Knockdown of decorin in human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells suppresses proteoglycan layer formation and establishes a pro-inflammatory environment on titanium oxide surfaces.

Osseointegration is essential for successful implant treatment. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we focused on decorin (DCN), which was hypothesized to be present in the proteoglycan (PG) layer at the interface between bone and the titanium oxide (TiOx) surface.

Nerve Capping Using Renerve® Synthetic Collagen Conduits for Hand Amputation Neuroma Pain.

Amputated neuromas, a common consequence of peripheral nerve injury, can cause significant pain and may impair daily life. Herein, we conducted a retrospective study on patients who underwent a nerve-capping technique using the bioabsorbable nerve conduit Renerve®, with a minimum follow-up period of 6 months. We conducted a retrospective study to assess patients with amputation neuromas of the finger or palm who underwent surgical treatment using the capping technique with the Renerve® conduit between October 2018 and September 2022.

Water/fat separate reconstruction for body quantitative susceptibility mapping in MRI.

This study aimed to investigate the cause of susceptibility underestimation in body quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) and propose a water/fat separate reconstruction to address this issue. A numerical simulation was conducted using conventional QSM with/without body masking. The conventional method with body masking underestimated the susceptibility across all regions, whereas the method without body masking estimated an equivalent value to the ground truth.

Prediction of Cisplatin-Induced Acute Kidney Injury Using an Interpretable Machine Learning Model and Electronic Medical Record Information.

Predicting cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury (Cis-AKI) before its onset is important. We aimed to develop a predictive model for Cis-AKI using patient clinical information based on an interpretable machine learning algorithm. This single-center retrospective study included hospitalized patients aged ≥ 18 years who received the first course of cisplatin chemotherapy from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2020, at Nagoya City University Hospital.

Annual report on National Clinical Database 2021 for gastroenterological surgery in Japan.

Aim: The Japanese National Clinical Database, which covers more than 95% of the surgeries performed in Japan, is the largest nationwide database. This is the 2021 annual report of the Gastroenterological Section of the National Clinical Database, which aims to present the short-term outcomes of cases registered in 2021 and discuss significant changes and insights into gastroenterological surgeries observed over the decade.

Methods: We reviewed the data of patients registered in the National Clinical Database between 2012 and 2021.

[Deep brain imaging by using GRIN lens].

Elucidating the neural mechanisms governing changes in individual animal behavior is a key goal in neuroscience. Such research has important implications for behavioral pharmacology and could lead to the development of treatments for psychiatric and neurological disorders. Given that the brain likely represents vast amounts of information through the combined activity of multiple neurons, studying these mechanisms requires the simultaneous recording of many neurons.

Multiple secondary stabiliser injuries increase rotational instability in anterior cruciate ligament-deficient knees.

Purpose: Medial meniscus ramp lesions (MMRLs), lateral meniscus posterior root tears (LMPRTs), and anterolateral complex injuries (ALCIs) are major secondary stabiliser injuries associated with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. This study aimed to investigate the effect of the number of secondary stabiliser injuries on knee instability in ACL injuries.

Methods: Patients who underwent primary ACL reconstruction between January 2017 and May 2023 were enroled in this study.

Combined molecular subclass and immune phenotype correlate to atezolizumab plus radiation therapy response in invasive bladder cancer: BPT-ART Phase II study.

Purpose: Bladder preservation therapy in combination with atezolizumab and radiation therapy (BPT-ART) trial, which was a multicenter, open-label, single-arm phase II study, showed a promisingly high interim clinical complete response (cCR) rate of 84.4% (38/45). In the present study, we aimed to identify potential tissue biomarkers for achieving cCR via BPT-ART.

Blood DNA virome associates with autoimmune diseases and COVID-19.

Aberrant immune responses to viral pathogens contribute to pathogenesis, but our understanding of pathological immune responses caused by viruses within the human virome, especially at a population scale, remains limited. We analyzed whole-genome sequencing datasets of 6,321 Japanese individuals, including patients with autoimmune diseases (psoriasis vulgaris, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) or multiple sclerosis) and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), or healthy controls. We systematically quantified two constituents of the blood DNA virome, endogenous HHV-6 (eHHV-6) and anellovirus.

Cardiac Presynaptic Sympathetic Nervous Function Evaluated by Cardiac PET in Patients with Chronotropic Incompetence Without Heart Failure.

Chronotropic incompetence (CTI), the inability of the heart to increase its rate with increased activity, leads to exercise intolerance and predicts overall mortality. We previously reported that cardiac β-adrenergic receptor downregulation occurs in patients with CTI without heart failure (HF), indicating postsynaptic sympathetic nervous dysfunction. However, cardiac presynaptic sympathetic nervous system function in CTI is not fully understood.

Stone at the same location for 2 months predicts impacted stones and stone-free status after shock wave lithotripsy for ureteral stones: A Funabashi clinic expert study.

Objectives: To evaluate the success rate of shock wave lithotripsy and identify predictors of stone-free status after shock wave lithotripsy for ureteral stones, focusing on the impact of stones remaining in the same location for 2 months (SSL2).

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 501 patients with ureteral stones treated with shock wave lithotripsy by expert surgeons (each with over 1000 shock wave lithotripsy operations) at a single Japanese institution in 2020. Logistic regression analysis identified predictors of stone-free status, including stone length, skin-to-stone distance, stone density (Hounsfield Unit), Hounsfield Unit above/below the stone, stone position, and duration of stone at the same location (SSL2).

