Objective Vonoprazan (VPZ), clarithromycin (CAM), metronidazole (MNZ) and VPZ, MNZ, and sitafloxacin (STFX) regimen are all established Helicobacter pylori eradication therapies for patients with penicillin allergy in Japan. However, no study has assessed the efficacy of a VPZ, CAM, and MNZ (VCM) regimen in patients with clarithromycin resistance (CAM-R). We therefore assessed the efficacy of a VCM regimen for treating H. pylori infection in patients with CAM-R and penicillin allergy.

Methods Fifty-three patients with penicillin allergy who received H. pylori eradication therapy were retrospectively analyzed. Eight patients received a 7-day proton-pump inhibitor, CAM, and MNZ (PCM) regimen; 35 patients [11 CAM-R, and 10 with clarithromycin sensitivity (CAM-S)] received 7-day VCM regimens; and 10 patients received 7-day VPZ, MNZ, and STFX (VMS) regimens. A ¹³C-urea breath test was used to determine eradication. The efficacy of eradication was evaluated via both intention-to-treat (ITT) and per-protocol (PP) analyses.

Results According to ITT and PP analyses, eradication rates (ERs) with PCM, VCM, and VMS therapies were 50.0% and 50.0%, 94.3% and 100%, and 90% and 90%, respectively. Treatment was successful in all patients with CAM-S. For patients with CAM-R, treatment was successful in 10 patients, and 1 patient discontinued treatment owing to an adverse event. According to ITT and PP analyses, ERs were 90.9% and 100% in CAM-R, and were 100% and 100% in CAM-S, respectively.

Conclusion The VCM regimen for H. pylori eradication may be a viable candidate therapy for patients with penicillin allergy, regardless of CAM-R.

Objective To predict fatty liver disease (FLD), including nonalcoholic FLD (NAFLD) and metabolic dysfunction-associated FLD (MAFLD), from blood tests and anthropometric measurements, the fatty liver index (FLI) and triglyceride glucose-body mass index (TyG-BMI) have been reported as promising indicators. We evaluated the predictive ability of several indices, including the waist circumference, BMI, FLI and TyG-BMI, that might predict FLD in non-obese individuals undergoing health checkups.

Methods This retrospective observational study enrolled non-obese subjects who underwent abdominal ultrasonography between May 1, 2015, and June 30, 2022. Obesity was defined as a BMI <25 kg/m². FLD was diagnosed by abdominal ultrasonography. Using a receiver operating characteristic analysis, we examined the predictive validity of indices for NAFLD and MAFLD by calculating the area under the curve (AUC).

Results Of the 24,825 subjects (mean age 44.3±10.0 years old; 54% men) enrolled in this examination of the association of indices, including FLI and TyG-BMI, with NAFLD, NAFLD was diagnosed in 3,619 (27%) men and 733 (6%) women. In both men and women, the FLI and TyG-BMI had significantly higher AUC values for NAFLD prediction than the other indicators (FLI: 0.786 for men and 0.875 for women, TyG-BMI: 0.783 for men and 0.868 for women). In analyses of subjects with a BMI <23 kg/m², the superiority of the FLI and TyG-BMI remained unchanged. The FLI and TyG-BMI also had significantly higher AUC values for MAFLD prediction than the other indicators.

Conclusion The FLI and TyG-BMI had a particularly high predictive ability for NAFLD and MAFLD in non-obese subjects.

Objective We evaluated the clinical differences in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients between the sixth wave with the Omicron BA.1/BA.2 dominant variant (from January to April 2022) and seventh wave with the Omicron BA.5 dominant variant (from July to August 2022).

Methods This retrospective, single-center, observational study included COVID-19 patients admitted to our institution in the sixth wave (sixth-wave group) and the seventh wave (seventh-wave group). Inter-group comparisons of clinical presentations, the prognosis, and proportion of nosocomial infections were performed.

