We reviewed the clinical course of 127 patients who underwent treatment for atherosclerotic disease between June 1993 and January 2001. There were 108 men and 19 women. The ages ranged from 49 to 88 years with a median age of 71.2 at the time of the first operation. Major risk factors included ischemic heart disease (21%) and diabetes mellitus (20%). Ninety-five percent of the patients were followed successfully and the follow-up period ranged from 0 to 90 months with a mean of 33 months. Two patients died perioperatively due to myocardial infarction. There were 29 late deaths. The overall actuarial survival rate was 69.7% at 5 years. The 5-year actuarial survival rate and the mean survival time for men and women were 71.6%, 66.1 months and 62.3%, 58.9 months. The 5-year late survival rate and the mean survival time for patients with and without ischemic heart disease were 57.0%, 57.4 months and 74.2%, 68.5 months. The differences were not statistically significant. The 5-year late survival rate and the mean survival time for patients with and without diabetes mellitus were 65.5%, 59.1 months and 70.9%, 67.4 months. The differences were not statistically significant. Amputation was performed in 7 patients, the actuarial survival rate at 1 year and the mean survival time were 42.9%, 7.1 months for patients with amputation, and 93.0%, 69.5 months without amputation (p<0.01).

We report a rare case of a 73-year-old man with abdominal and thoracic aortic aneurysms complicated with Buerger's disease. He complained of abdominal pain, nausea and an abdominal pulsatile mass. Computed tomography and angiography revealed an abdominal aortic aneurysm (58mm in diameter) and a thoracic aortic aneurysm (47mm in diameter). Y graft replacement was performed for abdominal aortic aneurysm. The size of the thoracic aortic aneurysm increased from 47mm to 60mm in 3 years, and hoarseness appeared. We then performed graft replacement of the thoracic aorta. In cases of Buerger's disease, we have to consider perfusion of the extremities when we need extracorporeal circulation, and we must shorten ischemic interval.

From November 1976 to December 1991, we performed extra anatomic bypass procedures (EAB) in 100 cases with aortoiliac occlusive disease. The operative procedures included 26 axillo-femoral bypasses (Ax-F), 27 femoro-femoral bypasses (F-F) and 47 aorto-femoro-femoral bypasses (Ao-F-F). The average age was 75.8 years in Ax-F and 73.8 years in F-F. These were significantly higher than that of Ao-F-F (70.8 years). In addition, the rate of limb salvage in Ax-F was 85%, and this group had more critical cases than the other two groups. The cumulative primary patency rate and survival rate at 5 years were 64.4%, 20.8% (Ax-F), 65.9%, 51.1% (F-F) and 96.5%, 70.4% (Ao-F-F) respectively. The late results of Ao-F-F were comparable to direct aorto-femoral bypass procedures performed in our institution during the same period. On the contrary, the results of Ax-F and F-F were discouraging. We suggest that EAB should be selected for high risk, limb salvage cases and in particular, Ax-F and F-F should be limited to patients with nonphysical acting. We are opposed to appealing for an extended indications of EAB and it should not be regarded simply as a low-risk substitute for aorto-femoral bypass.

Objective: Many of the elderly patients are suffering from constipation, are using the oral laxative.  However the risk assessment of the oral laxative is not performed.  Therefore, we used Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report database (JADER) and examined for the safety of the oral laxative in the elderly patients.
Methods: Since the analysis target medicines; 12 oral laxatives and target ADEs; “digestive disorders” and “electrolyte abnormality,” the JADER database for April 2004 to January 2015 were analyzed in adults of age exceeds 60.  We used the reporting odds ratio for a safety index of drugs, using reporting odds ratio, when the Lower bound of the 95% two-sided confidence interval exceeds 1, it is the signal detection of ADE.
Results: The oral laxatives detected the signal of “digestive disorders” were three medicines, and “electrolyte abnormality” were five medicines.  Especially, for electrolyte abnormalities not only increases the blood magnesium values as magnesium oxide, that there is also affect other electrolyte revealed.
Conclusion: Some oral laxatives were also intended to signal detections of the adverse events that are not listed in the attached document, it is necessary to pay attention to the use of them for the elderly patients.

Objective: Elderly patients commonly experience adverse drug events (ADEs) owing to their poor drug metabolizing and excretion ability, and these often cause multiple organ dysfunction syndrome.  Therefore, it is important that we identify the adverse drug events early on during prognosis.  We searched for oral medicines that might exacerbate the prognosis of ADEs in elderly patients.
Methods: The objects under analysis were oral medicines that were registered in the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report database (JADER).  The associations between the elderly/non-elderly patients and exacerbation risk/non-exacerbation risk were analyzed by risk ratios (RR).  The signal detection of exacerbation risk was defined as 95% confidence interval of lower limit of risk ratio>1 and χ²≥4.
Results: The oral medicines that might markedly exacerbate the prognosis of ADEs in the elderly patients in comparison with the ADEs of young patients included 84 items, of which 63 have not been described as potentially inappropriate medicines in all guidelines for medical treatment of the elderly patients.
Conclusion: In this study, while we could not search for oral medicines having a high risk of ADEs, we were able to search for oral medicines that might exacerbate the prognosis of ADEs in elderly patients.  This result could contribute to the proper use of medicines in the elderly patients.

Background： While the number of older cancer patients increases as the society ages, the current status of the pain control is not well characterized among older patients. To improve the quality of care, it is necessary to understand the current status. Objectives： The aim of this study was to describe the pain control for older cancer patients in comparison to younger counterparts and characterize it. Methods： During four months in 2013, Aomori Prefectural Central Hospital started asking all hospitalized cancer patients about their pain every day using a standardized pain questionnaire. In addition, a questionnaire adopted to the outpatient setting was distributed to the patients who visited outpatient department of the hospital. The information about pain, quality of life (QOL) and the medical histories were included in the data analyses. Their responses were compared between outpatients versus inpatients and older ( ≥65 years) versus younger (＜65 years) patients. Results： The response rate was 57.0％. Pain management was less adequate among outpatients than among inpatients, with pain relief rate of 28.9％ for the former and 52.6％ for the latter (P＜0.001). Among outpatients, the pain relief rate for the older patients was particularly low (older：24.7％ vs younger：35.8％, P＜0.01). Conclusion： Pain management for older patients in the outpatient settings needs a particular attention for improvement. Resources should be allocated to enable better detection and relief of pain among outpatients.

OBJECTIVE: The anti-epileptogenic drug levetiracetam has anticonvulsant and anti-epileptogenesis effects. Synergy between cell death and inflammation can lead to increased levels of apoptosis inhibitory factors and brain-derived neurotrophic factor, aberrant neurogenesis and extended axon sprouting. Once hyperexcitation of the neural network occurs, spontaneous seizures or epileptogenesis develops. This study investigated whether the anti-epileptogenic effect of levetiracetam is due to its alternate apoptotic activity. METHODS: Adult male Noda epileptic rats were treated with levetiracetam or vehicle control for two weeks. mRNA quantification of Bax, Bcl-2 and GAPDH expression were performed from prefrontal cortex and hippocampus tissue samples. RESULTS: The levetiracetam-treated group showed a significant increase of Bax/Bcl-2 mRNA expression ratio in the prefrontal cortex than the control group, but no change in the Bax/Bcl-2 mRNA expression ratio in hippocampus. CONCLUSION: Idiopathic generalized epilepsy including childhood absence epilepsy develop at childhood and recover spontaneously during adolescence. The aberrant neural excitable network is pruned by a neural-maturing action. This study suggests the mechanism of acquired anti-epileptogenesis by levetiracetam treatment may be similar to spontaneous recovery of idiopathic generalized epilepsy during adolescence.
Adolescent* ; Adult ; Animals ; Apoptosis ; Axons ; Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor ; Cell Death ; Epilepsy, Absence ; Epilepsy, Generalized* ; Hippocampus ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Male ; Neurogenesis ; Prefrontal Cortex ; Rats ; RNA, Messenger ; Seizures

OBJECTIVESTo evaluate the impacts of health examinations (HE) and smoking on disease mortality risk in Japan.

METHODSBy using the large cohort database of a Japanese life insurance company, 720,611 subjects aged 20 to 80 years, who had contracted for life insurance between April 1, 1995 and March 31, 1998, were followed up until September 30, 1999. Cox's proportional hazard model was used to estimate age-adjusted relative risk (RR) for disease death.

RESULTSAfter adjusting for age, disease mortality in smokers was significantly higher than that in non-smokers (men, RR 1.51, 95% CI: 1.25-1.81; women, RR 1.54, 95% CI: 1.12-2.11). Meanwhile, disease mortality in HEees (those who had got HE within the past 2 years) was significantly lower than that in non-HEees (men, RR 0.70, 95% CI: 0.56-0.88; women, RR 0.71, 95% CI: 0.54-0.92). The magnitude of the impact of HE on disease mortality risk varied according to smoking status. Non-smokers showed a significantly lower risk associated with HE, whereas smokers did not.

CONCLUSIONSHE may allow an appreciable reduction in disease mortality, however, the reduction effect may be limited to non-smokers. Smoking cessation may be essential to improve the preventive effects of HE.

OBJECTIVESTo examine the effective preventive strategy for hypertension in a Japanese male population, based on attributable risk measures.

METHODSA 7-year follow-up study of hypertension among 6,306 middle-aged male office workers in a Japanese telecommunication company.

RESULTSIn terms of population attributable risk percentage (PAR%), regular alcohol intake and physical inactivity showed great contributions to the development of hypertension in the population no less than obesity. The PAR% of each risk factor varied by age group, and the total PAR% of the three modifiable risk factors was considerably higher in the 30-39 year old group (71%) than in the older groups.

CONCLUSIONSReduced alcohol intake and increased physical activity, as well as weight control, may have a larger impact on prevention of hypertension in younger groups than in older groups.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Transpapillary forceps biopsy is an effective diagnostic technique in patients with biliary stricture. This prospective study aimed to determine the usefulness of the wire-grasping method as a new technique for forceps biopsy. METHODS: Consecutive patients with biliary stricture or irregularities of the bile duct wall were randomly allocated to either the direct or wire-grasping method group. In the wire-grasping method, forceps in the duodenum grasps a guide-wire placed into the bile duct beforehand, and then, the forceps are pushed through the papilla without endoscopic sphincterotomy. In the direct method, forceps are directly pushed into the bile duct alongside a guide-wire. The primary endpoint was the success rate of obtaining specimens suitable for adequate pathological examination. RESULTS: In total, 32 patients were enrolled, and 28 (14 in each group) were eligible for analysis. The success rate was significantly higher using the wire-grasping method than the direct method (100% vs 50%, p=0.016). Sensitivity and accuracy for the diagnosis of cancer were comparable in patients with the successful procurement of biopsy specimens between the two methods (91% vs 83% and 93% vs 86%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The wire-grasping method is useful for diagnosing patients with biliary stricture or irregularities of the bile duct wall.
Bile Ducts ; Biliary Tract ; Biopsy* ; Constriction, Pathologic* ; Diagnosis ; Duodenum ; Hand Strength ; Humans ; Methods* ; Prospective Studies* ; Sphincterotomy, Endoscopic ; Surgical Instruments*