IgA vasculitis with nephritis accompanied by pulmonary tuberculosis: a case report.

A 69-year-old Japanese man developed abdominal pain, purpura, proteinuria, and hematuria while receiving treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis. A skin biopsy revealed IgA-positive leukocytoclastic vasculitis, and a renal biopsy showed IgA-positive mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis with crescent formation. Based on these findings, we diagnosed IgA vasculitis with nephritis (IgAVN) and initiated treatment.

Effects of oral intake, symptom severity, and sex difference on cancer patient prognosis.

Purpose: For cancer patients, prognostication by physicians constitutes a fundamental basis of decision-making to manage the cancer journey, especially with advanced stages of cancer. Various tools such as the palliative prognostic index (PPI) have been established to estimate patient survival. Such reliable and widely applied tools unfortunately provide unexpected results of prognosis predictions in some cases.

Animal and vegetal materials of mouse oocytes segregate at first zygotic cleavage: a simple mechanism that makes the 2-cell blastomeres differ reciprocally from the start.

Recent advances in embryology have shown that the sister blastomeres of 2-cell mouse and human embryos differ reciprocally in potency. An open question is whether the blastomeres became different as opposed to originating as different. Here we wanted to test two conflicting models: one proposing that each blastomere contains both animal and vegetal materials in balanced proportions because the plane of first cleavage runs close to the animal-vegetal axis of the fertilized oocyte; and the other model proposing that each blastomere contains variable proportions of animal and vegetal materials because the plane of the first cleavage can vary depending on the topology of fertilization.

Reduction of ischemic time using the pull-through technique for scapular free flap.

Purpose: Current scapular free flap (SFF) harvest in mandibular reconstruction often requires repositioning, hindering simultaneous harvest and resection and potentially increasing ischemic time. This study evaluated the efficacy of the pull-through technique (PTT) for SFF harvest, aiming to reduce ischemic time during mandibular segmental resection.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 24 patients who underwent mandibular reconstruction using SFF at two maxillofacial surgery departments between January 2015 and May 2022.

Development and validation of nomograms and integrated software incorporating preoperative C-reactive protein level for prognostic prediction of nonmetastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma: Results from the International Marker Consortium for Renal Cancer (INMARC) Registry.

Purpose: Preoperative C-reactive protein (CRP) is a valuable prognostic biomarker in nonmetastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (nmccRCC). Incorporation of CRP into prognostic models may improve the prediction of oncologic outcomes. Herein, we aimed to develop and validate prognostic nomograms and an integrated software incorporating preoperative CRP level in nmccRCC.

Are Exposure Recommendations for QT Evaluation Being Fulfilled?

Pharmaceutical companies have several options to evaluate drug-induced QT prolongation, often referred to as QT pathways, during clinical development. Current regulatory practices recommend achieving high clinical exposure (HCE) for conventional thorough QT (TQT) studies. An alternative to the TQT study, commonly known as the Q&A 5.

Articulatory correlates of consonantal length contrasts: The case of Japanese mimetic geminates.

This study investigates the articulatory correlates of consonantal length contrasts in Japanese mimetic words using electromagnetic articulography data. Regression and dynamic time warping analyses applied to intragestural timing, kinematic properties, and intergestural timing reveal that Japanese geminates are characterized by longer closure phases, longer gestural plateaus, higher tongue tip positions, larger movements, and lower stiffness. Geminates also exhibit distinct timing relationships with adjacent vowels, specifically, longer times to target that allow for longer preceding vowels.

Close cooperation between Semi1 and Semi2 proteins is essential for pronuclear positioning in .

During sexual reproduction in the ciliate , meiosis occurs in the germline micronucleus, resulting in the formation of four haploid micronuclei. Of these, only one is selected to evade autophagy, and subsequently migrates to the membrane junction with the partner cell for reciprocal pronuclear exchange. We previously demonstrated that the transmembrane protein Semi1 is essential for this nuclear migration.

Thermoelectrochemical Method for Quantification of the Micellization Entropy of Redox-Active Polymers.

Redox-active micelles undergo reversible association and dissociation in response to their redox potential and are promising materials for various applications, such as drug delivery and bioimaging. Evaluation of the micellization entropy is critical in controlling the thermodynamics of micelle formation. However, conventional methods such as isothermal titration calorimetry and surface tensiometry require a long measurement time to observe changes in the heat flow or the surface tension caused by the micellization.

Sonic Hedgehog signaling regulates the optimal differentiation pace from early-stage mesoderm to cardiogenic mesoderm in mice.

Sonic Hedgehog (Shh), encoding an extracellular signaling molecule, is vital for heart development. Shh null mutants show congenital heart disease due to left-right asymmetry defects stemming from functional anomaly in the midline structure in mice. Shh signaling is also known to affect cardiomyocyte differentiation, endocardium development, and heart morphogenesis, particularly in second heart field (SHF) cardiac progenitor cells that contribute to the right ventricle, outflow tract, and parts of the atrium.

