Examination of the proportion and characteristics of cognitive function changes during hospitalization in patients with cardiovascular diseases.

OBJECTIVE: Cognitive function decline is influenced by cardiovascular diseases and associated risk factors. However, changes in the cognitive function of patients with cardiovascular diseases during hospitalization and the factors influencing these changes remain unclear. This study elucidated the proportion and characteristics of changes in cognitive function during hospitalization in patients with cardiovascular diseases. METHODS: We conducted cognitive function assessments at admission and discharge for patients with cardiovascular diseases. Using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Japanese version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-J), we categorized the patients into cognitive impairment, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and non-cognitive impairment. Changes in MMSE or MoCA-J scores of ≥2 points at discharge were classified as improvement or decline, and all others as maintenance. RESULTS: The cognitive impairment, MCI, and non-cognitive impairment categories comprised 215 (41.3%), 224 (40.2%), and 103 (18.5%) patients, respectively. The results of the cognitive function assessment at the time of discharge classified 90 patients (35.9%) into the maintenance group, 117 (46.6%) into the improvement group, and 44 (17.5%) into the decline group based on changes during hospitalization. There was a statistically significant difference among the three groups only in cognitive function at admission (P = 0.026). In multivariate analysis, those with MCI or cognitive impairment at admission and younger patients were associated with improved cognitive function during hospitalization. No factors were extracted that showed statistically significant associations with cognitive decline. CONCLUSION: Approximately half of the patients with cardiovascular disease experienced improvements in cognitive function during hospitalization, while approximately 20% showed a decline in cognitive function during the same period. These findings demonstrate the importance of assessing cognitive changes in hospitalized patients with cardiovascular disease. Future studies are needed to identify factors associated with changes in cognitive function.

Influence of multidisciplinary team care with abundant nurse staffing on patient-reported outcomes among patients with inflammatory bowel disease in clinical remission.

BACKGROUND: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) experience difficulties in daily life and demanding self-care needs. The goal of our support for patients is to ease their difficulties and improve their belief in their capacity to self-manage their disease (self-efficacy), by increasing their ability for self-care. The nurse's contribution is vital in empowering patients and supporting them to better manage their disease. There is evidence that higher nurse staffing levels are associated with better patient outcomes in acute care settings, but little is known about the outpatient setting. The objective of this study was to explore the impact of multidisciplinary team care with abundant nurse staffing levels on patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) among patients with IBD, encompassing Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), in clinical remission. METHODS: Patients with IBD in clinical remission were included because disease activity influences the patient's subjective evaluation. A total of 499 valid responses from two different sources were analyzed: 318 from a specialized IBD clinic with abundant nurse staffing and a multidisciplinary care team (UC: 83, CD: 235) and 181 from an online survey panel (UC: 109, CD: 72). The IBD Self-Efficacy Scale (IBD-SES) and the difficulty of life scale (DLS) were used as disease-specific PROMs. RESULTS: In two multiple regression models adjusted by background characteristics (age, sex, diagnosis [UC/CD], employment status, use of biologics, and disease duration) using the IBD-SES or DLS as a dependent variable, the responses from clinic patients showed a more favorable score (higher self-efficacy or lower difficulty) than the online responses. CONCLUSIONS: Multidisciplinary team care with abundant nurse staffing may improve self-efficacy and ease difficulties of life among patients with IBD in clinical remission. These results could help bring attention to nurse staffing in an outpatient setting, which has previously been overlooked, and be the first to provide evidence of its importance in encouraging enhanced staffing levels.

Development and validation of a 13-item short version of the inflammatory bowel disease self-efficacy scale.

