Postoperative Karnofsky performance status prediction in patients with IDH wild-type glioblastoma: A multimodal approach integrating clinical and deep imaging features.

Background And Purpose: Glioblastoma is a highly aggressive brain tumor with limited survival that poses challenges in predicting patient outcomes. The Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) score is a valuable tool for assessing patient functionality and contributes to the stratification of patients with poor prognoses. This study aimed to develop a 6-month postoperative KPS prediction model by combining clinical data with deep learning-based image features from pre- and postoperative MRI scans, offering enhanced personalized care for glioblastoma patients.

Pleurodesis using OK-432 for persistent pleural effusion after cardiac surgery in the neonatal period or early infancy.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of pleurodesis using OK-432 after cardiac surgery in the neonatal period or early infancy.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the data of 11 consecutive patients who underwent cardiac surgery in the neonatal period or early infancy and pleurodesis using OK-432 for persistent postoperative pleural effusion in two institutions.

Results: The median age at surgery was 8 days (interquartile range [IR], 2-18) with a body weight of 2.

[Ruptured Cerebral Aneurysm:Endovascular Techniques and Devices].

Coil embolization remains the first-line treatment for ruptured aneurysms. Coil embolization alone has limitations for wide-neck aneurysms. On the other hand, devices implanted in the parent vessel, such as coil-assisted stents and flow diverters, require antiplatelet therapy; therefore, intrasaccular devices are likely to be the mainstay in ruptured cases.

Proton-sensing receptor GPR132 facilitates migration of astrocytes.

Astrocytes are one of the first responders to central nervous system (CNS) injuries such as spinal cord injury (SCI). They are thought to repress injury-induced CNS inflammation as well as inhibit axonal regeneration. While reactive astrocytes migrate and accumulate around the lesion core, the mechanism of astrocyte migration towards the lesion site remains unclear.

Quantitative analysis of computed tomography of the lungs in patients with lymphangioleiomyomatosis treated with sirolimus.

Objectives: We aimed to study sirolimus-related lung parenchymal changes by quantitative analysis of computed tomography (CT) of the lungs in patients with lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM).

Methods: We studied 20 participants from the Multicenter Lymphangioleiomyomatosis Sirolimus Trial for Safety study, who had undergone both thin-section CT scans and pulmonary function tests at baseline, 12, and 24 months. Quantitative CT parameters such as CT-derived total lung capacity, percentage of low attenuation area (LAA%), lung density histogram, fractal property of low attenuation area, and airway dimensions were analyzed, and correlations were conducted between the longitudinal change in each quantitative CT measurement and changes in pulmonary function were examined.

mDia1/3-dependent actin polymerization spatiotemporally controls LAT phosphorylation by Zap70 at the immune synapse.

The mechanism by which the cytosolic protein Zap70 physically interacts with and phosphorylates its substrate, the transmembrane protein LAT, upon T cell receptor (TCR) stimulation remains largely obscure. In this study, we found that the pharmacological inhibition of formins, a major class of actin nucleators, suppressed LAT phosphorylation by Zap70, despite TCR stimulation-dependent phosphorylation of Zap70 remaining intact. High-resolution imaging and three-dimensional image reconstruction revealed that localization of phosphorylated Zap70 to the immune synapse (IS) and subsequent LAT phosphorylation are critically dependent on formin-mediated actin polymerization.

The efficacy of a cyclin dependent kinase 9 (CDK9) inhibitor, FIT039, on verruca vulgaris: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Human papilloma viruses (HPVs) infect squamous epithelial cells and form verrucous lesions, or warts. Besides the psychosocial problems caused by the disfiguring warts, a subset of HPVs can be the primary etiologic agent for malignancies such as cervical cancer. However, there is no curative antiviral therapy for HPV infection.

Publisher Correction: Claudin-3-deficient C57BL/6J mice display intact brain barriers.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper.

Effectiveness of cinacalcet treatment for secondary hyperparathyroidism on hospitalization: Results from the MBD-5D study.

Objectives: To elucidate the effect of cinacalcet use on all-cause and cause-specific hospitalization outcomes using a prospective cohort of maintenance hemodialysis patients.

Methods: We used data from a prospective cohort of Japanese hemodialysis patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism and examined baseline characteristics as well as longitudinal changes. All patients were cinacalcet-naïve at study enrollment.

Claudin-3-deficient C57BL/6J mice display intact brain barriers.

The tight junction protein claudin-3 has been identified as a transcriptional target of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway regulating blood-brain barrier (BBB) maturation. In neurological disorders loss of claudin-3 immunostaining is observed at the compromised BBB and blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCSFB). Although these observations support a central role of claudin-3 in regulating brain barriers' tight junction integrity, expression of claudin-3 at the brain barriers has remained a matter of debate.

