We report five cases of painful swelling caused by hymenoptera stings and centipede bites treated with ourengedokuto and inchingoreisan soon after the time of injury. The first case was a 70-year-old male. He was stung by a hornet on the left hand 30 minutes prior. The second case was a 45-year-old male. He was stung by a hornet on the left face 20 minutes prior. The third case was a 55-year-old male. He was stung by a hornet on the left lower thigh 10 minutes prior. The fourth case was a 39-year-old male. He was stung by a hornet on the right thigh 60 minutes prior. The fifth case was a 35-year-old male. He was bitten by a centipede on the right first toe 20 minutes prior. All cases received Kampo therapies immediately and continued them every few hours. In all cases, their pain, redness and swelling at the site of injury were relieved by the next day. We consider Kampo therapies can contribute to the healing of hymenoptera stings and centipede bites at an early stage.

Sokeikakketsuto was administered to 33 patients with recurrent cramps of the calf appearing once a week or more and persisting for 2 weeks or more. Treatment response was evaluated 1 month after the start of drug therapy. Patients whose cramps disappeared immediately after starting were regarded as showing a complete response, those with disappearance after 1 month as showing a partial response, those with a reduction to <50% after 1 month as showing a slight response, and those in whom 50% or more of cramps persisted after 1 month as showing no response. A complete response was achieved in 12 patients, a partial response in 11, a slight response in 9, and no response in 1. In 23 (69.6%) of the 33 patients, cramps disappeared within 1 month after the start of drug therapy. In 32 (96.9%), there was a reduction to <50%. In 29 (87.8%) of the 33 patients, cramps disappeared within 3 months, suggesting the efficacy of this drug. Two-package administration in the evening/at bedtime was more effective than 1-package administration for controlling cramps of the calf at night until early in the morning. The intensive pre-attack administration of 2 packages before sleep was the most effective. Sokeikakketsuto may be useful for treating recurrent cramps of the calf.

A 68-year-old female had been diagnosed with granuloma annulare a year earlier. She was prescribed tranilast and was recovering, but had to discontinue the tranilast because she suffered liver damage as a side effect.
She was also suffering from a worsening rash and so decided to try Kampo medicine. We prescribed orengedokuto because of thermal symptoms suggestive of hot flushes, the appearance of her tongue, and the character of her rash. Initially, the rash improved, but from the 3rd day following admission did not change greatly. We suspected the existence of interior cold and started combining maobushisaishinto. Five days later, the granulomas had rapidly shrunk. We believe she had overlapping diseases of a yin and yang pattern from the fact that she improved clinically.

We report two cases of chest and abdominal symptoms, the causes of which can not be established in a medical sense, successfully treated with daisaikoto. The first case was an 81-year-old male. He complained of tightness in his chest. Since the frequency of his symptom was increasing, he underwent further evaluation in hospital, but no abnormalities were found. We administered daisaikoto with reference to his constipation and kyo-kyo-kuman (subchondrial resistance and discomfort), the tightness in his chest disappeared and three months later his qi stagnation score and SDS score had improved.
The second case was an 83-year-old male. He had been suffering epigastric pain, tightness of chest and abdomen and a feeling of fullness in the abdomen since two years previously, when he suffered multiple traumatic injuries. We administered daisaikoto in light of his epigastric pain, constipation and kyo-kyo-kuman.The epigastric pain and tightness of the chest and abdomen gradually disappeared, and the number of his unscheduled visits to the clinic decreased.
Thus, daisaikoto may be used to treat patients with chest or abdominal symptoms and depression, the cause of which can not be established in any medical sense.

OBJECTIVETo explore the relationship between microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) gene variation and diabetic dyslipidemia among Chinese.

METHODSUsing PCR restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis and gene sequencing, we studied the influence of a common MTP gene polymorphism in the promoter region on the apoB-containing lipoproteins in 44 Chinese type 2 diabetic subjects and 32 non-diabetic volunteers.

RESULTSA common functional G/T polymorphism in 493 bp upstream from the transcriptional start point was detected among native Chinese. There were 41 carriers (53.9%) of the MTP-493 G/G genotype, 28 (36.8%) of the MTP-493 G/T genotype and 7 (9.3%) of the MTP-493 T/T genotype. The allele frequency of MTP-493 T in the diabetic group was 0.30. The MTP-493 T/T diabetic group had significantly higher TG (P < 0.05), VLDL-CH (P < 0.05) and smaller LDL particle size (P < 0.001) than the MTP-493 common genotype group.

CONCLUSIONGenetic variation in the MTP promoter is likely to be highly involved in the production of dyslipidemia in type 2 diabetic subjects.

