When treating finger, hand, and elbow trauma (hereinafter, surgically treated hand trauma) in self-employed farmers, it is also necessary to consider how the patient will be able to continue working in the family business. This study investigated return-to-work outcomes of self-employed farmers in the Tokachi area in Hokkaido, Japan after surgically treated hand trauma. A survey was conducted with 56 self-employed farmers (39 men and 17 women, median age 55 years). More than 80% of the farmers (n = 49) returned to their previous work, and most returned to work during the farming season while still experiencing functional impairment. Self-employed farmers with surgically treated hand trauma tend to return to work in time for the farming season regardless of the severity of functional impairment they are experiencing, and it is important for health care providers to recognize this fact and consider return-to-work support as part of the treatment plan in addition to treatment itself. Therefore, providers must understand the processes and details of tasks performed during each farming season and devise individualized measures to accommodate patients returning to work while still experiencing impairment. In cases where multiple treatments are required, such as two-stage functional reconstruction, it is also important that the treatment plan consider the farming season, for example, by having the patient temporarily return to work and then undergo surgery during the off season.

Following the revision of the structure and content of the Model Core Curriculum for Medical Education to be more outcome-based and the legal status of the medical practice performed by medical students in the clinical clerkship, we have revised the Guideline for Participatory Clinical Clerkship. The following items were revised or newly described : significance of enhancing the participatory clinical clerkship, scope of medical practice, confidentiality, patient consent, patient consultation and support service, objectives of the clinical clerkship, simulation education, departments where the clinical clerkship is conducted, assessment in the clinical practice setting, CC-EPOC, and entrustable professional activities. A foundation has been established to promote seamless undergraduate and postgraduate medical education. However, future work is needed to examine the specific level of performance expected at the end of the clinical clerkship and department-specific clinical practice goals and educational strategies.

Background: Invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) is an infectious disease where Streptococcus pneumoniae can be detected in the cerebrospinal fluid or blood.Methods: Eight patients presented to our hospital with adult IPD. We compared with 69 cases of pneumococcal pneumonia treated in our department between 2012 and 2014. None of the patients had a history of pneumococcal vaccine administration.Results: Hematological examination showed the platelet count was significantly lower and the serum C-reactive protein level was significantly higher in the IPD group. There was a significant difference in the use of a respirator and mortality in the IPD group. About antibiotics, Carbapenem and quinolone were used for the treatment of many patients in the IPD group. In the fatal three cases of IPD, the age of all members were 65 years or younger. Two of three had no underlying disease.Conclusion: IPD develops without elderly people and in those without underlying disease. Also, the patients who took a sudden course may result in death. In line with previous studies that have reported the effectiveness of the pneumococcal vaccine, our study findings emphasize the need of administering vaccination for prevention of IPD in person who was younger than 65 years old.

Autoimmune enteropathy (AIE) is a rare disease, characterized by intractable diarrhea, villous atrophy of the small intestine, and the presence of circulating anti-enterocyte autoantibodies. Immune dysregulation, polyendocrinopathy, enteropathy, X-linked (IPEX) syndrome, and mutations in FOXP3, which is a master gene of regulatory T cells (Tregs), are major causes of AIE. Recent studies have demonstrated that mutations in other Treg-associated genes, such as CD25 and CTLA4, show an IPEX-like phenotype. We present the case of a 13-year-old girl with CTLA4 haploinsufficiency, suffering from recurrent immune thrombocytopenic purpura and intractable diarrhea. We detected an autoantibody to the AIE-related 75 kDa antigen (AIE-75), a hallmark of the IPEX syndrome, in her serum. She responded well to a medium dose of prednisolone and a controlled dose of 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP), even after the cessation of prednisolone administration. Serum levels of the soluble interleukin-2 receptor and immunoglobulin G (IgG) were useful in monitoring disease activity during 6-MP therapy. In conclusion, autoimmune-mediated mechanisms, similar to the IPEX syndrome, may be involved in the development of enteropathy in CTLA4 haploinsufficiency. Treatment with 6-MP and monitoring of disease activity using serum levels of soluble interleukin-2 receptor and IgG is suggested for such cases.

The balance between treatment and farming work must be considered when performing hand surgery in farmers, but no studies have previously examined the level of busyness in farmers in detail. We conducted a questionnaire survey on busyness by month and desirable time for hand surgery in 20 self-employed farmers in the Tokachi region of Hokkaido who had undergone hand surgery. Busyness in crop farming peaked approximately in May for fertilizer application, sowing, and raising and transplanting seedlings and in August-October for harvesting and transporting crops. On the other hand, livestock farmers were busy with rearing management throughout the year, with a peak of busyness in May-October for fertilizer application, sowing, and harvesting and transporting forage crop. Given the approximately 3-month period of work restriction following hand surgery, all respondents wished to have this period from November to January. If a farmer is injured during the peak farming period, a treatment plan is required that supports an early return to work and allows for two-stage reconstruction and treatment of degenerative disease in the quiet period for farming. Meanwhile, almost no respondents expected to receive support from official organizations and manufacturers, indicating that there is a need to provide the government with information from a medical perspective.

