As interesting results were obtained upon testing the responses in healthy adult males (age 20-54) of cutaneous touch, pain and heat sensitive points due to pressure stimulation and acupuncture stimulation at LI-4, and cutaneous touch and pain point reactions to acupumcure stimulation at St-36, we present the following report.
Previously it was discovered that pressure at LI-4 results in 1 decrease in the touch and pain point populations on the upper extremities on the stimulated side with the numbers returning to normal when stimulation ceased. With acupuncture stimulation, during stimulation the numbert of sensory points on the arm, thoracic and shoulder of stimulated side showed a remarkable decrease in the number of pain points. Very little change occured in thenumber of touch points however. Similar results were also reported on the abdominal area of the stimulated side with stimulation at ST-36. As for acupuncture stimulation and the cutaneous sensory point populations on the opposite side, cases of demhease in the number of sensory points and cases of no change were reported. Also it was reported that during acupuncture stimulation at LI-4 the number of heat points decreased and in 1 case returned to former levels when stimulation ceased.
For this study we increased the number of subjects and studied changes in the touch and pain sensitive point populations on the opposite side using acupuncture stimulation. We also examined changes in the number of heat sensitive points during acukuncture stimulation.
Stimulation on the opposite side produced nearly the same decrease in pain point population as did stimulation on the same side, with little change observed in the touch sensitive point numbers. The change in the number of heat sensitive points during acupuncture stimulation indicated a remakable tendency for decrease, similar to results observed with pain sensitive points. These results were obtained by studests during lab sessions.
We would like to find some clinical meaning in the administration of treatment on the opposite side.

Objective To find out a proper way to detect green fluorescent protein (GFP). Methods Kidneys, livers and femurs from GFP transgenic mice and C57BL/6J wild type mice were employed for in vivo study.The samples were dehydrated with alcohol and acetone individually before embedding, then frozen, paraffin and resin sections were made for the detection of GFP. C3 P12 cells which derived from calvaria bone cells of GFP transgenic mouse were used for the detection of GFP in vitro. Cells were exposed to alcohol, acetone and PBS after paraformaldehyde fixation. Laser scanning microscopy was employed for GFP detection. Results In frozen sections, both kidney and liver samples which exposed to 4% buffered paraformaldehyde fixation had strong GFP signals, while GFP signal disappeared completely in fresh frozen sections without fixation. Much stronger GFP intensity was found in acetone treated samples than in alcohol treated paraffin sections, but without apparent difference in GFP intensity in acetone and alcohol treated resin samples. Acetone and alcohol made no difference in fixed C3 cells in different time courses. Conclusion Acetone treated paraffin sections are preferable for GFP detection.

In order to obtain the physiological information during such outdoor exercises as cross-country running or skiing, mountain climbing or diving in the sea water etc, we developed a new device employing MEMORY IC. for monitoring and recording various biological information from the subjects during exercise with no restraint. The device is composed of detecting, data processing and recording units. The application of a semiconductor, CMOS MEMORY I.C. to the recording unit enabled us to construct the instrument, which is very compact (150g) and tolerant to the mechanical vibrations as well as the enviromental disturbances. The recorded data are read out by a microcomputor system. This device was applied to ten subjects during running, where the heart rate, respiration rate and body temperature were recorded. They covered a distance of 9 km within 60 minutes. The heart rate of five trained men was stabilized at nearly fixed level during running which was consistent results with those by the treadmill, but in the untrained men different results were shown from the trained. The heart rate of the untrained men showed that they encoutered the limits of the capacity on the way of running. These results showed wide applicability of this device for the physiological analysis of outdoor exercises.

PREAVOID is pharmaceutical intervention that is utilized to illustrate pharmacists’ contributions to medical care.  Currently, there is a great need for pharmacists to provide good medical services to inpatients; as a result, many pharmacists conduct pharmaceutical management in hospital wards.  However, pharmacists who have limited experience in working in the ward do not know exactly what they should check with respect to pharmaceutical management.  To resolve this problem, we determined 16 pharmaceutical-management items based on PREAVOID that was conducted at Nagara Medical Center.  Moreover, we conducted a pre-questionnaire survey assessing whether pharmacists who had worked in the ward for fewer than 4 years attended to these 16 check items in their daily work prior to our introducing the list to them.  The results indicated that pharmacists who had fewer than 2 years of experience working in wards attended to the 16 check items less than those who had more than 2 years of experience, and approximately half of the pharmacists had not received adequate guidance before beginning work at the ward.  In addition, most pharmacists indicated that clear check points were useful for conducting pharmaceutical management and the 16 check items were useful for their daily work.  These results indicate that the 16 check items are a useful educational tool for enabling pharmacists to conduct high quality pharmaceutical management from the initial stage and that using the 16 check items is superior to pharmacists only gaining this ability via prolonged experience working in the ward.