Innovative use of a 3-Fr microcatheter for precision guidewire placement with digital single-operator cholangioscopy for pancreaticobiliary drainage (with video).

Biliary and pancreatic tract stenosis are hallmark symptoms in pancreaticobiliary diseases, transcending malignancy. Endoscopic techniques are pivotal for biliary/pancreatic drainage; however, challenging scenarios arise when attempting to pass a guidewire (GW) through obstruction. Cholangioscopy-assisted GW placement has proven valuable, but challenges persist in its execution, particularly in maneuvering the GW through cholangioscopy.

Rapid and Deep Prostate-Specific Antigen Decline is a Prognostic Marker in Metastatic Hormone-Sensitive Prostate Cancer: A Real-World Multi-Intuitional Analysis.

Background: Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) kinetics has been investigated as a prognostic marker in post hoc analyses of clinical trials. This study validated the prognostic value of rapid and deep PSA decline in metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC) using real-world data.

Methods: In total, 1296 patients with mHSPC were retrospectively reviewed.

Ultraviolet-B irradiation expands skin-resident CD81Foxp3 regulatory T cells with a highly activated phenotype.

Exposure to ultraviolet-B (UVB) induces the expansion of regulatory T (Treg) cells expressing proenkephalin (PENK) and amphiregulin (AREG) with a healing function in the skin. It is unclear how this UVB exposure affects the functionally distinct subsets of skin Treg cells. In this study, we have demonstrated that skin-resident CD81Treg cells expressing both Penk and Areg expanded after UVB irradiation.

Greater Rotational Knee Laxity Observed at Second-Look Arthroscopy in Patients with Failed Meniscal Repair Performed at the Time of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction.

Purpose: To evaluate the healing of meniscal repair performed concomitantly with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) using second-look arthroscopy, and the relationship between meniscal healing and knee laxity using quantitative evaluation under anesthesia.

Methods: This retrospective study included patients who underwent primary double-bundle ACLR with meniscal repair between June 2016 and June 2021, with a two-year minimum follow-up. Meniscal healing was evaluated by second-look arthroscopy at least one year postoperatively, and knee laxity was measured under general anesthesia preoperatively, intraoperatively, and at second-look.

Prolyl hydroxylase domain inhibitors prevent kidney crystal formation by suppressing inflammation.

The early stages of kidney crystal formation involve inflammation and hypoxia-induced cell injury; however, the role of the hypoxic response in kidney crystal formation remains unclear. This study investigated the effects of a prolyl hydroxylase domain inhibitor (roxadustat) on renal calcium oxalate (CaOx) crystal formation through in vitro and in vivo approaches. In the in vitro experiment, murine renal tubular cells (RTCs) were exposed to varying roxadustat concentrations and CaOx crystals.

High Shear Stress Reduces ERG Causing Endothelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.

Background: Computational modeling indicated that pathological high shear stress (HSS; 100 dyn/cm) is generated in pulmonary arteries (PAs; 100-500 µm) in congenital heart defects causing PA hypertension (PAH) and in idiopathic PAH with occlusive vascular remodeling. Endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) is a feature of PAH. We hypothesize that HSS induces EndMT, contributing to the initiation and progression of PAH.

In vivo hyperphosphorylation of tau is associated with synaptic loss and behavioral abnormalities in the absence of tau seeds.

Tau pathology is a hallmark of several neurodegenerative diseases, including frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease. However, the sequence of events and the form of tau that confers toxicity are still unclear, due in large part to the lack of physiological models of tauopathy initiation and progression in which to test hypotheses. We have developed a series of targeted mice expressing frontotemporal-dementia-causing mutations in the humanized MAPT gene to investigate the earliest stages of tauopathy.

Bcl‑xL‑specific BH3 mimetic A‑1331852 suppresses proliferation of fluorouracil‑resistant colorectal cancer cells by inducing apoptosis.

BH3 mimetics are small‑molecule inhibitors of the antiapoptotic Bcl‑2 family and have therapeutic efficacy against hematological malignancies. BH3 mimetic A‑1331852 suppresses colorectal cancer cell proliferation. Progressive resistance to the widely used anticancer agent fluorouracil (5‑FU) is a key reason for colorectal cancer recurrence; therefore, the present study tested if A‑1331852 can suppress the proliferation of 5‑FU‑resistant colorectal cancer cells.

Preclinical study of novel human allogeneic adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cell sheets toward a first-in-human clinical trial for myopic chorioretinal atrophy.

Background: Mesenchymal stem cells may have neuroprotective and tissue regenerative capabilities and the potential to rescue retinal degeneration in chorioretinal diseases including myopic chorioretinal atrophy. Transplantation of human (allogeneic) adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cell (adMSC) suspensions has been clinically conducted to treat retinal degenerative diseases. However, serious side effects including proliferative vitreoretinopathy and epiretinal membrane formation have been reported.

Silicone oil, an intraocular surgical adjuvant, induces retinal ferroptosis.

Vitrectomy with silicone oil (SO) endotamponade is an effective treatment for vision-threatening retinal diseases. However, unexplained vision impairment has been reportedly critical side effects. Previously, we reported that the eyes with ocular toxoplasmosis showed retinal ferroptosis with the clinical sign of reduced intravitreal iron (Fe).

Prevalence of gastric cancer following colorectal endoscopic submucosal dissection for lesions more than 20 mm: A retrospective analysis.

Objectives: Colorectal endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for large tumors is spreading worldwide. Gastric cancer (GC) sometimes occurs after colorectal ESD. However, its status including frequency and risk factors have not been examined well.