Background/Aims: Chronic constipation and lifestyle factors can affect sleep quality. We evaluated the relationship between chronic constipation and sleep in the Japanese population. Methods: This cross-sectional internet-based survey included 3000 subjects with constipation, classified according to sleep status (good/poor).Primary endpoints were Bristol stool form scale (BSFS) score and correlations between sleep disorder criteria of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and sleep status (good/poor sleep). Secondary endpoints included correlations between quality of life (QOL) and mood, medical, lifestyle, and sleep factors. Results: The proportion of participants with BSFS category 4 (normal stool) was significantly higher in the good sleep group (P < 0.001). Sleep disturbance (P < 0.05), sleep quality, and duration, use of hypnotic medication, and daytime dysfunction of PSQI (all P < 0.001) significantly correlated with poor sleep. In the poor sleep group, QOL was significantly worse and anxiety and depression levels were significantly higher (allP < 0.001) compared with the good sleep group. Anemia and smoking (both P < 0.05), recent body weight increases, and poor eating habits (all P < 0.001) were significantly higher in the poor sleep group. Male sex, onset associated with change in frequency of stools, sensation of incomplete evacuation for at least 25% of defecations, and manual maneuvers to facilitate at least 25% of defecations correlated with poor sleep. Conclusions Subjects with constipation and poor sleep experienced severe symptoms and had poor QOL. These data support the need for a multifocal treatment approach, including lifestyle advice and pharmacotherapy.

Background/Aims: Chronic constipation and lifestyle factors can affect sleep quality. We evaluated the relationship between chronic constipation and sleep in the Japanese population. Methods: This cross-sectional internet-based survey included 3000 subjects with constipation, classified according to sleep status (good/poor).Primary endpoints were Bristol stool form scale (BSFS) score and correlations between sleep disorder criteria of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and sleep status (good/poor sleep). Secondary endpoints included correlations between quality of life (QOL) and mood, medical, lifestyle, and sleep factors. Results: The proportion of participants with BSFS category 4 (normal stool) was significantly higher in the good sleep group (P < 0.001). Sleep disturbance (P < 0.05), sleep quality, and duration, use of hypnotic medication, and daytime dysfunction of PSQI (all P < 0.001) significantly correlated with poor sleep. In the poor sleep group, QOL was significantly worse and anxiety and depression levels were significantly higher (allP < 0.001) compared with the good sleep group. Anemia and smoking (both P < 0.05), recent body weight increases, and poor eating habits (all P < 0.001) were significantly higher in the poor sleep group. Male sex, onset associated with change in frequency of stools, sensation of incomplete evacuation for at least 25% of defecations, and manual maneuvers to facilitate at least 25% of defecations correlated with poor sleep. Conclusions Subjects with constipation and poor sleep experienced severe symptoms and had poor QOL. These data support the need for a multifocal treatment approach, including lifestyle advice and pharmacotherapy.

Objective: Combination therapy with glecaprevir and pibrentasvir (G/P) has been shown to provide a sustained virologic response (SVR) rate of >97% in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in the first published real-world Japanese data. However, a recently published study showed that the treatment was often discontinued in patients ≥75 years old, resulting in low SVR in intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis. Thus, our aim was to evaluate real-world data for G/P therapy in patients ≥75 years of age, the population density of which is high in “rural” regions.Patients and Methods: We conducted a multicenter study to assess the efficacy and safety of G/P therapy for chronic HCV infection, in the North Kanto area in Japan.Results: Of the 308 patients enrolled, 294 (95.5%) completed the treatment according to the protocol. In ITT and per-protocol analyses, the overall SVR12 rate was 97.1% and 99.7%, respectively. The old-aged patients group consisted of 59 participants, 56 of whom (94.9%) completed the scheduled protocol. Although old-aged patients tended to have non-SVR factors such as liver cirrhosis, history of HCC, and prior DAA therapies, the SVR12 rates in old-aged patients were 98.3% and 100% in the ITT and PP analyses, respectively. Of 308 patients enrolled, adverse events were observed in 74 patients (24.0%), with grade ≥3 events in 8 patients (2.6%). There was no significant difference in any grade and grade ≥3 adverse events between the old-aged group and the rest of the study participants. Only one patient discontinued the treatment because of adverse events.Conclusion: G/P therapy is effective and safe for old-aged patients.

We report on an apparently healthy woman in her 50s who noticed pain in the left side of her neck anteriorly and was prescribed an antimicrobial agent at a nearby clinic. However, she developed hypotension and hypoxemia and was brought to our hospital. Laboratory investigations revealed evidence of inflammation, and imaging findings showed low-density areas corresponding to the left lobe of the thyroid gland. The low-density areas extended to the superior mediastinum, raising suspicion of a thyroid gland mediastinal abscess. We performed inferior mediastinal drainage with video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery and resection of the left lobe of the thyroid gland. Culture of mediastinal aspirate yielded Streptococcus viridans. Based on these findings, the final diagnosis was descent-related mediastinitis secondary to acute suppurative thyroiditis.

An 82 year-old-woman was referred to our hospital because of infiltrative shadow of the lingula in 201X. She was asymptomatic, so we followed up with imaging observation. After 1 year, the infiltrative shadow had progressed, so we performed bronchoscopy. Glandular epithelium with the mild aberrant type was detected, but did not lead to a definitive diagnosis. There was increased eosinophilic compartmentalization of immune response in the bronchoalveolar lavage, so we started treatment with corticosteroids for chronic eosinophilic pneumonia. However, there was no improvement of the shadow. Subsequent computed tomography-guided lung biopsy revealed evidence of papillary adenocarcinoma.