectin (FCP) is superior to traditional biomarkers in terms of assessing the activity in patients with IBD. However, there are the differences among several FCP assays in the dynamics of FCP.

Predictors for sustained new-onset atrial fibrillation in critically ill patients: a retrospective observational study.

Purpose: Although new-onset atrial fibrillation (AF) is frequently observed in the intensive care unit (ICU), the incidence and predictors for sustained new-onset AF have not been investigated, except for cardiac surgery patients. We have evaluated potential predictors for sustained new-onset AF in a mixed ICU.

Methods: In this retrospective observational study, we screened non-cardiac surgery patients who were admitted to the ICU between January 2010 and December 2013 and had been hospitalized for > 24 h in the ICU.

Analysis of Prognostic Factors in Pancreatic Metastases: A Multicenter Retrospective Analysis.

Objectives: Pancreatic metastases (PMs) account for 1% to 2% of pancreatic tumors, and their prognostic significance is poorly defined. We evaluated the incidence and clinical characteristics of primary tumors and defined prognostic factors.

Methods: This retrospective study of 39 Japanese tertiary referral hospitals (January 2005 to August 2015) analyzed patient and tumor characteristics and survival time.

A randomized, open-label, Phase III trial of pertuzumab retreatment in HER2-positive locally advanced/metastatic breast cancer patients previously treated with pertuzumab, trastuzumab and chemotherapy: the Japan Breast Cancer Research Group-M05 PRECIOUS study.

The PRECIOUS study (UMIN000018202) is being conducted as a multicenter, randomized, open-label Phase III study to determine if retreatment with pertuzumab is more effective than conventional treatment in HER2-positive locally advanced (LA)/metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients previously treated with pertuzumab, trastuzumab and chemotherapy. Patients are randomized 1:1 into chemotherapy plus trastuzumab with or without pertuzumab groups. The latest regimen before enrollment did not include pertuzumab, and the number of previous chemotherapy regimens for LA/MBC did not exceed three.

Study design of multi-center, open-label randomized controlled, head-to-head trial comparing minodronic acid and raloxifene: Japanese Osteoporosis Intervention Trial (JOINT)-04.

We planned to conduct multi-center, open-labeled, blinded-endpoints, head-to-head randomized trial of minodronate and raloxifene to compare incidences of vertebral and non-vertebral fractures. The study is the Japanese Osteoporosis Intervention Trial protocol number 4 (JOINT-4). Here, we present the pre-fixed study design.

Survival Outcomes of Retreatment with Trastuzumab and Cytotoxic Chemotherapy for HER2-Positive Recurrent Patients With Breast Cancer Who Had Been Treated with Neo/adjuvant Trastuzumab Plus Multidrug Chemotherapy: A Japanese Multicenter Observational Study.

Background: There are little data on the usefulness of trastuzumab (TZM) retreatment as the first-line treatment for patients with HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2)-positive breast cancer recurrence after perioperative treatment with TZM.

Aim: To clarify the outcome and safety of TZM retreatment in patients with recurrent HER2-positive breast cancer.

Method: An observational study was conducted on patients who relapsed after primary systemic therapy with TZM using the central registration system.

Development and efficacy of a clinician-targeted refresher course for treating nonpneumonia respiratory tract infections.

Background: In 2017, the Japanese government published an evidence-based manual describing the appropriate use of antibiotics in outpatient settings to tackle the problem of antimicrobial resistance. To fill the evidence-practice gap, we developed a clinician-targeted course aimed at improving clinician skills in the daily clinical practice of treating acute respiratory tract infections (RTIs) based on the manual. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the course.