Search

The article discusses the study regarding the adsorption characteristics of trihalomethanes onto activated carbon fiber from quarternary mixture solution, in Japan. According to sources, chlorination of water has been contributed to prevent people from infectious diseases, but in recent years, it has been reported that trihalomethanes (THM) are produced during chlorination in the water purification process. The study aims to determine the adsorption characteristics of THM onto active carbon fiber (ACF) from mixture solution for the safety of drinking water. It has been concluded that the amount of THM adsorbed onto ACF was not affected by the physical properties of the adsorbent.

Introduction: Malignant wounds are lesions caused by metastasis from distant primary cancers or by direct invasion of the cutaneous structures of a primary cancer, and are most common in patients with breast or head and neck cancers. Malignant wounds not only cause physical symptoms, but also affect survival. Recognizing prognosis in terminal-stage cancer patients is necessary for both patients and health care providers. The prognostic impact of malignant wounds in patients with head and neck cancer has been poorly investigated., Methods: This is a secondary analysis of the results of a prospective cohort study that investigated the dying process in patients with advanced cancer in 23 palliative care units in Japan. The primary outcome of this study was the prognostic impact of malignant wounds in patients with head and neck cancer. The difference in survival between patients with head and neck cancer who had malignant wounds and those who did not was compared using the log-rank test., Results: Of 1896 patients admitted to palliative care units, 68 had head and neck cancer, and 29 of these had malignant wounds. Overall survival was significantly shorter in patients with malignant wounds than that in those without (median: 19.0 days vs 32.0 days, P = 0.046)., Conclusion: Patients with head and neck cancer who had malignant wounds had worse overall survival than those who did not., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Microscopic colitis (MC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that is characterized by nonbloody watery diarrhea. The epidemiology in Japan differs from that in Europe and the United States, but little information is available from epidemiological surveys of MC in Japan. This study aimed to provide a new hypothesis regarding the factors associated with MC by using the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report (JADER) database. "Colitis microscopic" (preferred term code: 10056979) cases entered into the JADER database between 2004 and 2021 were analyzed. Of the 246,997 cases in the JADER database, 161 cases were observed to be associated with MC. A Weibull analysis revealed that the median onset duration of MC (interquartile range) was 72.5 (36.0‒125.5) days in lansoprazole users and 116.0 (60.3‒1089.0) days in aspirin users. A multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that MC was significantly associated with the female sex, as well as ages ≥ 60 years and drugs including lansoprazole, aspirin, and nicorandil. A subset analysis revealed that MC was positively associated with obesity in female cases. Our study cannot demonstrate a causal inference between MC and each drug; however, the findings suggest that MC was associated with nicorandil as well as with lansoprazole and aspirin., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are commonly used for the prevention or treatment of gastric ulcers, but they can induce hypomagnesemia. Little is known about the onset duration and risk factors related to patient characteristics of this adverse event in Japanese patients. Therefore, we analyzed the time-to-onset of PPI-induced hypomagnesemia and evaluated the association between hypomagnesemia and PPIs using the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report (JADER) database. We analyzed hypomagnesemia cases between 2004 and 2021. The time-to-onset analysis was performed using the Weibull distribution, and the adjusted reporting odds ratio (aROR) or 95% confidence interval (95% CI) was calculated using a multiple logistic regression analysis. The analysis database comprised 236,525 cases, with 188 cases associated with hypomagnesemia. The median onset duration (interquartile range) of PPI-induced hypomagnesemia was 99.0 (51.8-285.5 ) days, which is considered the random failure type. The multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that hypomagnesemia is significantly associated with male sex (aROR, 95% CI: 1.66, 1.23-2.25) , age < 60 (1.59, 1.14-2.21) , estimated body-mass index (eBMI) (0.94, 0.91-0.98) , PPIs (1.66, 1.18-2.30) , and the interaction of age (<60)*PPIs (1.58, 1.13-2.19) . However, diuretics were not significantly associated with hypomagnesemia. Our results suggest that serum magnesium levels should be measured regularly regardless of the duration of PPI use, especially in patients with male sex, age < 60, or low BMI. These findings will assist health professionals in the adequate use of PPIs. These findings need to be evaluated by cohort studies and long-term clinical investigations.

