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Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) cause damage in the small intestine in a bacteria-dependent manner. As high-fat diet (HFD) is a potent inducer of gut dysbiosis, we investigated the effects of HFD on bacterial flora in the small intestine and NSAID-induced enteropathy. 16S rRNA gene analysis revealed that the population of Bifidobacterium spp. significantly decreased by fold change of individual operational taxonomic units in the small intestine of mice fed HFD for 8 weeks. HFD increased intestinal permeability, as indicated by fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran absorption and serum lipopolysaccharide levels, accompanied by a decrease in the protein expressions of ZO-1 and occludin and elevated mRNA expression of interleukin (IL)-17A in the small intestine. HFD-fed mice exhibited increased susceptibility to indomethacin-induced damage in the small intestine; this phenotype was observed in normal diet-fed mice that received small intestinal microbiota from HFD-fed mice. Administration of neutralizing antibodies against IL-17A to HFD-fed mice reduced intestinal permeability and prevented exacerbation of indomethacin-induced damage. Thus, HFD-induced microbial dysbiosis in small intestine caused microinflammation through the induction of IL-17A and increase in intestinal permeability, resulting in the aggravation of NSAID-induced small intestinal damage.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not opioid administration influenced the survival time of patients with advanced lung cancer in an acute care hospital setting. This was a single institutional and retrospective study. We reviewed patients with advanced lung cancer who had died from January 2008 to December 2013 at the Osaka Police Hospital. We compared survival times, calculated from the time of the last hospitalization or the last chemotherapy, between patients who had not used any opioids, those who had used a low dose of opioids (

The aim of the study was to compare timing and decision-makers of do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders between patients with end-stage thoracic cancer and non-cancer respiratory diseases in a Japanese acute care hospital. This study retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients who died between January 2008 and March 2013 in the Department of Respiratory Medicine of Osaka Police Hospital, a teaching and acute care hospital. We compared the decision-making process, especially timing and decision-maker, of DNR orders between patients with thoracic cancer and patients with non-cancer respiratory diseases. There were 300 cancer patients and 147 non-cancer patients. Cancer patients were significantly younger, were hospitalized more frequently and for longer, were more likely to have a DNR order placed earlier and decided in advance of last admission, and were more likely to have normal cognitive function at the time of the DNR order than non-cancer patients. Spouses of cancer patients were more likely to participate in DNR discussion. Only approximately 6 % of patients participated in DNR discussion in both groups. Cancer patients less frequently received aggressive treatment at the end of life (EOL) and were more likely to die in general wards than in intensive care units. Our study found that most Japanese patients, with or without cancer, who died in an acute care respiratory department, were not included in DNR discussions and that familial surrogates usually made the DNR decision at the EOL.