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Restenosis after carotid artery stenting (CAS) is a critical issue. Cilostazol can reduce restenosis after interventions in coronary or femoropopliteal arteries. We investigated whether periprocedural cilostazol treatment was related to the incidence of in-stent restenosis (ISR) or target vessel revascularization (TVR) after CAS. The study group comprised 553 of 580 patients who underwent CAS between April 2003 and August 2006 and were followed for 30 months after the procedure. ISR was defined as stenosis of at least 50% detected on angiography or ultrasonography. TVR was defined as revascularization of the treated carotid artery. During CAS, 207 patients (37.4%) were treated with cilostazol. Over 30 months, ISR occurred in 23 patients (4.2%), TVR occurred in 16 patients (2.9%), and either ISR or TVR occurred in 25 patients (4.5%). The incidence of ISR or TVR was significantly lower in the cilostazol-treated group than in the untreated group (1.4% vs 6.4%; log-rank P = .006). In a multivariate analysis, cilostazol treatment (hazard ratio [HR], 0.28; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.08-0.95; P = .041) and stent diameter (HR, 0.73/1-mm increase; 95% CI, 0.54-0.99; P = .044) were independent factors for the occurrence of ISR or TVR. The incidence of a composite of events, including thromboembolism, hemorrhage, death, and TVR, tended to be lower in the cilostazol-treated group than in the untreated group (15.0% vs 19.9%; log-rank P = .17). Periprocedural cilostazol treatment was associated with lower rates of ISR and retreatment after CAS. A prospective randomized controlled trial is needed to clarify the effect of cilostazol on ISR after CAS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the detection of Kernohan's notch in a patient with acute subdural hematoma using magnetic resonance imaging. Implications of temporal lobe herniation for midbrain compression; Case history; Characteristics of Kernohan's notch.

Background: This study aimed to elucidate the safety and efficacy of mechanical thrombectomy using the Versi Retriever in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS)., Methods: This was a prospective, multicenter, single-arm study conducted at 10 institutes in Japan from December 2018 to March 2021 on mechanical thrombectomy using the Versi Retriever in patients with AIS. The primary efficacy outcome was the modified Rankin scale (mRS) 0-2 at 90 days after the procedure. The primary safety outcome was mortality within 90 days after the procedure., Results: Fifty-eight patients with a mean age of 72.7 years were enrolled in the study. The primary efficacy outcome of mRS 0-2 at 90 days was 62.0% (95% CI 47.2-75.3%) in patients within 8 hours of stroke onset. The rate of immediate reperfusion of Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction (TICI) grade 2b-3 using the Versi Retriever in three passes was 78.0% (64.0-88.5%). The rate of final reperfusion of TICI 2b-3 was 100% (92.9-100%). The primary safety outcome of mortality within 90 days was 8.0% (2.2-19.2%) in patients within 8 hours of AIS onset. The incidence of intracranial hemorrhage within 24 hours was 12.0% (4.5-24.3%) for symptomatic cases and 32.0% (19.5-46.7%) for asymptomatic cases., Conclusion: The Versi Retriever proved to be a safe and effective option for mechanical thrombectomy in patients with AIS., Competing Interests: Competing interests: HI reports lecturer’s fees from Medtronic, Daiichi Sankyo, Terumo, Johnson & Johnson, Stryker, and Asahi Intec. TS reports a research grant from Canon Medical Systems, a lecturer’s fee from Medtronic, and a consulting fee from Kaneka Medix, outside of the submitted work. HiY reports research grants from Bristol-Myers Squibb and lecturer’s fees from Stryker, Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, and Medico’s Hirata. SY reports research grants from Medico’s Hirata, Medtronic, and Terumo and lecturer fees from Medtronic, Kaneka Medix, Stryker, Daiichi Sankyo, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, and Johnson & Johnson. AI reports lecturer’s fees from Medtronic, Stryker, Terumo, Kaneka Medix, Johnson & Johnson, Asahi-Intec, Abbot Vascular, Medicos Hirata, and Daiichi-Sankyo; a research grant from Fuji Film; and consulting fees from Medtronic and Terumo. TF reports lecturer’s fees from Medtronic and Stryker. YM reports royalties from Sumitomo Bakelite and lecturer’s fees from Kaneka Medix, Medico’s Hirata, Nipro, Fuji Systems, GE Healthcare, Otsuka, Takeda, Century Medical, Terumo, Medtronic, and Stryker. TT reports lecturer’s fees from Terumo and Kaneka Medix. SK reports lecturer’s fees from Medtronic, Stryker, Terumo, Johnson & Johnson, and Kaneka Medix. YM reports lecturer’s fees from Medtronic, Stryker, Terumo, Johnson & Johnson, Kaneka Medix, and Jimro. NK reports lecturer’s fees from Medtronic and Kaneka Medix. TH reports lecturer’s fees from Dai-ichi Sankyo, Bayer, and Pfizer. YI reports lecturer’s fees from Medtronic Japan and Century Medical. KI reports research grants from Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Japan and Softbank Corp. NS reports research grants from Japan Lifeline, Kaneka Medix, Medtronic, Terumo, and TG Medical; lecturer’s fees from Asahi-Intec, Kaneka, Medtronic, Stryker, and Terumo; and membership on the advisory boards for Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, and Terumo. Remaining authors (NO, NH, YN, HaY, and CS): no competing interests declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

