Quick Chat: HE XUMEI Murao, Ayako
International gymnast (1986),
07/2008, Volume:
50, Issue:
6
Magazine Article
Now known as Setsubai Takaseki, the 32-year-old balanced her role as an assistant coach at Nippon Sport Science University with training for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Individually, she finished ...fourth on uneven bars and seventh on beam at the '93 World Championships.
Background and Aim
Proton pump inhibitors and vonoprazan (a potassium-competitive acid blocker) are recommended as first-line treatments for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). However, few ...reports have investigated the onset of action of these agents for GERD symptom relief. The present study compared the symptom relief of esomeprazole with that of vonoprazan via monitoring self-reported GERD symptoms after treatment initiation.
Methods
This was a prospective, multicenter, randomized, open-label, parallel group, comparative clinical study between esomeprazole (20 mg/day) and vonoprazan (20 mg/day) administered for 4 weeks to patients with GERD symptoms. Patients who had scores ≥ 8 on the Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease Questionnaire (GerdQ) were defined as having GERD and enrolled in this study. Sixty patients were randomly assigned to either the esomeprazole group (
n
= 30) or the vonoprazan group (
n
= 30). Treatment response rates in each drug group were evaluated according to the GerdQ. The Frequency Scale for the Symptoms of GERD (FSSG) scores from the 1st day after treatment initiation and the Global Overall Symptom (GOS) scale scores during treatment were also evaluated.
Results
At 4 weeks, the treatment response rates for symptom relief according to the GerdQ were 88.0% in the esomeprazole group and 81.8% in the vonoprazan group. The GOS scales, which reflect the impact of GERD symptoms, were similar for both groups. The FSSG scores decreased from the 1st to the 14th day in both groups.
Conclusions
There were no substantial differences in the symptom relief between the two groups at any time point in this short-term study.
HIV-negative progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) has a poor prognosis due to a lack of standard treatment. Herein, we report a patient with HIV-negative PML which occurred after the ...treatment for classical Hodgkin’s lymphoma (CHL). A 71-year-old male patient was admitted to our hospital due to various neurological symptoms, including memory disturbance, dysgraphia, ataxia, and ideomotor apraxia, at 16 months after high-dose salvage chemotherapy with autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) for primary treatment-refractory CHL. The patient’s blood and serological examination results were mainly normal, including CD4-positive T lymphocyte count and serum immunoglobulin levels. T2-weighted fluid-attenuated inversion recovery MRI showed high-intensity lesions from the left occipital lobe to the corpus callosum. Moreover, the rapid intraoperative pathological assessment of biopsy specimens obtained from abnormal brain lesions suggested brain relapse of CHL. The patient’s symptoms progressed rapidly; therefore, treatment with high-dose methotrexate was started, which significantly improved the patient’s symptoms and MRI findings within a week. However, further examinations of the biopsy specimens with in situ hybridization and immunohistochemical examinations showed reactivation of the John Cunningham virus (JCV) in the astrocytes. Further, cells initially believed to be Hodgkin cells based on the rapid intraoperative pathological assessment were found to be destructive astrocytes, thereby confirming the diagnosis of PML. The patient was then successfully treated with combined mefloquine and mirtazapine and did not have any fatal outcomes. Based on this case, a differential diagnosis of PML from CNS involvement of CHL is important even in cases without evident biomarkers for immunodeficiency. Moreover, methotrexate was likely to be effective in improving neurological symptoms by decreasing brain parenchyma inflammation in the acute phase in this particular patient.
