To nurses who are doing the actual hands-on work on shifts, the daily conference is indispensable for sharing information among them, working as a united body and addressing the problems of patients accurately. Up until some years ago, however, the conference in our ward had been somehow devoid of continuity and substance. So, by the use of a crosswise chart (a radar chart?), analyses were made to find out what was wrong and what the staff thought about the conference, and an effective approach to making the conference fruitful was sough. A new set of rules were laid down, which resulted in helping the conference become animated. A check of nurses' logs showed a great deal of improvement in terms of the inspector's scores.
Conferences ; chart ; Care given by nurses ; workforce ; seconds

Introduction: We investigated the improvement in and the priorities of patient education training in community pharmacy from the student’s point of view to improve long-term practical training.
Method: We conducted a questionnaire survey to assess student satisfaction and the acquisition of behavioral objectives and analyzed the results with customer satisfaction analysis. Questionnaires were distributed to 32 students who had taken part in long-term practical training in the first year.
Results: Customer satisfaction analysis showed that 4 factors-“the frequency of patient education,” “the period of patient education,” “the aggressiveness of the student,” and “the facilitation by pharmacists on question-asking by the student”-were preferentially improved. In addition, we found that the level of acquisition varied according to the specific behavioral objectives.
Discussion: These results suggest that universities and community pharmacies must work together to organize the training system to increase the frequency of patient education and to improve students’ attitudes about patient education in community pharmacy.

1) To become physicians who care for patients as human beings, medical students must know about child welfare. A serious problem in the fields of medicine and welfare is child abuse. Collaboration is needed to support children and families, but many challenges exist.
2) The goal of our Multidisciplinary Team Workshop, which started in 2006 and targets students in a wide range of fields, is to educate future practitioners about the necessity of multidisciplinary collaboration.
3) More than 80% of the participating students felt the workshop was useful, and the participation of medical students increased the significance of the workshop for students from other disciplines.

In junior high school, educators with many different types of specialty jobs are involved in “education on the proper use of pharmaceutical products” and “drug-abuse resistance education”. Examples of these different jobs are physical education teachers, school nurses, school pharmacists. The aim of this study was to elucidate novel ideas and new directions in the future of medicine instructional education by clarifying the aims and thoughts of educators with different jobs on the education of pharmaceutical medicines and drug use. Based on the technique of Personal Attitude Construct (PAC) analysis, junior high school staff members involved in “education on the proper use of pharmaceutical products” and “drug-abuse resistance education” were interviewed regarding their aims and thoughts. Their responses were analyzed qualitatively. Five school pharmacists, five school nurses, and four physical education teachers were interviewed. The responses revealed that school pharmacists engaged in student education from the specialized perspective of pharmacology, school nurses engaged in student education from the perspective of imminent situations, and physical education teachers engaged in student education more from the perspective of student environment. This study suggested that “education on the proper use of pharmaceutical products” and “drug-abuse resistance education” should be a collaborative effort, so there were the different perspectives and aims of educators with different specialty jobs in the instruction of junior high school students on these subjects.

The adequacy of the Maoto decoction procedure described in the Shokan-ron text was investigated using the inhibitory activity of blended Ephedra herb on amylase enzyme. This enzyme is closely related to stress, and used clinically as an indicator of stress in humans.α-amylase in isolated mouse plasma was used in the experiment, and the enzymatic activity was measured according to the Caraway method. Two different decoction methods: the general process used today, and that described in the Shokan-ron (Ephedra herb alone is firstly infused, then another 3 crude drugs are added and it is further infused), were compared for yield of the extracts, inhibitory actions of the extracts, their crude polysaccharide fraction (one of the active components), and remaining fractions contained within each extract. The inhibitory activity of the extract was clearly promoted by the latter, ancient decoction method, compared with the former. Hence, the decoction method described in the Shokan-ron is presumed to have the aim of reducing stress to the body caused by Maoto itself, and mitigating the side effects of its component Ephedra herb. This biologically qualitative approach, reflected over the entire decoction process, is different from the simply physicochemically analytical approach which concerns itself merely with particular constituents, such as alkaloids. So, it may be beneficial to scientifically elucidate the significance of this decoction and its ingestion methods, as described by the ancient Shokan-ron and Kinki-yoryaku texts.
Ephedra ; Procedures ; Stress ; Endurance of activity ; Investigations

　　Persons who are abused often have serious problems in a complicated life situation. We studied this issue and considered ways in which medical social workers (MSWs) handle these social problems. We collected data in 16 cases of elderly abuse that were managed by staff at our hospital from 2010 to 2013 and compared the characteristics in these cases with those of 23 cases of child abuse during the same period. Data analysis revealed 3 characteristics of abused persons: insufficient use of long-term care insurance service; mental disorder such as dementia or mental illness; and financial problems. Further detailed analysis found that intervention for elderly abuse cases was requested only in more difficult cases when abuse was easily identified by our staff. Therefore, staff’s awareness and motivation to become more involved in cases of elderly abuse may be low compared with cases of child abuse. Hospital staff are in a position where they should be able to readily identify maltreatment of aged persons. We need to develop a mechanism for the early detection of elderly abuse so staff can intervene easily in mild cases of elderly abuse, and ask for assistance from MSWs in more difficult cases. It is important to ensure that all employees have access to MSWs in the hospital.

The promotion of fatty acid metabolism, to which PPARα contributes, has been suggested that it would be participate to maintain the proximal tubular cell function in kidney. The loading on the proximal tubular cell of fatty acids could arise the inflammation and cell death in obesity. One of the “Kampo” medicines, Boiogito (BO) is used for the remedy of overweight women exhibiting chronic fatigues as well as edema in the lower extremities or knees. BO would exhibit the prevention of the proximal tubular cell damage and improvement of kidney function by reducing the portion of fatty acids. In this study, BO was orally administered high fatty acid combined with bovine serum albumin for mice to evaluate the mRNA expression of PPARα quantified by PCR. The increase of PPARα mRNA expression was observed BO administration, followed by reduce the volume of fatty acids in kidney.KEY WORDS: Boiogito, Fatty acid metabolism, PPARα, Proximal Tubular CellINTRODUCTIONObesity is a risk factor for incidence of albuminuria and chronic kidney disease 1, 2, and an accumulating visceral fat would be involved in the regulation of primary stage of nephropathy 3, microalbuminuria. Fatty acids are major contributor to these kidney disorders caused by obesity 4. The binding fatty acids with albumin represents in blood generally, taking up by proximal tubular cells after glomerular filtration from albumin. A peroxisome proliferator - activated receptor (PPARα) has been suggested that it would regulate the fatty acid metabolism. Because the glomerular filtration rate and renal blood flow would increase in overweight patients 5, a large quantity of free fatty acids should be loaded into proximal tubular cells. Therefore, the investigation concerning to PPARα stimulator can be regarded as the fatty acid metabolism - regulation. One of the “Kampo” medicines, Boiogito (BO) is used for the remedy of the inflammation and cell death in obesity, is composed of eight crude drugs: Aluminum Silicate Hydrate with Silicon Dioxide, Astragalus Root, Atractylodes Rhizome, Ginger, Glycyrrhiza, Jujube, Sinomenium Stem and Rhizome. In this study, to clarify the therapeutic mechanisms of BO, we focused on the up - regulating for fatty acid metabolism through the PPARα activation.METHODSKampo formulaeBO was prepared according to the prescription for a one-day dose 6: 3.0 g Aluminum Silicate Hydrate with Silicon Dioxide, 5.0 g Astragalus Root, 3.0 g Atractylodes Rhizome, 1.0 g Ginger, 2.0 g Glycyrrhiza, 4.0 g Jujube, 4.0 g Sinomeniumstem and Rhizome.

Objective: To evaluate the potential of local mosquitoes to act as vectors for dengue transmission in Japan.
Methods: Serotype 2 ThNH28/93 was used to test the dengue susceptibility profiles of Aedes flavopictus miyarai (Ae. f. miyarai), Aedes galloisi (Ae. galloisi) and Aedes albopictus (Ae. albopictus), which were collected in Japan. We used Aedes aegypti from Thailand as a positive control. The mosquitoes were infected with the virus intrathoracically or orally. At 10 or 14 days post infection, the mosquitoes were dissected and total RNA was extracted from their abdomens, thoraxes, heads and legs. Mosquito susceptibility to dengue virus was evaluated using RT-PCR with dengue virus-specific primers. Differences in the infection and mortality rates of the different mosquito species were tested using Fisher's exact probability test.
Results: The infection rates for dengue virus administered intrathoracically to Ae. f. miyarai, Ae. galloisi and Aedes aegypti mosquitoes were identical by RT-PCR on Day 10 post infection. All of the body parts we tested were RT-PCR-positive for dengue virus. For the orally admin-istered virus, the infection rates in the different body parts of the Ae. f. miyarai mosquitoes were slightly higher than those of Ae. albopictus mosquitoes, but were similar to the control mosquitoes (P>0.05). The mortality rates for Ae. f. miyarai and Ae. albopictus mosquitoes were similar (P=0.19). Our data indicated that dengue virus was able to replicate and disseminate to secondary infection sites in all of the four mosquito species (Japanese and Thai).
Conclusions: Ae. albopictus is a well-known candidate for dengue transmission in Japan. However, our data suggest that Ae. f. miyarai from Ishigaki Island (near Okinawa Island) and Ae. galloisi from Hokkaido (Northern Japan) should also be regarded as potential vectors for dengue transmission in these regions. Further studies on these mosquitoes should be conducted.

Objective: To evaluate the potential of local mosquitoes to act as vectors for dengue transmission in Japan. Methods: Serotype 2 ThNH28/93 was used to test the dengue susceptibility profiles of Aedes flavopictus miyarai (Ae. f. miyarai), Aedes galloisi (Ae. galloisi) and Aedes albopictus (Ae. albopictus), which were collected in Japan. We used Aedes aegypti from Thailand as a positive control. The mosquitoes were infected with the virus intrathoracically or orally. At 10 or 14 days post infection, the mosquitoes were dissected and total RNA was extracted from their abdomens, thoraxes, heads and legs. Mosquito susceptibility to dengue virus was evaluated using RT-PCR with dengue virus-specific primers. Differences in the infection and mortality rates of the different mosquito species were tested using Fisher's exact probability test. Results: The infection rates for dengue virus administered intrathoracically to Ae. f. miyarai, Ae. galloisi and Aedes aegypti mosquitoes were identical by RT-PCR on Day 10 post infection. All of the body parts we tested were RT-PCR-positive for dengue virus. For the orally administered virus, the infection rates in the different body parts of the Ae. f. miyarai mosquitoes were slightly higher than those of Ae. albopictus mosquitoes, but were similar to the control mosquitoes (P > 0.05). The mortality rates for Ae. f. miyarai and Ae. albopictus mosquitoes were similar (P = 0.19). Our data indicated that dengue virus was able to replicate and disseminate to secondary infection sites in all of the four mosquito species (Japanese and Thai). Conclusions: Ae. albopictus is a well-known candidate for dengue transmission in Japan. However, our data suggest that Ae. f. miyarai from Ishigaki Island (near Okinawa Island) and Ae. galloisi from Hokkaido (Northern Japan) should also be regarded as potential vectors for dengue transmission in these regions. Further studies on these mosquitoes should be conducted.