Extent to which weight loss contributes to improving metabolic dysfunction-associated and metabolic and alcohol related/associated steatotic liver disease: a study on Japanese participants undergoing health checkups.

Introduction: The incidence of steatotic liver disease has increased in recent years. Thus, steatotic liver disease is a major public health issue in Japan. This study investigated the association between weight reduction and the remission of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD)/Metabolic and alcohol related/associated liver disease (MetALD) in Japanese individuals undergoing health checkups.

Comparative outcomes of hemodialysis patients facing pre-Omicron and Omicron COVID-19 epidemics.

Introduction: This study elucidates factors affecting the severity and mortality in pre-Omicron and Omicron strains of SARS-CoV-2 and vaccination impact.

Methods: This single-center retrospective observational study included 1598 hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Patients were grouped into "pre-Omicron" and "Omicron" periods.

Association between Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy as Measured Using a Point-of-Care Sural Nerve Conduction Device and Urinary Albumin Excretion in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes.

Background: It is not well known whether diabetic peripheral neuropathy diagnosed using a non-invasive point-of-care nerve conduction device called DPN-Check is associated with diabetic nephropathy. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the association of diabetic peripheral neuropathy with urinary albumin excretion in patients with type 2 diabetes using DPN-Check.

Methods: This retrospective observational study included 323 Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes.

Serum chemokine CC-motif ligand 17 is a predictive marker of severe COVID-19 in haemodialysis patients: A retrospective observational study.

Background: Maintenance haemodialysis (HD) patients are at higher risk for severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Because of a limited number of facilities that can provide inpatient treatment for COVID-19 and HD, it is important to identify HD patients who are at high risk for severe COVID-19. For mild to moderate COVID-19 patients, chemokine CC-motif ligand 17 (CCL17) was reported to be a predictive marker for severe COVID-19; however, the validity of CCL17 among HD patients is unknown.

[Simultaneous bilateral pneumothorax complicating Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in a homeless man with AIDS].

Although pneumothorax is a well-known complication of AIDS related Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, simultaneous bilateral pneumothorax has not been reported in Japan. A 54-year-old homeless man was admitted with emaciation and dyspnea. Chest X-ray showed diffuse ground glass opacity.

[Multiple cavitary pulmonary metastases from ovarian cancer: a case report].

Cavitation in pulmonary metastases is thought to be uncommon. To date, few cases of pulmonary metastases originating from ovarian cancer and showing cavitation have been reported. We report a patient with multiple cavitation in pulmonary metastases from ovarian mucinous cystadenocarcinoma.

[Cave-associated acute pulmonary histoplasmosis in two Japanese returning from Mexico].

We report cases of cave-associated acute pulmonary histoplasmosis that occurred in two Japanese returning from Yucatan, Mexico. Patient 1 is a 35-year-old woman who worked in a bat-infested cave in Mexico for about 3 weeks. Almost all her colleagues had developed cough, fever and headache after 5 days in the cave.

[Meningococcocemia complicated by disseminated intravascular coagulation, splenic infarction and pulmonary thromboembolism in a young adult: case report].

Mortality of meningococcal septicemia remains high in spite of the improvement of antibiotics treatment and critical care medicine. A 23-year-old male, who had been well until a day earlier, was admitted to the hospital because of a high-grade fever and headache. On the second hospital day, he was still febrile, and it was confirmed that he had disseminated intravascular coagulation.

Disorder in sequential speech perception: a case study on pure word deafness.

We described disorders of a patient which were uniquely restricted to speech perception of syllable sequences after brain damage. The results of series of experiments using syllable sequences showed "negative recency effect," in which the subject's repetition performance at the latter syllable position was remarkably poor. Experimental analyses suggested that the "negative recency effect" could be due to dual factors: the lower rate of processing of speech sounds and the memory load of holding processes of preceding syllables imposed on the succeeding phonological processing.

[Pneumonia among the homeless].

Although there are some studies concerning tuberculosis among the homeless persons in Japan, almost no detailed analysis is available about non-tuberculous lung infections in this population. We retrospectively studied the clinical features and microbial etiology of pneumonia among the homeless. This series included twenty so-called homeless persons, 19 male and one female, who were admitted to our hospital with a clinical diagnosis of pneumonia from April 1993 to July 1996.

Wegener's granulomatosis with multiple cranial nerve involvements as the initial clinical manifestations.

Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) is a disease of unknown origin characterized by necrotizing granulomas of both the upper and lower respiratory tracts and glomerulonephritis. A 62-year-old woman presenting unusual neurological manifestations is reported. The patient suffered from palsies of multiple cranial nerves without manifestation of respiratory tracts in the initial clinical course.