Takotsubo cardiomyopathy in Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Background And Purpose: Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TCM) is a serious autonomic complication of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). However, the association between TCM and GBS has not been investigated in detail. We investigated the characteristics of GBS patients with TCM (GBS-TCM).

Multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 study of mogamulizumab with open-label extension study in a minimum number of patients with human T-cell leukemia virus type-1-associated myelopathy.

Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1)-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) is a chronic neurodegenerative disease. This multicenter, randomized phase 3 study evaluated the efficacy and safety of 0.3 mg/kg intravenous mogamulizumab, a monoclonal antibody targeting-CC chemokine receptor 4, every 12 weeks in HAM/TSP patients.

Infectious virus shedding duration reflects secretory IgA antibody response latency after SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Infectious virus shedding from individuals infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is used to estimate human-to-human transmission risk. Control of SARS-CoV-2 transmission requires identifying the immune correlates that protect infectious virus shedding. Mucosal immunity prevents infection by SARS-CoV-2, which replicates in the respiratory epithelium and spreads rapidly to other hosts.

Aetiological agents of adult community-acquired pneumonia in Japan: systematic review and meta-analysis of published data.

Objective: Epidemiological information is essential in providing appropriate empiric antimicrobial therapy for pneumonia. This study aimed to clarify the epidemiology of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) by conducting a systematic review of published studies in Japan.

Design: Systematic review.

Clinical Utility of SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Titer Multiplied by Binding Avidity of Receptor-Binding Domain (RBD) in Monitoring Protective Immunity and Clinical Severity.

Conventional serum antibody titer, which expresses antibody level, does not provide antigen binding avidity of the variable region of the antibody, which is essential for the defense response to infection. Here, we quantified anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody binding avidity to the receptor-binding domain (RBD) by competitive binding-inhibition activity (IC50) between SARS-CoV-2 S1 antigen immobilized on the DCP microarray and various RBD doses added to serum and expressed as 1/IC50 nM. The binding avidity analyzed under equilibrium conditions of antigen-antibody binding reaction is different from the avidity index measured with the chaotropic agent, such as urea, under nonequilibrium and short-time conditions.

Longitudinal Changes in Neuropsychological Functioning in Japanese Patients with Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1: A Five Year Follow-Up Study.

Background: Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is a form of muscular dystrophy that causes various symptoms, including those of the central nervous system. Some studies have reported cognitive decline in patients with DM1, although the available evidence is limited.

Objective: This study aimed to describe longitudinal differences in neuropsychological function in patients with DM1.

The Clinical Significance of Anaerobic Coverage in the Antibiotic Treatment of Aspiration Pneumonia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Introduction: Aspiration pneumonia is increasingly recognised as a common condition. While antibiotics covering anaerobes are thought to be necessary based on old studies reporting anaerobes as causative organisms, recent studies suggest that it may not necessarily benefit prognosis, or even be harmful. Clinical practice should be based on current data reflecting the shift in causative bacteria.

Risk factors indicating immune-related adverse events with combination chemotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors and platinum agents in patients with non-small cell lung cancer: a multicenter retrospective study.

Purpose: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) ushered in a new era for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, they carry the risk of immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Recently, various studies have been conducted on the predictive factors for irAEs, but there are no reports focusing only on ICI plus platinum agents.

Clinical impact of amrubicin monotherapy in patients with relapsed small cell lung cancer: a multicenter retrospective study.

Background: Topoisomerase is an essential enzyme for deoxyribonucleic acid replication, and its inhibitors suppress tumor progression. Amrubicin, a topoisomerase II inhibitor, is mainly used in the second-line treatment of patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC). However, the impact of different types of topoisomerase inhibitors for first-line chemotherapy on the efficacy of amrubicin remains unclear.

Usefulness of the Legionella Score for differentiating from COVID-19 pneumonia to legionella pneumonia.

Legionella pneumophila is a major causative pathogen of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), but recently the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) became the most common causative pathogen of CAP. Because L. pneumophila CAP is clinically distinct from bacterial CAPs, the Japan Society for Chemotherapy (JSC) developed a simple scoring system, the Legionella Score, using six parameters for the presumptive diagnosis of L.

Dopamine transporter single-photon emission computed tomography-derived radiomics signature for detecting Parkinson's disease.

Background: We hypothesised that the radiomics signature, which includes texture information of dopamine transporter single-photon emission computed tomography (DAT-SPECT) images for Parkinson's disease (PD), may assist semi-quantitative indices. Herein, we constructed a radiomics signature using DAT-SPECT-derived radiomics features that effectively discriminated PD from healthy individuals and evaluated its classification performance.

Results: We analysed 413 cases of both normal control (NC, n = 101) and PD (n = 312) groups from the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative database.

Novel heterozygous variants of SLC12A6 in Japanese families with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

Background: Recessive mutations in SLC12A6 have been linked to hereditary motor sensory neuropathy with agenesis of the corpus callosum. Patients with early-onset peripheral neuropathy associated with SLC12A6 heterozygous variants were reported in 2016. Only five families and three variants have been reported to date, and the spectrum is unclear.

Event-related potentials using the auditory novel paradigm in patients with myotonic dystrophy.

Many neuropsychological disorders, especially attentional abnormality, are present in patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study aimed to evaluate attention function by auditory event-related potential (ERP) P3a (novelty paradigm) in DM1 patients. A total of 10 young DM1 patients (mean age 30.

Selective adaptation in sentence comprehension: Evidence from event-related brain potentials.

In this study, two event-related potential experiments were conducted to investigate whether readers adapt their expectations to morphosyntactically (Experiment 1) or semantically (Experiment 2) anomalous sentences when they are repeatedly exposed to them. To address this issue, we experimentally manipulated the probability of occurrence of grammatical sentences and syntactically and semantically anomalous sentences through experiments. For the low probability block, anomalous sentences were presented less frequently than grammatical sentences (with a ratio of 1 to 4), while they were presented as frequently as grammatical sentences in the equal probability block.

Diagnostic usefulness of denervation edema in the multifidus muscles using 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging in cervical radiculopathy.

Background: Diagnosing cervical radiculopathy (CR) can be difficult because of symptomatic overlap with peripheral neuropathies. In this retrospective observational study, we aimed to determine whether short-tau inversion recovery (STIR) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences are useful for detecting signs of denervation in the multifidus muscles in patients with CR.

Methods: We analyzed the data of 18 patients with CR who developed arm weakness within 1 year.

A newly developed free software tool set for averaging electroencephalogram implemented in the Perl programming language.

Background: Considering the need for daily activity analysis of older adults, development of easy-to-use, free electroencephalogram (EEG) analysis tools are desired in order to decrease barriers to accessing this technology and increase the entry of a wide range of new researchers.

New Method: We describe a newly developed tool set for EEG analysis, enabling import, average, waveform display and iso-potential scalp topographies, utilizing the programming language Perl.

Results: The basic processing, including average, display waveforms, and isopotential scalp topography was implemented in the current system.