Evaluation of the Postprandial-Hyperglycemia-Suppressing Effects and Safety of Short-Term Intake of Mulberry Leaf and Water Chestnut Tea: A Randomized Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Crossover Trial.

: Postprandial hyperglycemia is a risk factor for diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, even in healthy individuals. Kanzaki mulberry leaf and water chestnut tea (MW tea), a blend of mulberry () leaves and water chestnut () leaves and husks, is rich in polyphenols and 1-deoxynojirimycin (DNJ) and may suppress postprandial glucose spikes, but evidence regarding its short-term daily intake is limited. This study aimed to evaluate the postprandial glycemic response and safety of two-week MW tea consumption using continuous glucose monitoring (CGM).

Efficacy and safety of a digital therapeutic for alcohol dependence: A multicenter, open-label, randomized controlled trial.

Aim: Digital therapeutics (DTx) is an emerging treatment modality for enhancing psychosocial interventions via software programs, such as smartphone applications (apps). We developed a DTx named ALM-003 to support treatment for people with alcohol dependence who are pursuing reduced drinking goals. ALM-003 was designed to promote behavioral change through daily self-monitoring with personalized feedback, interactive psychoeducational modules, and automated treatment support tools for both patients and physicians.

The Effectiveness of Regular Opioids for Dyspnea Among Opioid-Tolerant Patients with Cancer: A Comparison of Increasing Baseline Opioids Versus Opioid Switch/Combination Therapy.

Dyspnea is a common and distressing symptom in patients with cancer and often worsens even with the use of opioids for pain management. Understanding effective strategies for managing dyspnea in opioid-tolerant patients is essential for improving patient care. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of different opioid treatment strategies for managing dyspnea in opioid-tolerant patients with cancer.

Minimal Clinically Important Difference in the Integrated Palliative Care Outcome Scale for Cancer Dyspnea.

Context: Dyspnea is a common and distressing symptom in patients with cancer. The Integrated Palliative care Outcome Scale (IPOS) provides health care providers with a proxy tool for assessing dyspnea; however, the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) in the IPOS for dyspnea is unknown.

Objectives: To determine the MCID in the IPOS improvement for dyspnea.

Functional Analysis of Modified Caco-2 Cells Carrying CES2A1 as a Model for Intestinal Absorption of Prodrugs.

Carboxylesterase (CES) plays an important role in the metabolism of ester-containing drugs such as prodrugs and is highly expressed in the human intestine and liver. The ideal prodrug is barely hydrolyzed by human intestinal CES (CES2A1) but is extensively converted to an active drug by human hepatic CES (CES1A). It is, therefore, important to evaluate CES2A1-mediated hydrolysis during intestinal absorption.

Prognostic value of coronary calcification detected via non-electrocardiogram-gated computed tomography in patients with cardiovascular disease: A retrospective cohort study.

Background: The correlation between coronary artery calcification (CAC) detected via electrocardiogram-gated computed tomography (ECG-gated CT) and future cardiovascular events has been well-established. Non-ECG-gated CT is simple and widely used, making it suitable for screening. However, the correlation between CAC observed via non-ECG-gated CT and cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular events remains unclear.

Machine/deep learning-assisted hemoglobin level prediction using palpebral conjunctival images.

Palpebral conjunctival hue alteration is used in non-invasive screening for anaemia, whereas it is a qualitative measure. This study constructed machine/deep learning models for predicting haemoglobin values using 150 palpebral conjunctival images taken by a smartphone. The median haemoglobin value was 13.

Acquired curved hair is caused by fusion of multiple hair matrix cells.

Background: "Curved hair" caused by acquired factors is considered to have adverse cosmetic effects, but the detailed mechanism behind curved hair remains obscure.

Objective: We attempted to clarify the causes of curved hair that appeared to have occurred via acquired factors.

Methods: Outer root sheath cells (ORSC) isolated from plucked human hair follicles were used to evaluate the expression of type IV collagen.

Deep learning based identification of pituitary adenoma on surgical endoscopic images: a pilot study.

Accurate tumor identification during surgical excision is necessary for neurosurgeons to determine the extent of resection without damaging the surrounding tissues. No conventional technologies have achieved reliable performance for pituitary adenomas. This study proposes a deep learning approach using intraoperative endoscopic images to discriminate pituitary adenomas from non-tumorous tissue inside the sella turcica.

Opioids for the management of dyspnea in cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Dyspnea is a prevalent symptom that significantly reduces quality of life of cancer patients. Palliative treatment is necessary when the symptoms do not respond to treatment for their cause. Opioids are widely used as pharmacological therapy, but evidence for individual agents is inconsistent.

ALDH2 rs671 variant allele is associated with higher energy intake in middle-aged and elderly Japanese who routinely consume alcohol.

Background: According to recent reports, individuals with reduced aldehyde dehydrogenase activity may require more energy for the detoxification of aldehydes. Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2), an ALDH isozyme, is responsible for detoxifying acetaldehyde, an intermediate metabolite of ethanol. Because the variant allele of the rs671 polymorphism of ALDH2 results in a substantial reduction in enzymatic activity, carriers of this variant allele may have a higher energy demand when consuming alcohol than non-carriers.

