Automated Assessment of Aortic and Main Pulmonary Arterial Diameters using Model-Based Blood Vessel Segmentation for Predicting Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension in Low-Dose CT Lung Screening

Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is characterized by obstruction of the pulmonary vasculature by residual organized thrombi. A morphological abnormality inside mediastinum of CTEPH patient is enlargement of pulmonary artery. This paper presents an automated assessment of aortic and main pulmonary arterial diameters for predicting CTEPH in low-dose CT lung screening. The distinctive feature of our method is to segment aorta and main pulmonary artery using both of prior probability and vascular direction which were estimated from mediastinal vascular region using principal curvatures of four-dimensional hyper surface. The method was applied to two datasets, 64 low-dose CT scans of lung cancer screening and 19 normal-dose CT scans of CTEPH patients through the training phase with 121 low-dose CT scans. This paper demonstrates effectiveness of our method for predicting CTEPH in low-dose CT screening

Effect of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games on COVID-19 incidence in Japan: A synthetic control approach

BACKGROUND: The Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games (23 July-8 August 2021) were held in the middle of Japan\u27s fifth wave of COVID-19, when the number of cases was on the rise, and coincided with the fourth state of emergency implemented by the host city, Tokyo. AIM: This study aimed to assess whether the hosting of the Games was associated with a change in the number of COVID-19 cases in Japan using a synthetic control method. METHODS: A weighted average of control countries with a variety of predictors was used to estimate the counterfactual trajectory of daily COVID-19 cases per 1 000 000 population in the absence of the Games in Japan. Outcome and predictor data were extracted using official and open sources spanning several countries. The predictors comprise the most recent country-level annual or daily data accessible during the Games, including the stringency of the government\u27s COVID-19 response, testing capacity and vaccination capacity; human mobility index; electoral democracy index and demographic, socioeconomic, health and weather information. After excluding countries with missing data, 42 countries were ultimately used as control countries. RESULTS: The number of observed cases per 1 000 000 population on the last day of the Games was 109.2 (7-day average), which was 115.7% higher than the counterfactual trajectory comprising 51.0 confirmed cases per 1 000 000 population. During the Olympic period (since 23 July), the observed cumulative number of cases was 61.0% higher than the counterfactual trajectory, comprising 143 072 and 89 210 confirmed cases (p=0.023), respectively. The counterfactual trajectory lagged 10 days behind the observed trends. CONCLUSIONS: Given the increasing likelihood that new emerging infectious diseases will be reported in the future, we believe that the results of this study should serve as a sentinel warning for upcoming mega-events during COVID-19 and future pandemics

Short communication: epidemiological evidence that simian T-lymphotropic virus type 1 in Macaca fuscata has an alternative transmission route to maternal infection.

Serological inspection of Simian T-lymphotropic Virus Type 1 was conducted for a wild colony of Macaca fuscata, which was captured in the middle Honshu, Japan. The increase of positive rate after the juvenile stage with the positive rate reaching 100% (or 35/35) in youngster and adult stages, was observed. This finding suggests that, in contrast with human T-lymphotropic Virus Type 1, horizontal transmission play an important role in increasing prevalence of STLV-1 with age among M. fuscata

Tegafur-Uracil Plus Gemcitabine Combination Chemotherapy in Patients with Advanced Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Previously Treated with Platinum

BackgroundAn open-label, single-arm prospective study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of the combination of gemcitabine and tegafur-uracil (UFT) in patients with advanced nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after the failure of previous platinum-containing regimens.Patients and MethodsPatients with advanced NSCLC received 200 mg/m2 of UFT twice daily from day 1 through 14 plus 900 mg/m2 of gemcitabine per day via intravenous injection on days 8 and 15. This regimen was repeated every 3 or 4 weeks.ResultsA total of 40 patients were enrolled. Eleven patients (28%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 15–44%) achieved a partial response. The median progression-free survival, median overall survival, and 1-year survival rate were 4.0 months (95% CI, 3.3–6.7 months), 12.6 months (95% CI, 7.0–22.3 months), and 51% (95% CI, 33–66%), respectively. The most common grade 3 or 4 toxicity was neutropenia (38%; 95% CI, 23–54%) and the rate of grade 3 or 4 nonhematologic toxicity remained at less than 5%. A multivariate Cox model showed that adenocarcinoma, nonsmoking history, and good performance status predicted better survival.ConclusionsCombination chemotherapy with UFT and gemcitabine showed a promising effectiveness and acceptable toxicity for patients with platinum-resistant NSCLC

Three cases of Acanthamoeba keratitis diagnosed and treated in the early stage

Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK) is a severe infectious corneal ulcer that usually occurs in contact lens wearers. Although the number of AK cases in Japan has been increasing, many of these cases are diagnosed in the early stage and are treated adequately. This is probably because of the increased availability of various diagnostic techniques and the ever-increasing knowledge about AK among ophthalmologists. In this article, we described 3 cases of AK that were diagnosed and treated in the early stages of the disease, and we discuss why 1 of the cases had a less favorable prognosis than the other 2 cases, which had excellent prognoses, from an etiological point of view