An N-glycomic analysis of plasma proteins was performed in Japanese semisupercentenarians (SSCs) (mean 106.7 years), aged controls (mean 71.6 years), and young controls (mean 30.2 years) by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) using a graphitized carbon column. Characteristic N-glycans in SSCs were discriminated using a multivariate analysis; orthogonal projections to latent structures (O-PLS). The results obtained showed that multi-branched and highly sialylated N-glycans as well as agalacto- and/or bisecting N-glycans were increased in SSCs, while biantennary N-glycans were decreased. Since multi-branched and highly sialylated N-glycans have been implicated in anti-inflammatory activities, these changes may play a role in the enhanced chronic inflammation observed in SSCs. The levels of inflammatory proteins, such as CRP, adiponectin, IL-6, and TNF-α, were elevated in SSCs. These results suggested that responses to inflammation may play an important role in extreme longevity and healthy aging in humans. This is the first study to show that the N-glycans of plasma proteins were associated with extreme longevity and healthy aging in humans.

Incubation experiments using filtered waters from Lake Kasumigaura were conducted to examine bacterial contribution to a dissolved organic carbon (DOC) pool. Bacterial abundance, bacterial production, concentrations of DOC, total dissolved amino acids (TDAA), and total dissolved neutral sugars (TDNS) were monitored during the experiments. Bacterial production during the first few days was very high (20 to 35 μg C liter(-1) day(-1)), accounting for 40 to 70% of primary production. The total bacterial production accounted for 34 to 55% of the DOC loss during the experiment, indicating high bacterial activities in Lake Kasumigaura. The DOC degradation was only 12 to 15%, whereas the degradation of TDAA and TDNS ranged from 30 to 50%, suggesting the preferential usage of TDAA and TDNS. The contribution of bacterially derived carbon to a DOC pool in Lake Kasumigaura was estimated using d-amino acids as bacterial biomarkers and accounted for 30 to 50% of the lake DOC. These values were much higher than those estimated for the open ocean (20 to 30%). The ratio of bacterially derived carbon to bulk carbon increased slightly with time, suggesting that the bacterially derived carbon is more resistant to microbial degradation than bulk carbon. This is the first study to estimate the bacterial contribution to a DOC pool in freshwater environments. These results indicate that bacteria play even more important roles in carbon cycles in freshwater environments than in open oceans and also suggests that recent increases in recalcitrant DOC in various lakes could be attributed to bacterially derived carbon. The potential differences in bacterial contributions to dissolved organic matter (DOM) between freshwater and marine environments are discussed.

Differences in biogenic phosphorus (P) compounds between sediment and suspended particles in aquatic environments are important for understanding the mechanisms of internal P loading, but these differences are still unknown. We used solution-state (31)P-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((31)P NMR) with NaOH-ethylenediaminetetraacetic extraction to detect the multiple P compounds in suspended particles and sediment in the eutrophic Lake Kasumigaura, including orthophosphate monoesters, orthophosphate diesters, pyrophosphate, and polyphosphate. We tested the hypothesis that there is a significant difference between these groups in suspended particles and sediment. Biogenic P other than orthophosphate was found in significantly higher proportions in suspended particles (74.3% of total P) than in sediment (25.6%). Orthophosphate monoesters were comparatively more abundant in suspended particles, as indicated by the ratio of orthophosphate diesters to monoesters (average, 0.31 for suspended particles; 1.05 for sediment). The compounds identified as orthophosphate monoesters by (31)P NMR spectroscopy originated mainly from phospholipids (α-glycerophosphate and β-glycerophosphate) and ribonucleic acid (RNA-P), whereas the orthophosphate diesters included mostly DNA (DNA-P). These results suggest that the dynamics of orthophosphate diesters, the production of DNA-P, or the degradation of phospholipids, play an important role in P cycling in Lake Kasumigaura.

