[Objective]This report is a case where Chinetsu moxibustion treatment (feeling heat but non-scarring moxibustion) improved atopic dermatitis symptoms;despite the internal application of antihistamines and external application of topical steroids. Prolonged damp erythema and scars were caused by scratching during sleep.
[Method]The patient received Chinetsu moxibustion to the affected area (left popliteal fossa and both hands) once every 2 weeks over an 11 month period, totaling 25 treatment sessions.
[Results]The scars by scratching during sleep were reduced from the day after the first moxibustion. After one month of treatment, the symptom level of the patient's left popliteal fossa changed from "moderate"to "slight". For her hands, the symptom level improved from "moderate"to "slight"after 9 months. As a result, her doctor halved the amount of internal medicine and switched topical steroids to moisturizer only for external treatment. The patient's skin condition continued to be good after 11 months, so treatments by moxibustion and internal medication were terminated.
[Conclusion]It is suggested that Chinetsu moxibustion treatment may be effective for preventing scratching behavior during sleep, and therefore may complement dermatologic treatment for atopic dermatitis.

Purpose: Pharmacists should play a positive role in palliative care. The pharmacy curriculum should also contain content promoting an appropriate attitude toward death. Hence, this study aims to gather fundamental information that can be used to understand the various death attitudes held by pharmacy students. Methods: We targeted 159 sixth-year students of the School of Pharmacy, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, in 2011. They studied "Up-to-date-Palliative-Care" (an elective subject). To investigate their overall perception of death, we used the Death Attitude Inventory (DAI), developed by Hirai and others (2000), and investigated their views of death on the basis of seven factors. We also classified students on the basis of type of death they had experienced, that is, the death of a household, relative, friend, or pet. We compared the scores obtained for each factor and conducted a logistic regression analysis. Results and Conclusion: We analyzed the data from 120 students (valid response rate: 75.5%). Students who had experienced the death of friend, had significantly higher scores on "Life Purpose" and "Death Concern" (p<0.05). Students who had experienced the death of household etc., statistical positive correlation with "Death Concern" and statistical negative correlation with "Death Anxiety" were recognized.

The incidence of wound infection and delayed wound healing was greater in neonates and infants less than 3 months old who had undergone open heart surgery through a median sternotomy than in older patients. To reduce these problems, we stopped using continuous absorbable braided suture for skin and subcutaneous tissue closure in August 2005, and used interrupted non-absorbable monofilament suture instead. Around the same time, we adopted hydrocolloid dressing as a substitute for gauze dressing. We evaluated the effectiveness of wound management by comparing 28 patients who had undergone surgery before August 2005 with 22 patients who underwent surgery after that date. The age at surgery was 45±30 and 21±23 days, respectively. The patients in the earlier period were significantly older than in the later period. There were no significant differences in body weight at surgery, operating time, or cardiopulmonary bypass time between the groups. The time for wound closure was 30±11 and 22±4 min, respectively, and the patients were hospitalized after surgery for 61±41 and 44±31 days. Both were significantly shorter in the later group of patients. There was a single case of mediastinitis, in the earlier period. Wound infection or delayed wound healing occurred in 8 patients in the earlier period and in 3 patients in the later period. The only 4 patients who required wound resuturing were all in the earlier period. The incidence of wound infection and delayed wound healing tended to be low in the later period. We believe that interrupted non-absorbable monofilament sutures improved the wound microcirculation and that the hydrocolloid dressing accelerated wound healing via its moisturizing and heat-retention action, pH buffering ability, and bacteriostatic activity, and that all these contributed to the better outcomes in the later period.

In the present study, we investigated the effect of heat stress on disuse atrophy from changes in the muscle protein levels of desmin and calpain. Wistar strain female rats (6-8 months old) were randomly assigned to two experimental groups: control (C) and heat stress (H). One hindlimb of all animals was immobilized in plantar flexion with plaster. Before immobilization, animals in H group were placed in a heat chamber (42°C for 60 min). Following 6 days of immobilization, the soleus muscles were removed and analyzed. Although immobilization resulted in significant muscle atrophy in all experimental animals, the soleus weight-to-body weight ratio in immobilized limbs of H group was significantly higher compared to that of C group. Expression of desmin and HSP72 in the atrophied soleus muscle from C group was significantly lower compared with the contralateral muscle; but this was not the case in H group. Further, in C group, the ratio of autolyzed calpains I increased significantly in the atrophied muscle compared to the contralateral muscle. These results show that the effect of heat stress on disuse skeletal muscle atrophy is attributed to the decreasing degradation of desmin by suppressing the activation of calpain.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of combination of a heat stress and astaxanthin supplementation, known as a potent anti-oxidative nutrient, on muscle protein degradation and disuse muscle atrophy. Fifty-two male Wistar rats (261.7±1.17 g) were divided into five groups: control (Cont, n=10), suspension (Sus, n=11), heat stress and suspension (Heat, n=10), astaxanthin and suspension (Ax, n=10), and heat stress, astaxanthin and suspension (H+A, n=11). There were no significant differences in Cu,Zn-SOD, cathepsin L and caspase-3 levels among the Heat, Ax and H+A groups in the soleus and plantaris muscles. Although levels of calpain 2 and ubiquitinated protein in the myofibrillar fraction in the soleus muscle were not significantly different among the Heat, Ax and H+A groups, levels in the H+A group were significantly (p<0.05) lower than Sus. Concerning atrophied plantaris muscles, the H+A group significantly (p<0.05) suppressed the expression of calpain 1 in the myofibrillar fraction, but there were no marked changes of proteolytic indexes. These data indicate that the combination of the heat stress and astaxanthin supplementation could be effective in inhibiting muscle protein degradation in disuse atrophy of the soleus.

This study proposed a rapid method to quantify the colonization rate of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in plant roots. The method involved the use of an image analysis software (WinRHIZO Pro). The colonization rate is defined as the ratio of the fungal body to the plant root area in a micrograph. Three seedlings of Chengiopanax sciadophylloides, a woody species that accumulates radiocesium, were collected from a secondary forest in the Yamakiya district of Kawamata, Fukushima Prefecture during May–September 2014. The colonization of AMF structures was examined under a light microscope, and the percentage of colonization was determined using the WinRHIZO method. The superiority of the new method was verified by comparing with a modified grid-line intersect method. The colonization of AMF was confirmed in all the seedlings, and a significant coefficient of determination (R² = 0.94) was found with both the methods. The results suggested that the WinRHIZO method is reliable for estimating the colonization of AMF in C. sciadophylloides.
Colon* ; Forests ; Fungi* ; Methods* ; Microscopy ; Plant Roots ; Seedlings

Background: With improvements in the safety and stability of surgeries, the number of orthognathic surgeries is increasing. Most patients who undergo orthognathic surgeries are younger, and the number of orthognathic surgeries for patients with comorbidities is also increasing. We report a survey and clinical investigation of patients with comorbidities who underwent orthognathic surgeries at our department to improve the safety of orthognathic surgery. Results: The participants included 296 men and 712 women, with a mean age of 28 years (13–19 years, n=144; 20–29 years, n=483; 30–39 years, n=236; 40–49 years, n=102; 50–59 years, n=39; ≥60 years, n=4). In total, 347 patients underwent one-stage Le Fort type I osteotomy and sagittal split ramus osteotomy (SSRO), 243 underwent SSRO, 287 underwent plate removal, 126 underwent genioplasty and plate removal, and five underwent other surgeries. In total, 529 patients had comorbidities (52%), including allergic diseases (n=220, 33%), respiratory diseases (n=107, 16%), neurologic and psychiatric diseases (n=69, 10%), gynecologic diseases (n=28, 4%), hematologic diseases (n=27, 4%), cardiovascular diseases (n=24, 4%), digestive diseases (n=22, 3%), metabolic and endocrine diseases (n=18, 3%), spinal diseases (n=11, 2%), ophthalmologic diseases (n=11, 2%), renal and urological diseases (n=9, 1%), and other diseases (n=117, 18%). Among the patients with comorbidities, 11 with hemorrhagic diatheses (hemophilia and von Willebrand disease), arrhythmia (atrioventricular block), psychiatric disease (adjustment disorder), and metabolic disease (diabetes) required cautious perioperative management. The patient with hemophilia was managed with regular low-dose recombinant factor VIII replacement therapy, and the patient with type I diabetes mellitus was administered continuous insulin infusion and sliding-scale insulin therapy; both patients had an uneventful course. Conclusions The study findings suggest that with the increase in orthognathic surgeries, oral and maxillofacial surgeons should adequately manage cases requiring cautious perioperative control and highlight the importance of preoperative screening. Despite the well-established safety and postoperative stability of orthognathic surgeries, oral surgeons should adopt appropriate additional preventive measures for patients with comorbidities.

We herein report a case of a 76-year-old male patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease whose advance care planning (ACP) was facilited by rehabilitation staff by utilizing dialogue in rehabilitation settings, mainly in the context of conditioning and self-management during pulmonary rehabilitation. When a rehabilitation professional is involved in ACP, it is easy to be involved in the so-called ACP in the broad sense. Compared to other professions, rehabilitation professionals have more time being with a patient for dialogue and can discuss the patient's values and future concerns from a life-centered perspective. To promote ACP in the practical settings, rehabilitation professionals, who have the advantage of having more time for dialogue than other professions, need to be involved in ACP by taking advantage of repeated opportunities for dialogue.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to assess changes in attitudes and motivation of selected Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences (TUPLS) student pharmacists who participated in two-week Clinical Pharmacy Educational Programs (CPEPs) at two US schools of pharmacy.Method: Questionnaires were distributed to the fifth-year pharmacy students who had participated in two CPEPs groups at University of Southern California (USC) or University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) between August 2013-2016. Questionnaires contained items assessing attitudes and motivation toward English learning. Items were in the form of statements to which participants' responses were measured using a numerical rating scale (0-10; ranging from 0 = "I do not agree at all" to 10 = "I agree completely").Results: 128 responses were analyzed between both participants at USC and UCSF (The follow-up rate was 100%). After participation in CPEPs, the mean score (confidence interval) of ‘I like English' and ‘I feel comfortable talking with English speakers' significantly increased in both groups relative to the baseline (USC group vs. UCSF group, 0.6 (0.2-1.1) vs. 0.5 (0.1-0.9), 1.0 (0.6-1.5) vs. 1.3 (0.9-1.7), respectively). However, the mean increase in score of ‘English ability comes to be needed for me to make in my future careers' and ‘I hope to have opportunities for studying or working abroad in the future' in UCSF group was significantly greater than the baseline, which showed a mean score increase of 0.5 (0.2-0.9) and 0.7 (0.3-1.2), respectively.Conclusions: The current study suggests that CPEPs even two-weeks programs, may stimulate English learning motivation, especially integrative motivation for pharmacy student participants.

Objective: The measurement of compounded topical medications’ uniformity is an important component of quality assessment. This study was aimed to evaluate appropriate mixing time for external preparations using a planetary centrifugal mixer.Methods: In order to evaluate the product uniformity of mixtures of five different steroid cream (Antebate®, Myser®, Methaderm®, Lidomex®, and Locoid®) with three different heparinoid oil-based cream (Hirudoid®, “Nichi-Iko” cream and “Nipro” cream), steroid cream and heparinoid oil-based cream (5 g each) were added into a 13 mL container and mixed using the mixer (NanKo Rentaro NRE-120®, THINKY) at rotation speed of 800 rpm and revolution speed of 2,000 rpm. We sampled 0.1 g of the mixture from three spots (top, middle, and bottom portions) of the container then, measured the steroid content by HPLC method. The yield value points of each cream and heparinoid oil-based cream were also measured by spread meter.Results: Our results showed that when the coefficient of variation (CV) is less than 15.2 %, a mixing time of at least 120 s was required to achieve proper mixing to obtain the permissible limit of steroid cream and heparinoid oil-based cream. Also the greater difference of the yield value between steroid cream and heparinoid oil-based cream tended to be mixed easier.Conclusions: These results suggest that the spread ability of steroid cream and heparinoid oil-based cream affects the mixing efficiency of a planetary centrifugal mixer.