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Summary: Aim: This study aims to investigate the predictive factors for conversion therapy in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (uHCC) and to evaluate the prognosis of conversion cases by comparing them with partial response (PR) and complete response (CR) cases. Methods: In this retrospective multicentre study, we included a total of 946 uHCC patients treated with atezolizumab and bevacizumab (Atez/Bev) from September 2020 to September 2023. Results: Out of the patients, 43 (4.5%) received conversion therapy following Atez/Bev treatment. The overall response rate was 65.1% and 23.7% in the conversion and non‐conversion group, respectively, with a statistical significance (p < 0.001). Multivariate analyses identified that BCLC stage B or an earlier stage (p = 0.045), absence of macrovascular invasion and extrahepatic spread (p = 0.045), and a low value of neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (p = 0.04) were significantly favourable predictive factors associated with conversion therapy. The conversion group showed significantly better survival compared to the non‐conversion group (p < 0.001). In the landmark analysis at 6, 12 and 18 months, the conversion group exhibited better survival compared to PR patients in the non‐conversion group (p = 0.04, 0.01 and 0.03, respectively) and there were no significant differences in the overall survival (OS) between the conversion group and patients who achieved a CR (p = 0.7, 1.0 and 0.3, respectively). Conclusions: Patients with low tumour burden and low value of NLR were more likely to undergo conversion therapy. The OS of patients undergoing conversion therapy showed better survival compared to those achieving PR and was comparable to those with CR patients. Conversion therapy could be considered if feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: One advantage of endoscopic ultrasound‐guided hepaticogastrostomy (EUS‐HGS) is that it is difficult for reflux cholangitis, caused by duodenal pressure increasing due to duodenal obstruction, to occur. In addition, since stent deployment is performed away from the malignant stricture site, longer stent patency than with endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) may be obtained. However, no study has previously compared EUS‐HGS and ERCP for patients without duodenal obstruction or surgically altered anatomy. The aim of the present study was to compare clinical outcomes between EUS‐HGS and ERCP in normal anatomy patients without duodenal obstruction. Method: In the ERCP group, patients who initially underwent biliary drainage were included. In the EUS‐HGS group, patients who underwent EUS‐HGS due to failed biliary cannulation were included. Patients with an inaccessible papilla, such as with surgically altered anatomy or duodenal obstruction, were excluded. Results: A total of 314 patients who underwent ERCP and EUS‐HGS were enrolled in this study. Of the 314 patients, 289 underwent biliary stenting under ERCP guidance, and 25 patients underwent biliary stenting under EUS‐HGS. After propensity score‐matching analysis, the adverse event rate tended to be lower in the EUS‐HGS group than in the ERCP group. Although overall survival was not significantly different between the EUS‐HGS and ERCP groups (p =.228), stent patency was significantly longer in the EUS‐HGS group (median 366.0 days) than in the ERCP group (median 76.5 days). Conclusions: EUS‐HGS had a lower adverse event rate, shorter procedure time, and longer stent patency than ERCP in cases of normal anatomy without duodenal obstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aim: Ustekinumab, a new anti-interleukin-12/23 antibody, is an effective treatment for ulcerative colitis; however, data regarding predictive factors of its efficacy are limited. Predicting treatment efficacy in advance would be useful for selecting a therapeutic agent. This study aimed to identify biomarkers that can predict the long-term outcome of ustekinumab treatment. Materials and methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records of patients with active ulcerative colitis treated with ustekinumab at Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University Hospital from June 2020 to January 2023. We divided patients into non-remission and remission groups, and examined whether baseline biomarkers, including C-reactive protein-to-lymphocyte ratio, and early treatment response could predict clinical remission at week 48 of ustekinumab treatment. Results: Of the 33 patients included in the study, 21 (63.6%) were in clinical remission at week 48 of ustekinumab treatment. Baseline C-reactive protein-to-lymphocyte ratio values were significantly higher in the non-remission than in the remission group. The baseline C-reactive protein-to-lymphocyte ratio value was identified as an independent prognostic factor for clinical remission at week 48 (odds ratio: 10, 95% confidence interval: 1.6–62.4, p = 0.014), with the cutoff value of 3.353 showing excellent prognostic performance (sensitivity: 71.4%, specificity: 83.3%). Furthermore, the clinical response at week 4 (odds ratio: 10, confidence interval: 1.78–56.1, p = 0.009) and that at week 8 (odds ratio: 12, confidence interval: 2.16–66.5, p = 0.005) were significantly associated with clinical remission at week 48. Conclusions: The baseline C-reactive protein-to-lymphocyte