To investigate the effectiveness of Maobushisaishin-to (traditional Japanese herbal medicine; Tsumura TJ-127) in treating the common cold, a clinical comparison between Maobushisaishin-to and a general common cold drug was conducted using the sealed envelope method. The study involved 83 patients in the TJ-127 group and 88 patients in the general cold drug group. No differences in age, gender or the period from the onset of the disease to the beginning of treatment were observed between the two groups.
The results indicated greater than moderate improvement in 81.9% of the TJ-127 group, compared with 60.3% of the compound cold drug group (p<0.01). Further analysis of symptom diaries kept by the patients indicated that TJ-127 provided more rapid relief for symptoms such as fever, feeling feverish, coughing and phlegm than did the general cold drug. No side effects were observed for the TJ-127. These results suggest that TJ-127 is effective in the treatment of the common cold.

Background/Aims: Since the usefulness of neoadjuvant chemo(radiation) therapy (NAT) for pancreatic cancer has been demonstrated, recurrent biliary obstruction (RBO) in patients with pancreatic cancer with a fully covered self-expandable metal stent (FCSEMS) during NAT is expected to increase. This study investigated the impact of sarcopenia on RBO in this setting. Methods: Patients were divided into normal and low skeletal muscle index (SMI) groups and retrospectively analyzed. Patient characteristics, overall survival, time to RBO (TRBO), stent-related adverse events, and postoperative complications were compared between the two groups. A Cox proportional hazard model was used to identify the risk factors for short TRBO. Results: A few significant differences were observed in patient characteristics, overall survival, stent-related adverse events, and postoperative complications between 38 patients in the normal SMI group and 17 in the low SMI group. The median TRBO was not reached in the normal SMI group and was 112 days in the low SMI group (p=0.004). In multivariate analysis, low SMI was the only risk factor for short TRBO, with a hazard ratio of 5.707 (95% confidence interval, 1.148–28.381; p=0.033). Conclusions Sarcopenia was identified as an independent risk factor for RBO in patients with pancreatic cancer with FCSEMS during NAT.