Internal medicine
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Objective We evaluated the change in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibody titers from three to six months after the administration of the BNT162b2 vaccine among healthcare workers. Methods A total of 337 healthcare workers who received 2 doses of the BNT162b2 vaccine were included in this study. Factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers at three and six months and the change in SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers between three and six months after vaccine administration were analyzed using a logistic regression analysis. ⋯ Conclusion This study demonstrates that SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers at three months decreased with age and were associated with the antibody titers at six months and the change in titer from three to six months. Older individuals in particular need to be aware of the declining SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers at six months after the BNT162b2 vaccine. The results of this study may provide insight into COVID-19 vaccine booster strategies.
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A 92-year-old woman diagnosed with dementia and end-stage gastric cancer received end-of-life care on the island where she lived. Informed consent concerning remote death certification based on the Japanese government's guidelines was obtained from a family member in case a physician was unavailable. ⋯ Death certification was provided accordingly. To our knowledge, this was the first case of remote death certification using telemedicine in Japan.
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A 44-year-old man developed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia during immunochemotherapy consisting of carboplatin, paclitaxel, and pembrolizumab for non-small cell lung cancer. Low-grade fever, followed by mild hypoxemia, and febrile neutropenia, were observed, and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) was administered until the recovery of neutropenia, when he developed a high fever, severe hypoxemia, and hypotension accompanied by consolidation in the bilateral lungs. His conditions promptly improved after treatment including hydrocortisone and the primary and metastatic tumors remained regressed for 10 months without further treatment. Post-COVID-19 organizing pneumonia during cancer immunochemotherapy can be aggravated by immune-checkpoint inhibitors and G-CSF.
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Two adult patients with acute leukemia developed transplantation-associated microangiopathy (TAM) related to graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Both patients were resistant to standard therapy for TAM and GVHD, which led to markedly elevated serum total bilirubin levels of 47.5 and 10.6 mg/dL, respectively. Transdermal isosorbide tape as a nitric oxide donor was applied to Patients 1 and 2 on post-transplantation days 60 and 66, respectively, which rapidly improved their jaundice after 1 day. This is the first report to describe the efficacy of transdermal isosorbide tape for adult patients with jaundice associated with TAM related to GVHD.