The establishment of experimental peripheral neuropathy and effect of moxibustion on it have been studied using male S. D. rats. To determine the condition of experimental peripheral neuropathy, rats were fed on the solution of acrylamide in the concentration of 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500p.p.m. The body weight decreased dependently on its concentration and the behavior in rats was also detriorated. Especially, ataxia, hindlimb weakness and muscle wasting in rats were remarkably observed.
The effect of moxibustion has been studied on the rats which fed on the 400p.p.m. acrylamide solution. The method of moxibustion is followes; 25mg of moxa was divided into 10 cones and they were treated by each 5 cones on right and left B-18, B-25 and G-34, respectively. The treatment of moxibustion was 6 times in 3 ones a week for 13 days.
As a results, after 12-13 days, moxibustion treated rats showed to improve the deterioration of behavior and muscle wasting induced by acrylamide. Especially, B-25 treated rats showed the improvement of weight in anterior tibial, gastrocnemius and soleus muscle. On the other hand, steadiness on slope was decreased by acrylamide feeding and decrease of the steadiness was not improved by the treatment of moxibustion.
It is suggested that the sutable stimulation of moxibustion improved the deterioration of behavior and muscle waste on the acrylamide induced peripheral neuropathy in rats.

Morphological changes of sciatic and tivial nerves have been observed microscopically and cholinesterase activities of anterior tibial, gastrocnemius and soleus muscles have been examined by the biochemical determination and histochemical method. 25mg of moxa/body (3 times a week, x6) were treated on the acupuncture point, B-18, B-25 and G-34 in acrylamide neuropathy rats.
After 400p.p.m. acrylamide treatment, the degeneration of peripheral nerves with myelin ovoids and foldes, and shrunken myelinated axons were observed. These lesions were advanced in the tibial nerve than in the sciatic nerve. In B-25 and B-18 moxibustion rats, good results were obtained to decrease myelin degeneration in peripheral nerves, but the lesions were advanced in G-34 rats than in acrylamide ones.
In the acrylamide rats, no change of muscle cholinesterase activity was found except the increase in the enzyme activity in the homogenate of anterior tibial muscle. In the gastrocnemius muscle of moxibustion treated rats, the microsomal fraction which contained much more sarcoplasmic reticulum showed high cholinesterse activity. And the activity per muscle protein showed various changes.
It showed that the stimulation of moxibustion had a mild effect to recover the experimental peripheral neuropathy induced by 400p.p.m. acrylamide because of morphological changes of sciatic and tibial nerves and weight of skeletal muscles.

[Objective]In clinical practice, it is important that patients experience symptomatic improvement or at least gain a certain level of satisfaction early on during a series of treatments. Most patients decide whether or not to return to the clinic based on these factors. At our school, students are trained in protocols from three different treatment styles:modern acupuncture, meridian acupuncture (based on classic acupuncture) and traditional Chinese medicine. In this study, we investigated the characteristics of each style, such as the presence of immediate effects and the types of sensations perceived by patients.
[Methods]Questionnaires were given before and after treatment to 177 patients who came to the clinic associated with our teacher training course for acupuncture, moxibustion and massage. We received valid responses from 169 patients. The practitioners surveyed were second-year students who had treated the surveyed patients 1.2 times on average prior to answering the questionnaire. Before treatment, patients were asked about their main complaints and symptoms, and afterward about changes in their symptoms, satisfaction level and other sensations. The resulting data was subjected to statistical analysis.
[Results]The style chosen by most practitioners was modern acupuncture, followed by meridian acupuncture, and then traditional Chinese acupuncture. Most lower back, leg and joint pain was treated with modern acupuncture protocols, while internal disorders were more often treated with meridian acupuncture or traditional Chinese acupuncture. All three styles were able to alleviate symptoms and achieve patient satisfaction with no statisticallysignificant differences among the three groups.
[Discussion]The results demonstrated that training practitioners in these three styles for one year helped them achieve positive and immediate effects. While there are many different styles of acupuncture, in actual clinical practice, the style is less important than how much a patient feels the effect of the treatment.
[Conclusion]All three styles, modern acupuncture, meridian acupuncture and traditional Chinese acupuncture, were able to alleviate symptoms and achieve patient satisfaction with no statistically significant differences among them.

Integrated lecture programs for high school students involving university teaching staff have recently become popular. Here, we report on such a program involving lectures on tumor pathology attended by 110 high school students at the Yokohama City University School of Medicine. Two weeks before the lectures at our university, the students were given a 45-minute introductory lecture by a teacher at their school. The 1-day course at our university comprised an overview lecture by the author (40 minutes), light-microscopic observation of histologic specimens of normal and tumor tissues (50 minutes), and a summary with an introduction to diagnostic pathology (20 minutes). During light-microscopic observation, medical students served as teaching assistants. The high school students were given handouts of microscopic

Objective: To nurture pharmacists capable of contributing to the prevention of adverse reactions to psychotropic agents, the Sapporo Hospital Pharmacist Association has been holding a seminar for psychiatric pharmacy specialist.  A questionnaire survey was conducted to clarify the usefulness of this seminar and its future direction, and evaluate the necessity of providing information on psychotropic drugs.
Methods: An anonymous 21-item questionnaire was distributed to participants in the 2008 Sapporo Hospital Pharmacist Association seminar for psychiatric pharmacy specialist.
Results: The mean recovery rate was 76.3%, and the respondents had a broad background in terms of age, gender, etc.  The seminar was identified as being beneficial, and the participants’ awareness of the accreditation of Board Certified Pharmacist in Psychiatric Pharmacy showed regional characteristics.
Conclusion: Based on the survey results, guidelines on conducting the seminar in the future were successfully developed.  From now on, it is important to create an environment to nurture psychiatric pharmacy specialist in the Sapporo area.  Additional efforts should be made so that the provision of information on psychotropic drugs in the seminar can contribute to the prevention of adverse reactions to them.

Background/Aims: Advanced pancreatic and biliary tract cancers can invade the duodenum and cause duodenal hemorrhagic stenosis. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of covered self-expandable metal stents in the treatment of cancer-related duodenal hemorrhage with stenosis. Methods: Between January 2014 and December 2016, metal stents were placed in 51 patients with duodenal stenosis. Among these patients, a self-expandable covered metal stent was endoscopically placed in 10 patients with hemorrhagic duodenal stenosis caused by pancreatobiliary cancer progression. We retrospectively analyzed the therapeutic efficacy of the stents by evaluating the technical and clinical success rates based on successful stent placement, degree of oral intake, hemostasis, stent patency, and overall survival. Results: The technical and clinical success rates were 100%. All 10 patients achieved a gastric outlet obstruction scoring system score of three within two weeks after the procedure and had no recurrence of melena. The median stent patency duration and overall survival after stent placement were 52 days (range, 20–220 days) and 66.5 days (range, 31–220 days), respectively. Conclusions Endoscopic placement of a covered metal stent for hemorrhagic duodenal stenosis associated with pancreatic or biliary tract cancer resulted in duodenal hemostasis, recanalization, and improved quality of life.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the surgical-pathological predictors of para-aortic lymph node (PAN) metastasis at radical hysterectomy, and for PAN recurrence among women who did not undergo PAN dissection at radical hysterectomy. METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis of a nation-wide cohort study of surgically-treated stage IB–IIB cervical cancer (n=5,620). Multivariate models were used to identify independent surgical-pathological predictors for PAN metastasis/recurrence. RESULTS: There were 120 (2.1%) cases of PAN metastasis at surgery with parametrial involvement (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]=1.65), deep stromal invasion (aOR=2.61), ovarian metastasis (aOR=3.10), and pelvic nodal metastasis (single-node aOR=5.39 and multiple-node aOR=33.5, respectively) being independent risk factors (all, p<0.05). Without any risk factors, the incidence of PAN metastasis was 0.9%, while women exhibiting certain risk factor patterns (>20% of the study population) had PAN metastasis incidences of ≥4%. Among 4,663 clinically PAN-negative cases at surgery, PAN recurrence was seen in 195 (4.2%) cases that was significantly higher than histologically PAN-negative cases (2.5%, p=0.046). In clinically PAN-negative cases, parametrial involvement (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]=1.67), lympho-vascular space invasion (aHR=1.95), ovarian metastasis (aHR=2.60), and pelvic lymph node metastasis (single-node aHR=2.49 and multiple-node aHR=8.11, respectively) were independently associated with increased risk of PAN recurrence (all, p<0.05). Without any risk factors, 5-year PAN recurrence risk was 0.8%; however, women demonstrating certain risk factor patterns (>15% of the clinically PAN-negative population) had 5-year PAN recurrence risks being ≥8%. CONCLUSION: Surgical-pathological risk factors proposed in this study will be useful to identify women with increased risk of PAN metastasis/recurrence.
Cohort Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Incidence ; Lymph Nodes ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Odds Ratio ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

Background/Aims: Advanced pancreatic and biliary tract cancers can invade the duodenum and cause duodenal hemorrhagic stenosis. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of covered self-expandable metal stents in the treatment of cancer-related duodenal hemorrhage with stenosis. Methods: Between January 2014 and December 2016, metal stents were placed in 51 patients with duodenal stenosis. Among these patients, a self-expandable covered metal stent was endoscopically placed in 10 patients with hemorrhagic duodenal stenosis caused by pancreatobiliary cancer progression. We retrospectively analyzed the therapeutic efficacy of the stents by evaluating the technical and clinical success rates based on successful stent placement, degree of oral intake, hemostasis, stent patency, and overall survival. Results: The technical and clinical success rates were 100%. All 10 patients achieved a gastric outlet obstruction scoring system score of three within two weeks after the procedure and had no recurrence of melena. The median stent patency duration and overall survival after stent placement were 52 days (range, 20–220 days) and 66.5 days (range, 31–220 days), respectively. Conclusions Endoscopic placement of a covered metal stent for hemorrhagic duodenal stenosis associated with pancreatic or biliary tract cancer resulted in duodenal hemostasis, recanalization, and improved quality of life.

Background/Aims: Advanced pancreatic and biliary tract cancers can invade the duodenum and cause duodenal hemorrhagic stenosis. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of covered self-expandable metal stents in the treatment of cancer-related duodenal hemorrhage with stenosis. Methods: Between January 2014 and December 2016, metal stents were placed in 51 patients with duodenal stenosis. Among these patients, a self-expandable covered metal stent was endoscopically placed in 10 patients with hemorrhagic duodenal stenosis caused by pancreatobiliary cancer progression. We retrospectively analyzed the therapeutic efficacy of the stents by evaluating the technical and clinical success rates based on successful stent placement, degree of oral intake, hemostasis, stent patency, and overall survival. Results: The technical and clinical success rates were 100%. All 10 patients achieved a gastric outlet obstruction scoring system score of three within two weeks after the procedure and had no recurrence of melena. The median stent patency duration and overall survival after stent placement were 52 days (range, 20–220 days) and 66.5 days (range, 31–220 days), respectively. Conclusions Endoscopic placement of a covered metal stent for hemorrhagic duodenal stenosis associated with pancreatic or biliary tract cancer resulted in duodenal hemostasis, recanalization, and improved quality of life.