Results A total of 190 patients were included (93 and 97 patients in the sixth- and seventh-wave groups, respectively). While there were no significant differences in severity, significantly more patients developed pneumonia caused by COVID-19 in the sixth-wave group than in the seventh-wave group. Although there was no marked difference in in-hospital deaths, more patients died from COVID-19 in the sixth-wave group than in the seventh-wave group. There were significantly more COVID-19 inpatients with nosocomial infections in the seventh-wave group than in the sixth-wave group. Pneumonia from COVID-19 was significantly more severe in the sixth-wave group than in the seventh-wave group.

Conclusion COVID-19 patients in the seventh wave are at a lower risk of pneumonia than those in the sixth wave. However, even in the seventh wave, patients with underlying diseases have a risk of death because of the exacerbation of underlying diseases triggered by COVID-19.

Objective The early diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) improves disease outcomes. Using bilateral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we investigated whether or not tenosynovitis at the level of the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) and wrist joints, as well as non-symmetrical versus symmetrical involvement, predicts RA development in undifferentiated arthritis (UA) patients.

Methods We collected the clinical and serological findings as well as bilateral gadolinium-enhanced 1.5-T MRI data of UA patients after 1 year. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the association of tenosynovitis in UA with RA development. Ninety-one UA patients from the Nagasaki Early Arthritis Clinic who did not meet the 2010 European League Against Rheumatism/American College of Rheumatology classification criteria for RA were selected. Tenosynovitis at the MCP and wrist joints was scored according to the RA MRI scoring system.

Results Of these 91 UA patients, 29 (31.9%) progressed to RA, with a median disease duration of 3 months, despite only 10.9% being positive for anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (ACPA). A univariate analysis showed higher MCP tenosynovitis scores, MCP flexor tenosynovitis, and symmetrical MCP tenosynovitis in the RA development group than in the non-development group (p<0.05). A multivariate analysis showed that symmetrical MCP tenosynovitis was independently associated with RA development after adjusting for age, gender, swollen joint count, C-reactive protein level, and ACPA positivity (odds ratio: 4.96). The presence of symmetrical MCP tenosynovitis had low sensitivity (35%) but high specificity (87%) for RA development.

Conclusion MRI-detected tenosynovitis, especially symmetrical findings at the MCP joint, is predictive of RA development in a UA population with low ACPA positivity.

We herein report a rare case of acute hemorrhagic rectal ulcer (AHRU) complicated by cytomegalovirus enteritis following steroid pulse therapy for interstitial pneumonia. An 86-year-old woman underwent steroid pulse therapy for interstitial pneumonia. She was bedridden with dyspnea and suddenly developed melena. Colonoscopy revealed AHRU, which did not improve with conservative treatment, but did improve with ganciclovir administration for cytomegalovirus enteritis. This gastrointestinal complication has not received much attention by pulmonologists who perform steroid pulse therapy for interstitial pneumonia. Delayed treatment of this complications can be fatal. Caution should be taken when administering steroid pulse therapy to bedridden patients with interstitial pneumonia.

Pregnancy is a known risk factor for amebic enteritis, which develops into potentially fatal fulminant amebic enteritis in some cases. We describe a case of a 27-year-old non-immunosuppressed pregnant woman with fulminant amebic enteritis complicated with cytomegalovirus enteritis. She improved with intensive care and intravenous metronidazole and ganciclovir but eventually required subtotal colectomy for intestinal stenosis. It is difficult to diagnose amebic enteritis, especially in a non-endemic area. Amebic enteritis must be considered as a differential diagnosis for refractory diarrhea with bloody stools in women in the perinatal period, even those without immunosuppression.

Most cases of liver dysfunction in pregnancy are pregnancy-related, but the onset of systemic autoimmune diseases is also differentiated. A 24-year-old woman presented with liver dysfunction at 28 weeks' gestation with suspected autoimmune hepatitis and started taking ursodeoxycholic acid. She gave birth prematurely at 35 weeks' gestation, and the infant presented with pancytopenia and liver failure but survived because of liver transplantation. Since the patient had major symptoms during the puerperium, she was diagnosed with adult-onset Still's disease. When encountering a patient with liver dysfunction during pregnancy, we should also consider the onset of autoimmune diseases.

