[Objective]To evaluate the effectiveness of moxibustion treatment for patients with nocturia in a randomized controlled trial.
[Methods]Subjects were 36 patients with refractory nocturia, randomly allocated to a moxibustion group (n = 20) and a sham moxibustion group (n = 16). Moxibustion treatment to Chung-Chi (CV3) was performed three times/day for one week by the patients themselves. The average number of nocturia in the week before and the week during moxibustion treatment were compared between groups.
[Results]The average number of nocturia during moxibustion was significantly decreased in the moxibustion group compared to that before treatment. No significant change was seen in the sham moxibustion group.
[Conclusion]Moxibustion treatment appears to reduce the average number of nocturia. Moxibustion to Chung-Chi seems to represent an effective therapeutic option for nocturia.

A 66-year-old woman complained of dyspnea due to congestive heart failure, and was given a diagnosis of severe aortic insufficiency. Antiphospholipid syndrome and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) had been diagnosed with 9 years previously. We planned preoperative plasma exchange and steroid pulse infusion to reduce the level of auto-antibodies for phospholipids. The aortic valve replacement was performed safely. Anticoagulant therapy with low molecular weight heparin and oral steroid therapy was administered after the operation to avoid thrombosis or bleeding. The patient's postoperative course was stable. She was discharged without any complication. In conclusion, preoperative plasma exchange and steroid pulse infusion, postoperative anticoagulant therapy and oral steroids resulted in a favorable outcome in a case of heart surgery for a patient with antiphospholipid syndrome.

The purpose of this research was to study the effects of Tu-Chung extract (Eucommia ulmoides OLIV.) administration on serum testosterone and the possible mechanisms in hindlimb- suspended rats. 25 five-week old male Wistar rats were used. All rats were randomly divided into two groups : those treated with Tu-Chung extract (Tu-Chung G, n=suspended for 37 days in hindlimb. 1 mg/ml Tu-Chung extract was administered orally once daily at a dose of 1 ml/100 g body weight. Distilled water was administered in a similar way to the control group. The following results were observed :
1. Serum testosterone concentration in Tu-Chung G was significantly higher than in Cont. G (P<0.001) .
2. There was no significant difference between Tu-Chung G and Cont. G in serum LB concentrations.
3. The Testicular cAMP level in Tu-Chung G was significantly higher than that in Cont. G (P<0.01) .
4. 24-h urinary excretion of 17-ketosteroid in Tu-Chung G was significantly higher than that in Cont. G (P<0.001) .
5. There were no significant differences between the two groups in the weights per body weight of the kidneys, adrenal grand and testes. These results suggest that the adininstration of Tu-Chung extract inducing high serum testosterone concentrations in hindlimb-suspended rats might be due to enhanced testicular and adrenal functions, not pituitary.

Pacinian corpuscle-like structures were identified in the digital tendon sheaths and nail beds of hands obtained from eight of 12 human fetuses of gestational age 20–34 weeks (crown-rump length, 150–290 mm). The aberrant corpuscles were present in tight fibrous tissue connecting the flexor tendon sheath to the dorsal aponeurosis (138 corpuscles in the thumbs and all fingers of eight fetuses); loose fibrous tissue inside the sheath on the dorsal side of the tendon (37 corpuscles in the thumbs and all fingers of four fetuses); and the nail bed (10 clusters in the thumbs and second fingers of four smaller fetuses). The aberrant corpuscles in the tendon sheath were classified into two types: thin and short, with tightly packed lamellae, of diameter 20–40 µm and length 20–200 µm; and thick and long, with loosely packed lamellae, of diameter 70–150 µm and length 0.5–1.5 mm. The small corpuscles tended to form clusters, each containing 5–10 structures. Their similarity indicated that the tight and loose lamellae in these two types of corpuscles corresponded to typical immature and mature corpuscles, respectively, usually distributed along the palmar digital nerve. However, mature, large corpuscles were absent from the nail bed, and most aberrant corpuscles were smaller than typical corpuscles along the nerve. The aberrant corpuscles were apparently incorporated into the tendon sheath or nail bed during fetal vascular development, but they appeared to degenerate after birth due to mechanical stress from the tendon or nail.
Fetus* ; Fingers ; Gestational Age ; Hand ; Humans* ; Parturition ; Stress, Mechanical ; Tendons* ; Thumb

BACKGROUNDEstrogen receptor alpha (ER alpha) is the most important endocrine therapy responsiveness predictor for women with breast cancer. The accuracy of the prediction of the response to endocrine therapy was thought to be affected by involving the estrogen receptor coregulatory proteins and cross-talk between ER and other growth factor-signaling networks. Nuclear corepressor 1 (NCOR1) is one of the ER a transcription repressor. The objective of the study is to investigate the expression of NCOR1 at the protein level and pursue its predictive value for breast cancer endocrine therapy.

