We report 2 cases in which byakkokaninjinto was effective for general malaise in aging males. In 1939, climacterium disorders with general malaise were reported in aging men in America. Later, late-onset hypogo nadism (LOH) was defined, and guidelines for LOH syndrome were made.
We distinguished two cases of climacterium disorder with LOH syndrome in aging males. We used the AMS score (which is a diagnostic criteria for LOH syndrome) at the first medical examination.
Case 1 was a 48-year-old man suffering from serious headaches every day for which he took many analge sics. His AMS score was 27/85 at the first medical examination. Mild LOH syndrome was suspected in this case. Case 2 was a 48-year-old man suffering from frequent daily hot flashes. His AMS score was 42/85 and moderate LOH syndrome was suspected.
General malaise in aging males arises from a decrease in male hormone with aging and is treated with an drogen hormone replacement therapy (androgen HRT), while Kampo treatment is also a consideration. As Kampo treatments, hachimijiougan and kamishouyousan are usually chosen. Byakkokaninjinto was effective these patients who showed thirst and polydipsia.

It is difficult to treat vulvar pain of an unknown cause. We report a case of vulvodynia with dysuria treated effectively with goshajinkigan. The case was 92 years-old female who could not sleep well because of vulvar pain. She did not have inflammation of the vulva or vagina. Moreover, she was sometimes treated with urethral catheterization for urinary retention. Goshajinkigan was prescribed, and her pain was decreased so much, that she could sleep well. Furthermore, she was relieved of her urinary retention.

Traditional East Asian medicines, Kampo included, are to be incorporated into International Classification of Diseases11 (ICD-11) which will be released in2015.To understand the significance of this plan, ICD itself needs to be understood. In this article, we describe ICD history, its significance and problems, and why the WHO became interested in traditional medicine. In the beginning, the ICD was only for classifying causes of mortality, and has since expanded to cover disease information according to the diverse needs of a changing society. And in Japan today, it is widely used not only for death certificate and disease information, but also for research purposes. There are many problems with the ICD, however:e.g. it is not clinically convenient, and it lacks certain terminology. Revision from IDC-10 to ICD-11 is now ongoing. It will be expanded and electronic. At the same time, plans are to have it broadly implemented in Asia by including traditional East Asian medicine.

This study was conducted to assess the appropriateness of preparation fees for dispensing herbal medicines, which were revised in 2006. We investigated the amount of time needed to dispense herbal, and general medicines. For prescriptions of1to 15 days length, the average time needed for herbal prescriptions was 13.4 minutes, which was about 3 times longer than for other prescriptions, which took only 4.4 minutes. For prescriptions of over 30 days length, this was about 7 times longer. Next we comparatively investigated fees charged per minute to prepare herbal medicines, with those for other medicines. Fees for all prescriptions of 1 to 15 days length were nearly equal, while fees for herbal prescriptions of over 15 days length were approximately 1/3 to 1/5l ess. Finally, we investigated the number of prescriptions filled out at one university hospital. In 2003 the number of herbal prescriptions exceeding 30 days length was 2.7% overall, while in 2008 this had increased approximately 14 times, to 42%. We would like to recommend an increase in herbal medicine preparation fees, based on the number of days a prescription is for, as the number of long-term prescriptions is increasing.

Pouchitis is the most common complication following ileal pouch-anal anastomosis in patients with ulcerative colitis and is strongly correlated with the risk of pouch failure and malignant mucosal transformation in the pouch. Here we report a case treated successfully with the Kampo decoction, daitokato. A 41-year-old male treated with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis due to severe ulcerative colitis suffered from repeated pouchitis and stenosis of the ileal pouch post-operatively. He complained of general fatigue, chills, continuous lower abdominal pain and discomfort, and severe pain with evacuation. Initial treatment with antibiotics and painkillers was ineffective, so the patient came to our hospital's Kampo clinic, where he was initially prescribed the decoction, shokenchuto. This proved ineffective at resolving his fatigue. Subsequent treatment with ogikenchuto improved physical strength but was ineffective for pouchitis. Antibiotic resistant pouchitis occurred afterwards and we attempted treatment with saikokeishito decoction and the extracts, hochuekkito and juzentaihoto, which similarly improved fatigue but not pouchitis. Following administration of daitokato, instances of pouchitis were reduced with no recurrence 6 months post-treatment. This case illustrates the therapeutic efficacy of daitokato in improving ileal pouch disorders resistant to treatment with Western medicine.

Traditional medicine educational systems in Japan and China were compared.
In Japan, Kampo medicine has been integrated into the core curriculum of undergraduate education in all medical colleges since 2001. Japanese university medical schools give 6,000 hours of western medical educa tion, and only 30 hours of Kampo education. In China at Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) universities, nearly half of teaching hours are devoted to TCM, and half to Western medicine. And even at medical univer sities that specialize in Western medicine, students will usually have 80 hours in TCM courses. Usually it takes five years to graduate. In Japan, Kampo education puts a special focus on the Shang-han-lun and Jin-kui-yao lue texts, which still influence daily practice. In China, on the other hand, TCM doctors rely on traditional theories of Chinese medicine such as the Yin-Yang theory, the Five Elements theory or relationships between meridians and organs. Kampo specialists have been increasing in recent years, although in China, the number of TCM doctors has been decreasing. However, better traditional medicine education would play a role in in creasing our inheritance of both in Japan and in China.

