Background: Active engagement in intellectually enriching activities reportedly lowers the risk of cognitive decline; however, few studies have examined this association, including engagement in traditional cultural activities. This study aimed to elucidate the types of cultural engagement associated with lower risk of cognitive impairment. Methods: We examined the association between cultural engagement and cognitive impairment using Cox proportional hazards models in a cohort of 44,985 participants (20,772 males and 24,213 females) aged 65 years or older of the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study from 2010 to 2016. Intellectual activities (e.g., reading books, magazines, and/or newspapers), creative activities (e.g., crafts and painting), and traditional cultural activities (e.g., poetry composition [haiku], calligraphy, and tea ceremony/flower arrangement) were included among cultural engagement activities. Results: Over a follow-up period of six years, incident cognitive disability was observed in 4,198 respondents (9.3%). After adjusting for potential confounders such as depression and social support, intellectual activities were protectively associated with the risk of cognitive impairment (hazard ratio, HR for those who read and stated that reading was their hobby: 0.75 [95% confidence interval, CI 0.66-0.85] and those who read but did not consider reading a hobby: 0.72 [95% CI, 0.65-0.80]). Engagement in creative activities was also significantly correlated with lower risk of cognitive impairment (crafts: 0.71 [95% CI, 0.62-0.81] and painting: 0.80 [95% CI, 0.66-0.96]). The association between traditional cultural activities and the risk of cognitive impairment was not statistically significant.

Background The perioperative mortality rate is high in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and infection control measures for medical care providers must be considered. Therefore, the timing for surgery in patients recovering from COVID-19 is difficult. Case presentation A 65-year-old man was admitted to a hospital with a diagnosis of moderate COVID-19. He was transferred to our hospital because of risk factors, including heavy smoking history, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and obesity (BMI 34). Vital signs on admission were a temperature of 36.1 °C, oxygen saturation > 95% at rest, and 94% on exertion with 3 L/min of oxygen. Chest computed tomography (CT) showed bilateral ground-glass opacities, predominantly in the lower lungs. Contrast-enhanced abdominal CT incidentally revealed a liver tumor with a diameter of 80 mm adjacent to the middle hepatic vein, which was diagnosed as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). After being administered baricitinib, remdesivir, dexamethasone, and heparin, the patient’s COVID-19 pneumonia improved, his oxygen demand resolved, and he was discharged on day 13. Furthermore, the patient was initially scheduled for hepatectomy 8 weeks after the onset of COVID-19 following a discussion with the infection control team. However, 8 weeks after the onset of illness, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test was performed on nasopharyngeal swab fluid, which was observed to be positive. The positive results persisted till 10 and 11 weeks after onset. Both Ct values were high (≥ 31) out of 45 cycles, with no subjective symptoms. Since we determined that he was no longer contagious, surgery was performed 12 weeks after the onset of COVID-19. Notably, medical staff wearing personal protective equipment performed extended anatomical resection of the liver segment 8 ventral area in a negative-pressure room. The patient had a good postoperative course, with no major complications, including respiratory complications, and was discharged on postoperative day 14. Finally, none of the staff members was infected with COVID-19. Conclusions We reported a case regarding the timing of surgery on a patient with persistently positive PCR test results after COVID-19, along with a literature review.

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Background Neutralizing antibody therapy such as casirivimab/imdevimab is known to significantly reduce the viral load of SARS-CoV-2, but there is limited study on the clinical prognosis of neutralizing antibody therapy, especially in Asia, and the dynamics of cytokines is unknown worldwide. Several cytokines have been investigated as biomarkers to predict oxygen demand, among which CCL17 and INF3 have received approved and covered by the national health insurance in Japan. Methods Between July 2021 - December 2021, patient’s demographic, laboratory, radiological findings, prognosis, and cytokine kinetics (IFN-λ3, CCL17) at National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan, were analyzed using medical charts and serum samples. Univariate analysis was performed using Fisher's exact probability test and Mann-Whitney U test to evaluate the clinical characteristics of the group with oxygen demand compared with those of the group without oxygen demand. Results Thirty-four patients were analyzed. The median age of the cohort was 57.5 years (IQR 52.8-67.3), and 25 (73.5%) were male. Eight patients (23.5%) had been fully vaccinated and three patients (8.8%) had been vaccinated once. The severity of disease before casirivimab/imdevimab was asymptomatic in two (5.9%), mild in 12 (35.3%), moderate in 20 (58.8%) cases. Of the 17 cases in which mutant strains were identified, 16 were delta strains. The IFN-λ3 level (pg/mL) before casirivimab/imdevimab was significantly higher (7.6 vs. 17.2, p = 0.005), while the CCL17 level (pg/mL) was significantly lower (148.8 vs. 64.2, p = 0.036) in the group with oxygen demand during the therapeutic course compared to those in the group without oxygen demand. After casirivimab/imdevimab was administered, the IFN-λ3 level decreased to a median of 0.0 (IQR 0.0-0.3), while the CCL17 level increased to median of 220.3 (IQR 135.8-304.8), with no statistically significant differences between both groups (Figure 1). None of the patients became seriously ill. Figure 1A and 1B show the changing of the cytokine dynamics in COVID-19 patients who were treated with casirivimab/imdevimab on IFN-λ3 level and CCL17 level, respectively. Conclusion There was a statistically significant difference between IFN-λ3 and CCL17 levels before casirivimab/imdevimab in both groups. Our results suggest that casirivimab/immudevimab may improve the clinical prognosis for COVID-19 patients with delta strains. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures.