Usefulness of Endoscopic Imaging to Visualize Regional Alterations in Acid Secretion of Noncancerous Gastric Mucosa after Eradication.

Purpose: Endoscopic diagnosis of gastric cancer (GC) that emerges after eradication of may be affected by unique morphological changes. Using comprehensive endoscopic imaging, which can reveal biological alterations in gastric mucosa after eradication, previous studies demonstrated that Congo red chromoendoscopy (CRE) might clearly show an acid non-secretory area (ANA) with malignant potential, while autofluorescence imaging (AFI) without drug injection or dyeing may achieve early detection or prediction of GC. We aimed to determine whether AFI might be an alternative to CRE for identification of high-risk areas of gastric carcinogenesis after eradication.

Clinical effects of single nucleotide polymorphisms on drug-related genes in Japanese metastatic renal cell carcinoma patients treated with sunitinib.

Although sunitinib is a well-established chemotherapeutic for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC), there are no robust markers that predict efficacy and toxicity. We analyzed the effect of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes involved in sunitinib pharmacokinetics on clinical outcomes in Japanese patients with mRCC. We analyzed the effect of SNPs in genes involved in sunitinib pharmacokinetics on the clinical outcome in mRCC patients in a Japanese population.

Medical Institutions and Twitter: A Novel Tool for Public Communication in Japan.

Background: Twitter is a free social networking and microblogging service on the Internet. Medical professionals and patients have started to use Twitter in medicine. Twitter use by medical institutions can interactively and efficiently provide public health information and education for laypeople.

Approving molecularly targeted drugs: different approval processes for cytotoxic agents.

Background: Recently, the approval of some molecularly targeted drugs has been questioned, due to differing opinions on their risks and benefits. The approval process remains a challenge in regulatory science.

Methods: We analyzed the molecularly targeted drugs listed in the 2013 Medical Formulary.

The association between coffee consumption and bladder cancer incidence in a pooled analysis of the Miyagi Cohort Study and Ohsaki Cohort Study.

Recent epidemiological studies of the association between coffee consumption and the risk of bladder cancer have yielded conflicting results. The aim of the present study was to examine the association between coffee consumption and the incidence of bladder cancer on the basis of pooled data from two cohort studies carried out in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan. We delivered self-administered questionnaires inquiring about the frequency of coffee consumption and other lifestyle factors in 1990 for the Miyagi Cohort Study and in 1994 for the Ohsaki Cohort Study.

Writing Impairments in Japanese Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment and with Mild Alzheimer's Disease.

Background/aims: We investigated writing abilities in patients with the amnestic type of mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and mild Alzheimer's disease (AD). To examine the earliest changes in writing function, we used writing tests for both words and sentences with different types of Japanese characters (Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji).

Methods: A total of 25 aMCI patients, 38 AD patients, and 22 healthy controls performed writing to dictation for Kana and Kanji words, copied Kanji words, and wrote in response to a picture story task.

Health management in cancer survivors: Findings from a population-based prospective cohort study-the Yamagata Study (Takahata).

The number of cancer survivors is increasing; however, optimal health management of cancer survivors remains unclear due to limited knowledge. To elucidate the risk of non-communicable diseases, and the effect of lifestyle habits on risk of non-communicable diseases, we compared cancer survivors and those who never had cancer (non-cancer controls) using a population-based prospective cohort study. The baseline survey of 2292 participants was carried out from 2004 to 2006, and the follow-up survey of 2124 participants was carried out in 2011.

Executive Dysfunction in Patients with Putaminal Hemorrhage.

Background: The frontal-subcortical circuits link the specific areas of the frontal cortex to the striatum, basal ganglia, and thalamus. Disruption of the frontal-subcortical circuits may lead to cognitive impairment with frontal lobe features. The putamen is a central component of frontal-subcortical circuits.

Socioeconomic Status and Physical Activity in Chinese Adults: A Report from a Community-Based Survey in Jiaxing, China.

Objectives: This study examines the associations of socioeconomic status (SES) with intensity of different types of physical activity (PA) in Chinese adults, aimed at outlining and projecting socioeconomic disparities in PA among the population undergoing a rapid nutrition transition.

Methods: A community-based survey was conducted among 3,567 residents aged 30-65 years old in Jiaxing, China, in 2010. SES and PA were assessed by a structured questionnaire.

[Visual Texture Agnosia in Humans].

Visual object recognition requires the processing of both geometric and surface properties. Patients with occipital lesions may have visual agnosia, which is impairment in the recognition and identification of visually presented objects primarily through their geometric features. An analogous condition involving the failure to recognize an object by its texture may exist, which can be called visual texture agnosia.

Applying data envelopment analysis to preventive medicine: a novel method for constructing a personalized risk model of obesity.

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a method of operations research that has not yet been applied in the field of obesity research. However, DEA might be used to evaluate individuals' susceptibility to obesity, which could help establish effective risk models for the onset of obesity. Therefore, we conducted this study to evaluate the feasibility of applying DEA to predict obesity, by calculating efficiency scores and evaluating the usefulness of risk models.

Functional significance of the electrocorticographic auditory responses in the premotor cortex.

