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[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between going outdoors and physical function of elderly persons certified as in need of care. [Subjects] The participants were 359 elderly people (mean age 82.2± 7.0 years; 119 men and 240 women) enrolled in the Tsukui Ordered Useful Care for Health (TOUCH) program. [Methods] Subjects performed the chair stand test 5 times, the timed up-and-go test (TUG), and independence of the stair climbing/descending test, and completed the mental status questionnaire. Going outdoors by participants during a one-month period was investigated retrospectively by family members. [Results] Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that TUG was significantly associated with going into town [OR 1.04 (95%CI 1.01-1.08)]. Of the other tests, only independence of the stair climbing/descending was significantly associated with going outside the town [OR 1.74 (95%CI 1.06-2.86)]. [Conclusion] The results suggest that gait performance is associated with going outdoors for elderly people. Stair climbing/descending was a key factor in going outside the town which has more complex circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animal experiments have occupied an important position in the safety assessment of chemicals. However, due to the rise in animal welfare as seen in the ban of animal experiments in European cosmetic development, the development of alternative methods for animal experiments has become very important in recent years. Development of in vitro tests for local toxicity such as irritation and sensitization tests is preceded. Meanwhile, alternative tests for systemic toxicity such as chronic and developmental toxicities are under development. In developing alternative methods using cultured cells, we have been focusing on pluripotent stem cells such as ES and iPS cells and studying alternatives to developmental toxicity and neurotoxicity. As an alternative test of developmental toxicity, we developed the Hand 1-Luc EST, which is a simple test utilizing cardiomyocyte differentiation process of mouse ES cells, and Tubb 3- and Reln-Luc ESTs using nerve differentiation process. Recently, it was clarified that the combination of the Hand 1-Luc EST and the Tubb 3- and Reln-Luc ESTs improves the prediction of the developmental toxicity. In the study of in vitro neurotoxicity test using neurons derived from mouse ES cells, evaluation methods for neurite outgrowth using high-content imaging technology and for neural function using multi-electrode arrays were developed. In addition, we introduce differentiation methods for retinal tissues from human ES/iPS cells, which are the results as the collaboration with RIKEN and the present state of an in vitro phototoxicity test using retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE) derived from human ES cells.

We encountered three cases of multiple liver metastases of colorectal cancer treated with hepatic resection after hepatic arterial infusion. Case 1: A 55-year-old female underwent sigmoidectomy for sigmoid colon cancer and six liver metastases. After responding postoperatively to hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HIA), she underwent resection of liver metastases. Case 2: A 66-year-old man underwent colectomy and hepatic resection for cecal colon cancer and liver metastasis. Multiple liver metastases appeared six months after the operation. HIA resulted in a complete response. Liver metastases recurred twice and liver resection was performed each time. Case 3: A 52-year-old female underwent partial resection of colon and liver for ascending colon cancer and multiple liver metastases. After she responded postoperatively to HIA and systemic chemotherapy, the patient underwent resection of liver metastases. Case 1 has lung metastases at this writing. The other two patients are alive and well, and have been free from recurrence as of 4 years after operation.