A 63-year-old man with advanced pancreatic cancer and pyloric obstruction underwent surgical gastrojejunostomy. Malignant biliary obstruction appeared eight months after surgery and was managed with endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided hepaticogastrostomy (HGS). Subsequently, afferent limb obstruction caused by cancer invasion occurred. Although an intestinal metal stent could not be placed, a biliary metal stent was deployed via the HGS route, which successfully decompressed the afferent limb; the abdominal symptoms subsequently disappeared. In future similar cases, decompression of the dilated intestine through the HGS and biliary stent might be a viable treatment option.

Bevacizumab, a monoclonal antibody against vascular endothelial growth factor, may be associated with arterial embolisms. We herein report a case of acute myocardial infarction caused by coronary embolism during combination chemotherapy with mFOLFOX-6 and bevacizumab in a patient with metastatic colon cancer. Thromboembolism occurred only in the distal right posterolateral branch without stenotic lesions or plaque rupture in the proximal branch of the right coronary artery. Sole thromboaspiration was successfully performed; the final angiogram demonstrated no stenosis in the right coronary artery. Bevacizumab may be associated with acute coronary syndrome in patients with coronary risk factors, despite no significant coronary narrowing.

A 93-year-old woman was transferred to our hospital for lightheadedness. She had had Takotsubo cardiomyopathy for seven years. Transthoracic apical four-chamber echocardiography showed a large apical aneurysm. Pulsed-wave Doppler echocardiography at the left ventricular (LV) basal obstruction showed flow directed from the apex to the base during systole and isovolumic relaxation time. The patient was therefore diagnosed with mid-ventricular obstructive cardiomyopathy with a large apical aneurysm and paradoxical flow. The present case suggests that Takotsubo cardiomyopathy may become mid-ventricular obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy without change in its structure.

Skin lesions in X-linked Alport syndrome (XLAS) are rarely observed. Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is caused by autoantibodies against BP180, also called α1 (XVII) chain, in the basement membrane zone (BMZ). A 48-year-old man with XLAS developed tense blisters. A skin biopsy showed a cleft between the basal cell layer and dermis, with the infiltration of neutrophils and eosinophils. α1 (XVII) staining was positive on the epidermal side of α2/5 (IV) staining. Oral prednisolone improved his symptoms gradually. Abundant tense blisters on the palms and soles might suggest an important role of the α5 (IV) chain in the integrity of BMZ.

We herein report a case of acute kidney injury (AKI) presenting as acute interstitial nephritis (AIN) after the first dose of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A 69-year-old man with a history of diabetes and hypertension presented with AKI 4 days after receiving the vaccine. Despite the administration of methylprednisolone pulse treatment, his renal function worsened, which prompted us to initiate temporal hemodialysis. His renal function subsequently improved, and a renal biopsy confirmed AIN and glomerular capillary IgA deposition without apparent crescents. The clinical history and histological findings suggest a relationship between severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccination and AIN as a rare side effect.

A 46-year-old man with a history of bronchial asthma and chronic sinusitis presented to our hospital with chest pain. We suspected angina evoked by epicardial coronary spasm and performed an ergonovine provocation test to diagnose coronary spastic angina (CSA). The patient also met the diagnostic criteria for eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) and was treated with 60 mg prednisolone (PSL) for EGPA-associated CSA. After PSL administration, eosinophils decreased, and angina attacks disappeared. However, when PSL was tapered to 12.5 mg, chest pain recurred. We administered mepolizumab subcutaneously and chest pain disappeared. Additional mepolizumab may be effective for EGPA with CSA.

Pulmonary sarcoidosis may occasionally present with large bullae, but the clinical implications of this finding remain unclear. We herein report the complete clinical course of a case of pulmonary bullous sarcoidosis. Chest computed tomography initially showed subpleural and peribronchovascular lung opacities, and bullae spontaneously developed in adjacent less-affected regions, probably via a retraction mechanism. Bullae progression was refractory to corticosteroid treatment and associated with deterioration of respiratory symptoms. The later phase involved repeated bacterial and fungal infections of the bullous lungs, eventually causing respiratory failure and mortality. Postmortem examinations revealed aggressive pulmonary Mycobacterium avium infection and diffuse alveolar damage.

