Objective: A study was conducted to clarify the anti-influenza virus effect of agricultural, forest and fishery products in Ishikawa Prefecture. Method: The samples were prepared by both hot-water and ethanol extraction. The Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells infected with PR8 strain were cultured in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium（DMEM） containing extract for 24 hours and measured virus titer of supernatants by focus-forming reduction assay. Time-of-addition assay was performed to determine the inhibition stage in virus proliferation by the extract. The active ingredients were purified using a solid-phase extraction column (silica gel base C18). Results: We revealed that many products have anti-influenza virus activity. Especially, four products ( Matteuccia struthiopteris, Colocasia esculenta, Sagittaria trifolia, and Eleucine coracana) show strong activity and inhibit several stages in virus proliferation. Conclusion: We performed screening to 46 agricultural, forest and fishery products and found the four products ( Matteuccia struthiopteris, Colocasia esculenta, Sagittaria trifolia, and Eleusine coracana) inhibit virus proliferation strongly. In addition, the isolation and identification of the active ingredients contained in these remain as a future study.

1) A total of 73 incidents and accidents related to guidance provided to residents obtained from data published by the Japan Council for Quality Health Care were investigated.2) These events can be divided into the following three categories: (1) Events that occurred during direct guidance to a resident by a supervising physician, (2) Events that occurred when a resident performed a procedure by himself or herself without the guidance of a supervising physician, although the supervising physician was near the resident, (3) Events that occurred when a resident performed a procedure by himself or herself while a supervising physician was absent.3) Regarding measures to prevent recurrence, the present results suggests that, in addition to the individual efforts of supervising physicians and residents, there is a need for system development through increased cooperation between the postgraduate clinical training center, each section/department and the department of medical safety management.

1）We examined 111 cases of incidents and accidents involving medical residents which were identified in a search of the database of the Japan Council for Quality Health Care.
2）In each case we deduced the root causes, which were then classified into 8 categories.
3）To develop strategies to prevent such cases from recurring, we believe that it is essential to develop a variety of training facility systems and to establish collaborative multidisciplinary medical treatment teams. Our results also suggest that consistent undergraduate and postgraduate programs for medical safety education are necessary.

PURPOSE: Pain from osteoarthritis (OA) is generally classified as nociceptive (inflammatory). Animal models of knee OA have shown that sensory nerve fibers innervating the knee are significantly damaged with destruction of subchondral bone junction, and induce neuropathic pain (NP). Our objective was to examine NP in the knees of OA patients using painDETECT (an NP questionnaire) and to evaluate the relationship between NP, pain intensity, and stage of OA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ninety-two knee OA patients were evaluated in this study. Pain scores using Visual Analogue Scales (VAS), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), painDETECT, duration of symptoms, severity of OA using the Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) system, and amount of joint fluid were evaluated and compared using a Spearman's correlation coefficient by rank test. RESULTS: Our study identified at least 5.4% of our knee OA patients as likely to have NP and 15.2% as possibly having NP. The painDETECT score was significantly correlated with the VAS and WOMAC pain severity. Compared with the painDETECT score, there was a tendency for positive correlation with the KL grade, and tendency for negative correlation with the existence and amount of joint fluid, but these correlations were not significant. CONCLUSION: PainDETECT scores classified 5.4% of pain from knee OA as NP. NP tended to be seen in patients with less joint fluid and increased KL grade, both of which corresponded to late stages of OA. It is important to consider the existence of NP in the treatment of knee OA pain.
Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Humans ; Knee/pathology/physiopathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neuralgia/*physiopathology ; Osteoarthritis, Knee/*physiopathology