The lack of a widely accessible method for expressing genes of interest in wild-type embryos is a fundamental obstacle to understanding genetic regulation during embryonic development. In particular, only a few methods are available for introducing gene expression vectors into cells prior to neural tube closure, which is a period of drastic development for many tissues. In this study, we present a simple technique for injecting vectors into the amniotic cavity and allowing them to reach the ectodermal cells and the epithelia of endodermal organs of mouse embryos at E8.0 via in utero injection, using only a widely used optical fiber with an illuminator. Using this technique, retroviruses can be introduced to facilitate the labeling of cells in various tissues, including the brain, spinal cord, epidermis, and digestive and respiratory organs. We also demonstrated in utero electroporation of plasmid DNA into E7.0 and E8.0 embryos. Taking advantage of this method, we reveal the association between Ldb1 and the activity of the Neurog2 transcription factor in the mouse neocortex. This technique can aid in analyzing the roles of genes of interest during endo- and ectodermal development prior to neural tube closure., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

As the average life expectancy increases, neurosurgeons are likely to encounter patients aged 80 years and above with carotid stenosis; however, whether old age affects clinical post-treatment outcomes of carotid endarterectomy (CEA) or carotid artery stenting (CAS) remains inconclusive. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the outcomes following CEA or CAS in patients aged 80 years and above. This study included older over 80 years (n = 34) and younger patients (<80 years; n = 222) who underwent CEA or CAS between 2012 and 2022. All of them were followed up for a mean of 55 months. All-cause mortality, the incidence of vascular events, ability to perform daily activities, and nursing home admission rates were assessed. During follow-up periods, 34 patients (13.3%) died due to coronary artery disease, malignancy, and pneumonia, and the incidence was significantly higher in the elderly group than in the younger group (P = 0.03; HR, 3.01; 95% CI, 1.53-5.56). The incidence of vascular events did not differ between the older group (29.5%) and the younger group (26.9%, P = 0.58); however, the incidence was significantly higher in patients with high-intensity plaques than in those without that (P = 0.008; HR, 2.83, 95%CI, 1.27-4.87). The decline in the ability to perform daily activities and increased nursing home admission rates were high in elderly patients (P < 0.01). Although the mortality rate was higher in the elderly group, subsequent vascular events were comparable to that in the younger group. The results suggest that CEA and CAS are safe and useful treatments for carotid stenosis in older patients, especially to prevent ipsilateral ischemic stroke.

Identification of factors that regulate chromatin condensation is important for understanding of gene regulation. High-mobility group AT-hook (HMGA) proteins 1 and 2 are abundant nonhistone chromatin proteins that play a role in many biological processes including tissue stem-progenitor cell regulation, but the nature of their protein function remains unclear. Here we show that HMGA2 mediates direct condensation of polynucleosomes and forms droplets with nucleosomes. Consistently, most endogenous HMGA2 localized to transposase 5- and DNase I-inaccessible chromatin regions, and its binding was mostly associated with gene repression, in mouse embryonic neocortical cells. The AT-hook 1 domain was necessary for chromatin condensation by HMGA2 in vitro and in cellulo, and an HMGA2 mutant lacking this domain was defective in the ability to maintain neuronal progenitors in vivo. Intrinsically disordered regions of other proteins could substitute for the AT-hook 1 domain in promoting this biological function of HMGA2. Taken together, HMGA2 may regulate neural cell fate by its chromatin condensation activity., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)

