The Role of Podocytes in Lupus Pathology.

Purpose Of Review: Kidney injury due to lupus nephritis (LN) is a severe and sometimes life-threatening sequela of systemic lupus erythematosus. Autoimmune injury to podocytes has been increasingly demonstrated to be a key driver of LN-related kidney injury because these cells play key roles in glomerular filtration barrier homeostasis. Irreparable podocyte injury impairs these processes and can lead to proteinuria, which is an indicator of poor prognosis in LN.

Prognostic role of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T in patients with cardiac sarcoidosis: insights from ILLUMINATE-CS.

Aims: The prognostic role of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) as a biomarker in patients with cardiac sarcoidosis (CS) has yet to be fully determined, especially when compared with B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP).

Methods And Results: In this post-hoc analysis of the ILLUMINATE-CS (ILLUstration of the Management and prognosIs of JapaNese pATiEnts with Cardiac Sarcoidosis), which is a multicentre retrospective observational study, we analysed 103 patients (62.2 ± 10.

Adjunctive effects of eltrombopag on immunosuppressive therapy for childhood aplastic anemia.

Eltrombopag is used with first-line immunosuppressive therapy for adult aplastic anemia, although its practical utility in childhood remains unclear. We retrospectively analyzed the outcomes of pediatric patients who received eltrombopag in Japan. Of the 27 eligible patients, 23 (85%) were previously treated, and 15 (56%) had severe or very-severe disease.

Suppression Decreases 5-Fluorouracil-induced Apoptosis and Is Associated With Poor Prognosis in Gastric Cancer.

Background/aim: The development of new biomarkers to predict cancer patient prognosis is expected to aid in treatment selection, contributing to improved outcomes. In this study, we extracted a candidate gene associated with patient prognosis from a public database and investigated the molecular and biological functions and clinical significance of the gene in gastric cancer.

Materials And Methods: We analyzed The Cancer Genome Atlas database and identified the family with sequence similarity 32 member a (FAM32A) as a candidate gene.

Safety and feasibility of robot-assisted surgery for pediatric patients weighing ≤ 10 kg with congenital biliary dilatation.

The advantage of robot-assisted surgery (RAS) is its ability to perform fine surgical operations with higher-resolution images. RAS should be particularly beneficial for small children, but it requires a certain amount of working space. The da Vinci Surgical System instructions state that careful consideration of indications for robotic surgery in patients weighing ≤ 10 kg is required.

Mechanisms of Resistance to KRAS Inhibitors: Cancer Cells' Strategic Use of Normal Cellular Mechanisms to Adapt.

KRAS was long deemed undruggable until the discovery of the switch-II pocket facilitated the development of specific KRAS inhibitors. Despite their introduction into clinical practice, resistance mechanisms can limit their effectiveness. Initially, tumors rely on mutant KRAS, but as they progress, they may shift to alternative pathways, resulting in intrinsic resistance.

Acetabular osteophyte formation in dysplastic hip osteoarthritis.

The growth of periacetabular osteophytes with developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) remains unclear. This study aimed to perform a three-dimensional assessment of periacetabular osteophytes and the effects of superiorization (SP) and lateralization (LT) of the femoral head on osteophyte formation. Female (n = 105) with unilateral hip osteoarthritis due to DDH who underwent total hip arthroplasty between 2016 and 2022 were included.

Comparison of single- and multi-isocenter planning with Dynamic WaveArc for multiple brain metastases.

Dynamic WaveArc (DWA) is a technique used for continuous, non-coplanar volumetric-modulated arc therapy on the Vero4DRT platform. This study aimed to evaluate the application of single-isocenter DWA (SI-DWA) for treating multiple brain metastases by comparing dose distribution and irradiation time with multi-isocenter DWA (MI-DWA) through retrospective treatment planning. Treatment plans were developed for SI-DWA and MI-DWA in 14 cases with 3-5 brain metastases.

Superimposed Wavefront Imaging of Diffraction-enhanced X-rays: sparsity-aware CT reconstruction from limited-view projections.

Purpose: In this paper, we describe an algebraic reconstruction algorithm with a total variation regularization (ART + TV) based on the Superimposed Wavefront Imaging of Diffraction-enhanced X-rays (SWIDeX) method to effectively reduce the number of projections required for differential phase-contrast CT reconstruction.

Methods: SWIDeX is a technique that uses a Laue-case Si analyzer with closely spaced scintillator to generate second derivative phase-contrast images with high contrast of a subject. When the projections obtained by this technique are reconstructed, a Laplacian phase-contrast tomographic image with higher sparsity than the original physical distribution of the subject can be obtained.

Reappraisal of carcinoma in situ residue at the bile duct margin: a single-center review of 681 patients with perihilar cholangiocarcinoma.

