Nodular-bronchiectatic pattern in pulmonary nocardiosis: Immune status and treatment outcomes in a multicenter retrospective study.

Background: Pulmonary nocardiosis is a rare opportunistic infection, with approximately 15 % of patients being immunocompetent. The isolation rate of Nocardia spp. has recently increased, indicating rising clinical concern.

Development of Machine-learning Model to Predict Anticoagulant Use and Type in Geriatric Traumatic Brain Injury Using Coagulation Parameters.

This study aimed to investigate the patterns of anticoagulation therapy and coagulation parameters and to develop a prediction model to predict the type of anticoagulation therapy in geriatric patients with traumatic brain injury. A retrospective analysis was performed using the nationwide neurotrauma database of Japan. Elderly patients (≥65 years) with traumatic brain injury.

Synergistic Effects of Anti-echinococcosis Drug Candidates Combined With Atovaquone in Culture Assays and Mice With Primary Infections of Echinococcus multilocularis.

Background Alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is a fatal zoonotic disease distributed mainly in the Northern Hemisphere. At present, its curative treatment relies on surgery, and the development of effective drugs is needed. We previously demonstrated the anti-echinococcal effect of atovaquone (ATV) as a mitochondrial complex III inhibitor in both in vitro and in vivo experiments.

Updated meta-analysis for antihypertensive treatment guided by home blood pressure compared to treatment based on office blood pressure: systematic review.

Home blood pressure (BP) measurement is widely used, and home BP plays a central role in hypertension management in clinical practice in Japan. We updated the systematic review to determine whether home BP-based antihypertensive treatment is superior to office BP-based treatment in improving clinical outcomes, including BP levels, in adult patients with essential hypertension. A literature search identified 14 randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

Association between PaCO and outcomes in patients who underwent extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Aim: The optimal arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO) for patients undergoing extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) remains unknown. We aimed to investigate the association between post-resuscitation PaCO and neurological outcomes.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study analyzed data from the Study of Advanced Life Support for Ventricular Fibrillation with Extracorporeal Circulation in Japan, a multicenter registry study across 36 hospitals in Japan, including patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) admitted to intensive care units (ICU) after ECPR between 2013 and 2018.

Randomized, multicenter, active-controlled open-label study of NPC-25, zinc histidine hydrate, (non-inferiority to NOBELZIN™, zinc acetate dihydrate) for patients with hypozincemia.

Objective: This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of NPC-25, zinc histidine hydrate, in patients with hypozincemia. This randomized multicenter active-controlled open-label trial aimed to verify the non-inferiority of NPC-25 to NOBELZIN™, zinc acetate dihydrate.

Methods: Participants whose serum zinc concentrations were <70 μg/dL at two points within 8 weeks before the start of treatment were randomized 1:1 into the NPC-25 (active drug) administration group and the NOBELZIN™ (control drug) administration group, using dynamic allocation.

Intraoperative patient radiation dose from cone-beam computed tomography in thoracic surgery.

Background: Several methods can be used to intraoperatively identify pulmonary lesion using radiation technology. However, little is known about patient radiation exposure during chest surgery. We aimed to measure patients' radiation exposure from cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) used in a hybrid operating room.

Adrenaline dilution in dental local anesthetic: a preliminary study to prevent coring in cartridges.

Many patients with underlying medical conditions are treated with local anesthetics in dental clinics. Dental local anesthetic cartridges contain the vasoconstrictor adrenaline, which can affect the cardiovascular system. For this reason, the adrenaline in the cartridge (2% lidocaine + 1:80,000 adrenaline) is sometimes diluted in order to avoid hemodynamic changes in these patients.

Clinicopathological features and prognosis of breast cancer with low HER2 status evaluated by fluorescence hybridization.

Although trastuzumab deruxtecan improves the prognosis of patients with HER2-low breast cancer, the characteristics and prognostic value of low HER2 status remains to be elucidated. A prospective database of patients with clinical stage I to III breast cancer who underwent surgery between September 2012 and October 2022 at Teikyo University Hospital (Tokyo, Japan) were analyzed. HER2 was evaluated using fluorescence hybridization assay, and HER2-low and HER2-negative was defined as HER2/CEP17 ratio ≥1.

Association of Baseline Mitral Valve Area With Procedural and Clinical Outcomes of Mitral Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair: Insights From the OCEAN-Mitral Registry.

Background: A small mitral valve area (MVA) is one of the challenging anatomies for transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER) for mitral regurgitation, but the relationship between baseline MVA and clinical outcomes remains unknown. This study aimed to evaluate the association of baseline MVA with procedural and clinical outcomes in patients undergoing TEER with MitraClip from the OCEAN-Mitral registry (Optimized Catheter Valvular Intervention-Mitral).

Methods: A total of 1768 patients undergoing TEER were divided into 3 groups according to baseline MVA: group 1: <4.

Correlation between perinatal abnormalities and decreased fetal movement as counted by a fetal movement acceleration measurement recorder: A prospective cohort study.