METHODSIn the present study, the level of expression of NCOR1 protein has been assessed by immunohistochemistry in 104 cases of invasive carcinoma of the breast. Associations between NCOR1 protein expression and different clinicopathological factors and survival were sought.

RESULTSIt was found that NCOR1 was expressed at significantly higher levels in responsive patients treated with endocrine therapy as first-line treatment on relapse. Responsive patients also had a significantly longer post-relapse survival and overall survival. No NCOR1 expression difference was found between patient by age, tumor size, lymph node status, different histological grade groups and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status. Multivariate analysis showed that NCOR1 is an independent prognostic factor for over-all survival.

CONCLUSIONSIn breast cancer, NCOR1 protein expression level predicts response to endocrine therapy as first-line treatment for breast cancer patients on relapse and NCOR1 protein level assay may increase the accuracy in the endocrine treatment determination and, therefore, improving the patients survival.

Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal ; therapeutic use ; Breast Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Estrogen Receptor alpha ; metabolism ; Female ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Middle Aged ; Nuclear Receptor Co-Repressor 1 ; metabolism ; Receptor, ErbB-2 ; metabolism ; Receptors, Progesterone ; metabolism ; Tamoxifen ; therapeutic use

The p53 gene has a significant role in controlling genomic stability of cancer. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the tumor response of allograft colorectal tumor treated with Ad5CMV-p53 in a syngeneic rat model. Two weeks after the inoculation of WB-2054-M5 tumor cells in the flank of rats, rats were randomly assigned by tumor size to one of three groups (n=18 in each): phosphate buffered saline (PBS), Ad5CMV, and Ad5CMV-p53. Recombinant adenovirus or PBS was administered through intratumoral injection at three divided doses every other day for 4 weeks. Apoptosis of the tumors was evaluated using TUNEL assay. After 2 and 4 weeks of treatment, the volume (cm3) of tumors in PBS, Ad5CMV, and Ad5CMV-p53 was as follows: 2 week: 1.66 +/-0.43, 1.40 +/-0.47, 0.75 +/-0.26 (p<0.001), 4 week: 4.41 +/-0.88, 3.93 +/-1.86, 2.33 +/-0.51 (p<0.001). Tumor growth showed no statistically significant difference between the PBS and Ad5CMV groups (6-week vol. p=0.32). The TUNEL assay results revealed more apparent apoptotic cells in Ad5CMV-p53-treated tumors than in other groups. Growth of allograft colorectal cancer in the syngeneic rat model was significantly suppressed by intratumoral Ad5CMV-p53 gene therapy. These results demonstrate that gene replacement therapy with p53 may provide a novel modality of treatment in conjunction with other present treatments for metastatic colorectal cancer.
Adenocarcinoma/genetics/pathology/therapy ; Adenoviridae/*genetics ; Animals ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; Cell Survival/genetics ; Colorectal Neoplasms/*genetics/pathology/*therapy ; Disease Models, Animal ; Female ; Gene Therapy/*methods ; Gene Transfer Techniques ; Men ; Protein p53/*genetics/*therapeutic use ; Rats ; Rats, Inbred WF ; Recombinant Proteins/therapeutic use ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Transplantation, Isogeneic ; Treatment Outcome

