Association of the Mannose-Binding Lectin 2 BB Genotype with COVID-19-Related Mortality.

Mannose-binding lectin (MBL) is crucial in first-line immune defenses. There are still many unknown factors regarding the mechanisms causing variability in the clinical course of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In Japan, there have been few reports to date regarding the association between MBL and COVID-19. It has been demonstrated that the MBL2 gene B variant at codon 54 (rs1800450) is associated with variabilities in the clinical course of COVID-19. We aimed to investigate how the level of serum MBL and the codon 54 variant of MBL (rs1800450) affect the disease severity of COVID-19. A total of 59 patients from the fourth wave and 49 patients from the fifth wave in Japan were analyzed based on serum MBL levels using ELISA and the genotype of MBL2 codon 54 using PCR reaction. There was no significant association between serum MBL levels and age. MBL2 genotype was independent of age, there was no significant difference in different COVID-19 severities, MBL genotypes, and serum MBL levels. Binary logistic regression analysis to identify predisposing factors for severe COVID-19 symptoms demonstrated that patients with the BB genotype had a higher risk of death from COVID-19. Our results quantitatively demonstrated that the BB genotype might be a factor associated with death from COVID-19.

Social punishment for breaching restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In response to the novel coronavirus outbreak, the Japanese government requested the temporary closure of businesses. Consequently, complying with restrictions came to be recognized as the social norm, and stores that continued with business as usual were seen as norm-breakers. This study empirically investigates costly punishment behavior for stores' violation of restrictions and how this behavior changes when a decision-maker receives information pertaining to contrasting norms, implicitly requiring the opposite response. By implementing joy-of-destruction minigames, we found that costly punishment behavior for norm-breakers was significantly stimulated (by approximately 11%) but not increased when additional information was provided.

Clinical outcomes of radical gastrectomy following trastuzumab-based chemotherapy for stage IV HER2-positive gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer.

PURPOSE: Patients who receive trastuzumab (T-mab) plus chemotherapy for stage IV HER2-positive gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer sometimes respond remarkably well and can undergo radical surgery. However, the clinical outcomes of preoperative T-mab combined chemotherapy with radical gastrectomy remain unclear. We conducted this study to investigate the clinical outcomes of this multimodal treatment. METHODS: From among a total of 199 patients who received T-mab-based chemotherapy for stage IV HER2-positive gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer between 2011 and 2018, the subjects of this retrospective analysis were 20 patients who subsequently underwent radical gastrectomy. RESULTS: Seven patients had gastroesophageal junction cancer and 13 had gastric cancer. Eleven patients had unresectable stage IV cancer and 9 had resectable metastatic disease. Chemotherapy regimens included capecitabine, cisplatin + T-mab (11 patients), and S-1, oxaliplatin + T-mab (nine patients). The median number of chemotherapy cycles before surgery was three (range, 2-62). During preoperative chemotherapy, grade 3/4 adverse events developed in six patients. None suffered grade ≥ 3b postoperative complications. The 3-year relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) rates were 58.9% and 89.5%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Combined preoperative T-mab-based chemotherapy and surgery appears to be safe and effective for stage IV HER2-positive gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer, with a clinically meaningful impact on RFS and OS.

Development of a camera-based remote diagnostic system focused on color reproduction using color charts.

In this paper, we propose a color reproduction method using color charts to improve the color quality of a telemedicine system. Owing to the spread of COVID-19, the need for telemedicine is rapidly increasing to prevent infections more effectively. However, in practices such as traditional Japanese (Kampo) medicine, where color is used as an important examination factor, an accurate diagnosis cannot be made without adequate color reproduction. In telemedicine using a commercially available smartphone, color reproducibility may deteriorate owing to differences in the devices and lighting, which may result in a misdiagnosis. Therefore, we created a color chart that includes the colors of the human skin and tongue as a tool to help doctors identify the color of patients more accurately when conducting a telemedicine examination. Through a subjective evaluation by eight medical doctors, it was unanimously found that the proposed method is practical in terms of a color examination. The developed color chart can also be used for an automatic color correction.