In March 1986, an academic program on family care medicine was started at Jikei University School of Medicine upon consultation with Prof. Masakazu Abe, then President of the Jikei University School of Medicine, and Dr. Tomojiro Nagai, founder of the Medical Practitioners' Association of Japan. The program offers two elective seminars on family care medicine in the spring and summer for 4th and 5th year medical students. The objective was to give students opportunities to visit and observe medical care provided by practitioners, to teach them the importance of the function of family physicians, and to offer them options in their future careers.
The total number of participating students from the first through 20th seminars was 121, with a maximum number of participants per seminar of 11 and a minimum of 3 (average of 6). A total of 37 instructors took part in the program by giving from 1 to 18 seminars per instructor (average of 3.3). We found these seminars to be highly educational not only for the students but also for the instructing physicians.

A 60-year-old male was diagnosed as having sarcoidosis four months previously because of bilateral hilar lymphadenopathy seen on a chest X-ray, uveitis, and elevation of serum angiotensin converting enzyme. In summer, the patient suffered from hypercalcemia, hypercalciuria, and renal dysfunction. Renal biopsy showed interstitial nephritis with gallium scintigraphy demonstrating high uptake in the bilateral hilum, eyes, and kidneys. Corticosteroid treatment was effective in remarkably improving the renal disorder and radiographic abnormalities.
The calcium metabolic abnormalities and the granulomatous interstitial nephritis showed a marked response to corticosteroid therapy, so that immediate administration of corticosteroid may be justified even in cases without histological evidences. Gallium scintigraphy is suggested to be useful in noninvasive examination in acute stage of sarcoidosis.

Chronic disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) complicates 5.7% of thoracic aortic aneurysm. DIC with thoracic aortic aneurysm is characterized by hyperfibrinolysis, but usually shows a stable condition in a state of compensated non-overt DIC with limited hemorrhagic symptoms. However, in some cases, hemorrhage caused by external factors may induce uncompensated overt DIC and lead to serious hemorrhagic tendencies. In the present study, we report a patient with a thoracic aortic aneurysm complicated by DIC who exhibited marked hemorrhagic tendencies. DIC remarkably improved following administration of recombinant human soluble thrombomodulin.

A 3-year-old girl was given a diagnosis of coronary arteriovenous fistula associated with a single right coronary artery on cardiac catheterization. The left coronary artery arose from the proximal part of the right coronary artery. The dilated left coronary artery ran in front of the right ventricular outflow tract and then divided into the left anterior descending branch and the left circumflex artery. A coronary arteriovenous fistula was in the left main coronary artery and opened into the right ventricular outflow tract. Under cardiopulmonary bypass and cardiac arrest, a transverse incision was made at the right ventricular outflow tract 1cm below the dilated vessel and the 5-mm oval-shaped orifice of the fistula was identified. This fistula was closed with a pledgetted mattress suture reinforced with over-and-over suture. Catheterization 8 months after surgery demonstrated no residual shunt and she has been doing well.

Pulmonary venous obstruction (PVO) after repair of total anomalous pulmonary venous connection remains a significant problem. Once it occurs, it not infrequently recurs. A 14-month-old boy with recurrent pulmonary venous obstruction after repair of mixed type total anomalous pulmonary venous connection was successfully treated by the method of sutureless in situ pericardial repair and anastomosis of the left pulmonary vein to the left atrial appendage. His postoperative course was uneventful. Cardiac catheterization at 2 years and 9 months after the re-redo operation showed successful relief of PVO with marked reduction of pulmonary hypertension. In addition, multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) performed 3 years and 1 month after the operation showed no pulmonary vein obstruction.

Epithelial ovarian cancer remains the lethal gynecological malignancy in women. The representative histotype is high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC), and most patients with HGSC present at advanced stages with peritoneal dissemination. Since the peritoneal dissemination is the most important factor for poor prognosis of the patients, complete exploration for its molecular mechanisms is mandatory. In this narrative review, being based on the clinical, pathologic, and genomic findings of HGSC, chromosomal instability and epigenetic dynamics have been discussed as the potential drivers for cancer development in the fallopian tube, acquisition of cancer stem cell (CSC)-like properties, and peritoneal metastasis of HGSC. The natural history of carcinogenesis with clonal evolution, and adaptation to microenvironment of peritoneal dissemination of HGSC should be targeted in the novel development of strategies for prevention, early detection, and precision treatment for patients with HGSC.

Iron deficiency in athletes induces negative effects on their athletic performances. The present study aimed to examine a possibility of non-invasive screening with urine ferritin value for iron deficiency by examining its association with serum ferritin value. A group of 30 male college soccer players,13 male endurance runners, 22 female volleyball players, and 9 female long distance runners voluntarily participated in this study. Blood samples were collected before breakfast. The urinary samples were collected to the special tube in the morning and analyzed by ELISA in accordance with the manufacture’s specification. The urinary ferritin value was significantly correlated with serum ferritin value (r=0.32, p<0.05). In addition, the corresponding association was improved in athletes whose urinary ferritin values were less than 2314 ng/gCre (n=52) (r=0.49, p<0.05). In each of male and female athletes, the results on the event-related differences in urinary ferritin had a similar trend as those on serum ferritin. In future studies, further testing should be accomplished using larger numbers of athletes for use the urine ferritin as non-invasive screening iron deficiency in athletes.