Objective: We analyzed articles in the Japanese Journal of Drug Informatics with the goal of identifying recent research trends in drug informatics.
Method: The appearance frequencies of keywords in the Japanese Journal of Drug Informatics (2001: vol. 3 (1) to 2009: vol. 11 (4)) and Japanese Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Care and Sciences (2009: vol. 35 (1) to (6)), and words in abstracts in Japanese Journal of Drug Informatics (2009: vol. 11 (1) to 2010: vol. 12 (4)) were analyzed.
Results: To investigate keywords in the Japanese Journal of Drug Informatics, appearance frequencies of information, drug, drugs and pharmacist in 2001: vol. 3 (1) to 2003: vol. 5 (4), those of information, drug, drugs, medical, medication and questionnaire in 2004: vol. 6 (1) to 2006: vol. 8 (4), and those of information, drug, questionnaire, survey, pharmacist, adverse and generic in 2007: vol. 9 (1) to 2009: vol. 11 (4) were higher than those of other keywords.  In the Japanese Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Care and Sciences, appearance frequencies of drug, pharmacy, care, patient, pharmaceutical, cancer, education, training, analysis and drugs were higher than those of other keywords.  Information, drug(s), patients, pharmacists, hospital, use, questionnaire, medical, adverse, survey, agents, generic and pharmaceutical were high frequency words used in abstracts published in the Japanese Journal of Drug Informatics.  These words in abstracts indicate a Zipf’s law-like rank distribution.  Co-occurrence network graphs using abstracts showed that the first cluster consisted of medical, drug, adverse, drugs, pharmaceutical, hospital, doctors, contents and drug around information and pharmacists as hubs, and the second cluster consisted of 3 words (agents, woman and pregnant).  Furthermore, co-occurrence network graphs indicated that care, medical, pharmaceutical, information, adverse, pharmacists, hospital, doctors, questionnaire, woman, pregnant, package and side were matters of important arguments and/or phenomena.
Conclusion: These data suggest that the scope of themes in articles published in the Japanese Journal of Drug Informatics is establishing definitive categories.  The recent themes and contents of the Japanese Journal of Drug Informatics were closely and mutually related.

Objective: The Hyogo Hospital Pharmaceutical Society has been conducting an original pharmacy postgraduate education program, “lifelong learning program (to nurture pharmacy specialists)”, since 2002 using the Internet.  To understand the status of using this program, this study employed a questionnaire survey involving all registered members.
Methods: Subjects were all members (1,870) of the society.  Questionnaires were distributed and collected by mail.
Results: Only 20.1% of the members had experience of using the program, and the frequency of using it was less than once per 6-12 months in 60% of the members.  Their level of awareness concerning the acquisition of credits for lifelong learning was 36.9%.  The program category they wished to take was an infection-related program in 26.1% of the members, which was the highest.
Conclusion: As reasons for only a small number of members using the program, the following are considered: loss of user’s ID and password required to login, and lack of awareness concerning the acquisition of credits for lifelong learning offered by the Japanese Society of Hospital Pharmacists.  As future issues, we must encourage members to obtain a new password and be proactively involved in preparing new program categories that the members wish to take, in order to promote the continuous use of the program.

  In Kochi prefecture, the mortality rate of males in their 40s and 50s exceeds the mean death rate of Japanese men by more than 10%. The causes of death in general in Kochi are cancer (27.1%), cardiac disease (16.8%), cerebrovascular disease (11.9%) and pneumonia (11.2%) in that order. We analysed the data of a total of 1,826 males in the 40-50 age band who had panticipated in the one-day health screening course provided by our hospital. Our findings showed that many of these middle-aged males, were heavy drinkers and obese people with BMI of 25 or more. The amount of alcohol consumption in Kochi is the second largest in Japan, which may impact on the incidence of alcohol-related diseases and death. As for blood pressure, the ratio of those people in their 50s and 60s with hypertension in Kochi was higher than the mean of this country. To prevent the development of the metabolic syndrome, we must keep on making efforts and encourage them to adopt a healthy life style.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate both the time‐to‐onset and the onset‐pattern of drug‐induced blood disorders (DIBD) following the administration of monoclonal antibody agents through the use of the spontaneous adverse reaction reporting system of the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report （JADER) database.Methods: Data in the JADER database from April 2004 to October 2017 were downloaded from the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency website.　The DIBD dataset for monoclonal antibody agents was constructed based on the data for the drug information and adverse drug reactions.　The information for the adverse drug reactions was categorized in accordance with the preferred terms of the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities and included thrombocytopenia, platelet count decreased, neutropenia, neutrophil count decreased, leukopenia, white blood cell count decreased, pancytopenia, anaemia, agranulocytosis, granulocyte count decreased, granulocytopenia, and bone marrow failure.　This dataset was then used to calculate the median onset times for the DIBD and the Weibull distribution parameters.Results: The median onset times of the DIBD for gemtuzumab ozogamicin, cetuximab, ramucirumab, trastuzumab, panitumumab, bevacizumab, infliximab, rituximab, trastuzumab, and ibritumomab tiuxetan (90Y) were 4, 10, 13, 14, 14, 14, 16, 16, 27, and 28 days, respectively.　The Weibull distributions for cetuximab, trastuzumab, bevacizumab, infliximab, and tocilizumab were estimated to fit the early failure type profile, while those for gemtuzumab ozogamicin, ramucirumab, rituximab, and ibritumomab tiuxetan (90Y) were estimated to fit the wear out failure type profile.　The Weibull distributions for panitumumab were estimated to fit the random failure type profile.Conclusions: The results of the present study clarified both the most likely time period and the onset‐pattern of DIBD that can occur in patients after the administration of monoclonal antibody agents.

The purpose of this research was to develop a reflection program to support the practice of end-of-life care for nurses and to examine its effectiveness and feasibility. We developed and examined the effectiveness of a facilitator-based reflection program (FRP) and card-based reflection program (CRP). Average scores for both the FRP and CRP were measured using a Knowledge, Attitude and Difficulty Scale for palliative care and Self-education Ability Scale implemented before, immediately after, and 3 months after the program. The changes in scores were compared. This research was conducted with approval from the ethics review committee. Nine people participated in the FRP, and 15 in the CRP. FRP significantly reduced difficulty concerning palliative care compared to CRP. FRP significantly increased knowledge compared to CRP. Similar results were obtained within the FRP group. Both FRP and CRP were considered highly feasible because the program evaluation was high. In the future, it is necessary to clarify the effect of the reflection program by reviewing the research design.