BACKGROUND: The inflammatory bowel disease self-efficacy scale (IBD-SES) is an instrument used across many countries to measure important health outcomes of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We aimed to develop and validate a substantially shorter version of this scale to reduce patients' response burden. METHODS: A total of 919 patients with IBD, 482 recruited from an IBD clinic and 437 recruited online, completed the Japanese version of the original, 29-item IBD-SES. These data were then used to develop a shorter version of the scale. The original 29 items of the IBD-SES were reduced with three analytic steps: assessing ceiling and floor effect, testing correlation between items, and assessing test-retest reliability. The resulting 13-item IBD-SES was evaluated for construct validity by confirmatory factor analysis, criterion validity by Pearson correlation coefficients with original version, and internal consistency by item-total correlations and the Cronbach's α coefficient. RESULTS: The short version consisted of the same four subscales "managing stress and emotions," "managing medical care," "managing symptoms and disease," and "maintaining remission" as the original scale. The fit indices of the final model were as follows: normed chi-square, 7.18 (p < 0.001); comparative fit index, 0.94; goodness-of-fit index, 0.93; adjusted goodness-of-fit index, 0.89; parsimony goodness-of-fit index, 0.60; and root mean square error of approximation, 0.084. Correlation of each subscale with the original scale was high (0.97-0.98). Cronbach's α for each subscale ranged from 0.68 to 0.86. CONCLUSIONS: A short version of the IBD-SES was developed. The results confirmed the improved validity, reliability, and psychometric properties of the IBD-SES. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Not applicable.

Development and Validation of a Japanese Version of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Self-efficacy Scale and Cross-culture Study in Japan and the United States.

BACKGROUND: Self-efficacy is an important health outcome for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We aimed to develop a Japanese version of the IBD-Self-Efficacy Scale (IBD-SES.J) and compare characteristics of self-efficacy of IBD patients with previously reported results from patients in the United States. METHODS: We conducted a questionnaire survey of patients with IBD from a specialized IBD clinic and respondents recruited online. Self-efficacy of patients in Japan and the United States were compared by Student t test and Cohen d coefficient to gauge effect size. RESULTS: A total of 919 valid responses were obtained: 482 patients from the specialized IBD clinic and 437 patients from the online survey. Significant differences (P < .01) were observed in the following 3 subscales: "managing stress and emotions," "managing symptoms and disease," and "maintaining remission" when comparing remission and active periods; and known-group validity was mostly confirmed. Cronbach's alpha coefficients of each subscale ranged between 0.85 and 0.94. Intraclass correlation coefficients (95% confidence intervals [CIs]) to assess test-retest reliability of each item were between 0.56 (95% CI, 0.47-0.64) and 0.78 (95% CI, 0.73-0.82). Self-efficacy scores for most items in Japanese patients with IBD were lower compared with patients in the United States, with moderate effect size (Cohen d > 0.5), especially in the subscale "managing stress and emotions." CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrates the reliability and validity of the IBD-SESJ. Self-efficacy scores for most items in Japanese patients were lower than those of patients in the United States. Further investigation is required to understand cross-cultural score differences.

A self-efficacy scale adapted for Japanese patients with inflammatory bowel disease was found to be reliable and valid. Low self-efficacy, especially in "managing stress and emotion" domain, was observed more in Japanese patients than patients in the United States.

Audiovisual telesupport system for cardiovascular catheter interventions: A preliminary report on the clinical implications.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to validate the clinical implications of audiovisual telesupport system use. BACKGROUND: An audiovisual telesupport system with supervisors has been effective in guiding procedures when surgeons have limited experience with the technique. However, cardiovascular catheter interventions using an audiovisual telesupport system has not been previously reported. METHODS: Starting in September 2017, two cardiologists in Kamisu Saiseikai Hospital (Kamisu, Japan, with limited cardiologists) began performing cardiovascular catheter interventions using an audiovisual telesupport system. This system enabled them to perform catheter interventions with the support of advisors in the University of Tsukuba (Tsukuba, Japan). We retrospectively assessed procedure time and complications of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and catheter ablation (CA). RESULTS: In the first 10 months, 21 patients with coronary artery disease underwent PCI using this system. The mean procedure duration of PCI was 42 ± 10 min. Nine patients with tachyarrhythmia including supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), ventricular premature contraction (VPC), common atrial flutter, and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) underwent CA using this system. The mean CA procedure time was 134 ± 31 min for SVT, 100 ± 14 min for VPC, and 200 min for AF. All PCI and CA procedures were successfully performed without any complications. CONCLUSIONS: The audiovisual telesupport system enabled cardiologists with limited human resources to provide safe and high-quality catheter interventions.

