Effect of short-term administration of medroxyprogesterone acetate on side reactions of combination chemotherapy with ADR, VDS and CDDP in primary lung cancer]

The effect of short-term (10 days) Medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) administration on side reactions of combination chemotherapy with ADR, VDS and CDDP for primary lung cancer was studied by comparisons of MPA administration group (20 cases) with non administration group (30 cases). 1) Frequency of vomiting, duration of nausea and body weight loss were significantly improved in MPA administration Group (p less than 0.01). 2) Leukocyte and neutrophil counts in MPA administration group especially 7-10 days after of chemotherapy were maintained higher than these of non administration group (p less than 0.05). 3) Major side effects including thromboembolism in MPA administration group had not been observed. These results indicated that short-term MPA administration was relatively safe and effective in combination chemotherapy including CDDP.     

A clinical study of terminal pneumonia

A total of 210 cases of terminal pneumonia were studied out of 1183 autopsied cases at Tenri Yorozu Hospital from 1978 to 1985. Underlying diseases included lung cancer (77 patients), gastric cancer (26 patients), leukemia (24 patients). There was no statistical significance between the time from death until autopsy and the bacterial examination of autopsied lung and blood. P. aeruginosa and Klebsiella sp. were the most frequently isolated organisms. Seventy percent of isolated organisms were gram negative bacilli. In spite of administration of antibiotics, bacteria isolated from specimens before death were sometimes the same as the one isolated from specimens after death. In addition it was recognized that multiple intensive examinations of sputum are necessary for rapid diagnosis of pneumonia. It was also noted that the longer the duration of antibiotic administration, the more frequently P. aeruginosa was isolated. Finally the possibility of pneumonia should be kept in mind in compromised hosts.     

The breakpoint cluster region gene on chromosome 22q11 is associated with bipolar disorder.

BACKGROUND: Although the pathogenesis of bipolar disorder remains unclear, heritable factors have been shown to be involved. The breakpoint cluster region (BCR) gene is located on chromosome 22q11, one of the most significant susceptibility loci in bipolar disorder linkage studies. The BCR gene encodes a Rho GTPase activating protein, which is known to play important roles in neurite growth and axonal guidance. METHODS: We examined patients with bipolar disorder (n = 171), major depressive disorder (n = 329) and controls (n = 351) in Japanese ethnicity for genetic association using eleven single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), including a missense one (A2387G; N796S), in the genomic region of BCR. RESULTS: Significant allelic associations with bipolar disorder were observed for three SNPs, and associations with bipolar II disorder were observed in ten SNPs including N796S SNP (bipolar disorder, p = .0054; bipolar II disorder p = .0014). There was a significant association with major depression in six SNPs. S796 allele carriers were in excess in bipolar II patients (p = .0046, odds ratio = 3.1, 95% CI 1.53-8.76). Furthermore, we found a stronger evidence for association with bipolar II disorder in a multi-marker haplotype analysis (p = .0002). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that genetic variations in the BCR gene could confer susceptibility to bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder.     

Estimating the prevalence of definitive chronic kidney disease in the Japanese general population

Clinical and Experimental Nephrology - Most data on chronic kidney disease (CKD) prevalence has been based on single measurements of renal function and proteinuria. The aim was to determine the...     

Comparison of annual eGFR decline among primary kidney diseases in patients with CKD G3b-5: results from a REACH-J CKD cohort study

Clinical and Experimental Nephrology - Disease-specific trajectories of renal function in advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) are not well defined. Here, we compared these trajectories in the...     

The distribution of eGFR by age in a community-based healthy population: the Japan specific health checkups study (J-SHC study)

Clinical and Experimental Nephrology - Renal function gradually declines with age. However, the association between changes in renal function and healthy aging has not been determined. This study...     

Weight loss reduces the incidence of dipstick proteinuria: a cohort study from the Japanese general population

Clinical and Experimental Nephrology - Though elimination of obesity is one of main therapeutic goal for lifestyle-related diseases, the impact of appropriate weight loss on reduction of the...     

Integrated fluorescent cytology with nano‐biologics in peritoneally disseminated gastric cancer

Gastric cancer patients positive for peritoneal cytology are at increased risk of tumor recurrence, but although a certain proportion of cytology‐positive patients relapse rapidly with aggressive progression, others survive longer with conventional chemotherapies. This heterogeneity makes it difficult to stratify patients for more intensive therapy and poses a substantial challenge for the implementation of precision medicine. We developed a new approach to identify biologically malignant subpopulations in cytology‐positive gastric cancer patients, using a green fluorescent protein (GFP)‐expressing attenuated adenovirus in which the telomerase promoter regulates viral replication (TelomeScan, OBP‐401). The fluorescence emitted from TelomeScan‐positive cells was successfully quantified using a multi‐mode microplate reader. We then analyzed clinical peritoneal washes obtained from 68 gastric cancer patients and found that patients positive for TelomeScan had a significantly worse prognosis. In 21 cytology‐positive patients, the median survival time of those who were TelomeScan positive (235 days) was significantly shorter than that for those who were TelomeScan negative (671 days; P = 0.0062). This fluorescent virus‐guided cytology detects biologically malignant cancer cells from the peritoneal washes of gastric cancer patients and may thus be useful for both therapy stratification and precision medicine approaches based on genetic profiling of disseminated cells.