Three cases of dermatosis successfully treated with modified Mao-rensho-shakushozu-to are reported. Case 1 was a 45-year-old male who had been suffering from atopic dermatitis since childhood. He came to our clinic for treatment with Kampo formulas for unchanging symptoms. At first we prescribed Mao-rensho-shakushozu-to-go-byakko-ka-keishi-to, but this formula was not effective. After prescribing Mao-rensho-shakushozu-to-go-eppi-ka-jutsu-to, the dermatitis improved. Case 2 was a 25-year-old male student who had been suffering from atopic dermatitis since he was 19 years old. He responded to steroid ointment, but relapsed frequently after the repeated reduction of steroids. Some Kampo formulas were not effective, but the dermatitis improved after the patient used Mao-rensho-shakushozu-to-go-eppi-ka jutsu-to. Case 3 was a 65-year-old male who had been suffering from psoriasis vulgaris since he was 57. Shakushozu-to-go-byakko-ka-ninjin-to was effective for his psoriasis.
We used modified Mao-rensho-shakushozu-to in the three cases described above be cause the patients had strong itching. It is possible to apply this Kampo formula for dermatitis with strong itching.

In accordance with the advisory statement by the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation and the Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation of the American Heart Association, we developed an advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) course for undergraduate medical students and assessed the effectiveness of and issues related to this program. A 2-day ACLS course with a special emphasis on MEGA code training was provided to 93 fifth-year medical students, after which evaluation testing was performed. Knowledge about airway management using airway adjuncts (correct response rate, 78.1% to 98.4%) and the treatment algorithms for ventricular fibrillation (81.3% to 95.3%) were well retained. However, knowledge about pharmacologic intervention was poorly learned. Most of the problems in the MEGA code algorithms for asystole and pulseless electrical activity were associated with drug administration. We conclude that this ACLS course for undergraduate medical students is effective but may not be sufficient for teaching certain aspects of ACLS.

Background: Blood culture is an essential examination for diagnosis of causative microorganisms and determination of optimal antimicrobials in serious cases of infectious diseases. We examined temporal trends in the number and multiplicities of blood culture submission, two pre-analytic parameters indicating quality of the examination, in the Minami Ibaraki Area.
Methods: We reviewed all computerized and available paper-based laboratory records of microbiological examination in five hospitals in the area between 2002 and 2011.
Results: Blood culture submissions, estimated to be 2.4–7.3 (median: 5.1) sets per hospital bed, 8.6–23 (17) per 1,000 inpatient-days, and 0.13–0.41 (0.25) per newly admission in 2011, almost constantly increased during the study period in all hospitals. Proportions of blood specimens to all materials for microbiological cultures also increased up to 15–30% (20%) in 2011. In contrast, it was not until the latter half of the study period that solitary submission, accounting for 26–56% (35%) in 2011, decreased. Positive blood cultures were between 11 and 28% through the study period. Coagulase-negative staphylococci accounted for approximately one fourth of recovered organisms in 2006 and 2011.
Conclusion: Frequency and multiplicity of blood culture submission markedly increased in hospitals in the Minami-Ibaraki Area of Japan.

We performed a preliminary study of the reliability of the lymphocyte stimulating test (LST) for Kampo medicine. LST for three kinds of Kampo medicines was performed in both a Kampo-administrated group and a non-administrated group. LST for each of the medicines was negative for seven of eight subjects in the non-administrated group, but was negative for four of 11 subjects in the Kampo-administrated group. The LST-positive participants had no allergic state, and some among them were negative in challenge test. This preliminary study suggests that LST for Kampo medicine is likely to be false-positive.