Purpose: Accelerated atherosclerosis is a major complication in patients with end-stage renal disease and it plays an important role in the pathogenesis of erectile dysfunction (ED). However, the association between aortic calcification burden and the severity of ED remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate this association in men undergoing dialysis. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study included 71 men undergoing peritoneal dialysis and/or hemodialysis between July 2016 and May 2018 at Mutsu General Hospital. ED was assessed with the Sexual Health Inventory for Men (SHIM). Patients were divided into the mild/moderate (SHIM score ≥8) and severe ED groups (SHIM score ≤7). Aortic calcification index (ACI) was examined as a clinical indicator of abdominal aortic calcification. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the significant factors associated with severe ED. Results: The median age of the study participants was 64 years; all had ED, with 64.8% having severe ED. In the multivariable analyses, a slight association was observed between ankle-brachial index and severe ED (odds ratio [OR], 0.058; p=0.072), whereas ACI was significantly associated with severe ED (OR, 1.022; p=0.022). Conclusions Aortic calcification burden was independently associated with severe ED.

Purpose: To evaluate the impact of severe erectile dysfunction (ED) on future major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in men on dialysis. Materials and Methods: This prospective cohort study included 71 men on dialysis. ED was assessed using the Sexual Health Inventory for Men (SHIM). Men were divided into the mild/moderate ED (SHIM score ≥8) and severe ED (SHIM score ≤7) groups. The primary endpoint was MACE-free survival. MACE was a composite of myocardial infarction, cardiovascular death, and stroke. The secondary endpoints were cardiac event-free survival and overall survival (OS). Moreover, the predictive abilities of severe ED for 5-year MACE, 5-year cardiac events, and 5-year overall mortality were evaluated. Results: The median age and follow-up period of the included men were 64 years and 58 months, respectively. The median SHIM score was 4.0; all had a degree of ED, and 64.7% had severe ED. In the background-adjusted multivariable analyses, severe ED was not significantly associated with shorter MACE-free survival (hazard ratio [HR], 1.890; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.533–6.706; p=0.324), cardiac event-free survival (HR, 2.081; 95% CI, 0.687–6.304; p=0.195), and OS (HR, 0.817; 95% CI, 0.358–1.863; p=0.630). Severe ED did not significantly improve the predictive abilities for 5-year MACE, 5-year cardiac events, and 5-year overall mortality (p=0.110, p=0.101, and p=0.740, respectively). Conclusions ED severity was not associated with shorter MACE-free survival, cardiac event-free survival, or OS, and ED severity could not improve the predictive abilities for these outcomes in men undergoing dialysis.

Pericardial pacing wire placement may occasionally result in intravascular or intratracheal wire migration, infective endocarditis, and sepsis; reportedly, the incidence of complications is approximately 0.09 to 0.4%. We report a case of a retained epicardial pacing wire that migrated into the pulmonary artery. A 66-year-old man underwent coronary artery bypass grafting for angina pectoris, with placement of an epicardial pacing wire on the right ventricular epicardium, 6 years prior to presentation. Some resistance was encountered during wire extraction; therefore, it was cut off at the cutaneous level on postoperative day 8. Computed tomography performed 6 years postoperatively revealed migration of the pacing wire into the pulmonary artery, and it was removed using catheter intervention. Surgeons should be aware of complications associated with retained pacing wires in patients in whom epicardial wires are retained after cardiac surgery.

Objective: Combination therapy with glecaprevir and pibrentasvir (G/P) has been shown to provide a sustained virologic response (SVR) rate of >97% in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in the first published real-world Japanese data. However, a recently published study showed that the treatment was often discontinued in patients ≥75 years old, resulting in low SVR in intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis. Thus, our aim was to evaluate real-world data for G/P therapy in patients ≥75 years of age, the population density of which is high in “rural” regions.Patients and Methods: We conducted a multicenter study to assess the efficacy and safety of G/P therapy for chronic HCV infection, in the North Kanto area in Japan.Results: Of the 308 patients enrolled, 294 (95.5%) completed the treatment according to the protocol. In ITT and per-protocol analyses, the overall SVR12 rate was 97.1% and 99.7%, respectively. The old-aged patients group consisted of 59 participants, 56 of whom (94.9%) completed the scheduled protocol. Although old-aged patients tended to have non-SVR factors such as liver cirrhosis, history of HCC, and prior DAA therapies, the SVR12 rates in old-aged patients were 98.3% and 100% in the ITT and PP analyses, respectively. Of 308 patients enrolled, adverse events were observed in 74 patients (24.0%), with grade ≥3 events in 8 patients (2.6%). There was no significant difference in any grade and grade ≥3 adverse events between the old-aged group and the rest of the study participants. Only one patient discontinued the treatment because of adverse events.Conclusion: G/P therapy is effective and safe for old-aged patients.

To explore the efficacy and safety of switching from once-daily basal insulin therapy to once-daily pre-meal injection insulin degludec/insulin aspart (IDegAsp) with respect to the glycemic control of participants with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Objective: The development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is not uncommon in patients who achieve eradication of the hepatitis C virus through direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment. The aim of this study was to identify the patients at high risk for novel HCC development after a sustained virologic response (SVR) by DAA treatment.Patients and Methods: A total of 518 patients with no history of HCC treatment and who achieved SVR by DAA treatment were evaluated retrospectively. The correlations between HCC development and the patients’ characteristics were evaluated. For patients who underwent gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or dynamic contrast-enhanced computed tomography, the relationship between the imaging findings and subsequent HCC development was also assessed.Results: HCC developed newly in 22 patients, and the 1-year and 3-year cumulative HCC rates were 2.0% and 8.5%, respectively. In multivariate analysis, a FIB-4 index >4.0 and a post-treatment α-fetoprotein >4.0 ng/ml were significant risk factors for HCC. In 26 of 118 patients who underwent an MRI before DAA treatment, a non-hypervascular hypo-intense nodule was seen in the hepatobiliary phase, and in 6 of 182 patients who underwent a CT, a non-hypervascular hypo-enhanced nodule was seen in the delayed phase. The sensitivity and specificity of the MRI-positive findings for the subsequent development of HCC were 0.92 and 0.87, respectively, and those of the CT were 0.40 and 0.99, respectively. In multivariate analysis of patients who underwent an MRI, a non-hypervascular hypo-intense nodule was the only factor that was significantly related to HCC development (HR 32.4, p = 0.001).Conclusion: Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI was found to be reliable for risk evaluation of subsequent HCC development in patients after SVR by DAA treatment. Patients with a non-hypervascular hypo-intense nodule need more careful observation for incident HCC.

Objective: It has been recognized that most medical institutions preferred the printed medium for their information sheets for patient education of inhaler usage. However, some questions have arisen. In a case where patients are not sufficiently informed of drug administration guidance due to limited information with only pictures and text, they might not be able to obtain a proper understanding. Contrarily, it is assumed that video medium, with audio and visual elements, is a format for education conveying a larger amount of information. We conducted comparative research regarding patient’s degree of understanding of inhalation guidance, comparing two groups of print- and video-medium-based instructions for inhaler usage and examined how effective two types of media explanations were on patients.Methods: Research participants were thirty persons visiting Jinjo Pharmacy, who were randomly assigned to the print medium group and the video medium group. After one group read and saw an explanation sheet of an inhaler where the maker wrote inhalation instructions and the other group watched an instruction video, the two groups practiced inhaler usage. Evaluation was performed with specified items and comprehensive assessment, and in addition, the time required for inhalation was measured.Results: Score of the evaluation score was statistically significantly higher in the video medium group than in the print medium group in score of specified items and score of comprehensive assessment, and was also significantly shorter in the operation time of the inhaler.Conclusion: This study clarified that the video medium group had fewer improper inhalation occurrences and shorter operation time and, therefore, showed the effectiveness of the video medium. It is recommended that the video medium should be actively utilized,which could improve patient medication adherence. Accessibility is required for patient education to achieve inhaler techniques by watching video-based instruction.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: We applied a back light system (BLS) with a magnifying glass to improve the ability to assess the adequacy of specimen sampling using endosonography. We conducted this study to evaluate the efficacy of the BLS in sampling of specimens by endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration of solid pancreatic masses. METHODS: This was a prospective, randomized, crossover, single-center clinical trial. An endosonographer evaluated adequacy on gross visual inspection and identified whitish specimen sampling sites with and without the BLS according to a randomization sequence in the first and second passes with a 25-G needle. On cytological evaluation, the presence of well-defined pancreatic ductal epithelium was evaluated by a cytopathologist who was blinded to any clinical information. RESULTS: A total of 80 consecutive patients were eligible during the study period. Adequacy was observed for 52 specimens (65%) with the BLS and 54 (68%) without the BLS (p=0.88). In assessment of specimen adequacy on gross examination, only fair agreement was observed both with and without BLS (kappa score 0.40 and 0.29, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The BLS did not influence the ability to identify specimen sampling sites or reliable assessment of specimen site adequacy using gross visual inspection.
Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Cross-Over Studies ; Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Fine Needle Aspiration ; Endosonography ; Epithelium ; Glass ; Humans ; Needles ; Pancreatic Ducts ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; Prospective Studies ; Random Allocation

A 55-year-old man visited our hospital for a detailed examination of a gastric submucosal tumor that was first detected 10 years prior. The tumor continued to grow and had developed a depressed area in its center. A histopathological examination of biopsy specimens revealed gastric adenocarcinoma of the fundic gland type (GA-FG). It was diagnosed as T2 based on the invasion depth as determined by white-light endoscopy and endoscopic ultrasonography. A total gastrectomy with lymphadenectomy was performed and a GA-FG in the mucosa and submucosa was confirmed histopathologically. However, there was a gradual transition to an infiltrative tubular adenocarcinoma with poorly differentiated components in the muscular and subserosal layers. Metastasis was identified in a dissected lymph node (LN). This is the first report of a GA-FG progressing to an aggressive cancer with LN metastasis. These findings modify our understanding of the pathophysiology of GA-FG.
Adenocarcinoma* ; Biopsy ; Endoscopy ; Endosonography ; Gastrectomy ; Gastric Mucosa ; Humans ; Lymph Node Excision ; Lymph Nodes* ; Middle Aged ; Mucous Membrane ; Neoplasm Metastasis*

A 2-month-old female Holstein calf and a 5-month-old female Japanese black calf presented with gingival vascular hamartoma located in the interdental space between the second and third mandibular incisors in the right and left mandibles, respectively. On radiographic or computed tomographic images, osteolytic changes appeared within the mandibular bones adjacent to the masses. The masses were removed along with affected mandibular bone by using unilateral rostral mandibulectomy. After surgery, both cases exhibited a normal appetite and grew normally, with no cosmetic changes or recurrences. Unilateral rostral mandibulectomy can be applied for invasive gingival vascular hamartomas associated with osteolytic changes.
Animals ; Appetite ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Cattle ; Female ; Hamartoma ; Humans ; Incisor ; Infant ; Mandible ; Mandibular Osteotomy ; Radiography ; Recurrence