Prognostic significance of nonsustained ventricular tachycardia in patients receiving cardiac resynchronization therapy for primary prevention: Analysis of the Japan cardiac device treatment registry database

BackgroundWhether nonsustained ventricular tachycardia (NSVT) is a marker of increased risk of sustained ventricular tachyarrhythmias (VTAs) remains to be established in patients receiving cardiac resynchronization therapy with a defibrillator (CRT‐D) for primary prevention.MethodsAmong the follow‐up data of the Japan cardiac device treatment registry (JCDTR) with an implantation date between January 2011 and August 2015, information regarding a history of NSVT before the CRT‐D implantation for primary prevention had been registered in 269 patients. Outcomes were compared between two groups with and without NSVT: NSVT group (n = 179) and No NSVT group (n = 90).ResultsThere was no significant difference with regard to age, gender, and NYHA class between the two groups. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was 25.6% in the NSVT group and 28.0% in the No NSVT group (P = .046). The rate of appropriate therapy at 24 months was 26.0% and 18.4% in the NSVT and No NSVT groups (P = .22), respectively. Survival free from heart failure death was reduced in the NSVT group, as compared with the No NSVT group, with the rate of 90.2% vs 97.2% at 24 months (P = .030). A multivariate analysis identified a history of NSVT, anemia, and no use of angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) or angiotensin‐receptor blocker (ARB) as predictors of heart failure death.ConclusionsNSVT appears to be a surrogate marker of severe heart failure rather than a substrate for subsequent sustained VTAs in patients with CRT‐D for primary prevention

lenvatinib in nonviral hepatocarcinoma

Aim: To investigate the therapeutic effect of lenvatinib (LEN) in liver disease etiology, especially nonviral hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods and Results: Sixty-seven patients with unresectable advanced HCC (u-HCC) treated with LEN and consisting of 26 hepatitis C virus (HCV), 19 hepatitis B virus (HBV), 11 alcohol, and 11 nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) cases were retrospectively recruited. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard models were used to determine predictive factors for survival. The objective response rate in the nonviral (alcohol and NASH) group was higher than that in the viral group (59.1% [13/22] vs. 46.7% [21/45]). Progression-free survival was significantly longer in the nonviral group than in the viral group (13.7 vs. 6.6 months; hazard ratio [HR] 0.324; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.174–0.602; P < 0.01). Similarly, median overall survival (OS) was significantly longer in the nonviral group than in the viral group (not evaluable vs. 15.9 months; HR = 0.277; 95% CI = 0.116–0.662; P < 0.01). Multivariate analysis revealed that portal vein invasion (HR = 5.327, P = 0.0025), treatment line (HR = 0.455, P = 0.023), and etiology (HR = 0.180, P = 0.00055) were significant independent factors associated with OS in u-HCC patients treated with LEN. Conclusion: Our results suggest that LEN is more effective against nonviral u-HCC than against viral u-HCC

THE SPIROKETALS CONTAINING A BENZYLOXYMETHYL MOIETY AT C8 POSITION SHOWED THE MOST POTENT APOPTOSIS-INDUCING ACTIVITY

Abstract: The spiroketals containing a benzyloxymethyl moiety at the C8 position showed the most potent apoptosis-inducing activity, whereas its analogous compounds lacking any substituent at C8 or possessing ones other than the benzyloxymethyl moiety at C8 were all much less active. These results strongly suggest an important role of the benzyloxymethyl moiety linked to the C8 oxygen ato

Interfractional Seminal Vesicle Motion Relative to the Prostate Gland for Image-guided Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer with/without Androgen Deprivation Therapy: A Retrospective Cohort Study

We investigated differences in seminal vesicle (SV) length and interfractional SV motion relative to the prostate gland in prostate cancer patients. We compared 32 patients who received androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) before radiotherapy with 12 patients receiving radiotherapy alone at Okayama University Hospital in August 2008-July 2011. We examined the right and left SVs’ length and motion by computed tomography (CT) to determine the ADT’s effects and analyzed 347 CT scans in a multiple linear regression model. The ADT patients’ SV length was significantly shorter than the non-ADT patients’. The differences in right and left SV lengths between the ADT and non-ADT patients were 6.8 mm (95% CI 2.0-11.7 mm) and 7.2 mm (95% CI 3.1-11.3 mm) respectively in an adjusted regression model. SV motion did not differ between the ADT and non-ADT patients in terms of interfractional motion of the SV tips and the SVs’ center relative to the prostate gland. The ADT patients had significantly shorter SVs compared to the non-ADT patients, but no difference in SV motion was observed. SV interfractional motion should thus be compensated using the same planning margins, regardless of whether ADT is used

Single Center Prospective Phase II Trial of CT-guided Radiofrequency Ablation for Pulmonary Metastases from Colorectal Cancer (SCIRO-1401)

The present single center prospective phase II clinical trial is designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of percutaneous radiofrequency (RF) ablation for colorectal lung metastases. Patients who have colorectal lung metastases without extrapulmonary metastases are included in this study. The primary endpoint is 3-year overall survival (OS) after RF ablation. The secondary endpoints are the prevalence of adverse events within 4 weeks, local tumor progression rate, 1- and 5-year OS, cause-specific survival, and relapse-free survival. The recruitment of patients commenced in July 2014, and the enrolment of 45 patients is intended over the 3 years of study period

Novel SUZ12 mutations in Weaver‐like syndrome

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146320/1/cge13415_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146320/2/cge13415-sup-0001-AppendixS1.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146320/3/cge13415.pd

Transcriptome Responses of Insect Fat Body Cells to Tissue Culture Environment

Tissue culture is performed to maintain isolated portions of multicellular organisms in an artificial milieu that is outside the individual organism and for considerable periods of time; cells derived from cultured explants are, in general, different from cells of the corresponding tissue in a living organism. The changes in cultured tissues that precede and often explain the subsequent cell proliferation of explant-derived cells have been partially studied, but little is known about the molecular and genomic basis of these changes. Comparative transcriptomics of intact and cultured (90 hours in MGM-450 insect medium) Bombyx mori tissues revealed that fewer genes represented a larger portion of the transcriptome of intact fat body tissues than of cultured fat body tissues. This analysis also indicated that expression of genes encoding sugar transporters and immune response proteins increased during culture and that expression of genes encoding lipoproteins and cuticle proteins decreased during culture. These results provide support for hypotheses that cultured tissues respond immunologically to surgery, adapt to the medium by accelerating sugar uptake, and terminate their identity as part of an intact organism by becoming independent of that organism