Background: and Purpose Recent studies suggested an increased incidence of cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We evaluated the volume of CVT hospitalization and in-hospital mortality during the 1st year of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the preceding year. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional retrospective study of 171 stroke centers from 49 countries. We recorded COVID-19 admission volumes, CVT hospitalization, and CVT in-hospital mortality from January 1, 2019, to May 31, 2021. CVT diagnoses were identified by International Classification of Disease-10 (ICD-10) codes or stroke databases. We additionally sought to compare the same metrics in the first 5 months of 2021 compared to the corresponding months in 2019 and 2020 (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04934020). Results: There were 2,313 CVT admissions across the 1-year pre-pandemic (2019) and pandemic year (2020); no differences in CVT volume or CVT mortality were observed. During the first 5 months of 2021, there was an increase in CVT volumes compared to 2019 (27.5%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 24.2 to 32.0; P<0.0001) and 2020 (41.4%; 95% CI, 37.0 to 46.0; P<0.0001). A COVID-19 diagnosis was present in 7.6% (132/1,738) of CVT hospitalizations. CVT was present in 0.04% (103/292,080) of COVID-19 hospitalizations. During the first pandemic year, CVT mortality was higher in patients who were COVID positive compared to COVID negative patients (8/53 [15.0%] vs. 41/910 [4.5%], P=0.004). There was an increase in CVT mortality during the first 5 months of pandemic years 2020 and 2021 compared to the first 5 months of the pre-pandemic year 2019 (2019 vs. 2020: 2.26% vs. 4.74%, P=0.05; 2019 vs. 2021: 2.26% vs. 4.99%, P=0.03). In the first 5 months of 2021, there were 26 cases of vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), resulting in six deaths. Conclusions During the 1st year of the COVID-19 pandemic, CVT hospitalization volume and CVT in-hospital mortality did not change compared to the prior year. COVID-19 diagnosis was associated with higher CVT in-hospital mortality. During the first 5 months of 2021, there was an increase in CVT hospitalization volume and increase in CVT-related mortality, partially attributable to VITT.

In 2000, an equine Yamakagashi (Rhabdophis tigrinus) antivenom (Lot 0001) was testmanufactured as an unapproved drug for treatment of Yamakagashi bites. It was stocked on the premise of super-legal use from the viewpoint of emergency health crisis management. The antivenom showed a strong neutralizing ability against the hemorrhagic and coagulation activity of the Yamakagashi venom in its potency test. One vial of the antivenom can effectively neutralize at least about 4 mg of Yamakagashi venom. Its efficacy has also been confirmed in patients with severe cases of R. tigrinus bite that has been used in emergency. In 2020, this antivenom (Lot 0001) has reached 20 years after its production. To evaluate the integrity and potency of the antivenom, quality control, safety and potency tests had been conducted almost every year since 2012. Physical and chemical tests (property test, moisture content test, insoluble foreign matter test, osmotic pressure ratio test, pH test, protein content test, endotoxin test, sterility test) of the antivenom, showed no significant changes throughout the years, when compared to the results immediately after its production in 2000. All the parameters measured were also within the standard values. In animal safety tests (test for absence of toxicity and pyrogen), there was no change in the test results during the storage period and no abnormalities were observed. The potency test (anti-coagulant activity) after 20 years of the product, showed the same potency as those recorded immediately after production. Therefore, in all of the stability monitoring tests conducted so far, the product did not show any significant change compared to the results immediately after production. This confirms the stability of the product during the stockpiling period to the present, that is, 20 years after production.

Background: Physical therapists need to work not only in hospitals but also in the communities. So it has been said that community-based education should be essential for physical therapy education. In Gunma University, community-based education program was implemented from 2010 for physical therapy stu¬dents. Purpose. The purpose of this report is to introduce our challenging program and search for how this program af¬fected students, community staffs and elderly people. Methods: Third-year students collaborated to exercise classes for community dwelling elderly people with teach¬ers and community staffs (public health nurses and civic volunteers). Two classes were provided separately, so students were divided into two groups and each group was assigned to one class. After classes, reports were written by participants (60 persons), community staffs (9 persons) and students (24 persons). Reports consisted of five-grade evaluation of this program and students for elderly people and community staffs, evaluation using visual analogue scale (VAS) of this program and contact with elderly people for students, and impressions described in freely written sentences for all subjects. Results and Discussion: Results of elderly people’s five-grade evaluation were “5 (very good)”-50 persons, “4 (good)”-10 persons to this program and “5”-41 persons, “4”-19 persons to students. Results of community staffs’ five-grade evaluation were “5”-7 persons, “4”-2 persons to this program and “5”-6 persons, “4”-3 persons to stu¬dents. Results of students’ VAS evaluation were 86.5±13.3 (100 extremely good~0 minimum) to this program and 91.6±9.9 to contact with elderly people. It was expected there were good feelings elderly people, community staffs and students have. There was a possibil¬ity that an interchange between elderly people and students would bring different learning from on-campus classes to students and motivation to elderly people. Take-home message: It is thought that community-based education should be included in undergraduate pro¬grams for physical therapy students.