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Background: Since December 2019, the COVID-19 infection has drastically spread across China and the world, including Japan. Few reports so far have clarified the prognosis and treatment of critically ill patients managed with invasive mechanical ventilation. This study aimed to present the clinical courses of 20 critically ill patients with invasive mechanical ventilation, which may be valuable for determining future therapies and intensive care of critically ill patients with COVID-19.Methods: In this observational, single-center, cohort study, we included 20 critically ill patients with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection who were admitted to our hospital ICU and required invasive mechanical ventilation. The patients’ general characteristics, laboratory data, treatments, and outcomes were assessed between survivors and non-survivors.Results: Among these 20 patients, 14 patients survived and 6 patients died. The lowest lymphocyte count (93 vs 279/μL, p3/μL, pConclusion: This report described the prognosis of COVID-19 patients required invasive mechanical ventilation in a single Japanese critical care center. Multidisciplinary treatments using a single protocol, including antiviral therapies, anti-inflammatory therapies, and respiratory physiotherapies, were effective for critically ill COVID-19 patients who required invasive mechanical ventilation.

Evaluating the contribution of wild and hatchery fish to a fishery is essential to understand economic feasibility as well as the impact of hatchery fish on the ecosystem. However, a precise estimate of this contribution is often difficult to obtain, particularly when hatchery and wild fish are mixed in the catch. In this study, we quantified the contribution of hatchery and wild Pink Salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuscha to the mixed-stock commercial fishery in Japan by identifying the ratio of otolith-marked hatchery fish to unmarked and presumably wild fish. The contribution of hatchery fish to the total coastal catch of Pink Salmon in Japan was estimated to be 16.6% and 26.4% in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Thus, the majority of the commercial salmon catch originated from naturally spawned wild fish. Economic yield per release by Japanese hatcheries was 2.2 yen (¥2.2) (≈US$0.022) and ¥1.5 in 2011 and 2012.Received October 5, 2014; accepted February 7, 2015

Prostaglandin E 1 (PGE 1 ) ointment has been shown to improve the survival of skin grafts. However, the mechanism of the effects of PGE 1 through topical application is unknown. A rat skin flap model was used to determine whether PGE 1 is absorbed through the intact skin. The prostaglandin concentrations in the flaps in the study group were greater than those in the controls. It is suggested that PGE 1 is absorbed through the skin.

Prostaglandin E1 has been proven to be useful in the treatment of vascular diseases of the lower leg. Plastic surgeons have been aware of its usefulness in augmenting flap survival and have used it intraarterially or intravenously. We attempted to enhance the effect of prostaglandin E1 with heparin by local continuous intraarterial infusion of both drugs. First, we assessed the viability area of an experimental island flap model on rabbit abdomen, and confirmed the usefulness of this method. Next, we attempted to develop clinical cases using Seldinger's method. By this method, we were able to rescue the flaps with circulatory insufficiency and gain a larger survival area of an axial pattern flap.

When ventricular muscle fibers from dog hearts were exposed to different [Ca2+]0 in K+-free solutions, two types of abnormal automaticity were observed. In the K+-free, Ca2+-free, solution, 9 out of 55 preparations developed spontaneous activity at a reduced membrane potential. The maximum diastolic potential was -47.4 +/- 7.68 mV (n = 9) with slow (less than 20 V/s) upstroke velocity of action potentials. The automaticity was based on membrane oscillations with increasing amplitude to become full-sized responses. It was suppressed after reduction of [Na+]0, by an increase in [Ca2+]0 above 3.6 mmol/l and by application of verapamil. In the K+-free, high-Ca2+, solutions (Ca2+ = 3.6-7.2 mmol/l), oscillatory afterpotentials (OAPs) were observed following the driven action potentials at normal membrane potentials in all 55 preparations. Once the OAPs became large enough to attain threshold, there was the appearance of triggered-automaticity. The automaticity was induced by applying premature stimuli or manipulating [Ca2+]0. It was abolished by application of either verapamil or tetrodotoxin by decreasing the amplitude of the OAPs or the fast Na+ current, respectively, or both in combination. These results indicate that the ventricular muscle fibers can develop abnormal automaticity of two different mechanisms in some conditions, and can be a focus of ectopic impulse formation.