The author evaluated the immediate effect of a single dose of Kakkon-to-ka-senkyu-shin'i on nasal obstructin in a 26-year-old male patient with exacerbated nasal allergy symptoms. A 100mm-linear visual analogue scale (VAS: 0=complete nasal patency and 100=complete nasal obstruction while breathing through both nostrils with the mouth closed) was used for subjective measurement of nasal sensation of airflow. At the same time, acoustic rhinometry was performed to objectively measure the minimum cross-sectional area (MCA) and cavity volume (NCV) of the nose.
1) The VAS score decreased linearly from 47 to 43 for the first 70 minutes after the medication was administered. During this period, the linear regression was significant (p<0.05). After the first 70 minutes, the VAS score started to increase.
2) Right+left MCA and right+left NCV increased linearly in the same period, 0.24cm²to 0.39cm² and 11.47cm³ to 13.74cm³, respectively. These slopes were also significant by linear regression analysis (p<0.05. respectively). Both of these values started decreasing after this period. These findings were in close agreement with those obtained in the simultaneous VAS study.
In conclusion, Kakkon-to-ka-senkyu-shin'i apparently produced an immediate effect on allergy-induced nasal obstruction in a patient who recovered his nasal patency within an hour after administration, although the effect was not long-lasting.

The effectiveness of three Kampo formulas expected to be effective for AST (abnormal sensation in the throat) and AND (autonomic nervous dysfunction) was evaluated. The Kampo formulas used were Hange-koboku-to (Ban xia hou pu tang), Saiko-ka-ryukotsu-borei-to (Chai hu jia long gu mu li tang) and Saiboku-to (Chai pu tang). The subjects involved in this study were 165 patients who complained of AST and were classified by the Cornell Medical Index Health Questionnaire as having AND or AND+N (neurotic condition). The results were then compared with those obtained with Ethyl Loflazepate (an anti-anxiety drug), Tofisopam (a deriv-ative of 2, 3-benzodiazepines) and psychotherapy.
Therapy was considered ‘effective’ if a subjective 50% or greater reduction in AST was achieved. The evaluation after two weeks of each therapy revealed that Tofisopam was most effective in both the AND and AND+N type patients. The Kampo drugs seemed to be slightly superior or equal in effectiveness to Ethyl Loflazapate in the treatment of AND+N type patients, but not in the treatment of patients with AND alone.

The author evaluated immediate effects of a single dose of Mao-bushi-saishin-to extract granules (TJ-127) and extract capsules (NC127) on allergic nasal obstruction using acoustic rhinometry in two adult male patients. In case 1, no apparent increase of right+left nasal cavity volume (NCV) was shown during a period of 95 minutes after the administration of NC127. However, an increase was noted 50 minutes after the administration of TJ-127. In case 2, NCV started increasing 15 minutes after the administration of TJ-127 and 50 minutes after the administration of NC127. The result indicates that Mao-bushi-saishin-to extract granules might take effect more quickly than extract capsules.

In order to evaluate the Cornell Medical Index-Health Questionnaire (CMI) as a screening device for depressive disorders, we conducted a study in 240 patients (117 males and 123 females, 18-83 years of age with a mean of 57.7 years) who had suffered from tinnitus, dizziness, sore tongue and/or throat discomfort that are often associated with affective disorders.
All the patients underwent the following 3 tests simultaneously; CMI, self-rating depression scale (SDS) and self-rating questionnaire for depression (SRQ-D). Individuals who gave one or more “yes” answers to the following 6 questions in the “depression” section on the CMI were classified into “depressive” and the remainder “non-depressive”.
1. Do you feel alone and sad at a party?
2. Do you usually feel unhappy and depressed?
3. Do you often cry?
4. Are you always miserable and blue?
5. Does life look entirely hopeless?
6. Do you often wish you were dead and away from it all?
The result obtained by the CMI method mentioned above was significantly correlated with that by eigher of SDS and SRQ-D (P<0.0001 by chi-square test). Supposing that a depressive state was correctly diagnosed by SDS and SRQ-D as well, the sensitivity of the CMI method, namely the proportion of true positives that were correctly identified by the CMI method, was low (30.6% against SDS, 30.9% against SRQ-D). On the other hand, the specificity of the CMI method, namely the proportion of true negatives that were correctly identified by the CMI method, washigh enough (93.2% against SDS, 89.3% against SRQ-D).
These results suggest that the CMI can provide a simple andfairly accurate estimate of depressive disorders.

In order to evaluate the Cornell Medical Index-Health Questionnaire (CMI) as a screening device for depressive disorders, we ran tests on 306 patients (148 males and 158 females, 18-83 years of age with a mean of 57.7 years) who visited our clinic, complaining of tinnitus, dizziness, sore tongue and/or throat discomfort that are often associated with affective disorders.
The tests all the patients underwent simultaneously were the following three: CMI, self-rating depression scale (SDS) and self-rating questionnaire for depression (SRQ-D).
The number of “yes” responses (CMI-DEP score) to 24 depression-related questions on the CMI correlated significantly with the SDS score (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (ρ) =0.570, p<0.0001, SDS score=1.6× “CMI-DEP score” +31.8) and with the SRQ-D score (Spearman's ρ=0.659, p<0.0001, SRQ-D score=0.9× “CMIDEP score” +5.1) as well.
Referring to the classifiations for SDS scores (20-39: little depressive, 40-49: slightly depressive, 50-80: moderately depressive) and for SRQ-D scores (0-10: normal, 11-15: borderline, 16-36: possibly masked depression) reported by others, we classified the individuals into the three groups according to the CMI-DEP scores: normal (0-5), probably depressive (6-11) and depressive (12-24).
Supposing that a depressive state was correctly diagnosed with the SDS method and the SRQ-D method as well, the sensitivity of the CMI-DEP method was relatively low (46.3% against SDS and 59.2% against SRQ-D), but the specificity of the method was high enough (84.3% against SDS and 85.1% against SRQ-D).
These results suggest that the CMI-DEP classification can provide an accurate estimate of depressive disorders.

Medicine, Kampo ; Names ; Disease ; Diagnosis