Background/Aims: Diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D)-like symptoms frequently occur in patients with quiescent Crohn’s disease (CD). To investigate the factors underlying IBS-D-like symptoms in patients with quiescent CD, we performed a comprehensive analysis of the clinical features and intestinal environment in those patients. Methods: We performed a prospective observational study of 27 patients with quiescent CD (CD activity index [CDAI] ≤ 150; C-reactive protein ≤ 0.3 mg/dL). The presence and severity of IBS-D-like symptoms, health-related quality of life, disease-specific quality of life, andstatus of depression and anxiety were evaluated. The level of intestinal permeability, fecal calprotectin and organic acids and the profiles of gut microbiome were analyzed. Results: Twelve of the 27 patients with quiescent CD (44.4%) had IBS-like symptoms, and these patients showed a significantly higher CDAI, IBS severity index and anxiety score than those without. The inflammatory bowel disease questionnaire score was significantly lower in the patients with IBS-D-like symptoms. There were no significant differences in small intestinal/colonic permeability or the levels of organic acids between the patients with and without IBS-D-like symptoms. Fusicatenibacter was significantly less abundant in the patients with IBS-D-like symptoms whereas their fecal calprotectin level was significantly higher (384.8 ± 310.6 mg/kg) than in patients without (161.0 ± 251.0 mg/kg). The receiver operating characteristic curve constructed to predict IBS-D-like symptoms in patients with quiescent CD using the fecal calprotectin level (cutoff, 125 mg/kg) showed a sensitivity and specificity of 73.3% and 91.7%, respectively. Conclusion Minimal inflammation is closely associated with the development of IBS-D-like symptoms in patients with quiescent CD.

Objective: In the instructions for package inserts (PI) of prescription drugs revised in June 2017, the section “persons with reproductive potential” was established under “precautions concerning patients with specific backgrounds.” The description rules associated with contraceptive duration were modified in these. In this study, we investigated descriptions of contraceptive duration in PI that were prepared based on the revised instructions, interview forms (IF), and other proper use materials (PM).Methods: We collected PI, IF, and PM of prescription drugs containing a new active ingredient approved from April 2017 to March 2022 for which the PI were prepared based on the revised instructions and investigated descriptions of PI, contraceptive duration, and its evidence in each information material.Results: Of the 181 drugs studied, 43.1 and 12.7% required females and males to use contraception during the period of drug consumption, respectively. Among these, the ratio of drugs that had descriptions of contraceptive duration were 15.4 and 0% for females and males at PI, respectively; 51.3 and 39.1% for female sand males at IF, respectively. Anticancer drugstended to describe contraceptive duration in the PM rather than PI or IF. For some drugs, there was no description of contraceptive duration in any of the materials. Contraceptive durations ranged from the period of administration of that drug to over a year for females and approximately one week to six months for males. The reasons for these contraceptive durations were diverse.Conclusion: Contraceptive information in the PI based on revised instructions were not sufficient for use by healthcare workers, even when the IF and PM were confirmed. These results suggest that there is a need for standardizing the descriptions, types of materials to be described, and choice of evidence for contraceptive duration.

Background/Aims: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) was recently proposed as an alternative disease concept to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We aimed to investigate the prognosis of patients with biopsy-confirmed MASLD using data from a multicenter study. Methods: This was a sub-analysis of the Clinical Outcome Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (CLIONE) study that included 1,398 patients with NAFLD. Liver biopsy specimens were pathologically diagnosed and histologically scored using the NASH Clinical Research Network system, the FLIP algorithm, and the SAF score. Patients who met at least one cardiometabolic criterion were diagnosed with MASLD. Results: Approximately 99% of cases (n=1,381) were classified as MASLD. Patients with no cardiometabolic risk (n=17) had a significantly lower BMI than patients with MASLD (20.9 kg/m2 vs. 28.0 kg/m2, P<0.001), in addition to significantly lower levels of inflammation, ballooning, NAFLD activity score, and fibrosis stage based on liver histology. These 17 patients had a median follow-up of 5.9 years, equivalent to 115 person-years, with no deaths, liver-related events, cardiovascular events, or extrahepatic cancers. The results showed that the prognosis for pure MASLD was similar to that for the original CLIONE cohort, with 47 deaths and one patient who underwent orthotopic liver transplantation. The leading cause of death was extrahepatic cancer (n=10), while the leading causes of liver-related death were liver failure (n=9), hepatocellular carcinoma (n=8), and cholangiocarcinoma (n=4). Conclusions Approximately 99% of NAFLD cases were considered MASLD based on the 2023 liver disease nomenclature. The NAFLD-only group, which is not encompassed by MASLD, had a relatively mild histopathologic severity and a favorable prognosis. Consequently, the prognosis of MASLD is similar to that previously reported for NAFLD.