Crystallization of Human Erythrocyte Band 3, the anion exchanger, at the International Space Station "KIBO".

Band 3 mediates the Cl and HCO exchange across the red blood cell membrane and plays a pivotal role for delivering oxygen appropriately to metabolically active tissues. For understanding molecular mechanisms, it is essential to know the structure and function relationship. In terrestrial environments, however, nobody could make good quality crystals of Band 3 for the X-ray crystallographic study.

One-year outcomes of fixed treatment of intravitreal aflibercept for exudative age-related macular degeneration and the factor of visual prognosis.

The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of periodic intravitreal aflibercept (IVA) in exudative age-related macular degeneration, and to explore the predictive factors for visual outcome.This is a prospective interventional case series.Fifty-two eyes of 52 treatment-naïve age-related-macula-degeneration patients were enrolled.

The Effects of Well-Rounded Exercise Program on Systemic Biomarkers Related to Cartilage Metabolism.

Nonsurgical treatment such as exercise is the preferred method for management of knee osteoarthritis (OA). A combination of aerobic, muscle strengthening, and flexibility exercises is recommended for older adults. However, effects of the exercise intervention on cartilage metabolism remain unclear.

Prostaglandin I suppresses the development of diet-induced nonalcoholic steatohepatitis in mice.

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome. Although the prostaglandin (PG)I receptor IP is expressed broadly in the liver, the role of PGI-IP signaling in the development of NASH remains to be determined. Here, we investigated the role of the PGI-IP system in the development of steatohepatitis using mice lacking the PGI receptor IP [IP-knockout (IP-KO) mice] and beraprost (BPS), a specific IP agonist.

MACULAR ATROPHY FINDINGS BY OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY ANGIOGRAPHY COMPARED WITH FUNDUS AUTOFLUORESCENCE IN TREATED EXUDATIVE AGE-RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION.

Purpose: To compare the areas of choriocapillaris (CC) nonperfusion and macular atrophy (MA) in treated exudative age-related macular degeneration.

Methods: This was a prospective, observational, cross-sectional study. Forty-four eyes exhibiting MA (42 patients with age-related macular degeneration), with a dry macula, underwent fundus autofluorescence and optical coherence tomography angiography.

Interactive Effectiveness of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors and Angiotensin Receptor Blockers or Their Combination on Survival of Hemodialysis Patients.

Background: Does the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers individually or as a combination confer a survival benefit in hemodialysis patients? The answer to this question is yet unclear.

Methods: We performed a case-cohort study using data from the Mineral and Bone Disorder Outcomes Study for Japanese CKD stage 5D patients (MBD-5D), a 3-year multicenter prospective case-cohort study, including 8,229 hemodialysis patients registered from 86 facilities in Japan. All patients had secondary hyperparathyroidism, a condition defined as a parathyroid hormone level ≥180 pg/mL and/or receiving vitamin D receptor activators.

Cell protrusion and retraction driven by fluctuations in actin polymerization: A two-dimensional model.

Animal cells that spread onto a surface often rely on actin-rich lamellipodial extensions to execute protrusion. Many cell types recently adhered on a two-dimensional substrate exhibit protrusion and retraction of their lamellipodia, even though the cell is not translating. Travelling waves of protrusion have also been observed, similar to those observed in crawling cells.

Virus-induced inflammasome activation is suppressed by prostaglandin D/DP1 signaling.

Prostaglandin D2 (PGD), an eicosanoid with both pro- and anti-inflammatory properties, is the most abundantly expressed prostaglandin in the brain. Here we show that PGD signaling through the D-prostanoid receptor 1 (DP1) receptor is necessary for optimal microglia/macrophage activation and IFN expression after infection with a neurotropic coronavirus. Genome-wide expression analyses indicated that PGD/DP1 signaling is required for up-regulation of a putative inflammasome inhibitor, PYDC3, in CD11b cells in the CNS of infected mice.

Detecting central-venous oxygen desaturation without a central-venous catheter: Utility of the difference between invasively and noninvasively measured blood pressure.

Objective: The objective was to determine whether central-venous oxygen saturation (ScvO2<70%) can be detected from the difference between invasively and noninvasively measured systolic blood pressure (BP) (ie, ΔBP defined as arterial BP minus noninvasive BP).

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study at a single medical and surgical intensive care unit in Japan. All hypotensive patients admitted to intensive care unit were eligible.

Crystal structure of the anion exchanger domain of human erythrocyte band 3.

Anion exchanger 1 (AE1), also known as band 3 or SLC4A1, plays a key role in the removal of carbon dioxide from tissues by facilitating the exchange of chloride and bicarbonate across the plasma membrane of erythrocytes. An isoform of AE1 is also present in the kidney. Specific mutations in human AE1 cause several types of hereditary hemolytic anemias and/or distal renal tubular acidosis.