Effects of a cyborg-type robot suit HAL on cardiopulmonary burden during exercise in normal subjects.

BACKGROUND: The hybrid assistive limb (HAL) is the world's first cyborg-type robot suit that provides motion assistance to physically challenged patients. HAL is expected to expand the possibilities of exercise therapy for severe cardiac patients who have difficulty in moving on their own legs. As a first step, we examined whether or not the motion assistance provided by HAL during exercise could effectively reduce the cardiopulmonary burden in healthy subjects. METHODS: A total of ten healthy male adults (35 ± 12 years) underwent cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPX) on a cycle ergometer with or without assistance from HAL. The CPX protocol consisted of four 3-min stages performed in a continuous sequence: rest, 0 W, 40 W, and 80 W. The heart rate (HR), blood pressure, oxygen uptake (VO2), minute ventilation (VE), and gas exchange ratio (R) were monitored during the CPX. RESULTS: At 0 W, the HR, VO2, and VE were significantly higher when HAL was used. At 80 W, however, the HR (107 ± 14 vs 114 ± 14 beats/min, p < 0.01), systolic blood pressure (141 ± 15 vs 155 ± 20 mmHg, p < 0.01), VO2 (17.6 ± 2.4 vs 19.0 ± 2.5 mL/min/kg, p < 0.05), and R (0.88 ± 0.04 vs 0.95 ± 0.09, p < 0.05) were significantly lower when HAL was used. CONCLUSIONS: HAL has the potential to reduce cardiopulmonary burden during moderate-intensity exercise and can, therefore, be used as a support for exercise therapy. Further studies on cardiac patients are expected to contribute to the establishment of a new exercise therapy program using HAL.

Ocular findings in Japanese children with Down syndrome: the course of visual acuity and refraction, and systemic and ocular anomalies.

PURPOSE: To investigate the age-related development of refractive errors and changes of visual acuity (VA), and the systemic and ocular anomalies in Japanese children and young adults with Down syndrome (DS). DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This study involved 222 Japanese children and young adults with DS (age range: 3 months to 19 years) seen at the Department of Ophthalmology, Shiga Medical Center for Children, Shiga, Japan. The subjects were divided into the following six age groups: 1) infant (age 0 to <4 years), 2) preschool (age 4 to <7 years), 3) lower primary-school grades (age 7 to <10 years), 4) upper primary-school grades (age 10 to <13 years), 5) junior high school (age 13 to <16 years), and 6) late teen/young adults (age 16 to <20 years). Through examination of the subjects' medical charts, we investigated the development and changes of refractive errors and VA, best-corrected VA (BCVA), and systemic and ocular anomalies. RESULTS: For vision testing, Teller Acuity Cards™ (Bernell Corporation) were used for the infants, and the Landolt ring was used for the school-age children. VA was found to develop with age. Mean BCVA was 0.19±0.17 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (mean age: 11.3±3.2 years). Mean of refractive errors was hyperopia in the infant (2.2±2.4 diopters [D] OD, 2.4±2.5D OS), yet became myopia to the junior high school (-0.3±4.4D OD, -0.2±4.4D OS). CONCLUSION: Our findings revealed that in children and in late-teen and young-adult subjects with DS, VA slowly develops and that refractive errors requiring correction exist and are difficult to examine.

A Case of Hydranencephaly in Which Ophthalmic Examinations Were Performed.