Herb supplies can become unstable because of climate change and the economic development of herb exporters. In this paper, in order to increase the self-sufficiency of herbal resources we examined the possibil ity of changing to herb crop production from tobacco, for which demand is declining. Firstly, we considered demand, quality and the price of raw herb materials to make recommendations for corrections, and selected Angelica (A. ) acutiloba and Bupleurum (B. ) falcatum Linne. Next, we compared the profitability of tobacco and the herbs. Profit margins for A. acutiloba were less than for tobacco. It was thought that the profitability of A. acutiloba could become equivalent to tobacco if an adjustment subsidy were provided. The self-sufficiency rate for A. acutiloba would be one hundred percent with 35 million yen in every year. Although the profitabil ity of B. falcatum has exceeded tobacco, its selling price was about 3 times that of imports, while the price of medical B. falcatum was lower than its selling price. It was thought that the price competitiveness problem of B. falcatum can be covered if a production subsidy is provided, and to reach a 50 percent B. falcatum self sufficiency rate with 660 million yen per year.

We have reported that many chrysanthemum- and lettuce-growers have dermatitis caused by juice of the leaves of these plants and that this dermatitis is caused by an allergic mechanism. In arecent questionnaire on the cause of this dermatitis, half the farmers answerd that it was due to agricultural chemicals. Therefore, we tested the farmers by skin patch tests with several widely used chemicals. In the tests, daconil gave the strongest reaction, results being positive in 60% of the farmers. Daconil was very irritative and phototoxic, the percentage of positive reactions in the patch test with 800 times diluted daconil solution of the concentration commonly used being about 30% after 48 hours and about 60% at 48 hours after peeling off the patch.
The parcentage of positive reactions in the skin patch test with several fractions of chrysanthemums on chrysanthemum-growers were significantly higher than non-farm-workers. Similary, tests with allergen extracted from lettuce showed a significantly higher percentage incidence in lettuce -growers than in other subjects. The patch test with 4000 times diluted daconil solution showed ahigher incidence in farmers than in other subjects. Therefore, 4000 times diluted daconil solution seems to cause allergic contact dermatitis in farmers, and as farmers reported, dermatitis seems to be caused by allergy to farm products, and the irritability, phototoxicity and allergenicity of TPN (Daconil).

[Aim] We compared the effects of acupuncture and press tuck needle (PTN) acupuncture in office workers with physical and psychological fatigue.[Design] A randomized, open-label, parallel-group, comparison study.[Setting] An acupuncture room in the A Clinic within the Kanto Metropolitan Area.[Patients] Clinic workers. The inclusion criteria were 20-45 years of age and awareness of physical and psychological fatigue. The exclusion criteria were fatigue-related diseases and symptoms, medical abnormalities, and history.[Intervention] The subjects were randomly allocated to either the acupuncture treatment group (ACP group) or PTN acupuncture treatment group (PTN group). The interventions were based on acupoints for fatigue symptoms as per previous reports and individualized treatment for physical symptoms, including neck and lower back pain, among others, and were performed twice a week for one month.[Evaluation methods] The visual analog scale (VAS) scores were the primary method for evaluating for physical and psychological fatigue at four weeks post-treatment. Other forms of measurement used were the VAS scores within groups immediately after treatment and to evaluate physical health, the Health Perceptions Questionnaire, General Health Questionnaire-12, and Short Form-36 responses; and salivary amylase levels were used.[Results] Thirteen of 14 subjects in the ACP group and 13 of 15 in the PTN group were included in the analysis. There was no significant difference between the groups for VAS scores. Evaluation, immediately before and after the intervention showed a significant decrease in VAS scores for physical fatigue in both groups. The ACP group showed a greater immediate change than the PTN group. In a comparison within each group, the VAS of psychological fatigue in the PTN group showed significant decrease after the eighth treatment.[Conclusions] Acupuncture may immediately improve physical fatigue in office workers. Moreover, the frequency of using PTN acupuncture may eventually decrease physical fatigue. Therefore, acupuncture and PTN acupuncture can help office workers' health.

BACKGROUND: Epidemiological evidence for the relationship between education and income and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) has been limited and inconsistent. The present cross-sectional study investigated this issue using baseline data from the Aidai Cohort Study. METHODS: Study subjects were 2012 Japanese men and women aged 34-88 years. Right and left CIMT were measured at the common carotid artery using an automated carotid ultrasonography device. Maximum CIMT was defined as the largest CIMT value in either the left or right common carotid artery. Carotid wall thickening was defined as a maximum CIMT value > 1.0 mm. RESULTS: The prevalence of carotid wall thickening was 13.0%. In participants under 60 years of age (n = 703) and in those aged 60 to 69 years (n = 837), neither education nor household income was associated with carotid wall thickening or with maximum CIMT. Among those aged 70 years or older (n = 472), however, higher educational level, but not household income, was independently related to a lower prevalence of carotid wall thickening: the multivariate-adjusted odds ratio for high vs. low educational level was 0.43 (95% confidence interval 0.21-0.83, p for trend = 0.01). A significant inverse association was observed between education, but not household income, and maximum CIMT (p for trend = 0.006). CONCLUSIONS Higher educational level may be associated with a lower prevalence of carotid wall thickening and a decrease in maximum CIMT only in participants aged 70 years or older.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Carotid Intima-Media Thickness ; Cohort Studies ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Educational Status ; Female ; Humans ; Income ; Japan/epidemiology* ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Odds Ratio ; Prevalence