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The aim of this study was to reveal the histological features of oxyntic gland adenomas and gastric adenocarcinoma of the fundic-gland type (GA-FG). We retrospectively examined the histological features of 126 lesions of oxyntic gland adenoma and/or GA-FG in 116 patients. The prevalence of oxyntic gland adenomas and GA-FG was approximately equal. The majority of the lesions were resected by endoscopic mucosal resection using a diathermic snare (EMR, n = 42) or endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD, n = 72). Histologically, there were no lesions with invasion at the level of the muscularis propria or deeper, and lymphovascular invasion was present in 1.6%. Of the ESD and EMR specimens, there were no lesions that were positive for vertical margins. Among the eight GA-FG patients with deep (≥ 500 μm) submucosal invasion, six were treated with endoscopic resection alone, and no recurrence was documented. No patients died of the disease during the median follow-up period of 14.5 months. In conclusion, all lesions were confined to the mucosa or submucosa and were negative for vertical margins. Lymphovascular invasion was present in only 1.6% of the patients. Thus, we believe that endoscopic resection is a suitable initial treatment method for oxyntic gland adenoma and GA-FG.

The persistent pupillary membrane, as a congenital anomaly, is a remnant of a network of feeding blood vessels for the lens of the eye, called tunica vasculosa lentis. This study reports three patients with persistent pupillary membrane in both eyes who presented in different situations and were managed differently to achieve better vision. The first child (Case 1) who had been seen initially at the age of two years complained of severe photophobia even though he had good visual acuity, and hence, he and his family chose surgical resection of the pupillary membrane in both eyes at the age of six years just before the admission to an elementary school. He did not develop any surgical complications, such as cataract and glaucoma, and maintained the visual acuity in decimals of 1.2 in both eyes at the age of 17 years. The second child (Case 2), who was seen first at the age of one month, had persistent pupillary membranes in both eyes, together with Peters' anomaly in the left eye. The iris process adhesion to the corneal inner surface was visualized later by optical coherence tomography. She wore full-correction glasses and obtained the visual acuity of 0.7 in the right eye, so she had no problem studying at an elementary school. She used topical 1% atropine once a week in both eyes to maintain pupillary dilation and also used 0.5% timolol and 1% brinzolamide as pressure-lowering eye drops in the left eye with Peters' anomaly. The third patient (Case 3) with persistent pupillary membranes in both eyes complained of vision problems for the first time at the age of 49 years when she developed cataract. Surgical resection of the pupillary membrane was done in the initial phase of cataract surgery with intraocular lens implantation in both eyes. At surgical resection of the pupillary membrane, a safe and efficient way was to cut the root of the pupillary membrane on the iris surface with scissors, and then the isolated tissues of the pupillary membrane were pulled out with forceps from the side port at the corneal limbus. Pathological examinations of the excised tissues showed blood vessels with red blood cells in the lumen. In such a rare congenital disease as the persistent pupillary membrane, a case-based approach to choose a better option in different conditions from individual to individual is still required to have a better vision in learning at school and in daily working life.

Leucine-rich alpha-2 glycoprotein (LRG) may be a novel serum biomarker for patients with inflammatory bowel disease. The association of LRG with the endoscopic activity and predictability of mucosal healing (MH) was determined and compared with those of C-reactive protein (CRP) and fecal markers (fecal immunochemical test [FIT] and fecal calprotectin [Fcal]) in 166 ulcerative colitis (UC) and 56 Crohn’s disease (CD) patients. In UC, LRG was correlated with the endoscopic activity and could predict MH, but the performance was not superior to that of fecal markers (areas under the curve [AUCs] for predicting MH: LRG: 0.61, CRP: 0.59, FIT: 0.75, and Fcal: 0.72). In CD, the performance of LRG was equivalent to that of CRP and Fcal (AUCs for predicting MH: LRG: 0.82, CRP: 0.82, FIT: 0.70, and Fcal: 0.88). LRG was able to discriminate patients with MH from those with endoscopic activity among UC and CD patients with normal CRP levels. LRG was associated with endoscopic activity and could predict MH in both UC and CD patients. It may be particularly useful in CD.

Peripheral corneal infiltration, corneal ulcer, and melt are recognized complications linked to systemic immunological diseases, such as antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis. These manifestations, which occur in isolation, might be autoimmune keratitis but are difficult to prove underlying immunological abnormalities. This report described a patient with presumed autoimmune keratitis who repeatedly presented corneal infiltration and perforation in both eyes even after penetrating keratoplasty. The 68-year-old patient with a stable condition of keratoconjunctivitis sicca, in a 28-year follow-up, abruptly developed mild infiltrates in the corneal center of the right eye and white dense infiltrates in the peripheral and central cornea of the left eye. He was treated with topical 0.1% betamethasone eye drops and oral prednisolone tapering from 30 mg daily. The patient underwent cataract surgeries in both eyes 10 months after the onset of corneal infiltration and subsequently underwent penetrating keratoplasty in both eyes due to abrupt corneal perforation in the left eye 14 months after the onset of corneal infiltration. Six months post-keratoplasty, he experienced a recurrence of infiltrates in the corneal grafts in both eyes, leading to corneal leukoma in the left eye. The corneal graft in the right eye maintained its integrity with relatively mild opacity until approximately 3.5 years post-keratoplasty, when he abruptly developed white dense infiltration of both the corneal graft and his own peripheral cornea at the age of 73. In response to oral prednisolone tapered from 15 mg daily, the corneal infiltration in the right eye resolved but resulted in graft failure. Since he did not exhibit systemic symptoms and signs throughout the course, the repeat episodes of infiltration in both his own cornea and the corneal graft would be the manifestations of autoimmune keratitis. The entity of autoimmune keratitis in isolation would be beneficial to establish a therapeutic strategy for long-term immunosuppression in light of a risk for steroid side effects and a high rate of corneal graft failure.

Mast cells are present in mucosal and connective tissues throughout the body. They synthesize and release a wide variety of bioactive molecules, such as histamine, proteases, and cytokines. In this study, we found that a population of connective tissue mast cells (CTMCs) stores and releases noradrenaline, originating from sympathetic nerves. Noradrenaline-storing cells, not neuronal fibers, were predominantly identified in the connective tissues of the skin, mammary gland, gastrointestinal tract, bronchus, thymus, and pancreas in wild-type mice but were absent in mast cell–deficient W-sash c-kit mutant KitW−sh/W−sh mice. In vitro studies using bone marrow–derived mast cells revealed that extracellular noradrenaline was taken up but not synthesized. Upon ionomycin stimulation, noradrenaline was released. Electron microscopy analyses further suggested that noradrenaline is stored in and released from the secretory granules of mast cells. Finally, we found that noradrenaline-storing CTMCs express organic cation transporter 3 (Oct3), which is also known as an extraneuronal monoamine transporter, SLC22A3. Our findings indicate that mast cells may play a role in regulating noradrenaline concentration by storing and releasing it in somatic tissues.

While the importance of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1), mutation burden caused by microsatellite instability (MSI), and CD8+ tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) has become evident, the significance of PD-L1 expression on prognosis still remains controversial. We evaluated the usefulness of combined markers of PD-L1 and MSI or CD8+ TILs as a prognostic biomarker in gastric cancer. A total of 283 patients with gastric cancer were reviewed retrospectively. PD-L1 expression on >5% tumor cells was defined as PD-L1-positive. PD-L1-positive rate was 15.5% (44/283). PD-L1 positivity was significantly correlated with invasive and advanced cancer and also significantly correlated with MSI, whereas no significance was observed with CD8+ TILs. Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that PD-L1 positivity significantly correlated with a poor prognosis (p = 0.0025). Multivariate analysis revealed that PD-L1 positivity was an independent poor prognostic factor (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.97, p = 0.0106) along with diffuse histological type and lymph node metastases. Combinations of PD-L1 and MSI (HR: 2.18) or CD8+ TILs (HR: 2.57) were stronger predictive factors for prognosis than PD-L1 alone. In conclusion, combined markers of PD-L1 and MSI or CD8+ TILs may be more useful prognostic biomarkers in gastric cancer, and better clarify the immune status of gastric cancer patients.

We previously showed that a quantitative fecal immunochemical test (FIT) can predict mucosal healing (MH) in ulcerative colitis (UC). Fecal calprotectin (Fcal) has also been reported as an important biomarker of UC activity. The aim of this study was to compare the predictive ability of these two fecal markers for MH in UC. FIT and Fcal were examined in stool samples from consecutive UC patients who underwent colonoscopy. Mucosal status was assessed via the Mayo endoscopic subscore (MES). In total, 105 colonoscopies in 92 UC patients were evaluated in conjunction with the FIT and Fcal results. Both FIT and Fcal results were significantly correlated with MES (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient: 0.61 and 0.58, respectively). The sensitivity and specificity of the FIT values (<100 ng/ml) for predicting MH (MES 0 alone) were 0.95 and 0.62, respectively, whereas those of Fcal (<250 μg/g) were 0.82 and 0.62, respectively. The sensitivities became similar when MH was defined as MES 0 or 1 (0.86 vs. 0.86). Although the predictability of MH evaluated by the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve was similar for the two fecal markers (FIT 0.83 vs. Fcal 0.82 for MES 0 alone), the FIT results were relatively robust regardless of the cutoff value selected. Both FIT and Fcal can efficiently predict MH in UC, but FIT appears to be more sensitive than Fcal for predicting MES 0 alone.

Leucine-rich alpha 2 glycoprotein (LRG) is one of the serum biomarkers for disease activity of ulcerative colitis (UC). We focused on the correlation between the changes of LRG and the changes of endoscopic and histologic activity of UC, in comparison to the changes of fecal calprotectin (Fcal), fecal immunochemical test (FIT), and C-reactive protein (CRP). Seventy-nine patients with two or more colonoscopies were enrolled, and 123 paired colonoscopies and 121 paired biopsies were examined. With regard to the change of endoscopic/histologic activity between the preceding and subsequent colonoscopy, there was improvement ( n  = 29/45), unchanging ( n  = 63/36), and worsening ( n  = 31/40). The correlations between the changes of marker levels and endoscopic/histologic activity were Fcal; r  = 0.50/0.39 and FIT; r  = 0.41/0.40, LRG; r  = 0.42/0.40 and CRP; r  = 0.22/0.17. Furthermore, when the correlation between the changes of LRG levels and the changes of endoscopic/histological activity was compared with those of other markers, the correlation of LRG tended to be superior to those of CRP (CRP vs. LRG; p  = 0.08/0.01). LRG is equivalent to fecal markers and superior to CRP, when inferring changes in disease activity of UC based on changes in its level.

Follicular lymphoma mostly takes an indolent course, and thus, observation with watchful waiting is a main therapeutic strategy. Recent long-term studies suggest earlier treatment with rituximab monotherapy may benefit patients by delaying the need for treatment in the later phase of exacerbation. In this study, we reported a patient with bilateral orbital follicular lymphoma who received four-time weekly rituximab monotherapy as an induction therapy only and maintained the remission for 5 years with no treatment. The patient was a 51-year-old woman who developed a right upper orbital mass and was diagnosed with follicular lymphoma grade 1 by the excisional biopsy. Two years later, at the age of 53 years, she developed a left lacrimal gland mass and underwent excision. The pathological diagnosis was follicular lymphoma grade 1. She did not have any other systemic lesions by fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography. At the age of 54 years, she developed a new mass on the nasal side of the right orbit and underwent weekly rituximab monotherapy (375 mg/m ) four times a month, leading to the reduction of the mass in 3 months. Two high uptake sites on the temporal and nasal side of the right superior orbit by fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography disappeared one year later at the age of 55 years. She was followed with no treatment for 6 years until the age of 60 years at the latest visit. In case of a local orbital relapse, local radiotherapy would be the standard, but rituximab monotherapy as an induction therapy only was chosen in the present patient. Rituximab monotherapy in place of local radiotherapy would be a treatment option for orbital follicular lymphoma.

A 39‐year‐old woman presented a saucer‐shaped mass in the left upper eyelid and underwent the extirpation at local anesthesia. Pathologically, collagen fibers, capillaries, small vessels, and CD34‐positive spindle cells were dispersed among mature adipose tissues, indicative of spindle cell lipoma. Long‐lasting cyst‐like eyelid masses would be usually dermoid cysts, and spindle cell lipoma would be listed as a rare pathological diagnosis in differential diagnoses of cyst‐like lesions in the upper and lower eyelid.