Coagulation factor X (FX) deficiency causes severe hemorrhagic symptoms. We herein report a 90-year-old man with hemorrhagic symptoms and prolongation of prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT). Cross-mixing tests showed a factor deficiency pattern, but administration of plasma products was not effective. Acquired coagulation factor deficiency was suspected, and immunosuppressive therapy was started. After the intervention, his hemorrhagic symptoms improved. A decrease in FX activity was later confirmed, and anti-FX autoantibody was retrospectively detected by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Immediate intervention is important for patients suspected of having acquired coagulation factor deficiency.

A 35-year-old woman first experienced left upper limb weakness at 17 years old, after which it repeatedly recurred and then remitted. She was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome with median nerve hyperintensity by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Surgical treatment was ineffective. We suspected hereditary neuralgic amyotrophy because of enlargement distal to the brachial plexus on MRI and administered steroid therapy, after which the weakness improved. Genetic testing revealed a point mutation in SEPT9. Because lesions outside the brachial plexus can be seen in hereditary neuralgic amyotrophy, the diagnosis should be based on typical characteristics and the family history.

Myasthenia gravis (MG) development is female-dominant in younger patients and male-dominant in older patients. The reason for the sex-ratio inversion in elderly MG patients remains unclear. One possible explanation is the decrease in androgen secretion that occurs with aging, as androgen has an immunosuppressive function. We experienced two elderly men who developed MG after initiating androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for treatment of prostate cancer and whose symptoms were ameliorated after ADT cessation. Our cases indicate that MG in older male patients can be caused by an androgen effect.

Protein S deficiency causes spinal cord infarction in rare cases. We herein report the first case of severe cervicothoracic cord infarction in an adolescent with protein S deficiency. A 16-year-old boy presented with neck pain, four-limb paralysis, and numbness. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed spinal artery infarction in the C4 to Th4 area. Protein S antigen and activity were decreased. The patient was diagnosed with protein S deficiency-associated cervicothoracic cord infarction, which was treated with anticoagulation. Protein S deficiency should be considered as a potential cause of spinal cord infarction in young healthy patients and should be appropriately treated with anticoagulation.

We herein report a rare case of distal chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) following coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination. A 39-year-old woman with a solitary plasmacytoma developed general weakness 7 days after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, which had progressed for 3 months. A neurological examination revealed limb weakness with areflexia. Serological tests identified the presence of IgG antibodies against anti-GM1 and anti-GM2 gangliosides. Comprehensive evaluations met the criteria of distal CIDP. Intravenous immunoglobulin, intravenous methylprednisolone, oral prednisolone, and plasma exchange were administered, and she gradually improved. Physicians should be aware of CIDP as a rare complication of COVID-19 vaccination.

A 69-year-old woman with a history of otitis media with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis who had been receiving corticosteroid monotherapy presented with shortness of breath. The otitis media had been alleviated, but she had saddle nose. Chest enhanced computed tomography showed stenoses of the bronchi and large vessels surrounded by mass-like lesions in the mediastinum. These manifestations indicated an active state of granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA). After she was started on high-dose corticosteroids and intravenous cyclophosphamide, the mass-like lesions disappeared with improvements of the stenoses. Ameliorating mass-like lesions resulting from GPA requires therapeutic intervention using corticosteroids and immunosuppressants.

Cryptococcal meningitis is a critical disease that occasionally involves immunosuppressed patients. We herein report a 79-year-old Japanese man who received low-dose prednisolone therapy for neurosarcoidosis and panhypopituitarism. He presented a 10-day history of a fever and altered mental status. The FilmArray^® Meningitis/Encephalitis Panel and serum cryptococcal antigen tests were both negative, but the cerebrospinal fluid sample became positive for Cryptococcus neoformans after seven-day incubation. After the diagnosis of cryptococcal meningitis, we successfully treated the patient with a recommended treatment regimen. When an immunocompromised patient presents with a subacute fever accompanying any central nervous symptoms, cryptococcal meningitis should be screened for.