Effect of ABO blood type on the outcomes of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with first-line tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

Objectives: To assess the effect of blood type on survival outcomes and adverse events (AEs) in patients treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC).

Materials And Methods: Patients who received TKIs as first-line therapy for mRCC between 2008 and 2015 at our hospital were included in the study (n = 136). Patients were divided into 2 groups based on their blood type as O and non-O.

Report of periprocedural oral anticoagulants in catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation: The Japanese Catheter Ablation Registry of Atrial Fibrillation (J-CARAF).

Background: To obtain a perspective of the current status of catheter ablation for the cure of atrial fibrillation, the Japanese Heart Rhythm Society conducted a nationwide survey: the Japanese Catheter Ablation Registry of Atrial Fibrillation. In this report, we aimed to evaluate the periprocedural use of direct oral anticoagulants with respect to thromboembolic or bleeding complications.

Methods: Using an online questionnaire, the Japanese Heart Rhythm Society requested electrophysiology centers in Japan to register the relevant data of patients who underwent atrial fibrillation ablation over selected five-months from 2011 to 2014.

Effectiveness and safety of dabigatran warfarin in "real-world" Japanese patients with atrial fibrillation: A single-center observational study.

Background: In "real-world" practice, anticoagulant therapy is indicated for patients whose clinical profiles are not addressed in randomized clinical trials. We assessed the effectiveness and safety of dabigatran warfarin in "real-world" Japanese patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF).

Methods: Among 613 NVAF patients who initiated dabigatran or warfarin therapy during the period between 2011 and 2013, 362 patients were included in the study after propensity score adjustment.

Distinct prostate cancer-related mRNA cargo in extracellular vesicle subsets from prostate cell lines.

Background: Multiple types of extracellular vesicles (EVs), including microvesicles (MVs) and exosomes (EXOs), are released by all cells constituting part of the cellular EV secretome. The bioactive cargo of EVs can be shuffled between cells and consists of lipids, metabolites, proteins, and nucleic acids, including multiple RNA species from non-coding RNAs to messenger RNAs (mRNAs). In this study, we hypothesized that the mRNA cargo of EVs could differ based on the EV cellular origin and subpopulation analyzed.

Disruption of the vacuolar-type H-ATPase complex in liver causes MTORC1-independent accumulation of autophagic vacuoles and lysosomes.

The vacuolar-type H-translocating ATPase (v-H-ATPase) has been implicated in the amino acid-dependent activation of the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (MTORC1), an important regulator of macroautophagy. To reveal the mechanistic links between the v-H-ATPase and MTORC1, we destablilized v-H-ATPase complexes in mouse liver cells by induced deletion of the essential chaperone ATP6AP2. ATP6AP2-mutants are characterized by massive accumulation of endocytic and autophagic vacuoles in hepatocytes.

Endothelial cell transplantation in tumors restores normal vasculature, reduces tumor hypoxia, and suppresses tumor outgrowth.

Objectives: Vascular normalization, or restoration of the normal structure and function of blood vessels, using molecular-targeted therapy, has emerged as a potential strategy for treating malignant cancer and other vascular disorders. We hypothesized that restoring tumor blood vessels to their normal state would alleviate hypoxic conditions and potentially enhance the delivery of anticancer drugs. Our objective was to determine if transplanting normal endothelial cells into tumor-bearing mice could trigger vascular normalization.

The feasibility of a Box isolation strategy for non-paroxysmal atrial fibrillation in elderly patients.

Background: Catheter ablation of non-paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (non-PAF) is a therapeutic challenge especially in elderly patients. This study describes the feasibility of a posterior left atrium isolation as a substrate modification in addition to pulmonary vein isolation, the so-called Box isolation, for elderly patients with non-PAF.

Methods: Two hundred twenty-nine consecutive patients who underwent Box isolations for drug-refractory non-PAF were divided into two groups according to their age; younger group comprising 175 patients aged <75 years and elderly group comprising 54 patients aged ≥75 years.

Treatment-related deterioration of renal function is associated with the antitumor efficacy of sunitinib in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

Objectives: Some "on-target" adverse events, such as hypertension and thrombocytopenia, have been reported to predict the antitumor efficacy of sunitinib as first-line therapy in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). However, it is unclear whether the degree of deterioration of renal function resulting from inhibition of the vascular endothelial growth factor signaling pathway can predict the antitumor efficacy of sunitinib. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate whether the degree of deterioration of renal function can predict the antitumor efficacy of sunitinib in patients with mRCC.

A de novo microdeletion involving PAFAH1B (LIS1) related to lissencephaly phenotype.

Lissencephaly is a type of the congenital malformation of the brain. Due to the impairments of neuronal migration, patients show absence of brain convolution manifesting smooth brain surfaces. One of the human genes responsible for lissencephaly is the platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase 1b gene (PAFAH1B; also known as LIS1) located on 17p13.

An overlap of Brugada syndrome and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy/dysplasia.

Overlapping characteristics of Brugada syndrome (BrS) and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy/dysplasia (ARVC/D) have been reported in recent studies, but little is known about the overlapping disease state of BrS and ARVC/D. A 36-year-old man, hospitalized at our institution for syncope, presented with this overlapping disease state. The electrocardiogram showed spontaneous coved-type ST-segment elevation, and ventricular fibrillation was induced by right ventricular outflow tract stimulation in an electrophysiological study.

Open Surgery for Giant Bilateral Internal Iliac Artery Aneurysms with Compression of Neighboring Abdominal Structures: A Case Report.