PURPOSE: We performed ophthalmic examinations, including optical coherence tomography (OCT), on a case diagnosed with hydranencephaly. CASE REPORT: This case involved a female infant born at the gestational age of 35 weeks and 4 days, with the birth weight of 2,152 g, who was one of monochorionic diamniotic twins, and the identical twin died in utero at the gestational age of 24 weeks. After that, examination by fetal echo indicated that she had microcephaly and ventriculomegaly. Postnatal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of her head indicated microcephaly and significant enlargement of the lateral ventricle on both sides, with no obvious signs of elevated intracranial pressure. The brain parenchyma of both sides of the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, and occipital lobe had marked thinning, yet that of the temporal lobe, basal ganglia, thalamus, brain stem, and cerebellum had been maintained. Moreover, no obvious hematoma or neoplastic lesions were observed. Ophthalmic examinations indicated that both of her eyes had slight light reflex, attributed to optic nerve atrophy. Examination by use of a hand-held OCT system indicated a layered structure of the retina and thinning of the ganglion cell layer. Flicker electroretinogram (ERG) examination by use of a hand-held ERG system indicated an almost normal wave. However, no clear visual reaction was observed when she was 10 months old. CONCLUSION: Our findings in this case of hydranencephaly revealed that even though the outer layer functions of the patient's retina were maintained, extensive damage to her cerebral cortex resulted in poor visual function.

Evaluation of transcriptional activity of p53 in individual living mammalian cells.

To estimate the transcriptional activity of p53 in individual living mammalian cells, we constructed the enhanced green fluorescent protein-red fluorescent protein (EGFP-DsRed) reporter system with the EGFP-p53 expression vector and the reporter plasmid, which carried a p53-dependent promoter. The expression level and transcriptional activity of EGFP-p53 were determined simultaneously by green and red fluorescence signals, respectively. In this system, we could target only the cells expressing p53 at endogenous levels, as observed in UV- or adriamycin-stimulated A549 cells. Using this system, we investigated the transcriptional activity of mutant p53s in tetramerization domain. Transcriptional activities were nearly abolished by seven mutations and significantly reduced in several mutant p53s. However, under overexpression conditions, the latter mutant p53s showed activity similar to that observed in wild-type p53. These results indicated the importance of physiological concentration for p53 proteins in cells so as to analyze their activities. Fluorescence intensity distribution analysis indicated that the mutant p53s lacking transcriptional activity presented as monomer forms in the cellular extract. In most of the mutant p53s, the decrease in transcriptional activity correlated with an increase in the fraction of monomers. This reporter system can be used for estimating the transcriptional activity of mutant p53s without contribution of the cells overexpressing p53.

'Tako-Tsubo cardiomyopathy' associated with syndrome malin: reversible left ventricular dysfunction.

A 66-year-old man developed a fever and had a syncopal attack during treatment with imipramine and amantadine for depression and Parkinson's disease. His muscular enzyme levels were very high, so he was diagnosed with incomplete syndrome malin and given hydration therapy. The electrocardiogram recorded an ST segment elevation like acute myocardial infarction in most leads, and the echocardiogram revealed left ventricular dysfunction with severe hypokinesis to dyskinesis of the anterior and apical wall regions, and hyperkinesis of the basal wall. One month from onset, the left ventricular contractility had not changed despite normal coronary arteries. Thallium-201((201)Tl) myocardial scintigraphy showed a perfusion defect and there was no accumulation of iodine-123((123)I) metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) in the entire apex of the heart. Left ventricular function returned to normal and repeat (201)Tl scintigraphy showed recovery by the 4th month. However, there was still an absence of cardiac MIBG uptake. There are a number of reports from Japan of a syndrome demonstrating such reversible left ventricular dysfunction, called 'tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy', but the present case is the first to be associated with syndrome malin. A coronary microvascular abnormality and cardiac sympathetic denervation probably both play an important role in tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy.