A 31-year-old healthy mother of twins developed Guillain-Barré syndrome in her fourth gestational week of pregnancy. Impaired motor coordination, sensation, and joint position sense were observed. Immunoglobulin therapy was not performed given the early stage of pregnancy. She received rehabilitation to accommodate changes in her body shape and movements necessary for pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare. The patient delivered a healthy baby by cesarean section. By 42 weeks postpartum, she was capable of almost all housework activities and childcare. Family support was important in this case. Patient-oriented intervention, which included periodic confirmation and establishment of goals in each phase and continuity of intervention, was also essential.

We investigated the training system of a young cardiovascular surgeon in Japan. We presented the result of surveillance at the 49th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Cardiovascular Surgery 2019, and report here the summary.

Although lung transplantation (LTx) has been established as a therapeutic approach for end-stage respiratory failure, several problems remain to be solved. In addition to the serious problem of donor shortage, primary graft failure, which is mostly caused by ischemia-reperfusion injury, a serious problem, and represents one of the most frequent causes of early mortality. The development of a highly reliable organ preservation solution that reduces ischemia-reperfusion injury will improve the functioning of transplanted organs and alleviate the donor shortage. We first evaluated the importance of saccharides and electrolytes in the lung preservation solution. We proved the superiority of trehalose, a non-reducing disaccharide, and the efficiency of the extracellular-type (low potassium) ion composition, and we also developed an extracellular-type trehalose containing Kyoto (ET-Kyoto) solution. Furthermore, several agents for vascular endothelial protection were evaluated, and finally, a more effective solution named "new ET-Kyoto solution" was developed, by adding N-acetylcysteine, dibutyryl adenosine 3', 5'-cyclic monophosphate, and nitroglycerin to the "conventional" ET-Kyoto solution. The new ET-Kyoto solution enabled canine LTx to last up to 30 hours. ET-Kyoto solution has so far been used and produced good results in five clinical LTx throughout Japan and South Korea. Although it was initially developed for lung preservation, its effectiveness in the preservation of various organs/ tissues, such as the trachea, kidney, skin/muscle flap, amputated digits, liver, and pancreas, has also been experimentally and clinically shown. In this paper, clinical and experimental findings with ET-Kyoto solution have been accumulated to further analyze its effect, safety, and chemical stability. We hope to provide ET-Kyoto solution as the standard organ/tissue preserving solution throughout the world.
Animals ; Humans ; Japan ; *Organ Preservation Solutions ; *Technology, Pharmaceutical ; *Universities

"Locomotive syndrome" is used to designate the condition of individuals with musculoskeletal disease who are highly likely to require nursing care. This article reviews screening, prevalence, causal and related factors, and the relationship between locomotive syndrome and falls and fractures in older adults with this syndrome. A few self-administered questionnaire tools are available to assess individuals for locomotive syndrome. Additionally, screening methods, including a physical functioning assessment, are appropriate for detailed discrimination of locomotive syndrome. The prevalence of locomotive syndrome is significantly higher in women than in men, and tends to increase markedly from 70 years of age. More severe locomotive syndrome is related to knee pain, osteoporosis, sarcopenia, and lumbar disease. The incidence of falling in locomotive syndrome is higher than the incidence for the older population in general. Locomotive training including squats and a unipedal standing exercise has been recommending to prevent locomotive syndrome. This training improves muscle strength and balance function for older people who have a risk for locomotive syndrome.
Accidental Falls* ; Adult ; Aged* ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Knee ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Muscle Strength ; Musculoskeletal Diseases ; Nursing Care ; Osteoporosis ; Prevalence ; Sarcopenia

No abstract available.

The work style of doctors gets attention within the Work Style Reforms that have been fully implemented since 2019. Now, we conducted a questionnaire survey at 10 institutions in Chugoku and Shikoku region and reviewed the latest work style of cardiovascular surgeons in comparison with other departments.

BACKGROUND: Lung transplantation is the definitive therapy for end stage lung disorders. The success of allogenic lung transplantation has led to an increasing shortage of donor lungs from humans, including cadavers, and attention has now turned to transplantation of lungs from other species. However, there are many biological hurdles when using organs from other species because of hyperacute rejection after discordant xenotransplantation. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Pigs (n=6, weighing 20~30 kg each) for the donors and mongrel dogs (n=6, weighing 20~28 kg each) for the recipients were used in this experiment. The left kidney of a pig was perfused to a mongrel dog for 30 minutes through the femoral artery and vein of the dog, and the right kidney was perfused for 30 minutes sequentially. Then, both lungs of the pig were perfused to the dog through the pulmonary artery and left atrium with using the same time intervals. The levels of IgM and IgG were measured from the blood and specimens of the kidney and lung. RESULT:The average levels of serum IgM gradually decreased after the perfusion, but the average levels of serum IgG did not change from before to after perfusion. The immunohistochemical findings revealed decreased deposition of IgG and IgM after the perfusion. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the levels of the serum natural antibodies would be decreased with pre-transplantation xenograft perfusion in the recipient and the occurrence rate of hyperacute rejection after transplantation would be decreased.
Animals ; Antibodies ; Cadaver ; Dogs* ; Femoral Artery ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique* ; Heart Atria ; Heterografts* ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G* ; Immunoglobulin M* ; Kidney ; Lung ; Lung Transplantation ; Perfusion* ; Pulmonary Artery ; Swine ; Tissue Donors ; Transplantation, Heterologous ; Veins

Double drainage sites from a common venous confluence of the pulmonary veins of a mixed total anomalous pulmonary venous connection is a rare condition that is called a “double connection.” There have been very few reports of reoperation for minor drainage of a double connection. A 28-year-old male with double connection type (Ia: major drainage + IIa: minor drainage) mixed total anomalous pulmonary venous connection (TAPVC) was referred to our institution. He had undergone TAPVC type Ia (major drainage) repair at the age of 1 year. Postoperative enhanced computed tomography showed residual TAPVC IIa (minor drainage) at the age of 15 years. Therefore, the definitive diagnosis was double connection-type mixed TAPVC. Residual shunt gradually increased, and cardiac catheterization revealed an increased pulmonary blood flow/systemic blood flow ratio. Echocardiography showed enlarged shunt vessel and mild tricuspid regurgitation. Catheter intervention was considered too risky and, therefore, we performed patch closure of the residual shunt through a right atriotomy. The postoperative course was uneventful, and follow-up computed tomography showed shrinkage of the shunt vessel without any thromboembolic events.