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Presepsin: A Promising Biomarker regarding Sepsis.
Background Integrated device diagnostics, Triage-HF, is useful in risk stratifying patients with heart failure (HF), but its performance for Japanese patients remains unknown. This is a prospective study of Japanese patients treated with a cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D), with a Medtronic OptiVol 2.0 feature.Methods and ResultsA total of 320 CRT-D patients were enrolled from 2013 to 2017. All received HF treatment in the prior 12 months. Following enrollment, they were followed every 6 months for 48 months (mean, 22 months). Triage-HF-stratified patients at low, medium and high risk statuses at every 30-day period, and HF-related hospitalization occurring for the subsequent 30 days, were evaluated and repeated. The primary endpoint was to assess Triage-HF performance in predicting HF-related hospitalization risk. All device data were available for 279 of 320 patients (NYHA class II or III in 93%; mean left ventricular ejection fraction, 31%). During a total of 5,977 patient-month follow-ups, 89 HF-related hospitalization occurred in 72 patients. The unadjusted event numbers for Low, Medium and High statuses were 19 (0.7%), 42 (1.6%) and 28 (4.1%), respectively. Relative risk of Medium to Low status was 2.18 (95% CI 1.23-3.85) and 5.78 (95% CI 3.34-10.01) for High to Low status. Common contributing factors among the diagnostics included low activity, OptiVol threshold crossing, and elevated night heart rate. Conclusions Triage-HF effectively stratified Japanese patients at risk of HF-related hospitalization.Regulating synaptic formation and transmission is critical for the physiology and pathology of psychiatric disorders. The adenosine A2A receptor subtype has attracted widespread attention as a key regulator of neuropsychiatric activity, neuroprotection and injury. In this study, we systematically investigated the regulatory effects of a novel A2A receptor agonist, PSB-0777, on the expression of synaptic proteins and AMPA receptors at the cellular level in a time- and dose-dependent manner. After 30 minutes of high-dose PSB-0777 stimulation, the expression of Syn-1, PSD95, and AMPA receptors and the number of synapses were rapidly and significantly increased in rat primary cortical neurons compared with the control. Sustained elevation was found in the low and medium-dose groups after 24 hours and 3 days of treatment. In contrast, after stimulation with PSB-0777 for 3 consecutive days, the expression of Syn-1 was decreased, and PSD95, AMPA receptors and the number of synapses were no longer increased in the high-dose group. Our study focuses on the detailed and systematic regulation of synaptic proteins and AMPA receptors by an A2A receptor agonist, PSB-0777, which may result in both beneficial and detrimental effects on neurotransmission and neuroprotection and may contribute to the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders related to A2A receptors. These experimental data may contribute to understanding of the mechanisms for neuroprotective and therapeutic effect of A2A receptor agonists.A 68-year-old woman presented with a 2-year history of worsening unsteady gait. Her neurological examination revealed peripheral neuropathy with lower limb sensory dominance. T2-weighted imaging revealed a disorder of the posterior cervical cord. Blood test findings revealed vitamin B12 deficiency, and gastroscopy revealed typical findings of autoimmune gastritis. She received vitamin B12 supplementation, but some peripheral neuropathy symptoms persisted due to longstanding vitamin B12 deficiency. Asymptomatic patients should undergo gastroscopy to detect autoimmune gastritis, as chronic vitamin B12 deficiency causes irreversible peripheral neuropathy.We experienced a case of follicular cholangitis that was positive on fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (18F-FDG-PET). A 70-year-old man was admitted for jaundice. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiography showed stenosis of the middle to upper choledocus. 18F-FDG-PET depicted a localized hot spot at the stenotic lesion (maximum standardized uptake value = 8.2). selleckchem Although no malignant findings were found in the cytology or on a bile duct biopsy, malignancy could not be excluded, so surgical treatment was performed. Follicular cholangitis is a new, rare disease that causes severe biliary stricture. Only 11 cases of follicular cholangitis have been reported, including the present case.Cardiac side effects associated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are an uncommon but serious complication with a relatively high mortality. We experienced a case of cardiomyopathy induced by nivolumab. Echocardiography showed diffuse hypo-kinesis of the left ventricular cardiac wall and a significant decrease in the ejection fraction, like dilated cardiomyopathy. The myocardial biopsy showed non-inflammatory change; cardiac function gradually improved after treatment of acute heart failure without a corticosteroid. Although non-inflammatory left ventricular dysfunction induced by ICIs is rare, it is a reported cardiovascular toxicity. Physicians should consider this complication when treating patients with ICIs for malignant diseases.A 78-year-old man was referred to our hospital for a detailed examination of a pancreatic tumor that filled the main pancreatic duct (MPD). The histological diagnosis of the endoscopic biopsy specimen was neuroendocrine tumor (NET) G3. The patient subsequently underwent total pancreatectomy. The histological diagnosis of the surgical specimen was also NET G3. This is the first report of a NET that occupied the MPD and was diagnosed by a preoperative endoscopic biopsy through the papilla of Vater. This case is a good example of a histopathological diagnostic method for pancreatic tumors invading the entire MPD.Objective To achieve an accurate quantification in diabetic polyneuropathy (DPN), we developed a new electrophysiological index that we called the DPN index. The relationship between the DPN index and the neurological findings in diabetic patients was assessed. Methods The DPN index was calculated by the mean value of percentages of four parameters (tibial compound muscle action potential amplitude / F wave minimum latency, sural sensory nerve action potential amplitude / sensory nerve conduction velocity) against the mean normal values. Twenty healthy subjects were recruited as a control group. Patients A total of 348 diabetic patients who were hospitalized in our hospital during the period from December 2016 to August 2019 were retrospectively studied. The correlations between the DPN index and five neurological findings (subjective sensory symptoms, diminished or absent Achilles tendon reflex, impaired tactile and vibration sense, low coefficient of variation of R-R interval) were evaluated. Results The DPN index in healthy subjects was 129.
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