OBJECTIVEAlkaline phosphatase (ALP) and osteocalcin (OC) are the markers of new bone formation. Quantitative study of ALP and OC in the process of new bone formation helps to understand the ongoing of this cascade and contributes to make diagnosis in clinical treatment.

METHODS8-week-old male C57BL/6J mice and primary osteoblasts from neonatal C57BL/6J mice calvaria were used in this experiment. HE staining, Northern blot and Real Time PCR methods were employed to detect the histological changes and the expression pattern of ALP and OC.

RESULTSIn vivo study showed that after fracture the expressions of both ALP and OC kept on increasing which were peaked on the 10 day, then started decreasing gradually. In vitro study on primary osteoblasts showed that the expressions of ALP and OC reached peak on the 14th day in differentiation culture medium and started decreasing from this time point till the 21st day.

CONCLUSIONThe expression of ALP and OC in the process of new bone formation parallels with the development of osteoblasts, it increases with the differentiation of osteoblasts and becomes decreasing with the maturation of osteoblasts. The reciprocal relationship between the expression pattern of ALP and OC and development of osteoblast helps to maintain homeostasis.

Alkaline Phosphatase ; Animals ; Bone and Bones ; Cell Differentiation ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Osteoblasts ; Osteocalcin ; Skull

This study was aimed to explore the value of quantitative proton MR spectroscopy (1H-MRS) in the differentiation of benign and malignant meningioma. 23 cases, including 19 benign (grade I) and 4 malignant (grade II-III) meningiomas, underwent single voxel 1H-MRS (TR/TE = 2000 ms/68, 136, 272 ms). T2 relaxation time of tissue water and choline were estimated by an exponential decay model. Choline concentration was calculated using tissue water as the internal reference, and corrected according to intra-voxel cystic/necrotic parts. Tissue water T2 of benign and malignant meningiomas were (105 +/- 41) ms and (151 +/- 42) ms, respectively. The difference was statistically significant (P = 0.033). While Choline T2 of benign and malignant meningiomas were (242 +/- 73) ms and (316 +/- 102) ms respectively, the difference was not significant (P = 0.105). Choline concentration was (2.86 +/- 0.86) mmol/ kg wet weight in benign meningiomas and (3.53 +/- 0.60) mmol/kg wet weight in malignant ones; after correction they increased to (2.98 +/- 0.93)mmol/kg wet weight and (4.58 +/- 1.22) mmol/kg wet weight, respectively, and the difference was significant (P = 0.019). In conclusion, quantitative 1H-MRS is useful for the differentiation of benign and malignant meningioma by T2 relaxation time and absolute choline concentration.
Adult ; Aged ; Choline ; metabolism ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; methods ; Male ; Meningeal Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; metabolism ; pathology ; Meningioma ; diagnosis ; metabolism ; pathology ; Middle Aged ; Protons ; Young Adult

The purpose of this study was to explore the burden of introducing LCP-J in two wards（medical oncology and respiratory medicine）in Tohoku University Hospital. We administered audit evaluations about dying cancer patients and interviewed 2 doctors and 8 nurses regarding LCP-J intervention. LCP-J was used for 22 patients（38％）, and no significant difference in infusion, potent opioid analgesic and sedative medication within last 48 hours were seen between users and nonusers. Responses were categorized into［confirm directions about dying care among health care professionals］, and［training in dying care in a structured way］as usefulness facets of the LCP-J, and［difficulty in assessment of dying］,［burden of health care professionals］, and［difficulty using LCP-J without knowledge and training in dying care］as burdens of the LCP-J. We explored the burden of LCP-J in general wards, and found that use of the LCP-J could need education in dying care and backup of the palliative care team.