Pleural dissemination of a tumor is one form of the extrapleural involvments of lung cancer. CT images of pathologically proved pleural dissemination of lung cancer in 18 patient were included in this study. CT features of (a) small nodular opacities in the interlobar area and/or thickening of interlobar fissure, and (b) irregular pleural surface of the chest wall were retrospectively reviewed. Fourteen of 18 cases (78%) showed interlobar abnormalities and nine cases (50%) demonstrated irregular pleural surface of the chest wall. We concluded that CT scanning could play an important role in the clinical diagnosis of pleural dissemination of lung cancer.

Background: The center for international relations was established in 2007 and it has organized a program for accepting international students for short periods since 2009 to enhance internationalization at the medical school.

Methods: The number of inbound and outbound students, and the number of overseas medical schools with an Academic Agreement and a Memorandum of Understanding with our institution from 2008 to 2013 were counted, and the relevant achievements were evaluated.

Results: The number of inbound students increased from 0 in 2008 to 14 in 2013, and the number of outbound students also increased from 1 in 2008 to 12 in 2013. The number of overseas medical schools with an Academic Agreement and a Memorandum of Understanding also increased from 1 to 3. The number of scholarship applications to go overseas also increased from 2 to 12.

Discussion: Organizing a well-established program for inbound students probably contributed to developing the international environment within the school for both inbound and outbound students, and to enhancing discussion of student exchange with potential partner universities. The center for international relations has functioned as a hub for the students and relevant departments by centralizing information, which has markedly communication improved.

A 61-year-old woman with paresthesia and coldness of the right forearm came to our institute. Her right arm was strangulated and tracted by a vinyl string tied at her right brachium. No pulsation of her right radial artery was detected, and her forearm had swollen with subcutaneous hematoma. Her arteriography showed occlusion of the distal site of the right brachial artery, and just proximal to the brachial arterial bifurcation was enhanced by collaterals. She underwent emergency revascularization 6h after injury. There was a thrombus in the artery at the strangulated site, and the arterial intima was circumferentially dissected. The injured site of the artery was completely resected and interposed with basilic vein. Although 8h had passed from injury to reperfusion, myonephropathic metabolic syndrome did not occur after the operation. Her brachial arterial pulsation is now well palpable. The arterial occlusion was probably caused by the circumferential tear of the intima due to not only direct strangulation but also strong traction of the arm. It is necessary to resect a sufficient length of injured artery.

A novel high-throughput system, called the stacked slice-gel system for separation and reactions (4SR), was developed for the analysis of DNA/RNA and protein/peptide. The system provides a novel three-dimensional gel electrophoresis approach that exploits the property of stacked slice gels. It allows multiple samples simultaneously to react as well as to be separated, offering a two-dimensional (m×n) sample loading system. For this purpose, high-throughput multi-micro vessels (MMVs) containing variable numbers of wells (100 wells in this paper) have been used, which are made of 25 mm square-size polyacrylamide gels. Furthermore, after electrophoretic separation, a slice gel containing a desired sample can be easily removed and proceeded to the next step. Different biological reactions as well as successive separation of products were effectively carried out dealing with DNA/RNA and protein/peptide. It shows that this system has a diversity of potentials to be developed.

No abstract available.
Polyps*

Case1was a 91-year old man diagnosed with multiple cerebral infarctions. He had undergone percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy in the same year. One year later, we initiated acupuncture treatment because of recurrent respiratory tract infections. The acupuncture points selected were LU 5, Chize and KI 13, Taixi. Before acupuncture, the frequencies of antibiotics-use and feverish days were 6.3 days and 2.7 days per month on average. During acupuncture therapy, these frequencies were reduced to 1.2 days and 0.6 days per month, respectively.Case 2 was an 81-year old man diagnosed with right thalamic hemorrhage. He underwent percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy in the same year. After 6 months, we began acupuncture treatment, also because of recurrent respiratory tract infections. The acupuncture points were the same as in Case 1.Prior to acupuncture, antibiotics-use and feverish days were 8 days and 4.5 days per month, which were then reduced to1and 0.6 days per month, respectively.Case 3 was a 93-year old man diagnosed with dementia. He was being fed via nasoenteric tubes. After 3 months, again because of recurrent respiratory tract infections, acupuncture treatment was begun. The acupuncture points were the same as in Cases 1 and 2.His use of antibiotics and feverish condition were 9 days and 10 days per month on average before acupuncture, but with acupuncture therapy these were improved to 2 days and 1.3 days per month.Based on this experience, it is suggested that acupuncture be considered for the treatment of recurrent respiratory tract infections in elderly, tube-fed patients.
Acupuncture ; days/month ; Respiratory ; therapeutic aspects ; Cases

