A survey was conducted on 117 agricultural cooperatives and 121 city, town and village offices in Nagano Prefecture to find out how they provide health care to the population. The following is a summary of the findigs of the questionnaire survey based on interviews.
1. Collaboration between agricultural co-ops and local public offices in health control activities has become closer. Nearly half of the agricultural co-ops plan and implement health screening programs jointly with city, town and village authorities. One of the favorable effects of the joint undertaking manifests itself in the form of improvement in the ratio of participants to the total populace. The average percentage of participation in the joint programs comes at 48.8% as against the prefectural average of some 22%. Moreover, the joint efforts bring about the desired effect on the implementation of after-screening guidance and other health promotion programs.
2. Of local health leaders, 87.2% said that they keep in contact with each other. Those who meet once in every one to three months account for 24.8% of the total. In the areas where health leaders have liaison meetings regularly, it is noted that there is close cooperation between medical insitutions and various health-related organizations, resulting in a marked improvement in the percentage of participation in health screenings. It is also noted that there is overall improvement in the attitude toward health control.
3. As regards the participation of inhabitants in health control activities, the women's, the young men's and the producers' associations have representatives to the health control promotion council of the agricultural cooperative in each region. Of the three associations, the women's association is the most enthusiastic with the participation ratio of 55.4%. Meanwhile, 67.8% of the agricultural co-ops send their representatives to the health promotion council of each municipal body. More representatives of agricultural co-ops and inhabitants should take part in the council in the interest of people's well-being.

Case: A 40-year-old woman. Clinical diagnosis: Autistic disorder with mild mental retardation. Case report: The patient underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy for the treatment of her pancreatic cancer. We held several conferences with individuals from different medical fields and examined the influence of the patient's autistic disorder on the perioperative conditions. The senior author, a clinical psychologist, conducted repeated individual, acceptive, and sympathetic interviews with the patient and her family and maintained supportive relationships with them as an honorary family member. Thus, the clinical psychologist helped reduce the patient's anxiety about the medical treatment. Conclusion: The participation of a clinical psychologist in the medical conferences enabled the medical staff to understand the complications involved and provide mental support to the patient and her family. Palliat Care Res 2010; 5(2): 323-326

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Despite improvements in endoscopic hemostasis and pharmacological therapies, upper gastrointestinal (UGI) ulcers repeatedly bleed in 10% to 20% of patients, and those without early endoscopic reintervention or definitive surgery might be at a high risk for mortality. This study aimed to identify the risk factors for intractability to initial endoscopic hemostasis. METHODS: We analyzed intractability among 428 patients who underwent emergency endoscopy for bleeding UGI ulcers within 24 hours of arrival at the hospital. RESULTS: Durable hemostasis was achieved in 354 patients by using initial endoscopic procedures. Sixty-nine patients with Forrest types Ia, Ib, IIa, and IIb at the second-look endoscopy were considered intractable to the initial endoscopic hemostasis. Multivariate analysis indicated that age > or =70 years (odds ratio [OR], 2.06; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07 to 4.03), shock on admission (OR, 5.26; 95% CI, 2.43 to 11.6), hemoglobin <8.0 mg/dL (OR, 2.80; 95% CI, 1.39 to 5.91), serum albumin <3.3 g/dL (OR, 2.23; 95% CI, 1.07 to 4.89), exposed vessels with a diameter of > or =2 mm on the bottom of ulcers (OR, 4.38; 95% CI, 1.25 to 7.01), and Forrest type Ia and Ib (OR, 2.21; 95% CI, 1.33 to 3.00) predicted intractable endoscopic hemostasis. CONCLUSIONS: Various factors contribute to intractable endoscopic hemostasis. Careful observation after endoscopic hemostasis is important for patients at a high risk for incomplete hemostasis.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Emergencies ; Endoscopy ; Hematemesis ; Hemorrhage* ; Hemostasis ; Hemostasis, Endoscopic* ; Humans ; Melena ; Mortality ; Multivariate Analysis ; Peptic Ulcer* ; Risk Factors ; Serum Albumin ; Shock ; Ulcer

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to elucidate the efficacy and safety of carbonate apatite (CO₃Ap) granules in 2-stage sinus floor augmentation through the radiographic and histomorphometric assessment of bone biopsy specimens.METHODS: Two-stage sinus floor augmentation was performed on 13 patients with a total of 17 implants. Radiographic assessment using panoramic radiographs was performed immediately after augmentation and was also performed 2 additional times, at 7±2 months and 18±2 months post-augmentation, respectively. Bone biopsy specimens taken from planned implant placement sites underwent micro-computed tomography, after which histological sections were prepared.RESULTS: Postoperative healing of the sinus floor augmentation was uneventful in all cases. The mean preoperative residual bone height was 3.5±1.3 mm, and this was increased to 13.3±1.7 mm by augmentation with the CO₃Ap granules. The mean height of the augmented site had decreased to 10.7±1.9 mm by 7±2 months after augmentation; however, implants with lengths in the range of 6.5 to 11.5 mm could still be placed. The mean height of the augmented site had decreased to 9.6±1.4 mm by 18±2 months post-augmentation. No implant failure or complications were observed. Few inflammatory cells or foreign body giant cells were observed in the bone biopsy specimens. Although there were individual differences in the amount of new bone detected, new bone was observed to be in direct contact with the CO₃Ap granules in all cases, without an intermediate layer of fibrous tissue. The amounts of bone and residual CO₃Ap were 33.8%±15.1% and 15.3%±11.9%, respectively.CONCLUSIONS: In this first demonstration, low-crystalline CO₃Ap granules showed excellent biocompatibility, and bone biopsy showed them to be replaced with bone in humans. CO₃Ap granules are a useful and safe bone substitute for two-stage sinus floor augmentation.
Apatites ; Biopsy ; Bone Substitutes ; Carbon ; Dental Implants ; Giant Cells, Foreign-Body ; Humans ; Individuality ; Prospective Studies ; Sinus Floor Augmentation

Use of benzodiazepine (BZD) receptor agonists for delirious or elderly patients has occasionally been found as a result of inappropriate instructions for insomnia or restlessness, according to research of the dementia and delirium support team (DDST), which manages instructions on admission and during hospital rounds. We believe that one reason for this is the lack of hospital guidelines for managing insomnia and restlessness. When changing electronic medical record vendors, we took the opportunity to establish proper drug usage instructions. The percentage of available instructions for insomnia and restlessness at the time of admission and the prescribed medications were surveyed and compared before and after the vendor change. The prescription rate for insomnia was 88.6% (1,779/2,007) before and 91.9% (1,902/2,069) after the change, showing a significant increase. The prescription rate of benzodiazepine receptor agonist use was 47.7% (848/1,779) before and 41.6% (792/1,902) after the change, showing a significant decrease. The prescription rate for restlessness was 71.2% (1,429/2,007) before and 85.6% (1,771/2,069) after the change, showing a significant increase. The recommended drug usage instructions affected prescriptions for insomnia and restlessness at admission and prescriptions of BZD receptor agonist usage at admission. Our findings seem to suggest that setting drug usage instructions for insomnia and restlessness when changing the electronic medical record vendor will be useful for promoting proper medication use.