Increased Interleukin-8 in Epithelial Lining Fluid of Collapsed Lungs During One-Lung Ventilation for Thoracotomy

The present study was designed to evaluate inflammatory changes in collapsed lungs during one-lung ventilation using the assistance of a bronchoscopic microsampling probe. Serial albumin and interleukin (IL)-8 concentrations in epithelial lining fluid (ELF) were measured in seven patients undergoing resection of lung tumors. The samples were taken after induction of anesthesia (baseline), 30 min after one-lung ventilation was started (point 2), just before resuming two-lung ventilation (point 3), and 30 min after two-lung ventilation was restarted (point 4). The albumin and IL-8 concentrations in ELF were significantly increased at point 2 and point 3, respectively, and remained to be high, compared to the baseline. The increase in IL-8 at point 3 was correlated with the interval of one-lung ventilation; however, none developed specific acute lung injury. These findings suggest that inflammatory changes can occur on the epithelium of a collapsed lung even in patients who underwent successful and standard thoracic surgery.ArticleINFLAMMATION. 35(6):1844-1850 (2012)journal articl

Prospective Study on the Incidence of Bone Metastasis (BM) and Skeletal-Related Events (SREs) in Patients (pts) with Stage IIIB and IV Lung Cancer—CSP-HOR 13

Background:Bone metastasis (BM) is a frequent complication in patients with advanced lung cancer and it causes skeletal-related events (SREs). Our study aim is to prospectively investigate the incidence of BM, incidence and types of SRE, and predictive factors of BM and SREs.Methods:Newly diagnosed, advanced non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) or small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients were enrolled into the study. Patients were followed up every 4 weeks to monitor the development of SREs. Treatment for lung cancer was performed at the discretion of the investigator.Results:Two hundred seventy-four patients were enrolled in this study between April 2007 and December 2009 from 12 institutions. Patients included 77 cases of SCLC and 197 of NSCLC (stage IIIB/IV = 73/124). Median follow-up time was 13.8 months. The incidence of BM at initial diagnosis was 48% in stage IV NSCLC and 40% in extensive stage (ED)-SCLC. Forty-five percent of patients who developed BM had SREs consisting of pathologic fracture (4.7%), radiation to bone (15.3%), spinal cord compression (1.1%), and hypercalcemia (2.2%). Multivariate analysis revealed that factors predicting BM are stage IV, performance status 1 or greater and higher bone alkaline phosphatase in NSCLC patients, higher lactate dehydrogenase, and lower parathyroid hormone–related peptide in SCLC patients. Factors predicting SREs were stage IV, age 64 or younger, and lower albumin in NSCLC patients. Multivariate analysis of SRE was not performed for SCLC because of the small number of events.Conclusion:Predictive factors should be taken into consideration in future randomized studies evaluating BM and SREs

Immunolocalization of Adhesion Molecules in Rheumatoid and Osteoarthritic Synovial Tissues

To elucidate the potential role of adhesion molecules in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), we stained specimens of synovial tissue from patients with RA and osteoarthritis (OA) with monoclonal antibodies against adhesion molecules using an immunohistochemical method. Positive staining with anti-ICAM-1 monoclonal antibody was detected on the synovial lining cells, the sublining cells and the capillary endothelial cells in the synovium from patients with RA, and, to a lesser degree, in that from patients with OA. The capillary endothelial cells from patients with RA intensively expressed both ELAM-1 and VLA-5α molecules, in contrast to that from OA patients. The intensity of both ICAM-1 and ELAM-1 on the capillary endothelial cells in RA synovium was comparable to disease activity and to the degree of synovial proliferation. A high density of expression of LFA-1α , VLA-4α and VLA-5α was observed on the mononuclear cells that infiltrated the RA synovium, especially in the lesions with aggregated mononuclear cells. The findings clearly demonstrated an up-regulation of the expression of adhesion molecules on synovial cells, capillary endothelial cells and infiltrated mononuclear cells in the synovial tissues of patients with RA. This enhanced expression of adhesion molecules may play an important role in the migration of mononuclear cells into the synovial tissues and thus perpetuate the inflammatory response in these tissues

Duality Between String Junctions and D-Branes on Del Pezzo Surfaces

We revisit local mirror symmetry associated with del Pezzo surfaces in Calabi-Yau threefolds in view of five-dimensional N=1 E_N theories compactified on a circle. The mirror partner of singular Calabi-Yau with a shrinking del Pezzo four-cycle is described as the affine 7-brane backgrounds probed by a D3-brane. Evaluating the mirror map and the BPS central charge we relate junction charges to RR charges of D-branes wrapped on del Pezzo surfaces. This enables us to determine how the string junctions are mapped to D-branes on del Pezzo surfaces.Comment: 35 pages, Latex, 1 figure; typos corrected, references update