Impact of the quantity and quality of erector spinae muscles on the short-term prognosis of elderly patients with aspiration pneumonia in Japan.

Background: Whether muscle mass and muscle quality affect the prognosis of elderly patients with aspiration pneumonia is unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between erector spinae muscle mass and muscle quality on the 30-day prognosis of elderly patients with aspiration pneumonia.

Methods: Two hundred fifty-eight patients who were diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia and admitted to Sanuki Municipal Hospital for pulmonary rehabilitation intervention were included.

Efficacy and tolerability of subcutaneously administered methotrexate including dose escalation in long-term treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in a Japanese population.

Objectives: The aim of this article is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of subcutaneously administered methotrexate (MTX) for Japanese patients with active rheumatoid arthritis.

Methods: MTX-naïve patients were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive a 12-week administration of either 7.5 mg MTX subcutaneously (MJK101, a prefilled syringe for subcutaneous injection) or 8 mg MTX orally in Part 1 of the trial.

Refractory serum immunoglobulin M elevation during anti-interleukin (IL)-1- or IL-6-targeted treatment in four patients with Schnitzler syndrome.

Schnitzler syndrome is characterized by chronic urticarial rash, neutrophilic dermal infiltrate, recurrent fever, bone pain, elevated C-reactive protein, and neutrophilic leukocytosis. The pathophysiology of Schnitzler syndrome is unknown, but it is considered to be an acquired form of an autoinflammatory disease because of the resemblance to clinical phenotypes of cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome, in which a gain-of-function mutation in NLRP3 causes overexpression of interleukin (IL)-1β. Schnitzler syndrome is generally accompanied by a monoclonal immunoglobulin (Ig)M gammopathy with a long-term risk of lymphoproliferation that is possibly associated with an MYD88 mutation.

Nivolumab-induced hypophysitis followed by acute-onset type 1 diabetes with renal cell carcinoma: a case report.

Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors have recently become widely used for the management of advanced cancer patients. During the development of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICPIs), it was quickly recognized that they are associated with autoimmune or autoinflammatory side effects. These toxicities are known as immune-related adverse events (irAEs): common endocrine irAEs include hypophysitis and thyroid dysfunction, and uncommon irAEs include type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM).

Scoliosis, diabetes mellitus and total laminectomy at the 4th lumbar vertebra are independent risk factors for post-laminectomy fracture around the isthmus.

Objective: We aimed to identify the risk factors and clinical outcomes for post-laminectomy fracture around the isthmus, which can cause back pain or radiculopathy.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study involving all patients who underwent laminectomy splitting the spinous process for lumbar spinal stenosis between 2010 and 2014. The primary outcome measure was post-laminectomy fracture around the isthmus.

Clinical benefit of two-times-per-day aclidinium bromide compared with once-a-day tiotropium bromide hydrate in COPD: a multicentre, open-label, randomised study.

Objective: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is mainly treated pharmaceutically with bronchodilators. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical benefits of two-times-per-day aclidinium bromide (Acli-BID) compared with once-a-day tiotropium bromide hydrate (Tio-QD) in patients with COPD.

Design: This study was a multicentre, open-label, randomised study.

Asthma mortality based on death certificates: A demographic survey in Kagawa, Japan.

Background: We aimed to determine the reasons for the high rate of asthma mortality in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan, by analyzing death certificates.

Methods: We analyzed the death certificates between 2009 and 2011 in a demographic survey. Of 1187 patients with documented disease names suggesting bronchial asthma, analysis was performed on 103 patients in whom the cause of death was classified as asthma based on ICD-10 Codes.

The usefulness of pleural fluid presepsin, C-reactive protein, and procalcitonin in distinguishing different causes of pleural effusions.

Background: We aimed to determine the presepsin concentration in pleural fluid from patients with pleural effusions of different aetiologies and to compare its diagnostic value with that of pleural fluid C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT).

Methods: We enrolled 132 patients with pleural effusion who underwent diagnostic evaluation, and we classified them into six categories: empyema, parapneumonic effusion, tuberculous effusion, malignant effusion, paramalignant effusion, and transudate effusion. Additionally, all pleural effusions were categorised as infectious or non-infectious effusions.

[Disorder of Gastric Myoelectric Activity in Patients with Cerebral Infarction:Electrogastrographic Assessment].

In this study, gastric myoelectric activity in patients with acute cerebral infarction was investigated using electrogastrography. The patients were divided into four groups; those with mild brainstem infarction(group A, n=13, men:8, women:5, 75±2 years old), severe brainstem infarction(group B, n=6, men:4, women:2, 79±4 years old), mild non-brainstem infarction(group C, n=14, men:7, women:7, 76±3 years old), and severe non-brainstem infarction(group D, n=9, men:3, women:6, 87±2 years old). In group B, the% ratio of normogastria(2.

Clinical impact of sarcopenia and relevance of nutritional intake in patients before and after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Purpose: We conducted a retrospective study to evaluate the effect of rehabilitation on minimizing sarcopenia during hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) therapy.

Methods: We developed a protocol to test for retention of physical function during HSCT. Muscle strength, muscle circumference, and muscle function before and after HSCT were measured.

Metastasis in the gingiva from colon adenocarcinoma.

A case of gingival metastatic tumor from a colon adenocarcinoma is reported. The patient had been diagnosed with colon carcinoma and underwent a colectomy with D2 dissection, followed by chemotherapy. Nine months after the initial treatment, she noticed a periodontal gingival swelling at the site of her right lower second premolar and was referred to our clinic.

Two cases of refractory thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura associated with collagen vascular disease were significantly improved by rituximab treatment.

Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is a rare disorder of small vessels. TTP is associated with deficiency of the von Willebrand factor-cleaving protease, ADAMTS13, and its inhibitor. Low ADAMTS13 activity is present in most of idiopathic TTP patients.