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Japan's population has been skewing toward the elderly, but the outcomes of advanced elderly trauma are not clear. Here we compared the outcomes of very elderly trauma patients (≧85 years old) with those of 65- to 84-year-old trauma patients. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients treated at Hyogo Emergency Medical Center from August 2010 to August 2016; 631 patients were entered in the study. We divided them into the younger geriatrics (YG group, 65-84 years old: n=534) and older geriatrics (OG group, ≧85 years old: n=97). The group’s patient characteristics, mortality, 1-year survival rate, and Barthel index were tabulated and compared. The patients’ mean age was 75.6±7.5 years. There was no significant difference in mortality between the YG and OG groups (9.6% vs. 15.1%, odds ratio [OR] 1.73; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.93-3.23, p=0.083). The 1-year survival rate (94.4% vs. 77.8%, OR 0.19, 95% CI 0.07-0.51; p

Genetic analysis of programmed cell death in Drosophila reveals many similarities with mammals. Heretofore, a missing link in the fly has been the absence of any Bcl-2/Bax family members, proteins that function in mammals as regulators of mitochondrial cytochrome c release. A Drosophila homologue of the human killer protein Bok (DBok) was identified. The predicted structure of DBok is similar to pore-forming Bcl-2/Bax family members. DBok induces apoptosis in insect and human cells, which is suppressible by anti-apoptotic human Bcl-2 family proteins. A caspase inhibitor suppressed DBok-induced apoptosis but did not prevent DBok-induced cell death. Moreover, DBok targets mitochondria and triggers cytochrome c release through a caspase-independent mechanism. These characteristics of DBok reveal evolutionary conservation of cell death mechanisms in flies and humans.