Objective: To compare neonatal outcome between children born after vitrified versus fresh single-embryo transfer (SET)., Study Design: Retrospective, single-centre cohort study of 6623 delivered singletons following 29,944 single-embryo transfers. Patients underwent minimal ovarian stimulation/natural cycle IVF followed by SET of fresh or vitrified-warmed (using Cryotop, Kitazato) cleavage-stage embryos or blastocysts. Outcome measures were gestational age at delivery, birth weight, birth length, low birth weight (LBW), small for gestational age (SGA) and large for gestational age (LGA) infants, perinatal mortality and minor/major birth defects (evaluated by parent questionnaire)., Results: Gestational age (38.6 ± 2 versus 38.7 ± 1.9 weeks) and preterm delivery rate (6.9% versus 6.9%, aOR: 0.96 95%CI: 0.76-1.22) in singletons born after the transfer of vitrified embryos were comparable to those born after the transfer of fresh embryos. Children born after the transfer of vitrified embryos had a higher birth weight (3028 ± 465 versus 2943 ± 470 g, p<0.0001) and lower LBW (8.5% versus 11.9%, aOR: 0.65 95%CI: 0.53-0.79) and SGA (3.6% versus 7.6% aOR: 0.43 95%CI: 0.33-0.56) rates. Total birth defect rates (including minor anomalies) (2.4% versus 1.9%, aOR: 1.41 95%CI: 0.96-2.10) and perinatal mortality rates (0.6% versus 0.5%, aOR: 1.02 95%CI: 0.21-4.85) were comparable between the vitrified and fresh groups., Conclusions: Vitrification of embryos/blastocysts did not increase the incidence of adverse neonatal outcomes or birth defects following single embryo transfer., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A new type of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-size exclusion chromatography (SEC) system with ultraviolet (UV) absorbance detection and non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) detection of total organic carbon is described. The introduction of an online degassing tube and a low-volume HPLC column helped to reduce the analytical time and increase the sensitivity of the SEC system. This study is the first in which linear calibration curves (R(2)>0.99) were obtained for both UV absorbance and NDIR data for polystyrene sulfonate standards, which are the most suitable standards for molecular size analysis of aquatic humic substances as well as dissolved organic matter (DOM). Using the calibration curves, the molecular size distribution of DOM in water collected from Lake Kasumigaura and in pore water from lake sediments was estimated. Most of the DOM had a molecular weight less than 4000 Daltons (Da), and the amount of low-molecular-weight DOM (∼ 2000 Da) with low UV absorbance increased with depth in the sediment pore water. This result shows the importance of combining quantitative analysis by NDIR detection with qualitative analysis by UV detection to determine the chemical and physical properties of DOM. The possible sources and reactivity of DOM in Lake Kasumigaura and its sediment pore water are also discussed., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The six-year pharmacist education course has begun, and now first-year students receive clinical training. Interdisciplinary problem-solving capabilities covering chemistry, biology, molecular biology, pharmacology, pathology, and pharmacokinetics are necessary for new pharmacists. However, the conventional pharmaceutical science education was so separate from other fields that education for interdisciplinary cooperative capability was insufficient. This was especially true of elemental science courses, because they are not directly connected with clinical knowledge, and there is a problem of low student interest in those courses. As a result, students acquired only recall-level knowledge in clinical courses and their problem-solving capabilities in clinical treatment and drug development deteriorated. Therefore we offered a trial lecture aimed to help students recognize the important relationship between elemental science courses and clinical courses and increase their motivation to enroll in these courses. Specifically, the trial lecture covered cancer therapy, in reference to mechanisms of carcinogenesis, epidemiology, physiology of cancer, anticancer drugs with explanations of the mechanism of action of carcinogens, anticancer drugs, and molecular-targeted drugs from the viewpoints of organic chemistry and biochemistry by a specialized teacher. This paper reports on this experimental lecture with evaluations from students.

Neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) plays an important role in regulating IgG homeostasis in the body. Changes in FcRn expression levels or activity caused by genetic polymorphisms of FCGRT, which encodes FcRn, may lead to interindividual differences in pharmacokinetics of therapeutic antibodies. In this study, we sequenced the 5'-flanking region, all exons and their flanking regions of FCGRT from 126 Japanese subjects. Thirty-three genetic variations, including 17 novel ones, were found. Of these, two novel non-synonymous variations, 629G>A (R210Q) and 889T>A (S297T), were found as heterozygous variations. We next assessed the functional significance of the two novel non-synonymous variations by expressing wild-type and variant proteins in HeLa cells. Both variant proteins showed similar intracellular localization as well as antibody recycling efficiencies. These results suggested that at least no common functional polymorphic site with amino acid change was present in the FCGRT of our Japanese population.

Heparin is widely used as an anticoagulant for the treatment and prevention of thrombotic disorders. Recently, hundreds of cases of anaphylactic reaction as adverse effects were reported by the presence of contaminating oversulfated chondroitin sulfate (OSCS) in some heparin preparations. In addition, these heparin preparations often contaminated dermatan sulfate (DS). Unfortunately, the Japanese Pharmacopoeia (JP) does not include appropriate purity tests. In the present paper, we show that capillary electrophoresis (CE) is a powerful tool for the analysis of OSCS and DS in heparin preparations. CE method shows high resolution and good quantification of OSCS in heparin preparations. This method (OSCS method) was evaluated for accuracy (93.7 %), repeatability (R.S.D.=2.11), linearity (R(2)=0.9996), detection limit (0.1% OSCS) and specificity. In contrast, DS was not able to be detected in high sensitivity by OSCS method. However, a modified CE method (DS method) using the buffer at lower pHs showed good parameters for accuracy (88.1%), repeatability (R.S.D.=1.99), linearity (R(2)=0.9998), detection limit (0.25% DS) and specificity. In conclusion, CE will be an alternative to the NMR method which is being adopted for purification test of heparin sodium in the present version of JP.

