Role of High-sensitivity C-reactive Protein in Future Cardiovascular Events in Hemodialysis Patients.

Background/aim: The pathogenesis of cardio-vascular disease (CVD) in hemodialysis (HD) patients involves inflammation and oxidative stress. High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) is an established inflammatory biomarker associated with CVD. Several studies have suggested that the inflammatory biomarker pentraxin-3 (PTX-3) and the oxidative stress-related biomarker soluble lectin-like low-density lipoprotein receptor-1 (sLOX-1) are novel biomarkers for CVD in non-HD populations.

Relationship Between Cardiovascular Events and Serum Lipid and Plasma Fatty Acid Profile in Maintenance Hemodialysis Patients With Diabetic Mellitus.

Background/aim: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a frequent complication in hemodialysis (HD) patients, especially when the underlying disease is diabetes mellitus (DM). In this study, we investigated cardiovascular events and lipid and fatty acid profile in maintenance HD patients with diabetic kidney disease (DKD).

Patients And Methods: The subjects were 123 patients undergoing HD at Oyokyo Kidney Research Institute Hirosaki Hospital, who were considered to have DKD as the underlying cause of dialysis induction.

Chest radiotherapy after left upper lobectomy may be a risk factor for thrombosis in the pulmonary vein stump.

Background: Thrombosis in the pulmonary vein stump (PVS) is not a well-known complication after pulmonary lobectomy, but it has the potential to cause embolism to vital organs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk factors for thrombosis in the PVS after pulmonary lobectomy.

Methods: A total of 439 patients who underwent pulmonary lobectomy from 2008 to 2017 were retrospectively reviewed, and 412 patients were further analyzed.

A phase II study of S-1 and cisplatin with concurrent thoracic radiotherapy followed by durvalumab for unresectable, locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer in Japan (SAMURAI study).

Background: Based on the results of the PACIFIC study, chemoradiotherapy followed by 1-year consolidation therapy with durvalumab was established as the standard of care for unresectable, locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC). However, some topics not foreseen in that design can be explored, including progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) after the start of chemoradiotherapy, the proportion of patients who proceeded to consolidation therapy with durvalumab, and the optimal chemotherapeutic regimens. In Japan, the combination regimen of S-1 + cisplatin (SP), for which the results of multiple clinical studies have suggested a good balance of efficacy and tolerability, is frequently selected in clinical settings.

A Phase 1 Study of KHK4083: A Single-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Single-Ascending-Dose Study in Healthy Adults and an Open-Label Multiple-Dose Study in Patients With Ulcerative Colitis.

OX40 plays an essential role in maintaining late T-cell proliferation and survival by suppressing apoptosis and by inducing T-cell memory formation. Here, we report the results of the phase 1 study of KHK4083, a fully human antimonoclonal antibody specific for OX40. In this study, we aimed to assess the safety and tolerability of a single intravenous or subcutaneous administration of KHK4083 compared with placebo in healthy Japanese and Caucasian subjects and determined the pharmacokinetics (PK) and immunogenicity.

Factors associated with the outcomes in ulcerative colitis patients undergoing granulocyte and monocyte adsorptive apheresis as remission induction therapy: A multicenter cohort study.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) patients harbor activated myeloid leukocytes, which exacerbate and perpetuate UC by releasing inflammatory cytokines. Granulocyte and monocyte adsorptive apheresis (GMA) with an Adacolumn depletes elevated myeloid leukocytes, inducing efficacy with favorable safety. To understand how the clinical outcome with GMA is affected by prior corticosteroid treatment or concomitant immunomodulators, a retrospective multicenter study in 102 UC patients, who had not responded well to first-line medications was undertaken.

Prospective Observational Study of Treatment Resistance-related Gene Screening Using Plasma Circulating Tumor DNA in Third-generation EGFR-TKI Osimertinib Therapy (Elucidator).

Background: Osimertinib is a third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) that potently and selectively inhibits EGFR activating and EGFR T790M resistance mutations. Osimertinib was found to be more effective than first-generation EGFR-TKIs in patients with previously untreated advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring EGFR-positive mutations in a prior phase III trial. Osimertinib is, therefore, one of the most important standard therapies for EGFR mutation-positive patients.

Prospective exosome-focused translational research for afatinib study of non-small cell lung cancer patients expressing EGFR (EXTRA study).

Patients with EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) exhibit resistance to EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) within 9-14 months of therapy. Recently, EGFR-mutated NSCLC has demonstrated the potential for heterogeneity; therefore, the manner of clonal heterogeneity may impact the duration of progression-free and overall survival and other parameters affecting EGFR-TKI treatment efficacy. However no predictive biomarker of these favorable treatment efficacies has been identified to date.