Objective: The objective was to study the relationship between a decrease in gross fetal movement during maternal night sleep counted by an objective method and abnormal perinatal outcomes.

Methods: This was a prospective cohort study. A total of 470 pregnant women recorded fetal movement with the fetal movement acceleration measurement recorder weekly after 28 weeks.

Taiso practice and risk of functional disability and dementia among older adults in Japan: The JAGES cohort study.

Background: Taiso is a Japanese term encompassing meanings akin to calisthenics. Taiso is a widely used exercise program in Japan but whether it prevents functional disability and dementia remains unclear. This study aimed to elucidate the association between practicing Taiso, especially focusing on the well-known Radio-Taiso, and functional disability and dementia in older adults in Japan.

Home Pulse Rate Before and During Antihypertensive Treatment and Mortality Risk in Hypertensive Patients: A Post Hoc Analysis of the HOMED-BP Study.

Background: Although a high pulse rate assessed in the clinic office setting has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality, there are few studies assessing the prognostic ability of out-of-office pulse rate, particularly self-measured home pulse rate.

Methods And Results: We investigated the prognostic ability of home pulse rate in 3022 patients with mild-to-moderate hypertension. During a median follow-up of 7.

Voluntary Swallowing Initiation Difficulty After Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex Damage: A Case Report.

The dorsomedial prefrontal cortex plays a critical role in movement initiation, and damage to this area can impair this function. Here we present the case of an individual who had difficulty with voluntary initiation of liquid swallowing after surgical removal of a glioblastoma from the right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. This individual had no difficulty swallowing solids, perhaps because of the additional external movement triggers (eg, chewing) involved.

Loss of function in causes DNA methylation signature similar to that in Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome.

Purpose: Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome (WHS), a contiguous gene syndrome caused by heterozygous deletions of the distal short arm of chromosome 4 that includes , reportedly causes specific DNA methylation signatures in peripheral blood cells. However, the genomic loci responsible for these signatures have not been elucidated. The present study aims to define the loci underlying WHS-related DNA methylation signatures and explore the role of in these signatures.

Deep generative abnormal lesion emphasization validated by nine radiologists and 1000 chest X-rays with lung nodules.

A general-purpose method of emphasizing abnormal lesions in chest radiographs, named EGGPALE (Extrapolative, Generative and General-Purpose Abnormal Lesion Emphasizer), is presented. The proposed EGGPALE method is composed of a flow-based generative model and L-infinity-distance-based extrapolation in a latent space. The flow-based model is trained using only normal chest radiographs, and an invertible mapping function from the image space to the latent space is determined.

A Case of Wilson's Disease Preceded by Schizophrenia-like Symptoms with Frontal-dominant Leukoencephalopathy.

We herein report a 26-year-old man diagnosed with Wilson's disease (WD), initially treated for schizophrenia for 11 years. At 26 years old, he was admitted because of status epilepticus. Brain magnetic resonance imaging revealed frontal-dominant leukoencephalopathy with cystic changes and basal ganglia atrophy.

Refractory phenotype of -sensitized asthma with bronchiectasis and allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis.

Background: Sensitization to mucus plugs, and bacterial colonization may coexist and relate to a refractory phenotype during follow-up in asthma with bronchiectasis and allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA).

Objective: This study aimed to clarify the features of -sensitized refractory asthma with bronchiectasis and determine the refractory phenotype in this population and ABPA.

Methods: This study included cases of the oldest available -specific IgE data and chest computed tomography images from a nationwide survey of refractory asthma with bronchiectasis.

Risk factors for post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography complications in very elderly patients aged 90 years or older-No additional risk.

Aim: In recent years, the majority of patients eligible for endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) have been aged ≥75 years. We investigated ERCP safety in very elderly patients (aged ≥90 years).

Methods: We included patients aged ≥75 years who underwent ERCP between January 2015 and December 2020.

Characterization of PSA dynamics and oncological outcomes in patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer treated with androgen receptor signaling inhibitors.

Background: This study investigated the characteristics of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) dynamics when androgen receptor signaling inhibitor (ARSI), or vintage agent (bicalutamide) was used for patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC).

Patients And Methods: A total of 213 mHSPC patients from each of the ARSI and bicalutamide groups treated between 2015 and 2022 were selected from multiple institutions using propensity score-matched analysis to align backgrounds. PSA progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were assessed.

Racial and regional disparities in the risk of noncommunicable disease between sub-Saharan black and European white patients.

Objectives: Greater vulnerability of Black vs. White individuals to cardiovascular disease (CVD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) is well charted in the United States, but studies involving sub-Saharan blacks are scarce.

Methods: Baseline data (2021-2024) were collected in 168 sub-Saharan Blacks and 93 European Whites in an ongoing clinical trial (NCT04299529), using standardized patient selection criteria.

Epidemiology and risk factors for mortality in clostridial bacteremia in Japan: A retrospective multicenter observational study.

Objectives: Clostridium species are ubiquitous in nature and commonly cause infections, including bacteremia. C. perfringens is often the causative species, while the epidemiology of other clostridial species remains unclear.