The present study employed artificial intelligence (AI) machine learning technology to evaluate the prognosis of gastric cancer using blood collection data, commonly used in clinical practice and subsequently performed a stratification distinct from conventional tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) classification. Experiments were conducted using four machine learning methods, namely, logistic regression (LR), random forest (RF), gradient boosting (GB) and deep neural network (DNN), to classify good or poor post-5-year prognosis based on clinicopathological data and post-5-year relapse occurrence. For each machine learning method, the importance was sorted in descending order (from the most to the least); the top features were used for clustering using the k-medoids method. The prediction accuracy and area under the curve (AUC) for 5-year survival were as follows: LR, 76.8% and 0.702; RF, 72.5% and 0.721; GB, 75.3% and 0.73; DNN, 76.9% and 0.682, respectively. The prediction accuracy and AUC for 5-year recurrence-free survival were as follows: LR, 85.5% and 0.692; RF, 79.0% and 0.721; GB, 80.5% and 0.718; DNN, 83.2% and 0.670. Clustering patients into three groups resulted in a stratification distinct from the TNM classification. In conclusion, AI machine learning using routine clinical data can help evaluate the prognosis of gastric cancer, with prognosis differing according to AI-identified clusters., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (Copyright: © Kuwayama et al.)

Esophageal gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are very rare, accounting for 2-5% of all GISTs. As with other GISTs, the principle of surgical treatment is complete resection with negative margins. In addition to biological grades of GISTs itselves, local recurrence due to capsular damage is a known risk. We describe two cases of massive esophageal GISTs that were successfully resected thoracoscopically after 2 months administration of 400 mg imatinib, with some discussion of the literature. Case 1, the patient was a 51-years-old man. After treated with 400 mg of imatinib as preoperative chemotherapy for 2 months, we performed surgery that included right thoracoscopic subtotal esophagectomy, gastric tube reconstruction, and jejunostomy. The resection specimen and histopathology were esophageal GIST-LtMtAeG, 110 × 95 mm. The postoperative course was uneventful, and was discharged on postoperative day 14. The patient has been recurrence free for 11 months postoperatively. Case 2, the patient was a 70-years-old man. After treated with 400 mg of imatinib as preoperative chemotherapy for 2 months, we performed surgery that included right thoracoscopic subtotal esophagectomy, gastric tube reconstruction, and jejunostomy. The resection specimen and histopathology were esophageal GIST-LtAeG, 90 × 52 mm. The postoperative course was uneventful, and was discharged on postoperative day 14. The patient has been recurrence free for 9 months postoperatively., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Objective: Patients with World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS) grade V subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) frequently have poor outcomes. The current understanding of the predictors of functional outcome only in WFNS grade V SAH is limited., Methods: Patients with WFNS grade V SAH were retrospectively analyzed between April 2008 and August 2019. Surgical treatment is commonly delayed until clinical improvement is observed using a less aggressive approach. Clinical and radiologic data on admission were assessed, and disease-related characteristics were compared between patients with favorable outcomes (modified Rankin Scale score 0-3) and those with unfavorable outcomes (modified Rankin Scale score 4-6)., Results: A total of 144 patients were included, and 22 patients (15.3%) achieved favorable outcomes, whereas 122 patients (84.7%) had unfavorable outcomes. Surgical aneurysm repair was performed in all patients with favorable outcomes and in 21.3% of those with unfavorable outcomes. Multivariate analysis showed that Glasgow Coma Scale score of 3, high-grade Early Brain Edema Score, absence of bilaterally light reflex and neurologic improvement, and hypertension were significantly associated with unfavorable outcomes (odds ratio [OR], 9.54, P = 0.03; OR, 5.37, P = 0.04; OR, 11.80, P = 0.009; OR, 0.14, P = 0.02 and OR, 6.53, P = 0.04, respectively)., Conclusions: The final outcome of patients with WFNS grade V SAH was still poor and highly predicted by Glasgow Coma Scale score of 3, high-grade Early Brain Edema Score, absence of bilaterally light reflex and neurologic improvement, and a history of hypertension. The efficacy of aggressive surgical treatment for these patients remains controversial, and the indications should be clearly defined in patients with desolate clinical status on admission., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)