Two years have passed since a patient who started to use the respirator for a tuberculosis sequela and chronic respiratory failure at home. During this period, the patient got several short-term admissions into the hospital. After his first discharge, the patient and his family felt anxiety about recupration at home. It was the first time for us to provide home care services to a respirator wearing patient. However, the shift to recuperation at home was realized as an understanding was reached between physicians who decided upon care home and the patient's wife who wished “to live with the husband together”. The patient is now playing a role as a father and as a husband, and he is leading a full life. In this study, the personal and familial circumstances of the patient, decision-making about home care and community support were analized. We coucluded that there were several important factors for successful recuperation at home:specification of contents of concrete medical support to a patient and a family;an immediate suitable action at the time of change of a patient's condition;taking periodic rests of a patient and a family;and a good family relationship.
Patients ; Ventilators, Mechanical ; seconds ; Family ; Home

Natural-orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) using flexible endoscopy has attracted attention as a minimally invasive surgical method that does not cause an operative wound on the body surface. However, minimizing the number of devices involved in endoscopic, compared to laparoscopic, surgeries has remained a challenge, causing endoscopic surgeries to gradually be phased out of use. If a flexible endoscopic full-thickness suturing device and a counter-traction device were developed to expand the surgical field for gastrointestinal-tract collapse, then endoscopic full-thickness resection using NOTES, which is seen as an extension of endoscopic submucosal dissection for full-thickness excision of tumors involving the gastrointestinal-tract wall, might become an extremely minimally invasive surgical method that could be used to resect only full-thickness lesions approached by the shortest distance via the mouth. It is expected that gastroenterological endoscopists will use this surgery if device development is advanced. This extremely minimally invasive surgery would have an immeasurable impact with regard to mitigating the burden on patients and reducing healthcare costs. Development of a new surgical method using a multipurpose flexible endoscope is therefore considered a socially urgent issue.
Dissection/economics/instrumentation/*methods ; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms/pathology/*surgery ; Health Care Costs ; Humans ; Medical Illustration ; Mouth ; Natural Orifice Endoscopic Surgery/economics/instrumentation/*methods ; Upper Gastrointestinal Tract/*surgery

Although the notion that cancer is a disease caused by genetic and epigenetic alterations is now widely accepted, perhaps more emphasis has been given to the fact that cancer is a genetic disease. It should be noted that in the post-genome sequencing project period of the 21st century, the underlined phenomenon nevertheless could not be discarded towards the complete control of cancer disaster as the whole strategy, and in depth investigation of the factors associated with tumorigenesis is required for achieving it. Otto Warburg has won a Nobel Prize in 1931 for the discovery of tumor bioenergetics, which is now commonly used as the basis of positron emission tomography (PET), a highly sensitive noninvasive technique used in cancer diagnosis. Furthermore, the importance of the cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis in therapy-related resistance and metastasis has been recognized during the past 2 decades. Accumulating evidence suggests that tumor bioenergetics plays a critical role in CSC regulation; this finding has opened up a new era of cancer medicine, which goes beyond cancer genomics.
Animals ; *Energy Metabolism/genetics/physiology ; *Genomics ; Humans ; Neoplasms/genetics/*metabolism ; Neoplastic Stem Cells/*metabolism

Objective: The overproduction of reactive oxygen species leads to oxidative stress, which is related to lifestyle-related disease and cancer. Although antioxidants are considered as one of the countermeasures to oxidative stress, it is necessary to develop the assessment methodology for the antioxidant capacity which is closer to the inner body conditions. In this study, we examined antioxidant actions of plant extracts by using newly-developed neutrophil activity measurement system.
Method: Lemon verbena, Green tea, Camellia japonica and Antiallerge^® were used as plant extracts, and were diluted to medium in wide-range concentrations. Each solution was added on modified Mebiol Gel^® (hydrogel), and the mixture of blood and luminol were set onto the hydrogel in each tube. The amount of reactive oxygen species were measured by luminol-dependent chemiluminescence, whereas the cell count in the hydrogel was quantified as migratory activity of neutrophils.
Result: Lemon verbena and Green tea significantly inhibited reactive oxygen species in a concentration-dependent manner, whereas Camellia japonica and Antiallerge^® did not. The migratory activity of neutrophils was not affected by those plant extracts. Also, damaged cells were not detected.
Conclusion: It was suggested that Lemon verbena and Green tea scavenged reactive oxygen species without causing cell death of neutrophils. This new method for measuring neutrophil activities can be applied not only for assessing the status of inflammation and oxidative stress but also as the screening system for predicting the effectiveness of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory substances.