We treated two patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who demonstrated different signs from the perspective of traditional medicine. The first case was a 73-year-old woman. In 1977, she consulted a nearby hospital due to bilateral knee joint pain. Her condition was diagnosed as RA. In 1984, she consulted our department for Stage IV and Class III disease. She was treated with Keishi-ni-eppi-itto-ka-ryojutsubu-kagen, and her condition stabilized. In 1994, she received total replacement of the bilateral knee joints. Her ADL increased, but pain at her bilateral wrist, elbow, shoulder and ankle joints persisted. Although she was treated with Yokuininto, as well as bucillamine and salazosulfapyridine, arthralgia persisted. In 1996, her condition was as follows: general malaise, pain at the bilateral shoulder and elbow joints, severe deformity at the wrist joints, dry skin and slender limbs. She walked with a cane. Therefore, we changed the formula from Keishi-shakuyaku-chimoto to Daibofu-to. Thereafter, her symptoms significantly decreased. The second case was a 50-year-old woman. In 1994, she suffered from pain in the right hand, bilateral feet and knee joints. Her condition was diagnosed as RA at a local hospital. In 1996, polyarthralgia increased and she consulted the department of orthopaedic surgery in our hospital. She was administrated bucillamine, but it was discontinued due to eruptions. Then she consulted our department. She was first treated with Keishi-ni-eppi-itto-ka-ryojutsubu, and then with Yokuininto, which did not change her symptoms. Therefore, we tried several DMARDs; however, her condition worsened. In June 2000, her laboratory data were as follows: RF 860U/ml, ESR 72mm/hr, CRP 4.0mg/dl. Although she complained of pain at the bilateral wrist, elbow and ankle joints, there was no deformity in the bilateral wrist or finger joints of either hand. She was a medium-sized person, and without dry skin or edema at the limbs. The administration of Daibofu-to improved her symptoms as well as laboratory data after 3 months of treatment.
The clinical signs of case 1 were in accordance with the traditional indications for Daibofu-to. In contrast, those of case 2 differed from these indications with regard to blood-deficiency, since there was no dry skin, change in the nail, dizziness or deformity of the joints. These observations suggest that a subset of patients with RA, who have poor deficiency of blood or Ki, may be another population that can be successfully treated with Daibofu-to.

I) In most medical schools, the diseases of organ systems are divided within an integrated curriculum and are not taught in order, however, this situation will improve if several conditions are fulfilled.
2) The conditions that should be fulfilled are maintaining sufficient time for teaching general pathology and for bedside learning in the hospital's department of pathology.
3) Examples of training methods in the pathology of organ systems devised at various medical schools include the use of a virtual slide system, the presentation of surgically resected material, and practical training at a hospital's department of pathology.

A simplified polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was developed for fast and easy screening of mycoplasma mastitis in dairy cattle. Species of major mycoplasma strains [Mycoplasma (M.) bovis, M. arginini, M. bovigenitalium, M. californicum, M. bovirhinis, M. alkalescens and M. canadense] in cultured milk samples were detected by this simplified PCR-based method as well as a standard PCR technique. The minimum concentration limit for detecting mycoplasma by the simplified PCR was estimated to be about 2.5 x 10(3) cfu/mL and was similar to that of the standard PCR. We compared the specificity and sensitivity of the simplified PCR to those of a culture method. Out of 1,685 milk samples cultured in mycoplasma broth, the simplified PCR detected Mycoplasma DNA in 152 that were also positive according to the culture assay. The sensitivity and specificity of the simplified PCR were 98.7% and 99.7%, respectively, for detecting mycoplasma in those cultures. The results obtained by the simplified PCR were consistent with ones from standard PCR. This newly developed simplified PCR, which does not require DNA purification, can analyze about 300 cultured samples within 3 h. The results from our study suggest that the simplified PCR can be used for mycoplasma mastitis screening in large-scale dairy farms.
Animals ; Cattle ; Colony Count, Microbial/veterinary ; DNA, Bacterial/chemistry/genetics ; Disease Outbreaks/prevention & control/veterinary ; Female ; Mastitis, Bovine/diagnosis/*microbiology ; Milk/cytology/*microbiology ; Mycoplasma/genetics/*isolation & purification ; Mycoplasma Infections/diagnosis/microbiology/*veterinary ; Polymerase Chain Reaction/veterinary