We describe a patient with successfully treated giant bilateral internal iliac artery aneurysms that were associated with acute renal failure secondary to bilateral hydronephrosis, lumbosacral plexopathy, and ileus. After hemodialysis for 1 month, the patient underwent graft replacement of the abdominal aorta and iliac arteries, including complete obliteration of the internal iliac artery branches, reconstruction of the inferior mesenteric artery, and ureterolysis. Weaning from hemodialysis was achieved and postoperative renal function improved.

Nationwide survey of catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation: The Japanese catheter ablation registry of atrial fibrillation (J-CARAF)-A report on periprocedural oral anticoagulants.

Background: Catheter ablation has become an established therapy for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF). To obtain a perspective on the current status of this therapy in Japan, the Japanese Heart Rhythm Society (JHRS) conducted a nationwide survey, the Japanese Catheter Ablation Registry of Atrial Fibrillation (J-CARAF). In this study, we focused on whether periprocedural use of novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs) was related with excessive thromboembolic or bleeding complications.

Effect of intravenous amiodarone on QT and T peak-T end dispersions in patients with nonischemic heart failure treated with cardiac resynchronization-defibrillator therapy and electrical storm.

Background: The effect of intravenous amiodarone on spatial and transmural dispersion of ventricular repolarization in patients receiving cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) remains unclear.

Methods: We studied 14 patients with nonischemic heart failure who received CRT with a defibrillator, experienced electrical storm and were treated with intravenous amiodarone. Each patient underwent 12-lead electrocardiography (ECG) and 187-channel repolarization interval-difference mapping electrocardiography (187-ch RIDM-ECG) before and during the intravenous administration of amiodarone infusion.

Noninvasive cross-sectional observation of three-dimensional cell sheet-tissue-fabrication by optical coherence tomography.

Cell sheet engineering allows investigators/clinicians to prepare cell-dense three-dimensional (3-D) tissues, and various clinical trials with these fabricated tissues have already been performed for regenerating damaged tissues. Cell sheets are easily manipulated and 3-D tissues can be rapidly fabricated by layering the cell sheets. This study used optical coherence tomography (OCT) to noninvasively analyze the following processes: (1) adhesions between layered cell sheets, and (2) the beating and functional interaction of cardiac cell sheet-tissues for fabricating functional thicker 3-D tissues.

3p interstitial deletion including PRICKLE2 in identical twins with autistic features.

Background: Microdeletion and microduplication syndromes without characteristic dysmorphic features are difficult to diagnose without chromosomal microarrays.

Patients: We describe the clinical course and genetic findings of monozygotic twins with intellectual disabilities and autistic features associated with mild facial dysmorphism and microdeletion of chromosome 3p14.

Results: The postnatal course of the second twin was complicated by intestinal malrotation, whereas that of the first twin was unremarkable.

High preoperative C-reactive protein values predict poor survival in patients on chronic hemodialysis undergoing nephrectomy for renal cancer.

Objectives: Previous studies have reported that elevated pretreatment C-reactive protein (CRP) levels are associated with poor outcome in various malignancies, including renal cell carcinoma (RCC), in the general population. However, there is no evidence of such an association in dialysis patients. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the prognostic significance of preoperative serum CRP levels in patients with RCC related to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) requiring hemodialysis (HD).

Sensitization to Asian dust and allergic rhinoconjunctivitis.

Objective: Asian dust storms frequently occur in northeast Asia and the dust occasionally even spreads as far as North America during spring. Asian dust can be harmful to human health and the environment, and thus has become one of the most serious problems for Asian countries. In the present study, we evaluated sensitization to Asian dust in Japanese patients with rhinoconjunctivitis.

Valproic acid inhibits excess dopamine release in response to a fear-conditioned stimulus in the basolateral complex of the amygdala of methamphetamine-sensitized rats.

Valproic acid, an established antiepileptic and antimanic drug, has recently emerged as a promising emotion-stabilizing agent for patients with psychosis. Although dopamine transmission in the amygdala plays a key role in emotional processing, there has been no direct evidence about how valproic acid acts on the dopaminergic system in the brain during emotional processing. In the present study, we tested the effect of valproic acid on a trait marker of vulnerability to emotional stress in psychosis, which is excess dopamine release in response to a fear-conditioned stimulus (CS) in the basolateral complex of the amygdala of methamphetamine-sensitized rats.

[A case of corpus callosum splenium encephalopathy and 2009 influenza A/H1N1].

Encephalopathy with reversible lesion of the corpus callosum splenium has a favorable prognosis, but that in 2009 influenza A/H1N1 is unknown. We report a case of clinically mild encephalopathy with a reversible lesion of the corpus callosum splenium in which 2009 influenza A/H1N1 virus was confirmed by laboratory tests. A 15-year-old Japanese girl seen at the emergency unit for loss of consciousness 18 hours after fever onset had been diagnosed with influenza A, and administered zanamivir.

The effects of sivelestat sodium hydrate on uterine contraction and the concentration of maternal and fetal blood cytokines in a sheep model of intra-amniotic infection induced by lipopolysaccharide.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of a neutrophil elastase inhibitor, sivelestat sodium hydrate, in a sheep model of intra-amniotic infection(IAI) induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injected into the intra-amniotic compartment.

Methods: We examined 15 chronically instrumented ewes, the ewes were assigned randomly as group A (five ewes) administered an antibiotic after LPS administration, group B (five ewes) administered a neutrophil elastase inhibitor (0.2 mg/kg/h) with an antibiotic after LPS administration, and group C (five ewes) a sham operation group.