Androgens play a central role in prostate cancer pathogenesis, and hence most of the patients respond to androgen deprivation therapies. However, patients tend to relapse with aggressive prostate cancer, which has been termed as hormone refractory. To identify the proteins that mediate progression to the hormone-refractory state, we used protein-chip technology for mass profiling of patients' sera. This study included 16 patients with metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer who were initially treated with androgen deprivation therapy. Serum samples were collected from each patient at five time points: point A, pre-treatment; point B, at the nadir of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level; point C, PSA failure; point D, the early hormone-refractory phase; and point E, the late hormone-refractory phase. Using surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, we performed protein mass profiling of the patients' sera and identified a 6 640-Da peak that increased with disease progression. Target proteins were partially purified, and by amino acid sequencing the peak was identified as a fragment of apolipoprotein C-I (ApoC-I). Serum ApoC-I protein levels increased with disease progression. On immunohistochemical analysis, the ApoC-I protein was found localized to the cytoplasm of the hormone-refractory cancer cells. In this study, we showed an increase in serum ApoC-I protein levels in prostate cancer patients during their progression to the hormone-refractory state, which suggests that ApoC-I protein is related to progression of prostate cancer. However, as the exact role of ApoC-I in prostate cancer pathogenesis is unclear, further research is required.
Aged ; Amino Acid Sequence ; Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal ; therapeutic use ; Apolipoprotein C-I ; analysis ; blood ; isolation & purification ; Blotting, Western ; Cell Line ; Disease Progression ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Prognosis ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Protein Array Analysis ; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization

More than 2 years have passed since the new postgraduate clinical training program was instituted in 2004 to improve the clinical ability of Japanese physicians. However, there have already been discussions about whether the undergraduate curriculum and the postgraduate program should be improved.
After the first physicians finished their training under the new program in the spring of 2006, questions were raised about whether the identical final goals of training could be achieved by transferring some items of postgraduate clinical training to the undergraduate period. Such a change might invigorate the undergraduate curriculum and enhance the effectiveness of the postgraduate program.
1) Are-evaluation of the final goals of postgraduate clinical training might allow some items to be taught during the undergraduate period.
2) Several questionnaires were sent to 211 supervising physicians and 184 first-year residents who had just completed the new internship program at 25 teaching hospitals (university hospitals and postgraduate training hospitals).
3) Both trainees and supervising physicians reacted positively about and expressed a willingness to participate in training items, including noninvasive diagnostic procedures and laboratory studies not harmful to patients, during advanced courses in the undergraduate period.
4) Both trainees and supervising physicians reacted negatively to participating in any invasive procedures that might affect a patient's welfare or sense of shame during the undergraduate period.
5) In the future, training with simulated procedures before actual patients are encountered and enlisting enough supervising physicians are essential for unifying the undergraduate medical school curriculum and postgraduate clinical training programs.

1) The objective of this study was to investigate patient safety education for undergraduates in Japan.
2) Our survey found that 87.5% of medical schools provided patient safety education for undergraduates.The topics covered were prevention of medical errors, communication, crisis management, and medical ethics.
3) This study found several problems in measurement methods, learning strategies.and human resources of undergraduate medical education.

Primary care education is extremely important for undergraduate medical students. We evaluated a primary care program with fifth-or sixth-year medical students at the Hokkaido University School of Medicine from October 2002 through July 2003. The aim of this study was to examine differences in the medical situation between a university hospital and primary care clinics and to determine the importance of primary care. We assessed students' opinions about primary care on the basis of student reports. After completing this program, medical students (30.7%) believed primary care medicine was necessary, recognized the importance of the medical techniques, and were motivated to study primary care medicine (93.6%). The problems of this program were the short schedule and the cost of public transportation. We conclude that this primary care program is extremely effective for teaching undergraduate medical students about primary care medicine.

A 70-year-old man was admitted with upper abdominal pain. Endoscopic examination demonstrated early gastric cancer, which computed tomography and ultrasonography showed a 6cm infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm and bilateral common iliac artery aneurysms. The patient underwent distal gastrectomy, then 33 days later repair of the abdominal aortic aneurysm and bilateral common iliac artery aneurysms with a Dacron graft via a retroperitoneal approach. The patient had a good postoperative course. There have been many reports on the management of combined gastrointestinal malignancy with abdominal aortic aneurysm. We recommend two-stage operation except in patients at high risk of cardiac or pulmonary complications because of the minimum risk of graft infection, and consider that a retroperitoneal approach is good for aortic surgery in cases with a history of previous transabdominal operations.