1.Discussion about 2 cases of intractable headache from brain tumor in which opioids were effective and a hypothesis regarding the underlying mechanism
Keiko Onishi ; Toyoshi Hosokawa ; Takuji Tsubokura ; Keita Fukazawa ; Hiroshi Ueno ; Chul Kwon ; Akiho Harada ; Madoka Fukazawa ; Akiko Yamashiro ; Ayano Taniguchi ; Kiyohiko Hatano ; Moegi Tanaka ; Arisa Nakasone ; Megumi Okada
Palliative Care Research 2015;10(2):509-513
Headaches caused by metastatic brain tumors result from dural tension and traction of the sites of nociceptive nerves that originates from displacement of cerebral vessels and intracranial hypertension caused by the tumor. Causes of such headaches also include meningeal irritation resulting from intrathecal dissemination of tumor and carcinomatous meningitis.Treatment of headaches resulting from intracranial hypertension involves alleviation of cerebral edema and reduction of intracranial pressure using hyperosmolar therapy and steroid administration, but treatment is often complicated by a lack of pressure reduction. We encountered 2 cases of headaches with intracranial hypertension that did not improve following hyperosmolar therapy and steroid administration, but resolved with increased opioid dose.In cases where intracranial pressure does not decrease, or for headaches attributed to direct stimulus of intracranial nociceptive nerves rather than intracranial hypertension, attempts to treat the patient with initiation or increased dosage of opioids may prove effective from a clinical standpoint.
2.Evaluation of Publicity Activities to the COVID-19 Website for Community Pharmacists
Kazuaki MORI ; Hiroshi OKADA ; Shota SUZUKI ; Megumi YAMASHITA ; Kyoko MATSUZAWA ; Emiko IGARASHI
Japanese Journal of Drug Informatics 2021;23(3):143-147
Objective: The worldwide spread of the COVID-19 pandemic since 2020 led to a lack of information even at Japanese pharmacies, which are at the forefront of community medicine. Therefore, the Kyoto University Graduate School of Public Health Pharmacy Information Group has developed information materials related to COVID-19 for pharmacies0and released them on the COVID-19 countermeasure website, which was launched in haste. However, these days in the information society, the amount of information distributed is explosively expanding. Therefore, it is not possible to reach the target people just by publishing the countermeasure website. Therefore, we set up a public relations team to carry out publicity activities for pharmacists and analyzed the effectiveness of these activities by focusing on changes in the number of page views (PV) on the countermeasure website.Methods: PV and public relations(Facebook, industry media , e-mail) activities during the first 18 days(EARLY period), which is half of the total PV, and the remaining 164 days(MIDDLE period), covering 182 days from the day before the countermeasure website was opened. The changes in quantity were compared. Furthermore, we also compared the changes in the level of interest in the new coronavirus during the target period using Google Trends.Results: PV was remarkably large in the EARLY period, and the amount of public relations activity was generally concentrated in the EARLY period and PV. The number of searches for related words on Google Trends was almost the same as PV except for some. Conclusion: The study revealed the importance of establishing a pandemic countermeasure website for pharmacists at an appropriate time and conducting intensive public relations activities in the early stages.