The present study was attempted to examine whether the cold-induced vasodilation is affected by maturation and aging. Twelve prepubertal boys (10-11 yrs), 15 young men (18-26 yrs), and 8 older men (66-78 yrs) immersed their middle finger in ice-water for 15 min under air condition of 27°C and 40% RH. Before the immersion, no age-related differences were observed in skin temperature of middle finger (T_fin) . The time required for the first rise of T_fin after the immersion (TTR) was significantly longer in the older men than in the boys and young men. T_fin at the first rise after the immersion (TFR), highest value of Tfin after the first rise (HST) and the mean value of T_fin during the immersion (MST) were significantly lower in the boys than in the young men. The integral value of T_fin from the onset of cold-induced vasodilation to the end of the immersion (CIVD_index) was significantly lower in the boys and older men than in the young men. TTR, TFR, HST, MST, and CIVD_ifldex did not correlate significantly with maximal oxygen uptake, mean skinfold thicknesses at seven body sites, and length and girth of the middle finger. Oral temperature (Tor) did not change between before and after the immersion regardless of age, although the Tar in the boys was significantly higher than in the young and older men. There were no age differences in the relationship of thermal sensation or pain sensation and T_fin. These results suggest that boys and older men have inferior cold-induced vasodilation compared to young men, and that the mechanisms of inferior cold-induced vasodilation are different in these two groups.

In cancer chemotherapy, it is very important to take into account the patient’s background. In recent years, a simple suspension method has attracted increased attention as a method that prevents changes in the stability and safety of various drugs. However, of 135 oral anticancer drugs, only 28 have been examined using this method, as of April 2013. In this study, we carefully investigated whether 53 oral anticancer drugs could be adapted to the simple suspension method, except for the 28 drugs that had already been previously reported. The results showed that most of these oral anticancer drugs could be adapted to the simple suspension method. Of seven drugs that were not adapted, six were generic drugs. In addition, it was clear that the evaluation of bicalutamide tablets was significantly different from our expected results. In conclusion, we were able to qualitatively assess all 53 oral anticancer drugs. This is equivalent to half of 107 untested drugs. These results provide useful information to cancer patients using oral anticancer drugs prepared using the simple suspension method.

Object: A multicenter survey was conducted to investigate the status of use of supplements and related problems in patients with diabetes mellitus.
Methods: A questionnaire was mailed to institutions where members of the Drug Information Section, Tokyo Hospital Pharmacists Association, worked, and hospitalized patients with diabetes mellitus were surveyed with a questionnaire.
Results: The response rate of the questionnaire was 85%, and 22 patients reported taking supplements.  The most common motivation to purchase supplements was a recommendation from an acquaintance, followed by a recommendation from a family member and TV. Only 9.1% of the patients consulted healthcare professionals when purchasing supplements.  The patients who did not follow the dosage and administration instructions and those who were not aware of precautions regarding proper use accounted for 31.8% and 63.6%, respectively.  The proportion of patients who did not inform their physicians about the use of supplements was 65.2%, and 4.5% reported some health damage (rash).
Conclusion: Our results revealed that supplements were used without careful consideration and were not administered properly, suggesting that scientific evaluation of efficacy and safety was warranted in future studies.  It is important for pharmacists to actively collect information on patient use of supplements and share the information within the medical team.

This report takes up a 65-year-old woman. Suspecting a tumorous superior fovea in the left clavicle, she consulted with our hospital’s Department of Otolaryngology. As a result of the lymph node biopsy performed at the department, she was diagnosed as having moderately differentiated tubular carcinoma. CT scanning revealed a number of swollen lymph nodes and parietal tylosis in the sigmoid colon. Endoscopy produced no abnormalities in the upper digestive tract, but an endoscopic check of the lower digestive tract revealed an all-around Type II tumor. The ailment was pathohistologically identified as tubular carcinoma. That said, the patient was diagnosed as suffering from sigmoid colon accompanying Virchow lymph node metastasis. Then, sigmoidostomy and the dissection of the D3 lymph node were performed. Pathohistological diagnosis revealed moderately differentiated tubular carcinoma, SE, N3, HO, PO, M1 (Virchow lymph node metastasis), Stage IV. Chemotherapy was postoperatively initiated with mFOLFOX6.

Objective: The sports community has placed its great hope on pharmacist since the establishment of the Accredited Sports Pharmacist System.  Thus, we constructed an anti-doping database for pharmacist so that pharmacist can support appropriate drug use and contribute to the sports community.
Methods: The database was constructed by using Microsoft®Access 2007, based on our previously prepared anti-doping list.
Results: 686 prescription drugs and 268 ingredients for non-prescription drug were registered in the data base.  It was able to retrieve the advisability of use for athlete, blood half-life and the other notes of the drugs easily and promptly.
Conclusion: We confirm that pharmacist can provide drug information easily, promptly and from the viewpoint of pharmaceutics by utilizing the database including necessary information for anti-doping.

The purpose of this cross-sectional study is to investigate the difference in physical activity among elderly living in different areas in Japan (“Bunkyo Ward in Tokyo” (Bunkyo) and “Fuchu City in Tokyo” (Fuchu) as urban areas, and “Oyama Town in Shizuoka” (Oyama) as a non-urban area). Participants were 1859 community-dwelling residents aged 65-74 years, randomly selected from the residential registry (response rate: 68.9%). A mail survey using self-administered questionnaires was conducted. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to calculate the adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) of various types of physical activity (eg, walking (Walking), going out (Going-out), bicycling (Bicycling), exercise habits (Exercise)), according to residential areas (reference category: Fuchu), stratified by gender, adjusting for socio-demographic variables. There was a significant difference in Going-out (ORs = 0.61 (95% CI: 0.44-0.86) for men, 0.48 (0.33-0.69) for women)), and Bicycling (0.04 (0.03-0.07) for men, 0.04 (0.02-0.07) for women) in Oyama compared to Fuchu. Furthermore, for women, there was a significant difference in Walking (0.56 (0.38-0.81)) and Exercise (0.59 (0.41-0.85)) in Oyama compared to Fuchu. There was a significant difference in Bicycling and Going-out for men in Bunkyo compared to Fuchu, but there was not a significant difference in other items. Low physical activity levels were observed in the elderly in the non-urban area compared to urban areas. The association was stronger in women. Regional difference might need to be taken into account for an effective physical activity intervention.

The main pathogenic mechanism of diabetes consists of an increase in insulin resistance and a decrease in insulin secretion from pancreatic β-cells. The number of diabetic patients has been increasing dramatically worldwide, especially in Asian people whose capacity for insulin secretion is inherently lower than that of other ethnic populations. Causally, changes of environmental factors in addition to intrinsic genetic factors have been considered to have an influence on the increased prevalence of diabetes. Particular focus has been placed on “gene-environment interactions” in the development of a reduced pancreatic β-cell mass, as well as type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Changes in the intrauterine environment, such as intrauterine growth restriction, contribute to alterations of gene expression in pancreatic β-cells, ultimately resulting in the development of pancreatic β-cell failure and diabetes. As a molecular mechanism underlying the effect of the intrauterine environment, epigenetic modifications have been widely investigated. The association of diabetes susceptibility genes or dietary habits with gene-environment interactions has been reported. In this review, we provide an overview of the role of gene-environment interactions in pancreatic β-cell failure as revealed by previous reports and data from experiments.

Anthropometry measurements, such as height and weight, have recently been used to predict poorer birth outcomes. However, the relationship between maternal height and birth outcomes remains unclear. We examined the effect of shorter maternal height on low birth weight (LBW) among 17,150 pairs of Japanese mothers and newborns. Data for this analysis were collected from newborns who were delivered at a large hospital in Japan. Maternal height was the exposure variable, and LBW and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit were the outcome variables. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the associations. The shortest maternal height quartile (131.0-151.9 cm) was related to LBW (OR 1.91 [95% CI 1.64, 2.22]). The groups with the second (152.0-157.9 cm) and the third shortest maternal height quartiles (158.0-160.9 cm) were also related to LBW. A P trend with one quartile change also showed a significant relationship. The relationship between maternal height and NICU admission disappeared when the statistical model was adjusted for LBW. A newborn's small size was one factor in the relationship between shorter maternal height and NICU admission. In developed countries, shorter mothers provide a useful prenatal target to anticipate and plan for LBW newborns and NICU admission.
Adult ; *Body Height ; Body Mass Index ; Female ; Hospitals ; Humans ; *Infant, Low Birth Weight ; Infant, Newborn ; Intensive Care Units, Neonatal ; Japan ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Mothers/*statistics & numerical data ; Odds Ratio ; Risk Factors ; Weight Gain

Three patients with hypersensitivity pneumonitis caused by inhalation of spores of Cortinus shiitake (Lentinus edodes) cultivated in vinyl houses were observed. These three patients developed the disease after harvesting shiitake for several hours in closed frame houses with a heater in the autum and winter. The frames were full of spores of shiitake and the patients suffered from a discordant feeling, systemic weakness, a feeling of cold, fever (over 38 C), a feeling of airway occlusion, a slight cough and sputum. These symptoms disappeared during rest the next day.
Case 1 was examined by the inhalation provocation test with a suspension of shiitake spores and spore-allergen. This test caused several clinical symptoms (fever, airway occlusion and various symptomatic feelings), leucocytosis, decrease of PaO₂ a positive reaction of CRP and X-ray findings (appearance of interstitial pneumonitis shadows).
The 3 patients were considered to be suffering from allergic hypersensitivity pneumonitis due to inhalation of spores of Cortinus shiitake, because of their work, the development of symptoms after work in specific occupational conditions, a positive reaction to precipitating antibody against spore-allergen of shiitake, negative reactions to precipitation antibodies to 11 molds-allergens, various abnormal values in immunological tests and a positive reaction in a provocation test in one case.
In a survey of 45 shiitake-grower, it was found that 6 (13.3%) suffered from respiratory disease. No difference was found in the incidence of intracutaneous reactions to spore-allergen or allergen of dried shiitake in non-farm workers. Among 31 growers of shiitake a precipitation antibody to spore-allergen was observed only in these three patients. These results indicate that an allergic disposition is very important for development of hypersensitivity pneumonitis.

  A 86-year-old woman visited us, complaining about sharp abdominal pain she had very morning when she got up. Ultrasound and computer tomography scans of the abdomen revealed notable parietal hypertrophy and swelling of the gallbladder. The old woman was diagnosed with acute cholecystitis and immediately admitted to the hospital. Her condition did not improve on conservative management. Percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder drainage (PTGBD) was performed. The bile thus aspirated was bloody, which led us to suspect necrotizing cholecystitis. Emergency cholecystectomy was done. The abdominal operation found the gallbladder wandering with a torsion of 360 degrees around the gallbladder neck as the axis and the leakage of bile in the abdominal cavity from what could be presumed to be the area where the PTGBD was placed. After the torsion was corrected, the gallbladder was surgically removed. Neither gallstones nor tumors were found in it. There were signs of hemorrhagic necrosis in the mucus membrane. The patient made good progress after the operation and was discharged on the 15th hospital day. Torsion of the gallbladder is a comparatively rare entity and its symptoms are not always specific. Therefore, it defies preoperative diagnosis. In this paper, we report our experience with a case of this disease which presented characteristic radiographic images and discuss the treatment strategies including PTGBD.