Circadian dynamics of heart rate and physical activity in patients with heart failure

The present study was designed to develop a method to continuously measure Holter electrocardiogram (ECG) and physical activity in terms of metabolic costs to examine circadian dynamics of RR intervals and physical activity in patients with heart failure. A total of 7 healthy subjects and 3 heart failure patients performed cardiopulmonary exercise test using four-stage graded treadmill walking at 0% grade to examine whether the acceleration signals in the vertical direction could reflect actual body energy expenditure during physical activity. Then, using this new method, 24-hr monitorings of ECG and physical activity were performed in 24 inpatients with heart failure while they were allowed to walk around freely. Our results showed the integral of rectified acceleration signals was closely correlated with actual metabolic cost in all subjects. Instantaneous changes in heart rate were quite concordant with physical activity. As compared with the asymptomatic patients (n = 12), the symptomatic patients (n = 12) had lower energy expenditure during 8-hr daytime periods but higher mean heart rate. Furthermore, a more prominent ultradian rhythm of circadian changes in heart rate and physical activity was found in 50% of all subjects studied. The simultaneous analysis of Holter ECG and physical activity as the same time series revealed that in patients with heart failure, sympathovagal balance shifted toward sympathotonic conditions and their physical activity could become subject to intrinsic ultradian dynamics of body's homeostasis.     

A Case of Interstitial Pneumonia Induced by Rituximab Therapy

International Journal of Hematology -     

Angiogenesis in hepatocellular carcinoma as evaluated by CD34 immunohistochemistry

ABSTRACT— To clarify the relationship between angiogenesis and hepatocarcinogenesis on progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), we quantitatively evaluated angiogenesis by CD34 immunohistochemistry in liver cirrhosis (LC), adenomatous hyperplasia (AH), and HCC, and proliferative activity estimated by Ki-67 immunohistochemistry. Angiogenesis was evaluated by CD34 immunohistochemistry using monoclonal antibody HPCA-2, and tumor proliferative activity was evaluated using monoclonal antibody MIB-1. We used an image analysis system to assess the microvessel density as the area percentage of the endothelial area. Angiogenesis was generally observed in HCC and there was no significant difference among all clinical stages and histological grades of HCC. On the other hand, the staining of CD34 was partly observed in sinusoids of AH, although no positive staining was seen in any sinusoids of LC. The proliferative activity was significantly correlated with the clinical stage and histological grade of HCC. Our results indicate that the quantitation of angiogenesis does not provide significant prognostic information in HCC, but that it may have diagnostic value in distinguishing HCC from non-HCC. Meanwhile, AH, which is not morphologically diagnosed as cancer, shows positive staining for CD34, suggesting that some portion of AH contains cancerous characteristics.     

Utility of a simplified ultrasonography scoring system among patients with rheumatoid arthritis: A multicenter cohort study

We aimed to evaluate the utility of a simplified ultrasonography (US) scoring system, which is desired in daily clinical practice, among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) receiving biological/targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).A total of 289 Japanese patients with RA who were started on tumor necrosis factor inhibitors, abatacept, tocilizumab, or Janus kinase inhibitors between June 2013 and April 2019 at one of the 15 participating rheumatology centers were reviewed. We performed US assessment of articular synovia over 22 joints among bilateral wrist and finger joints, and the 22-joint (22j)-GS and 22-joint (22j)-PD scores were evaluated as an indicator of US activity using the sum of the GS and PD scores, respectively.The top 6 most affected joints included the bilateral wrist and second/third metacarpophalangeal joints. Therefore, 6-joint (6j)-GS and -PD scores were defined as the sum of the GS and PD scores from the 6 synovial sites over the aforementioned 6 joints, respectively. Although the 22j- or 6j-US scores were significantly correlated with DAS28-ESR or -CRP scores, the correlations were weak. Conversely, 6j-US scores were significantly and strongly correlated with 22j-US scores not only at baseline but also after therapy initiation.Using a multicenter cohort data, our results indicated that a simplified US scoring system could be adequately tolerated during any disease course among patients with RA receiving biological/targeted synthetic DMARDs.     

Risk factors of thrombotic recurrence and major bleeding in patients with intermediate-risk for recurrence of venous thromboembolism

Journal of Thrombosis and Thrombolysis - Prolonged anticoagulation therapy is recommended for patients with intermediate-risk for recurrence of venous thromboembolism (VTE). The current study aimed...     