Carrier Proteins ; genetics ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; genetics ; Genotype ; Humans ; Hyperlipidemias ; etiology ; genetics ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Promoter Regions, Genetic

Otsujito is a well-known herbal preparation used for treating hemorrhoidal disease. However, we considered the anatomical similarities between the lips and the anus, and here report a case of inflammation of the lips with blood stasis successfully treated with otsujito as well.
The case was a 59-year-old woman suffering from eczema on her face and neck. The eczema showed a tendency to improve with herbal treatment, but inflammation and pruritus of the lips continued. Taking into account the presence of blood stasis, we included otsujito in the treatment and her symptoms improved.
Otsujito contains bupleurum, cimicifuga, scutellaria, and rhubarb, which dissipates heat, and angelica,which resolves blood stasis. Therefore, we consider that inflammation of the lips with blood stasis can be treated with otsujito.

We experienced a 56-year-old male who had suffered from diarrhea, epigastric discomfort and an enlarged abdomen feeling for 12 years, and who was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome. Although he had undergone treatment using Western medicine in many hospitals, his condition had not improved. He was therefore started on Kampo medicine 5 years ago. However, since the enlarged abdomen feeling worsened whenever he changed his prescription, it was difficult to treat him on an outpatient basis. Thus we tried hospitalization. His feeling of enlarged abdomen was near continuous, but the discomfort from a spasmodic enlarged abdomen feeling was greater. We recognized the spasmodic feeling to be hontonki disease and started ryokeikansoto. The spasmodic feeling disappeared promptly after hospitalization. On the 12 th day of hospitalization, we noticed that the circumference of his navel was cold. Therefore, we changed his prescription to ryokito, which is kind of ryokeikansoto, containing ryokyo, which dispels cold and stops pain, and then the near continuous feeling of enlarged abdomen also disappeared. He was discharged from hospital on the 24 th day. Although the original text for ryokito states that it cures a right fleshy tumor and pain, this suggests that ryokito is effective in cases of hontonki disease and cold, even when not necessarily accompanied by hypochondralgia.

We report a case of systemic sclerosis complicated with primary biliary cirrhosis successfully treated with orengedokuto (wanbinghuichun) and sekiganryo. The patient was a 68-year-old female. She had been diagnosed with systemic sclerosis 20 years previously, and primary biliary cirrhosis 17 years previously. She received modern Western medical treatment for skin itching and scleroderma, but her symptoms showed little improvement. Therefore, she consulted our clinic in order to receive Kampo therapy. We prescribed orengedokuto (wanbinghuichun), and the skin itching improved in 5 days. As a result of administering sekiganryo in addition to orengedokuto (wanbinghuichun) for severe coldness, the scleroderma was also ameliorated. We consider this to be a case of diseases overlapping between yin and yang syndrome.

A 54-year-old female had left femoral incarcerated hernia. One month later, she received a radical operation for it, but was admitted to our hospital twice because of ileus. Various tests showed no mechanical intestinal obstruction, but small-intestinal edema. She was transferred to our department to receive Kampo medicine. She could not eat any food and her weight decreased from 47 to 37.5 kg. We therefore administered intravenous hyperalimentation. She had a cold sweat on her face and was prone to bed rest because of severe abdominal pain as if in labor, and general fatigue. Her skin was dry, her radial pulse was weak and her abdominal tonus was weak. In addition, lower abdominal tension was more intense than upper and we could observe bowel movements from her skin. At first, we administered bushikobeito, but it had no effect. Referring to her abdominal findings, we considered that daikenchuto and tokikenchuto were compatible in her case, and after changing to chukenchutokatoki her abdominal pain disappeared in 5 days. Thus, Kampo medicine was effective for post-operative pseudo-obstruction.

Trigger finger develops because of stenosis around the A1 annular ligament, which causes inhibition of smooth expansion and contraction of the finger. It is effectively treated by an anti-inflammatory analgesic and/or steroid infusion, and by Western style medical surgery. Here, we report 3 cases of trigger finger effectively treated with unkeito. The first case was a 71-year-old female who had been treated with Kampo medicine for an enlarged feeling in the abdomen. She complained of trigger finger, in the knuckle of her right third finger, dry lips, and hot flashes in her hands and feet. The second case was a 56-year-old female who had been treated with Kampo medicine for polyarticular pain in her fingers. She complained of trigger finger of the left fourth finger and hot flashes in her hands. The third case was a 71-year-old female who had been treated for chronic renal failure. She complained of trigger finger in the left first finger and dry skin but had neither hot flashes in the hands nor dry lips. One of the target symptoms of unkeito is hot flashes in the hands and dry lips. Unkeito is composed of herbs which improve ketsu deficiency, oketsu, inflammation, and dry skin. It is possible that these actions of unkeito are effective in trigger finger as well.