Background: Laparoscopic Heller myotomy and Dor fundoplication are now widely performed for achalasia. In patients who have had dilatation in the past, inflammation between the esophageal mucosal and muscular layers may make it difficult to perform myotomy., Purpose: We investigated the effects of preoperative dilatation on the surgical outcomes., Method: : One hundred and twelve patients were divided into 2 groups: 37 patients with a past history of preoperative dilatation and 75 patients who had no history of preoperative dilatation. The operating time, intraoperative blood loss, days required to resume postoperative oral intake, postoperative hospital stay, improvement in dysphagia, and incidence of postoperative esophagitis were compared., Results: The operating time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative hospital stay, and improvement of dysphagia were no significant differences between these groups. Furthermore, there were no significant differences in the incidence of postoperative esophagitis., Conclusions: The therapeutic outcome of laparoscopic Heller myotomy and Dor fundoplication is not affected by preoperative pneumatic dilatation.

After major abdominal surgery, postoperative ileus is inevitable, and it has always been a challenge for the surgical team to shorten the duration of this period. Based on many clinical and basic reports that affirm the effect on the recovery of gastrointestinal motility, epidural analgesia has been used widely to promote recovery from postoperative ileus. Different techniques have been used to measure gastrointestinal motility in laboratory and clinical investigations. Many of the techniques used in clinical investigations of gastrointestinal motility are controversial because they are subjective. In the laboratory strain gauge force transducer (SGT) can provide objective data on gastrointestinal motility. Nevertheless the significance of SGT in the clinical setting is yet to be confirmed. Therefore in this review we examine both clinical and laboratory outcomes of epidural analgesia on gastrointestinal motility to present the possibility for the development of gastrointestinal motility research with SGTs. We suggest that further investigation using SGTs may lead to the development of objective methods that allow objective assessment of post-surgical gastrointestinal function.

Molecular screening of GM1 gangliosidosis in Shiba dogs was carried out in northern Japan using blood smear specimens after prolonged storage. Of 125 specimens obtained from 3 veterinary teaching hospitals for this screening, 68 specimens (54%) were adequate for direct amplification in a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based DNA test, and the percentage of adequacy was different at each hospital (34%, 73%, and 100%), suggesting that the amount of blood on the smear and the storage condition of specimens may affect adequacy. Of the 68 dogs examined, 2 dogs (2.9%) were heterozygous carriers for this disease and the other dogs were all genotypically normal. The results suggest blood smear specimens can be useful for PCR testing after prolonged storage provided specimens contain a generous amount of blood and have been adequately stored. The study also suggests that GM1 gangliosidosis may be widely prevalent in the Shiba dog population in northern Japan.

A retrospective study of limited resection for lung cancer in a large number of patients was first reported in the 1970s. The reported outcome of segmentectomy was comparable to that of standard lobectomy. The North American Lung Cancer Study Group (LCSG) performed a randomized controlled clinical trial to compare limited resection (segment or wedge) with lobectomy for T1N0 (stage IA) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the 1980s. The study revealed a significant excess of intrathoracic recurrence rate and a tendency to poorer survival in the limited resection group. Since then, limited resection has not been considered the standard operation for lung cancer. However, this situation is gradually changing, because the recent introduction of chest computed tomography (CT) to mass surveys has made peripherally located lung cancer detectable at the earliest stage. Several recent non-randomized studies of intentional limited resection from Japan demonstrated good outcomes comparable to those of lobectomy. Organ-sparing wedge resection without systematic dissection of lymph nodes may be suitable for some types of small lung cancers detected only by CT. Our meta-analysis of published data comparing survival rates after limited resection and lobectomy for stage I lung cancer revealed that limited resection was comparable to lobectomy. Further studies are necessary to define precise targets of intentional limited resection for lung cancer.