Superb microvascular imaging (SMI) findings of splenic artery pseudoaneurysm: a report of two cases

Splenic artery pseudoaneurysm (SAPA) is a relatively infrequently encountered but clinically important vascular change, because it carries a high risk of rupture that warrants prompt treatment regardless of its size. Thus, sufficient knowledge is indispensable when seeing chronic pancreatitis patients or post-traumatic patients. Here, we report two such cases. The first case was a 52-year-old woman known to have chronic pancreatitis who presented with hematemesis and hemodynamic instability in which X-ray computed tomography (CT) and color Doppler sonography (CDS) had difficulty visualizing slow blood flow in SAPA, but superb microvascular imaging (SMI) clearly demonstrated the slow blood flow in SAPA, prompting our therapeutic decision to perform rapid embolization. The second case was a 51-year-old woman with post-traumatic SAPA in which 3D SMI enabled us to understand more clearly the topographic relationship between multiple SAPAs as compared with conventional US, leading to a decision to provide immediate surgical treatment. SMI was thought to provide a new insight into the US diagnosis of SAPA. When examining patients suspected of having a SAPA, SMI is an indispensable diagnostic tool at present.     

Granulocyte Colony-stimulating Factor-induced Aortitis with Lung Injury,Splenomegaly, and a Rash During Treatment for Recurrent Extraosseous Mucinous Chondrosarcoma

We herein report a case of aortitis induced by granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) that coincided with lung injury, splenomegaly, and cutaneous manifestations during treatment for recurrent extraosseous mucinous chondrosarcoma. Computed tomography revealed large-vessel vasculitis, splenomegaly, and pulmonary interstitial changes. Treatment with prednisolone was successful. Because sarcoma is a rare disease, this case is valuable for showing clinicians that G-CSF preparations could cause aortitis regardless of the patient''s underlying diseases or therapeutic pharmacological backgrounds.     

Efficacy and safety of endoscopic submucosal dissection for gastric tube cancer: A multicenter retrospective study

BACKGROUNDRecent improvements in the prognosis of patients with esophageal cancer have led to the increased occurrence of gastric tube cancer (GTC) in the reconstructed gastric tube. However, there are few reports on the treatment results of endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for GTC.AIMTo evaluate the efficacy and safety of ESD for GTC after esophagectomy in a multicenter trial.METHODSWe retrospectively investigated 48 GTC lesions in 38 consecutive patients with GTC in the reconstructed gastric tube after esophagectomy who had undergone ESD between January 2005 and December 2019 at 8 institutions participating in the Okayama Gut Study group. The clinical indications of ESD for early gastric cancer were similarly applied for GTC after esophagectomy. ESD specimens were evaluated in 2-mm slices according to the Japanese Classification of Gastric Carcinoma with curability assessments divided into curative and non-curative resection based on the Gastric Cancer Treatment Guidelines. Patient characteristics, treatment results, clinical course, and treatment outcomes were analyzed.RESULTSThe median age of patients was 71.5 years (range, 57-84years), and there were 34 men and 4 women. The median observation period after ESD was 884 d (range, 8-4040 d). The median procedure time was 81 min (range, 29-334 min), the en bloc resection rate was 91.7% (44/48), and the curative resection rate was 79% (38/48). Complications during ESD were seen in 4% (2/48) of case, and those after ESD were seen in 10% (5/48) of case. The survival rate at 5 years was 59.5%. During the observation period after ESD, 10 patients died of other diseases. Although there were differences in the procedure time between institutions, a multivariate analysis showed that tumor size was the only factor associated with prolonged procedure time.CONCLUSIONESD for GTC after esophagectomy was shown to be safe and effective.     

Selective inhibition of type I collagen synthesis in osteoblastic cells by epidermal growth factor

We have investigated the effect of epidermal growth factor (EGF) on collagen metabolism in clonal MC3T3-E1 cells, an osteoblastic cell line derived from newborn mouse calvaria. EGF significantly increased DNA synthesis, but decreased collagen production. We analyzed the amount of total collagen synthesis and degradation products of collagen together with the level of the enzyme responsible for extracellular collagen degradation, to investigate whether the decreased collagen production was due to a decrease in total collagen synthesis or to an increase in collagen degradation. Total collagen synthesis, determined by total hydroxyproline synthesized, was significantly decreased in cells cultured in medium containing EGF, but the amount of collagen degradation products and the level of animal collagenase activity were not increased. Analysis of the collagen type produced by the cells in the absence of EGF showed that 95% of the collagen recovered was type I and 3% was type III. The decreased level of collagen accumulated by cells cultured in the presence of EGF was explained only by the decreased rate of type I collagen synthesis. These results indicate that EGF selectively inhibits type I collagen synthesis in the clonal osteoblastic cell line, MC3T3-E1.