Randomized phase III trial of erlotinib versus docetaxel as second- or third-line therapy in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: Docetaxel and Erlotinib Lung Cancer Trial (DELTA).

Purpose: To investigate the efficacy of erlotinib versus docetaxel in previously treated patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) -unselected patient population.

Patients And Methods: The primary end point was progression-free survival (PFS). Secondary end points included overall survival (OS), response rate, safety, and analyses on EGFR wild-type tumors.

Gene expression changes in venous segment of overflow arteriovenous fistula.

Aim. The objective of this study was to characterize coordinated molecular changes in the structure and composition of the walls of venous segments of arteriovenous (AV) fistulas evoked by overflow. Methods.

Unexpected outcome after sclerotherapy of simple renal cyst.

Background: Simple renal cysts usually have benign clinical features. We report a rare case of papillary renal cell carcinoma (RCC) associated with a large recurrent simple cyst following sclerotherapy.

Case Presentation: A 47-year-old Japanese woman received minocycline sclerotherapy for a large (9 cm in diameter) simple left renal cyst in May 2005.

An aggressive signet ring cell carcinoma of the prostate in a Japanese man.

Signet ring cell carcinoma (SRCC) of the prostate is rare, with approximately 100 case reports to date. Here we report a very aggressive case of SRCC of the prostate in a Japanese man. The patient received estramustine, docetaxel, and carboplatin combination chemotherapy, followed by TS-1 and CPT-11 combination therapy.

[Difficult respiratory management in a patient with bilateral giant bullae].

We report a case of bilateral giant bullae in a patient with multiple traumas. He had his arm amputated at the shoulder because of a machine accident and admitted to our hospital. Chest X-ray showed right-sided pneumothorax with bilateral giant bullae.

Pancreatic malignant fibrous histiocytoma, inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor, and inflammatory pseudotumor related to autoimmune pancreatitis: characterization and differential diagnosis.

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) and inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) are uncommon primary non-epithelial cell tumors of the pancreas. In addition, there are inflammatory pseudotumors (IPT) that may arise in the course of autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP). In the English language literature, only 24 cases of IMT and nine cases of MFH in the pancreas have been reported to date.

Subtypes of BK virus prevalent in Japan and variation in their transcriptional control region.

BK polyomavirus (BKV) is ubiquitous in the human population, infecting children without obvious symptoms, and persisting in the kidney in a latent state. In immunosuppressed patients, BKV is reactivated and excreted in urine. BKV isolates have been classified into four subtypes (I-IV) using either serological or genotyping methods.

Calcium ions are abnormally distributed in the skin of haemodialysis patients with uraemic pruritus.

Background: Although a close relationship between uraemic pruritus and serum calcium levels has been demonstrated for some time, the degree of pruritus was not always correlated with calcium concentrations. In the present study, we assessed calcium ion distribution in the skin of chronic haemodialysis patients with and without pruritus.

Methods: We excluded patients with concomitant psoriasis or atopic dermatitis or with a previous history of allergy, those who had an arteriovenous fistula created prior to induction of haemodialysis, and patients with only mild pruritus.

[A clinical study of total intravenous anesthesia by using mainly propofol, fentanyl and ketamine--with special reference to its safety based on 26,079 cases].

During a period of five years from January 1996 through December 2000 total intravenous anesthesia with mainly propofol, fentanyl and ketamine was administered to 26,079 patients including cardiac and neurosurgical patients at the University of Hirosaki Hospital and five other affiliated hospitals. The patients studied ranged from 1 year 8 months to 93 years in age, 9.2 kg to 135.

Malignant glomus tumor in the branchial muscle of a 16-year-old girl.

Malignant glomus tumor is an extremely rare neoplasm and its histological features are not well characterized. We report a 16-year-old female patient with a malignant glomus tumor. The patient was admitted to our hospital presenting with a mass in the right upper arm that she had noticed for the previous 6 months.

[Evaluation of renal allograft dysfunction employing dynamic SPECT with 99mTc-MAG3 and graph plot analysis].

To estimate renal blood flow and tubular function in transplanted kidneys, we applied the 4 compartments model and the graphic analysis method to 99mTc-MAG3 dynamic SPECT and calculated some parameters, i.e. K1 (renal influx rate constant), K3 (tubular transporting rate constant), Vd12 (intrarenal distribution volume), and others.

[Cooperation between clinical departments and tissue pathology department].

The author discussed some points where the staff in clinical departments could cooperate with the tissue pathology department to facilitate good quality control, (hereafter abbreviated as QC) from the stand point of a staff in internal medicine or gastroenterology. Remarks on general matters such as necessity of QC system at the ward where nurses are usually engaged in the treatment of the specimens for clinical laboratory. As to QC on tissue pathological diagnosis, inter-hospital surveillance is inevitably important.