The human IGHG2 gene locus is polymorphic, encoding two known allotypes of IgG2: G2m(n-) and G2m(n+). The allele prevalence varies greatly between different ethnic groups and individual genotypes correlate with the level of plasma IgG2 and with antibody responses to certain polysaccharide antigens. In this study, we present three new alleles of IGHG2 (IGHG2*03, 04, and 05), and a complete sequence specific PCR typing system allowing discrimination between the different allotypes of IgG2. A hitherto unknown allotype, which we name G2m(ny), is encoded by IGHG2*04 and differs from G2m(n-) by asparagine rather than serine in CH1 residue 75 and by phenylalanine rather than leucine in CH1 residue 76 (EU numbering 192 and 193). The polymorphic residues are probably surface exposed near the hinge region. The same residues are also found in IgG1, IgG3, and IgG4, and G2m(ny) is therefore an isoallotype that probably arises by gene conversion within the heavy chain locus. The IGHG2*04 allele is present among Danish Caucasians with a low prevalence (2.5%), but was not found in Japanese or Mozambicans. The two other new alleles (IGHG2*03 and IGHG2*05) both encode the G2m(n-) allotype. The IGHG2*03 allele encodes most of the IgG2 of the G2m(n-) allotype in Danish Caucasians.

Psychological distress in 248 evacuees from a volcanic eruption was evaluated using a 30-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30) at four time points after evacuation: 6 months, 12 months, 24 months and 44 months. The proportion of evacuees with psychological distress (defined as a GHQ score >/= 8) significantly decreased from 66.1% (6 months) to 45.6% (44 months). The GHQ mean score significantly improved from 12.6 to 8.9. Investigation of each factor on the GHQ showed progressive improvement over time in 'anxiety, tension and insomnia' and 'anergia and social dysfunction'. However, 'depression' began to improve only after 44 months and 'interpersonal dysfunction' started to worsen after 12 months. The dysfunction in interpersonal relationships continued at 44 months. Examination of the relation between GHQ mean scores and age group showed that recovery from psychological distress was more difficult in middle-aged and older evacuees than in younger evacuees.

Sixty percent of 536 new referrals to a psychiatric clinic at a general hospital complained of insomnia. Prevalence was high in all psychiatric categories, especially in physiologic disorders, somatoform disorders and mood disorders, followed by epilepsy. Complaints of difficulty in falling asleep were high in the physiologic and somatoform disorder groups. Complaints of nocturnal awakening were high in the anxiety and physiologic disorder groups, while complaints of early morning awakening were high in the organic and mood disorder groups. Prescription rates of hypnotics was most prevalent in the mood and adjustment disorder groups, whereas a non-pharmacological approach, including psychological education and behavioral therapy, was applied mainly to the physiologic disorder group.

One-quarter of the residents (about 52,000) in the disaster area around the volcanic eruption area of Mt Unzen-Fugen have been forced to evacuate over a 3 year period. We conducted a psychological controlled study using the GHQ-30 for evacuees. As a result, the percentage of people with a high score over 8 points was 67% of evacuees, markedly higher than 10% of the control group. Some mental support activities, such as counseling by community nurses and crisis intervention/medication by psychiatrists and others, have been promoted. Subjects who received a psychiatric intervention had good outcome as a whole. The nature of psychiatric problems among disaster evacuees and the necessity of long-term support are discussed in this paper.

We conducted Goldberg's 30-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) on 1,216 Japanese general population aged 40-92. Among them, 9.8% of males and 13.7% of females scored over the cut-off point which is used to indicate minor psychiatric disorders. Factor analysis was carried out using the Likert method and eight factors labelled as follows were selected: depression, anxiety and tension, anergia, interpersonal dysfunction, difficulty in coping, insomnia, anhedonia and social avoidance. The mean value of the standardized scores for each age-sex group indicated that changes in sex-age social roles with age affect the mental health of the general population.

We conducted a survey to learn surgeons' attitudes and practices concerning HIV-infected patients in Japan. We mailed questionnaires to 174 general hospitals and received responses from 126 (72.6%). Concerning preoperative HIV testing, 41% of the hospitals had never performed it. Twenty-nine percent had operated on at least one HIV-infected patient and 144 HIV-infected patients have received surgery under spinal, epidural or general anesthesia. During surgery, 6 accidental needlesticks occurred, but fortunately no seroconversion has been reported since the accidents. Therefore widerspread use of barrier precautions should be undertaken during surgical intervention. This survey revealed that 40-60% of the hospitals coped inadequately with such surgery. Therefore it is important to arrange a system in Japan so that HIV-infected patients will be able to receive necessary surgical treatment. For that purpose, a medical educational program for health care professionals is needed, because not only surgeons but all health care professionals in hospitals should be able to take part in the treatment of HIV-infected patients.