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Background: JCOG1113 is a randomized phase III trial that showed non-inferiority of gemcitabine plus S-1 to gemcitabine plus cisplatin in patients with advanced biliary tract cancer. Assessment of inter-institutional heterogeneity in chemotherapy contributes to confirm generalizability and reliability of the study itself. However, there have been no studies conducted to assess the heterogeneity among participating centers in randomized phase III trials for biliary tract cancer., Methods: The objective of this post-hoc analysis was to assess the inter-institutional heterogeneity in the overall survival and progression-free survival of patients with advanced biliary tract cancer treated with first-line chemotherapy in the JCOG1113 trial. The heterogeneity in the overall survival and progression-free survival was assessed according to three factors: hospital volume, experience in medical oncology and experience in biliary intervention. A total of 300 advanced biliary tract cancer patients were analyzed. There were no statistically significant trends observed between hospital volume, experience in medical oncology, or experience in biliary intervention and overall survival (hospital volume: adjusted trend P value = 0.6796; experience in medical oncology: adjusted trend P value = 0.4092; experience in biliary intervention: adjusted trend P value = 0.6112). Similarly, no statistically significant trends were observed between these factors and progression-free survival (hospital volume: adjusted trend P value = 0.3000; experience in medical oncology: adjusted trend P value = 0.1108; experience in biliary intervention: adjusted trend P value = 0.2898)., Conclusions: This study revealed no inter-institutional heterogeneity in the overall survival and progression-free survival in the JCOG1113 study population of advanced biliary tract cancer patients., (© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press.)

We present a case of a 36 year old adult with anomalous origin of the right pulmonary artery from the aorta (hemitruncus), pulmonary hypertension, and moderate mitral regurgitation. Moreover, selective contrast echocardiogram (agitated saline injection into the right pulmonary artery) performed during preoperative cardiac catheterization demonstrated a moderate amount and prompt appearance of echo contrast in the left atrium (right pulmonary arteriovenous fistula). We successfully performed a reconstruction of the right pulmonary artery using a woven Dacron graft (12 mm in diameter). Six months postsurgery, the pulmonary arteriovenous fistula had substantially regressed, and the pulmonary arterial pressure and mitral regurgitation had both dramatically improved., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Missing an entire chromosome or chromosome arm in normal diploid cells has a deleterious impact on cell viability, which may contribute to the development of specific birth defects. Nevertheless, the effects of chromosome loss in human cells have remained unexplored due to the lack of suitable model systems. Here, we developed an efficient, selection-free approach to generate partial monosomy in human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). The introduction of Cas9 proteins and a pair of gRNAs induces over megabase-sized interstitial chromosomal deletions. Using human chromosome 21 (HSA21) as a model, partial monosomy 21q (PM21q) iPSC lines with deletions ranging from 4.5 to 27.9 Mb were isolated. A 33.6 Mb deletion, encompassing all protein-coding genes on 21q, was also achieved, establishing the first 21q monosomy human iPSC line. Transcriptome and proteome analyses revealed that the abundances of mRNA and protein encoded by the majority of genes in the monosomic regions are half of the diploid expression level, indicating an absence of dosage compensation. The ability to generate customized partial monosomy cell lines on an isogenic, karyotypically normal background should facilitate the gain of novel insights into the impact of chromosome loss on cellular fitness., (© 2024 The Author(s). Genes to Cells published by Molecular Biology Society of Japan and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)