Nickel–NHC-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling of 2-Methylsulfanylbenzofurans with Alkyl Grignard Reagents

NiCl2(PPh3)(IPr) catalyzes cross-coupling reactions of 2-methylsulfanylbenzofurans with alkyl Grignard reagents. Other nickel complexes such as NiCl2(dppe) failed to catalyze the same reaction. The alkylation is applicable to the synthesis of a couple of protein tyrosine phosphatase inhibitors, 3-(4-biphenylyl)-2-alkylbenzofurans

Deployment of Infectious Disease Experts an Prevalence of Antimicrobial Resistance in Okayama: A Call for Training of Specialists

Objective During the ongoing global pandemic of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), an emerging infectious disease, the implementation and execution of infection prevention and control (IPC) is of paramount importance. In this study, we aimed to assess the current deployment of infection control medical personnel in Okayama prefecture, who are supposed to play an essential role to prevent the outbreak of infectious diseases, and the current prevalence of antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) bacteria isolated in Okayama. Materials and methods This was a descriptive study using publicly available data. The numbers of infectious disease (ID)-doctors and the certified nurses in infection control (CNIC) per 100,000 population in 47 prefectures in Japan were calculated. We then compared the detected proportions of AMR pathogens among the prefectures in 2019 to be employed as a comparative parameter, which was obtained from Japan Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (JANIS) data. Results The number of ID-doctors was the 11th highest in Japan; however, they were unevenly distributed in southern Okayama, particularly at three tertiary hospitals. While the deployment of CNIC was geographically less uneven in the prefecture, their number was lower than the domestic average. According to the JANIS data, isolation rates of AMR pathogens were high in Okayama compared to other prefectures in Japan: vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (the third-worst); cefotaxime-resistant Escherichia coil and Klebsiella pneunioniae (the third-worst and the second-worst, respectively); and meropenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (the worst). Conclusions Our assessment provides underlying data and reinforces the need for educating multi-professional experts in the field of infectious diseases to prevent future public health threats in Okayama

Complete Response Obtained with S-1 Plus CDDP Therapy in a Patient with Multiple Liver Metastases from Gastric Cancer

A 58-year-old woman with advanced gastric cancer underwent total gastrectomy in May 2012. The histological diagnosis was poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma, cT4a (SE), pN1, cM0; fStage IIIA. Chemotherapy by S-1 was started after surgery. Six months after the operation, two metastatic nodules were noticed on the liver. Therefore, the chemotherapy was switched to S-1 plus cisplatin (CDDP) in November 2012. TS-1 (80 mg/body) was administrated from day 1 to 21 followed by 14 days rest as one course. CDDP (70 mg/body) was infused on day 1. After 3 courses of this combination chemotherapy, remarkable diminution of the metastatic lesions on CT images was observed. Because of the adverse event of Grade 2 nausea, the patient was forced to discontinue chemotherapy. The patient underwent partial resection of the liver (Hr-0: S8, S7) at 1 year after the first operation. The resected specimens showed no sign of malignancy, although uneven fatty deposition was observed more frequently than in the surroundings, and designated as histologically complete response (CR). The patient has been alive 30 months after the second operation without any recurrent sites. Thus, combined use of peroral S-1 and CDDP should be recommended for multiple liver metastases after gastrectomy

Laparoscopic surgery for mesenteric Castleman's disease

We report herein a case of mesenteric Castleman's disease which was confirmed on pathology. A 60-year-old man was admitted to our hospital complaining of abdominal pain. On the physical examination, there was no palpable mass. Computed tomography findings and magnetic resonance imaging revealed a well circumscribed, lobulated round mass on the right side of the superior mesenteric vein. Laparoscopic surgery for the mesenteric tumor was carried out to obtain a definite diagnosis and treatment. In the operative field, the mass was located on the ascending colic mesentery and measured about 3 cm in size. It was solid and surrounded by a thin fibrous capsule. The histological diagnosis of the mesenteric tumor was hyaline vascular type Castleman's disease. The postoperative course of the patient was uneventful, and he was discharged on the 10th postoperative day

Changes in volume of stage I non-small-cell lung cancer during stereotactic body radiotherapy