Sustained inhibition of CSF1R signaling augments antitumor immunity through inhibiting tumor-associated macrophages.

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are one of the key immunosuppressive components in the tumor microenvironment (TME) and contribute to tumor development, progression, and resistance to cancer immunotherapy. Several reagents targeting TAMs have been tested in preclinical and clinical studies, but they have had limited success. Here, we show that a unique reagent, FF-10101, exhibited a sustained inhibitory effect against colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor by forming a covalent bond and reduced immunosuppressive TAMs in the TME, which led to strong antitumor immunity.

Ectopic Salivary Duct Cyst in the Median Mandible: A Case Report with Radiological, Immunohistochemical and Genetic Studies.

Median mandibular cyst is defined as an odontogenic cyst in a rare midline location. In spite of this definition, there have been two reports of a peculiar lesion, so-called "ciliated" median mandibular cyst associated with vital teeth, the origin of which cannot be explained in terms of odontogenic epithelium multipotentiality. We describe a thorough profile of an additional example.

Prevalence and Clinical Outcomes of Discordant Lesions Between Fractional Flow Reserve and Nonhyperemic Pressure Ratios in Clinical Practice: The J-PRIDE Registry.

Background: Limited large-scale, real-world data exist on the prevalence and clinical impact of discordance between fractional flow reserve (FFR) and nonhyperemic pressure ratios (NHPRs).

Methods: The J-PRIDE registry (Clinical Outcomes of Japanese Patients With Coronary Artery Disease Assessed by Resting Indices and Fractional Flow Reserve: A Prospective Multicenter Registry) prospectively enrolled 4304 lesions in 3200 patients from 20 Japanese centers. The lesions were classified into FFR+/NHPR-, FFR-/NHPR+, FFR+/NHPR+, or FFR-/NHPR groups according to cutoff values of 0.

Serum B-cell maturation antigen could be a simple and accurate biomarker to identify and prognosticate monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and smoldering multiple myeloma.

Not available.

Multiple myeloma-associated non-crystalline proximal tubulopathy and crystalline cast nephropathy: Biochemical and structural features of disease-causing monoclonal kappa light chains.

Various tubular diseases in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) are caused by monoclonal immunoglobulin light chains (LCs). However, the physicochemical characteristics of the disease-causing LCs contributing to the onset of MM-associated tubular diseases remain unclear. We herein report a rare case of MM-associated combined tubulopathies: non-crystalline light chain proximal tubulopathy (LCPT) and crystalline light chain cast nephropathy (LCCN).

vClean: assessing virus sequence contamination in viral genomes.

Recent advancements in viral metagenomics and single-virus genomics have improved our ability to obtain the draft genomes of environmental viruses. However, these methods can introduce virus sequence contaminations into viral genomes when short, fragmented partial sequences are present in the assembled contigs. These contaminations can lead to incorrect analyses; however, practical detection tools are lacking.

stana: an R package for metagenotyping analysis and interactive application based on clinical data.

Metagenotyping of metagenomic data has recently attracted increasing attention as it resolves intraspecies diversity by identifying single nucleotide variants. Furthermore, gene copy number analysis within species provides a deeper understanding of metabolic functions in microbial communities. However, a platform for examining metagenotyping results based on relevant grouping data is lacking.

Calculation of the Minimal Clinically Important Difference in Upper and Lower Limb Motor Assessment in Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

Objectives: Physical function assessments in patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) are important indicators for assessing the effectiveness of treatment and changes over time in rehabilitation therapy. However, few reports exist on this indicator. This study calculated the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) for assessing motor function in the upper and lower limbs of individuals with SMA to estimate the degree of change within a functional score that is considered clinically meaningful.

Association Between Maximum Lifetime Body Mass Index and Nailfold Capillary Changes in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

Objective: Microvascular changes, such as crossing nailfold capillaries, could be crucial for linking maximum lifetime body mass index (BMI) and microvascular complications in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, the relationship between maximum lifetime BMI and microvascular changes remains elusive. This study aimed to elucidate the relationship between maximum lifetime BMI and the percentage of crossing nailfold capillaries among patients with T2DM.

Communication Skills and Illness Perception Among Non-Japanese-Speaking Patients in Japan.

Background: Non-Japanese-speaking patients taking medical treatment in Japan face language barriers and lack of language assistance. Language barriers influence all processes from preventive services to treatment, and insufficient communication can affect patient outcomes. Illness perception, which is related to illness-coping behaviors and self-care behaviors, is an important factor for effective treatment, but no studies have investigated the relationship between communication skills and illness perception among non-Japanese-speaking patients.