Effect of a Device-Free Compressed Shell Fixation Method on Hepatic Respiratory Movement: Analysis for Respiratory Amplitude of the Liver and Internal Motions of a Fiducial Marker

Purpose

Suppression of respiratory movement of the liver would be desirable for high-precision radiation therapy for liver tumors. We aimed to investigate the effect of our original device-free compressed shell fixation method and breathing instruction on suppression of respiratory movement. The characteristics of liver motion based on the movement of a fiducial marker were also analyzed.

Increased unfolded protein responses caused by MED17 mutations

neurogenetics - Mediator (MED) is a key regulator of protein-coding gene expression, and mutations in MED subunits are associated with a broad spectrum of diseases. Because mutations in MED17...     

Japanese Versus Non-Japanese Patients with Transient Ischemic Attack or Minor Stroke: Subanalysis of TIA registry.org

BackgroundTIAregistry.org is an international cohort of patients with transient ischemic attack (TIA) or minor stroke within 7 days before enrollment in the registry. Main analyses of 1-year follow-up data have been reported.⁵ We conducted subanalysis on the baseline and 1-year follow-up data of Japanese patients.MethodsThe patients were classified into 2 groups based on Japanese ethnicity, Japanese (345) and non-Japanese (3238), and their baseline data and 1-year event rates were compared. We also determined risk factors and predictors of 1-year stroke.ResultsCurrent smoking, regular alcohol drinking, intracranial arterial stenosis, and small vessel occlusion; and hypertension, dyslipidemia, coronary artery disease, and extracranial arterial stenosis were more and less common among Japanese patients, respectively. Stroke risk was higher and TIA risk was lower at 1-year follow-up among Japanese patients. The baseline risk factors for recurrent stroke were diabetes, alcohol drinking, and large artery atherosclerosis. Independent predictors of 1-year stroke risk were prior congestive heart failure and alcohol consumption.ConclusionsThe two populations of patients featured differences in risk factors, stroke subtypes, and outcome events. Predictors of recurrent stroke among Japanese patients included congestive heart failure and regular alcohol drinking. Strategies to attenuate residual risk of stroke aside from adherence to current guidelines should take our Japanese-patient specific findings into account.     

N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide predicts hospitalization for ischemic stroke in Japanese hemodialysis patients

Clinical and Experimental Nephrology - The association between N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and stroke in Japanese hemodialysis (HD) outpatients is unclear. Therefore, in...     

SALVAGE THERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH UNRESECTABLE HILAR CHOLANGIOCARCINOMA

We describe our methods and outcomes of multidisciplinary treatments in patients with unresectable hilar cholangiocarcinoma. Fifty‐seven patients with a known outcome were enrolled. Thirty‐four of 57 patients were treated and evaluated by salvage therapy. For salvage therapy, we used internal and external radiotherapy, photodynamic therapy, YAG laser therapy and microwave coagulation therapy. The median survival time was 548 days for the group receiving salvage therapy and 198 days for the group not receiving this treatment. In conclusion, although no randomization of the patients was performed in this retrospective study, our present data provide convincing evidence that salvage therapy is a useful therapeutic approach for unresectable hilar cholangiocarcinomas.     

Severe Graves' ophthalmopathy accompanied by myasthenia gravis]

We report a 53-year-old woman with severe Graves' ophthalmopathy accompanied by uncontrolled myasthenia gravis. She presented remarkable exophthalmos, chemosis, and restriction of eye movement. Despite plasma exchange, steroid pulse therapy, local injection of steroid, and irradiation, ocular symptoms did not ameliorate. Since optic neuropathy was seen, orbital decompression surgery was performed in the left eye. Bilateral chemosis was improved after the surgery. Five years after surgery, there was no ocular palsy in the operated left eye, but in the contralateral eye. For the good prognosis of the eye movement, orbital decompression might be recommended in the severe Graves' ophthalmopathy accompanied by the optic neuropathy and/or ophthalmoplegia with proptosis.