Clinicopathological characteristics associated with the engraftment of patient lymphoma cells in NOG mice.

Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) mouse models are useful for deepening our understanding of the biology of malignant lymphoma; however, factors associated with the success of the PDX lymphoma model are largely unknown. We retrospectively analyzed the characteristics of 66 xenotransplantations from 65 patients. In all, 43 (65%) specimens were obtained from patients aged > 60 years, and 42 (64%) specimens were obtained at diagnosis.

Is Low Volume Drainage of Ascites Associated With Improved Survival in Digestive System Cancer Patients With Malignant Ascites?-A Retrospective Cohort Study.

To determine whether the volume of paracentesis for malignant ascites in acute care hospital wards is associated with survival and symptom relief. Patients with malignant ascites caused by digestive system cancer who underwent paracentesis between January 2010 and April 2022 were retrospectively analyzed from medical records. Collected data included the drainage volume per paracentesis procedure, survival time from the first paracentesis procedure, symptoms, and adverse events.

Immunoreactivity to WT1 peptide vaccine is associated with prognosis in elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia: follow-up study of randomized phase II trial of OCV-501, an HLA class II-binding WT1 polypeptide.

We previously conducted a randomized phase II trial of OCV-501, a WT1 peptide presented by helper T cells, in elderly AML (acute myeloid leukemia) patients in first remission, indicating no difference in 2-year disease-free survival (DSF) between the OCV-501 and placebo groups. Here, we analyzed 5-year outcome and biomarkers. Five-year DFS was 36.

Applying Nudge to Public Health Policy: Practical Examples and Tips for Designing Nudge Interventions.

Given the cost-effective nature of promoting desirable behaviors among individuals and societies, national and local governments have widely applied the nudge concept in various public policy fields. This viewpoint briefly explains the concept of nudge and presents the trend of nudge application in public health policy with illustrative examples. While most academic evidence on its effectiveness has been derived from Western countries, there is a significant accumulation of cases of nudge practices in non-Western countries, including the Western Pacific nations.

Case-based similar image retrieval for weakly annotated large histopathological images of malignant lymphoma using deep metric learning.

In the present study, we propose a novel case-based similar image retrieval (SIR) method for hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained histopathological images of malignant lymphoma. When a whole slide image (WSI) is used as an input query, it is desirable to be able to retrieve similar cases by focusing on image patches in pathologically important regions such as tumor cells. To address this problem, we employ attention-based multiple instance learning, which enables us to focus on tumor-specific regions when the similarity between cases is computed.

Transformer-based personalized attention mechanism for medical images with clinical records.

In medical image diagnosis, identifying the attention region, i.e., the region of interest for which the diagnosis is made, is an important task.

Systemic Opioids for Dyspnea in Cancer Patients: A Real-world Observational Study.

Context: Although Systemic opioids are recommended as a pharmacological treatment for cancer-related dyspnea, their effectiveness and safety needs to be investigated in a real-world context OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of systemic regular opioids for dyspnea in cancer patients, in the real-world palliative care practice.

Methods: This was a multicenter prospective observational study. We consecutively enrolled adult cancer patients starting regular opioids (morphine, oxycodone, hydromorphone, or fentanyl) for dyspnea from 12 palliative care services across Japan.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of the efficacy of benzodiazepines for dyspnea in patients with cancer.

Objective: the role of benzodiazepines in relieving dyspnea in patients with cancer has not yet been established. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to determine the efficacy and safety of benzodiazepines alone or in combination with opioids for dyspnea in patients with cancer.

Methods: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE and Ichushi-Web were searched for articles published from database inception to 23 September 2019.

ERK-mediated NELF-A phosphorylation promotes transcription elongation of immediate-early genes by releasing promoter-proximal pausing of RNA polymerase II.

Growth factor-induced, ERK-mediated induction of immediate-early genes (IEGs) is crucial for cell growth and tumorigenesis. Although IEG expression is mainly regulated at the level of transcription elongation by RNA polymerase-II (Pol-II) promoter-proximal pausing and its release, the role of ERK in this process remains unknown. Here, we identified negative elongation factor (NELF)-A as an ERK substrate.

Qualitative differences in disease-associated MEK mutants reveal molecular signatures and aberrant signaling-crosstalk in cancer.

Point-mutations of MEK1, a central component of ERK signaling, are present in cancer and RASopathies, but their precise biological effects remain obscure. Here, we report a mutant MEK1 structure that uncovers the mechanisms underlying abnormal activities of cancer- and RASopathy-associated MEK1 mutants. These two classes of MEK1 mutations differentially impact on spatiotemporal dynamics of ERK signaling, cellular transcriptional programs, gene expression profiles, and consequent biological outcomes.

Impact of statins in patients with vasospastic angina: A multicenter registry study of the Japanese Coronary Spasm Association.

Background: Statins are generally used for patients with coronary artery disease. However, the impact of statins in patients with vasospastic angina (VSA) is not fully understood.

Methods: In a multicenter registry study of the Japanese Coronary Spasm Association (n = 1429), patients with or without statins were compared.