We third-year medical students visited Thomas Jefferson University during the last spring vacation. We attended classes and received clinical practical training with American medical students for three weeks. In classes the students learn actively through discussions, and for three days a week they study cases through small group discussions. In the clinical clerkship they actively participate in patient care and the learning of clinical reasoning rather than just diagnosis is emphasized. This 3-week visit gave us a great opportunity to reconsider not only ourselves but also the Japanese systems for medical care and education.

This study aimed to elucidate nurses' interpretation of the feelings toward outings among patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis on home mechanical ventilation (ALS/HMV patients), as well as the support provided by nurses enabling these patients to go out. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 5 nurses who had helped ALS/HMV patients make their first outing since starting HMV, and results were analyzed inductively. As interpreted by the nurses, there were 9 categories of feelings toward outings among ALS/HMV patients who had no prior experience of outings, such as “desire to go out”, “concerns about postural maintenance and physical pain”, and “concerns about mechanical troubles”. There were 7 categories of support provided by nurses to enable ALS/HMV patients to go out, such as “predicting and preparing for danger”, “persuading ALS/HMV patients to include outings in their lives”, and “finding the best timing for outings”. These results indicate that nurses grasped ALS/HMV patients' positive and negative feelings toward outings, and supported them to expand their lives by ensuring their safety, motivating them, alleviating their concerns, and enhancing their independence.

This study used in vivo microdialysis to examine the effects of intragingival application of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) derived from Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg-LPS) on gingival tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-6 levels in rats. A microdialysis probe with an injection needle attached to the surface of the dialysis membrane was implanted into the gingiva of the upper incisor. For comparison, the effects of LPS derived from Escherichia coli (Ec-LPS) on IL-6 and TNF-α levels were also analysed. Pg-LPS (1 μg/1 μL) or Ec-LPS (1 or 6 μg/1 μL) was applied by microsyringe, with gingival dialysates collected every hour. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) revealed that gingival dialysates contained approximately 389 pg·mL⁻¹ of IL-6 basally; basal TNF-α levels were lower than the detection limit of the ELISA. Pg-LPS failed to alter IL-6 levels but markedly increased TNF-α levels, which remained elevated for 2 h after treatment. Neither IL-6 nor TNF-α were affected by Ec-LPS. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis revealed that the gingiva expresses Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 and TLR4 mRNA. Immunohistochemical examination showed that TLR2 and TLR4 are expressed by gingival epithelial cells. The present study provides in vivo evidence that locally applied Pg-LPS, but not Ec-LPS, into the gingiva transiently increases gingival TNF-α without affecting IL-6. The present results suggest that TLR2 but not TLR4 expressed on gingival epithelial cells may mediate the Pg-LPS-induced increase in gingival TNF-α in rats.
Animals ; Gingiva ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Interleukin-6 ; metabolism ; Lipopolysaccharides ; administration & dosage ; Male ; Porphyromonas gingivalis ; metabolism ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Toll-Like Receptor 2 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Toll-Like Receptor 4 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; metabolism