ratio value and early treatment response are useful biomarkers to predict the long-term efficacy of ustekinumab treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prolonged positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results, irrespective of the transmission risk, can lead to prolonged restrictions on daily activities and infection precaution interventions. Studies evaluating the duration of PCR positivity for multiple pathogens in a single patient cohort are scarce. This study aimed to evaluate and compare the durations of PCR positivity for multiple respiratory viruses among children and adolescents. This retrospective study was conducted between April 2018 and March 2024 using a multiplex PCR respiratory panel for symptomatic children and adolescents who had at least two tests within 90 days of study period, with the first PCR test positive. The rate and likelihood of persistent PCR positivity were evaluated for multiple respiratory viruses. For 1325 positive results, repeat tests were conducted within 90 days. The persistent PCR positivity rate at repeat testing decreased over time (60.6%, Days 1–15 and 21.7%, Days 76–90, after the first test). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, an increased likelihood of persistent PCR positivity was observed for rhinovirus/enterovirus and adenovirus, whereas decreased likelihood of persistent positivity was seen in influenza and seasonal coronaviruses, compared with parainfluenza viruses. Persistent PCR positivity is common for multiple respiratory viruses in symptomatic children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Background: Atezolizumab plus bevacizumab (Atezo/Bev) is frequently selected as the primary systemic therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Aims: To investigate the outcomes of patients with HCC treated with Atezo/Bev in a real‐world setting based on whether they met the inclusion criteria for the phase 3 IMbrave150 trial. Methods: A total of 936 patients were enrolled. There were 404 patients who met the inclusion criteria of the phase 3 IMbrave150 trial (IMbrave150 group) and 532 who did not (non‐IMbrave150 group). Results: Median progression‐free survival (PFS) in the IMbrave150 and non‐IMbrave150 groups was 7.4 months and 5.6 months (p = 0.002). Multivariable analysis revealed that non‐B, non‐C HCC aetiology (hazard ratio [HR], 1.173), α‐fetoprotein ≥100 ng/mL (HR, 1.472), Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage ≥ C (HR, 1.318), and modified albumin–bilirubin (mALBI) grade 2b or 3 (HR, 1.476) are independently associated with PFS. Median overall survival (OS) in the IMbrave150 and non‐Imbrave150 groups was 26.5 and 18.8 months (p < 0.001). Multivariable analysis revealed that Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status ≥2 (HR, 1.986), α‐fetoprotein ≥100 ng/mL (HR, 1.481), and mALBI grade 2b or 3 (HR, 2.037) are independently associated with OS. In subgroup analysis, there were no significant differences in PFS or OS between these groups among patients with mALBI grade 1 or 2a. Conclusions: Patients who are treated with Atezo/Bev and meet the inclusion criteria for the phase 3 IMbrave150 trial, as well as those who do not meet the inclusion criteria but have good liver function, have a good prognosis for survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compressive sensing (CS) is recognized for its adeptness at compressing signals, making it a pivotal technology in the context of sensor data acquisition. With the proliferation of image data in Internet of Things (IoT) systems, CS is expected to reduce the transmission cost of signals captured by various sensor devices. However, the quality of CS-reconstructed signals inevitably degrades as the sampling rate decreases, which poses a challenge in terms of the inference accuracy in downstream computer vision (CV) tasks. This limitation imposes an obstacle to the real-world application of existing CS techniques, especially for reducing transmission costs in sensor-rich environments. In response to this challenge, this paper contributes a CV-oriented adaptive CS framework based on saliency detection to the field of sensing technology that enables sensor systems to intelligently prioritize and transmit the most relevant data. Unlike existing CS techniques, the proposal prioritizes the accuracy of reconstructed images for CV purposes, not only for visual quality. The primary objective of this proposal is to enhance the preservation of information critical for CV tasks while optimizing the utilization of sensor data. This work conducts experiments on various realistic scenario datasets collected by real sensor devices. Experimental results demonstrate superior performance compared to existing CS sampling techniques across the STL10, Intel, and Imagenette datasets for classification and KITTI for object detection. Compared with the baseline uniform sampling technique, the average classification accuracy shows a maximum improvement of 26.23%, 11.69%, and 18.25%, respectively, at specific sampling rates. In addition, even at very low sampling rates, the proposal is demonstrated to be robust in terms of classification and detection as compared to state-of-the-art CS techniques. This ensures essential information for CV tasks is retained, improving the efficacy of sensor-based data acquisition systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]