BACKGROUND: The overall treatment time of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for non-small-cell lung cancer is usually 3 to over 10 days. If it is longer than 7 days, tumor volume expansion during SBRT may jeopardize the target dose coverage. In this study, volume change of stage I NSCLC during SBRT was investigated. METHODS: Fifty patients undergoing 4-fraction SBRT with a total dose of 48 Gy (n = 36) or 52 Gy (n = 14) were analyzed. CT was taken for registration at the first and third SBRT sessions with an interval of 7 days in all patients. Patient age was 29–87 years (median, 77), and 39 were men. Histology was adenocarcinoma in 28, squamous cell carcinoma in 17, and others in 5. According to the UICC 7th classification, T-stage was T1a in 9 patients, T1b in 27, and T2a in 14. Tumor volumes on the first and 8th days were determined on CT images taken during the exhalation phase, by importing the data into the Dr. View/LINAX image analysis system. After determining the optimal threshold for distinguishing tumor from pulmonary parenchyma, the region above -250 HU was automatically extracted and the tumor volumes were calculated. RESULTS: The median tumor volume was 7.3 ml (range, 0.5-35.7) on day 1 and 7.5 ml (range, 0.5-35.7) on day 8. Volume increase of over 10% was observed in 16 cases (32%); increases by >10 to ≤20%, >20 to ≤30%, and >30% were observed in 9, 5, and 2 cases, respectively. The increase in the estimated tumor diameter was over 2 mm in 3 cases and 1–2 mm in 6. A decrease of 10% or more was seen in 3 cases. Among the 16 tumors showing a volume increase of over 10%, T-stage was T1a in 2 patients, T1b in 9, and T2a in 5. Histology was adenocarcinoma in 10 patients, squamous cell carcinoma in 5, and others in 1. CONCLUSIONS: Volume expansion >10% was observed in 32% of the tumors during the first week of SBRT, possibly due to edema or sustained tumor progression. When planning SBRT, this phenomenon should be taken into account

Clinical study of single-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy

We experienced 63 patients with non-inflammatory disease who underwent single-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy (TANKO-LC). Herein we report the procedure of operation and the short-term results. We compared 63 cases of TANKO-LC with 109 cases of non-inflammatory conventional laparoscopic cholecystectomy (S-LC) within the same period. At first, our standard procedure was to insert multiple trocars in the abdominal cavity through a single wound ; now, we insert only a single trocar all cases. In the 63 cases investigation, 3 cases required trocar addition and one case converted to open surgery. Intra and postoperative complications were recognized in 2 cases (port-site infection). No significant complications were recognized. In comparing the TANKO-LC group and the S-LC group, the operation time was intentionally longer in the TANKO-LC group (TANKO-LC group : 118 min, S-LC group : 90 min), but there were no differences in the blood loss, the rates of intra and postoperative complications and the conversion rate. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is a standard operation for gallbladder removal, but single-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy is considered a useful operation with the same low operative complication rate yet more satisfactory cosmetic results

Clinical study of the prognostic factors in colorectal cancer patients with synchronous liver metastasis

This study was aimed to clarify the prognostic factors in colorectal cancer patients with synchronous liver metastasis. Fifty-four patients were assessed to evaluate prognoses according to various clinico-pathological factors and therapeutic procedures. The patients' survival was significantly related to extrahepatic distant metastasis and therapeutic procedures. Regarding therapeutic procedures, the liver resection group showed significantly improved survival compared with the chemotherapy group, especially in liver metastasis Grade B. For colorectal liver metastases, it is clear that liver resection is the most effective treatment at present. Further improvement of patient prognoses is expected to be achieved by future research on combination chemotherapy