Other than well-known motor activities in the precentral gyrus, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have found that the ventral part of the precentral gyrus is activated in response to linguistic auditory stimuli. It has been proposed that the premotor cortex in the precentral gyrus is responsible for the comprehension of speech, but the precise function of this area is still debated because patients with frontal lesions that include the precentral gyrus do not exhibit disturbances in speech comprehension. We report on a patient who underwent resection of the tumor in the precentral gyrus with electrocorticographic recordings while she performed the verb generation task during awake brain craniotomy.

[Understanding the neuropsychological symptoms associated with cortical dysfunction].

Damage to association cortices can result in a variety of cognitive and behavioral symptoms. Superficially, the relationship between lesion sites and the corresponding symptoms seems constant. However, some degree of dissociation of symptoms among patients with different etiologies appears to be the rule rather than the exception, even when the lesion locations appear similar in neuroimaging studies.

[Communication disorder in chronic stage stroke patients].

Although aphasia is a common neurological condition, and its diagnostic procedure is mostly established, it is not easy to fully evaluate the communicative ability of each patient, as there are huge interindividual differences among patients, and their abilities may vary depending on their circumstances. Even with the advancement of neuroimaging technique, the relationship between lesion localizations and symptoms remains elusive. To evaluate their residual abilities which helps daily communication, it is valuable to observe their abilities in a setting which reflects real social contexts.

Personalization of chemotherapy for metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Erlotinib is an approved drug for the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer; however, its survival benefit is small and its cost is high, and the decision to use the drug may often be personalized according to the patient's background. A 72-year-old Asian man in good general condition chose gemcitabine monotherapy over combination therapy with gemcitabine plus erlotinib because the survival benefit of the latter was small. The cost of the drug did not appear to affect this decision.

Uterine cervical cancer displaying tumor-related leukocytosis: a distinct clinical entity with radioresistant feature.

Background: Tumor-related leukocytosis (TRL) is occasionally found in patients with nonhematopoietic malignancies. We investigated the clinical implication of TRL and individualized treatment for TRL-positive cervical cancer, as well as the underlying biological mechanism.

Methods: Clinical data from 258 cervical cancer patients treated with definitive radiotherapy were analyzed to investigate the association between TRL and treatment outcome.

Combination treatment with trabectedin and irinotecan or topotecan has synergistic effects against ovarian clear cell carcinoma cells.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the chemotherapeutic agents that produce the strongest synergistic effects when combined with trabectedin against ovarian clear cell carcinoma (CCC), which is regarded as an aggressive chemoresistant histological subtype.

Methods: Using 4 human CCC cell lines (RMG1, RMG2, KOC7C, and HAC2), the cytotoxicities of trabectedin, SN-38, topotecan, doxorubicin, cisplatin, and paclitaxel as single agents were first assessed using the MTS assay. Then, the cytotoxicities of combination treatments involving trabectedin and 1 of the other 4 agents were evaluated by isobologram analysis to examine whether these combinations displayed synergistic, additive, or antagonistic effects.

Applying spatial epidemiology to hematological disease using R: a guide for hematologists and oncologists.

"Spatial statistics" is an academic field that deals with the statistical analysis of spatial data, and has been applied to econometrics and various other policy fields. These methods are easily applied by hematologists and oncologists using better and much less expensive software. To encourage physicians to use these methods, this review introduces the methods and demonstrates the analyses using R and FleXScan, which can be freely downloaded from the website, with sample data.

[Localization in neuropsychology].

Cognitive impairment is a part of neurological findings. Localization of each cognitive function, however, is not as straightforward as motor or sensory functions. Individual differences in premorbid abilities and functional network, in addition to the hierarchical organization of cognitive functions, make functional localization highly complicated.

[Language mapping with direct electrical stimulation].

Language mapping with electrical stimulation in patients with lesions close to the language area aids surgery by identifying the language area in each individual. This method is quite important in a clinical setting, and is the most reliable for preventing persistent language deficits after resection. Furthermore, language mapping with electrical stimulation has revealed that the functional organization of the language area is more complex than previously suggested by functional MRI and other methods.

Altered cognitive function of prefrontal cortex during error feedback in patients with irritable bowel syndrome, based on FMRI and dynamic causal modeling.

Background & Aims: Patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have increased activity in the insula and reduced activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in response to visceral stimulation. We investigated whether they have latent impairments in cognitive flexibility because of dysfunction in the DLPFC and insula and altered connectivity between brain regions.

Methods: We analyzed data from 30 individuals with IBS (15 men; age, 21.

[Clinical approach to atypical typer of dementia].

In patients with atypical dementia, cognitive dysfunctions other than amnesia predominate. It remains to be established how to examine these cognitive dysfunctions in the systematic way. "Action" deficit in dementia can occur at any stage from perception of objects to motor control.

Relationship between dietary intake and microalbuminuria: findings from the Takahata study.

Background: Although several studies have investigated the relationship between dietary nutrient intake and microalbuminuria, no study of an Asian population has been reported. The present study investigates the relationship between dietary intake and microalbuminuria in a general Japanese population.

Methods: We analyzed 675 men and 924 women who did not have diabetes.

[Conscious awareness of cognitive processes and their dysfunction].

Conscious awareness is the state in which external and internal stimuli are perceived and can be intentionally acted on. Although various investigations have provided new insights into the neural mechanisms of conscious awareness, its whole network in human remains to be solved. Anosognosia for visual dysfunction and unconscious processing of visual stimuli are good examples of dissociation between cognitive processes and conscious awareness.