Immunogenicity is a key factor capable of influencing the efficacy and safety of therapeutic antibodies. A recently developed method called MHC-associated peptide proteomics (MAPPs) uses liquid ...chromatography/mass spectrometry to identify the peptide sequences derived from a therapeutic protein that are presented by major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC II) on antigen-presenting cells, and therefore may induce immunogenicity. In this study, we developed a MAPPs technique (called Ab-MAPPs) that has high throughput and can efficiently identify the MHC II-presented peptides derived from therapeutic antibodies using magnetic nanoparticle beads coated with a hydrophilic polymer in the immunoprecipitation process. The magnetic beads could identify more peptides and sequence regions originating from infliximab and adalimumab in a shorter measurement time than Sepharose beads, which are commonly used for MAPPs. Several sequence regions identified by Ab-MAPPs from infliximab corresponded to immunogenic sequences reported by other methods, which suggests the method's high potential for identifying significant sequences involved in immunogenicity. Furthermore, our study suggests that the Ab-MAPPs method can recognize the difference of a single amino acid residue between similar antibody sequences with different levels of T-cell proliferation activity and can identify potentially immunogenic peptides with high binding affinity to MHC II. In conclusion, Ab-MAPPs is useful for identifying the immunogenic sequences of therapeutic antibodies and will contribute to the design of therapeutic antibodies with low immunogenicity during the drug discovery stage.
The original version of the article unfortunately contained percentage errors in second and third paragraphs of GerdQ Score section. Below is the corrected version.
The effectiveness of tsunami drills in guiding evacuation behavior remains uninvestigated. Accumulation of evidence regarding the effectiveness of tsunami drills would be beneficial for improving ...survival and health of communities to be inundated by a tsunami. A questionnaire to inquire participants' location at the onset of the Great East Japan Earthquake and experience of the tsunami was issued as part of a survey of total adult residents of Shichigahama town whose houses were significantly damaged by the disaster. Along with the location information, self-reported information on participation in tsunami disaster drills and attendance of a lecture about tsunamis before the disaster and whether the participants evacuated after the earthquake was subjected to multiple logistic regression analyses adjusted for potential confounding factors. Amongst the 2314 participants who were present in the town at the onset of the disaster and completed the questionnaires, 1560 (67%) evacuated after the earthquake. The rate of evacuation was significantly higher amongst the population who participated in tsunami disaster drills before the event than amongst those who did not participate (multivariate-adjusted odds ratio MOR = 1.99, 95% confidence interval CI = 1.53–2.61, p < 0.01). However, other experience of earthquake and tsunami disaster prevention before the event did not affect evacuation behavior (MOR = 0.86–1.16). A survey of the population who survived the catastrophe provides initial evidence to advocate the administration of tsunami drills in seaside communities to enhance the evacuation behavior immediately after the disaster onset.
•The evacuation rate was significantly higher among participants of tsunami drills.•Other experience of earthquake and tsunami disaster prevention did not affect evacuation behaviors.•The study provides initial evidence to advocate administration of tsunami drills.
Aim: Nutrition support for patients with liver cirrhosis, such as late evening snacks and branched‐chain amino acids, has been demonstrated to be effective. However, the assessment of the ...malnutrition of liver cirrhosis is still a problem. The aim of this study was to assess the nutritional status of patients with liver cirrhosis due to hepatitis C virus by six methods and to test the sensitivity and specificity of these methods.
Methods: In total, 86 patients with liver cirrhosis due to hepatitis C virus were assessed for nutritional status by triceps skinfold thickness (TSF), arm muscle circumference (AMC), subjective global assessment (SGA), nutritional risk index (NRI), Maastricht index (MI), and instant nutritional assessment (INA).
Results: Malnutrition was found in 11 (12.8%) patients by TSF, 15 (17.4%) by AMC, 22 (25.6%) by SGA, 52 (60.5%) by the NRI, 66 (76.7%) by the MI, and in 54 (62.8%) by INA. The MI detected malnutrition at a significantly higher rate compared with the other five methods. Sixty‐two patients were diagnosed as malnourished by the combined index, which defines the patients as malnourished when any two of the NRI, MI, and INA also define them as malnourished. The misclassification rate compared with the combined indexes was significantly lower in the MI (4.7%) than in any of the TSF (59.3%), AMC (59.3%), SGA (46.5%), NRI (16.3%), and INA (14.0%).
Conclusion: The MI was the best single score to identify the patients who had malnutrition, including early stage, and may benefit from nutrition support.
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