Background: A histologically involved surgical margin (R1) is often observed after resection for cholangiocarcinoma. Compared with a negative margin (R0), R1 with invasive carcinoma (R1inv) markedly worsens survival, whereas the prognostic effect of R1 with carcinoma in situ (R1cis) remains controversial.

Methods: Patients who underwent resection for perihilar cholangiocarcinoma between 2002 and 2019 were retrospectively reviewed.

Generalized Epileptic Seizures in Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva Harboring a Recurrent Heterozygous Variant of the Gene (R206H).

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP) is an ultra-rare disorder caused by heterozygous pathogenic variants and is characterized by both progressive heterotopic ossification of the soft tissues and congenital malformations of the great toe. In addition to pathological skeletal metamorphosis, patients with FOP experience diverse neurological symptoms such as chronic pain and involuntary movements; however, little is known about the association between FOP and epileptic seizures. We report the case of a young boy with FOP who sustained multiple major fractures due to epileptic loss of consciousness.

Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Patients With Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction and With Reduced Ejection Fraction According to the Prognostic Nutritional Index: Findings From PARADIGM-HF and PARAGON-HF.

Background: The importance of nutritional status is underappreciated in patients with heart failure (HF). This study aimed to describe the range of the prognostic nutrition index (PNI), and the clinical characteristics and outcomes according to PNI, in patients with HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). The primary outcome was the composite of HF hospitalization or cardiovascular death.

The impact of restricted chests on long-term lung function parameters following lung transplantation in patients with interstitial lung disease.

Objectives: In patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD), the diaphragm typically rises as the lungs chronically shrink. However, the grade of restriction differs in each patient. It is currently unknown, how disparities between actual and predicted recipient total lung capacity (TLC), impact changes in lung function parameters and long-term outcomes following lung transplantation (LTx).

Building global collaborative research networks in paediatric critical care: a roadmap.

Paediatric critical care units are designed for children at a vulnerable stage of development, yet the evidence base for practice and policy in paediatric critical care remains scarce. In this Health Policy, we present a roadmap providing strategic guidance for international paediatric critical care trials. We convened a multidisciplinary group of 32 paediatric critical care experts from six continents representing paediatric critical care research networks and groups.

Chemogenetic activation of astrocytes modulates sleep-wakefulness states in a brain region-dependent manner.

Study Objectives: Astrocytes change their intracellular calcium (Ca) concentration during sleep/wakefulness states in mice. Furthermore, the Ca dynamics in astrocytes vary depending on the brain region. However, it remains unclear whether alterations in astrocyte activity can affect sleep-wake states and cortical oscillations in a brain region-dependent manner.

A multi-center, open-label, randomized clinical trial evaluating the preventive effect of perampanel on craniotomy-induced epileptogenesis in seizure-naive patients with supratentorial brain tumors: study protocol for a GRAMPAS trial.

Background: Early seizures after craniotomy are significant perioperative complications that can adversely impact patient outcomes. Despite current guidelines advising against the routine use of antiseizure drugs for seizure after craniotomy prevention due to limited efficacy data, many clinicians continue prescribing them. This discrepancy highlights the need for robust evidence to guide clinical practice.

Nuclear receptor profiling for subtype classification and as prognostic markers in 33 cancer types.

Nuclear receptors, a group of 48 transcription factors that regulate a multitude of processes within our body, have long been employed as diagnostic markers or therapeutic targets in breast cancer, prostate cancer, and acute promyelocytic leukemia. Unfortunately, no comprehensive investigation has been conducted on their significance in other cancer types. The current study aimed to explore novel diagnostic markers by classifying nuclear receptors according to their expression patterns based on transcriptome data from The Cancer Genome Atlas on 10,071 tumor samples across 33 cancer types and investigating their association with genetic mutations, histological types, and prognosis.

New era of plasma dentistry.

Plasma, which was coined by Irving Langmuir in 1928, is the fourth physical state after the solid/liquid/gas phases. Low-temperature plasma (LTP) is a contradictory condition that involves high energy with free radicals at near-body temperatures and was developed through engineering in the 1990's. Research on LTP in engineering and medical fields has rapidly developed since the 2000's.

Femoral bone metastasis is a poor prognostic factor in EGFR-TKIs-treated patients with -mutated non-small-cell lung cancer: a retrospective, multicenter cohort study.

Background: ()-mutant non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) have higher frequencies of bone metastases than those of wild type; however, the metastatic pattern and influence on clinical outcome remain unclear.

Objectives: To analyze the association between bone metastatic sites and the clinical efficacy of the first-, second-, and third-generation EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI), in these patients.

Design: Retrospective multicenter cohort study.