Excessive fibrinolysis detected with thromboelastography in a case of amniotic fluid embolism: fibrinolysis may precede coagulopathy

Journal of Thrombosis and Thrombolysis - Amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) is a catastrophic condition in the peripartum period and still remains as a leading cause of maternal death. Although over 80%...     

Association of the time to first epinephrine administration and outcomes in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: SOS-KANTO 2012 study

Objective

This study assessed the association between the timing of first epinephrine administration (EA) and the neurological outcomes following out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs) with both initial shockable and non-shockable rhythms.

Family history of cancer and subsequent risk of cancer: A large-scale population-based prospective study in Japan

Family history (FH) of cancer is an important factor of increased risk of several cancers. Although the association between FH of cancer and concordant cancer risk has been reported in many previous epidemiological studies, no comprehensive prospective study with adjustment for lifestyle habits has evaluated the association of FH of cancer and concordant cancer risk. We investigated the association between FH of cancer and concordant cancer risk in a Japanese population-based prospective study, initiated in 1990 for cohort I and in 1993 for cohort II. We analyzed data on 103,707 eligible subjects without a history of cancer who responded to a self-administered questionnaire including FH of cancer at baseline. Study subjects were followed through 2012 and analyzed using multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression models. During 1,802,581 person-years of follow-up, a total of 16,336 newly diagnosed cancers were identified. Any site (Hazard ratios = 1.11 (95% confidence interval = 1.07–1.15]), esophagus (2.11 [1.00–4.45]), stomach (1.36 [1.19–1.55]), liver (1.69 [1.10–2.61]), pancreas (2.63 [1.45–4.79]), lung (1.51 [1.14–2.00]), uterus (1.93 [1.06–3.51]) and bladder cancers (6.06 [2.49–14.74]) with FH of the concordant cancer were associated with an increased risk compared to those without FH. Our findings suggest that having FH of cancer is associated with an increased risk of several concordant cancer incidences in an Asian population. Enquiring about FH of several types of cancer may be important in identifying groups at high-risk of those cancers.     

Influence of SNPs in cytokine-related genes on the severity of food allergy and atopic eczema in children

Although many single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) studies have reported an association of atopy, allergic diseases and total serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels, almost all of these studies sought risk factors for the onset of these allergic diseases. Furthermore, many studies have analyzed a single gene and hardly any have analyzed environmental factors. In these analyses, the results could be masked and the effects of other genes and environmental factors may be decreased. Here, we described the correlation between four genes [interleukin (IL)-4 (C-590T), IL-4 receptor (A1652G), FCER1B (G6842A) and STAT6 (G2964A)] in connection with IgE production; the role of IL-10 (C-627A) as a regulatory cytokine of allergy; and the severity of food allergy (FA) and atopic eczema (AE) in 220 Japanese allergic children. In addition to these SNPs, environmental factors, i.e., patient's attitude, indoor environment, and so on, were also investigated in this study. Our study was retrospective, and the correlation was analyzed by our defined clinical scores divided into three terms: worst symptoms, recent symptoms and general amelioration at the most recent examination during the disease course. Our results indicated that IL-10 AA, the genotype with lower IL-10 production, is associated with higher IgE levels in the serum (p < 0.0001, estimate; 0.912). Marginal liver abnormalities were observed in the subject group with both FA and AE (p < 0.1191, estimate; 0.1490). Our defined clinical scores enabled evaluation of various aspects of disease severity. Based on the scores, while no single SNP selected in this study determined severity, the combination of the SNP with laboratory data and environmental factors appeared to determine severity.