Effect of malnutrition on FDG PET

Objective 18F-FDG PET/CT is a hybrid imaging method widely used as a useful, noninvasive imaging modality for evaluating various neoplastic diseases. When assessing the tumor uptake, the liver and the mediastinal blood pool are often used as a reference region. In daily clinical practice, the 18F-FDG uptake in the liver sometimes appears to decrease on PET images of patients with malnutrition. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not the liver 18F-FDG uptake is decreased in patients with malnutrition. Methods We retrospectively analyzed 246 patients who underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT from January 2018 to June 2018 and whose blood serum albumin was measured within 1 month of PET/CT. We compared the liver uptake and mediastinal blood uptake of patients with low serum albumin level (< 4.0 g/dl) and hypoalbuminemia (< 3.5 g/dl) with those with a normal serum albumin level (≥ 4.0 g/dl). Correlations between the liver and mediastinal blood uptake and the serum albumin level were also calculated. Results The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) and mean standardized uptake value (SUVmean) of the liver in 117 patients with low serum albumin were 3.1 ± 0.5 and 2.3 ± 0.3, respectively, while they were 2.9 ± 0.4, 2.0 ± 0.3 in 29 patients with hypoalbuminemia; these values were all significantly lower than the respective ones (3.4 ± 0.5, 2.5 ± 0.4) in 129 patients with normal serum albumin (all p < 0.001). The SUVmean of the mediastinal blood uptake in patients with hypoalbuminemia and normal serum albumin were 1.6 ± 0.2 and 1.7 ± 0.3, respectively (p = 0.053). The serum albumin level demonstrated a significantly positive, moderate correlation with the liver SUVmean, showing a regression line of y = 0.31x + 1.1 (r = 0.41, p < 0.001). Conclusion The liver 18F-FDG uptake tended to decrease in patients with hypoalbuminemia. In the patients with malnutrition, the mediastinal blood pool may be more stable reference than the liver for evaluating the tumor activity because hypoalbuminemia is considered to less strongly influence the mediastinal blood pool than that in the liver

A case of transverse colon cancer with remarkable extramural invasion to stomach and jejunum

A 77-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital due to abdominal pain and body weight loss. A palpable mass the size of an infant's head was tender on palpation and identified as an epigastric lesion. Colonoscopic examination revealed stenosis of the transverse colon, although no intraluminal growth of the tumor was found. The histologic findings of the biopsy material were poorly differentiated and/or undifferentiated cells. Abdominal CT scan showed an irregular-shaped tumor with a diameter of 10cm invading the stomach and jejunum. We performed an operation under a diagnosis of extramurally growing cancer or malignant lymphoma of the colon. Partial resection of the transverse colon was done by distal gastrectomy and partial resection of the jejunum. Histologic examination of the operative specimens revealed moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma of the transverse colon, prominently proliferating into the surrounding tissues. The finding of a long stenotic lesion and extramural compression by colonography are characteristic of this tumor, based on a review of 43 literature reports in Japan

Preliminary clinical assessment of dynamic carbon-11 methionine positron-emission tomography/computed tomography for the diagnosis of the pathologies in patients with musculoskeletal lesions : a prospective study

Background: This study prospectively assessed the diagnostic capacity of dynamic carbon-11 methionine (C-11 MET) positron-emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography for the diagnosis of pathologies in patients with primary unknown musculoskeletal lesions (MSLs). In total, 13 patients with MSLs underwent dynamic scans (5–10 [phase 1], 10–15 [phase 2], 15–20 [phase 3], 20–25 [phase 4], 25–30 [phase 5], and 30–35 [phase 6] min post-injection of C-11 MET). We statistically compared the maximum standardised uptake values (SUVmax) and corresponding retention index for dynamic scans (RI-SUV) for five benign MSLs (BMSLs), five primary malignant musculoskeletal tumours (PMMSTs), four metastatic musculoskeletal tumours (MMSTs), and three malignant lymphoma (ML) cases and explored their diagnostic capacities using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses. Results: SUVmax gradually decreased or remained similar with minimal fluctuations in all BMSL cases and four of five PMMST cases. In contrast, SUVmax increased over time in one case of PMMST and in all cases of MMST and ML. Significant differences were observed in SUVmax for all time phases and RI-SUV between BMSLs and MMSLs, in SUVmax for all time phases between PMMSTs and BMSLs, in SUVmax for all time phases and RI-SUV between non-PMMST-malignant tumours and BMSL, and in RI-SUV between non-PMMST-malignant tumours and PMMST. In ROC analyses, the areas under the curve yielded the highest values at 1.00 for differentiating most intergroup comparisons. Conclusions: Dynamic C-11 MET PET scans have the potential to be good predictors of discriminating MSLs in patients with primary unknown MSLs in clinical practice