An overview of regular dialysis treatment in Japan as of 31 December 2003

A statistical survey of 3750 nationwide dialysis facilities was carried out by the Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy (JSDT) at the end of 2003, with answers to the questionnaires received from 3717 facilities (99.12%). The population of dialysis patients in Japan at the end of 2003 was 237,710, and the number of dialysis patients per million people was 1862.7. The crude death rate during a 1-year period from the end of 2002 to the end of 2003 was 9.3%. The mean age of patients newly introduced to dialysis was 65.4 years, and the mean age of the entire dialysis population was 62.3 years. The primary diseases in the patients newly introduced to dialysis in 2003 included diabetic nephropathy (41.0% of patients) and chronic glomerulonephritis (29.1% of patients). The mean serum neutral fat concentration for all the dialysis patients was 113.9 +/- 71.7 mg/dL (+/- SD). The mean serum low density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol concentration was 90.8 +/- 30.9 mg/dL. Dialysate calcium concentrations ranging from 3.0 mEq/L to less than 3.5 mEq/L were used for majority of the dialysis patients (55.4%). Among anticoagulants given to the dialysis patients, heparins were the most commonly used in 79.3% of the dialysis patients. The relationship between blood pressure during dialysis and life expectancy for 1 year was analyzed for 43,465 patients who had undergone dialysis three times per week at the end of 2001. Results showed a significantly high mortality risk for patients who had systolic blood pressure of less than 100 mm Hg at the start of dialysis, systolic blood pressure of less than 100 mm Hg at the end of dialysis, and the greatest decrease (lowest) in systolic blood pressure of less than 120 mm Hg during dialysis. Patients who received vasopressor therapy during dialysis had a higher mortality risk than those who received no vasopressor therapy.     

Disseminated tuberculosis following reduced-intensity cord blood transplantation for adult patients with hematological diseases

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT) recipients are prone to infections. The incidences of mycobacterial infections after allo-SCT in several case series vary from less than 0.1-5.5%. However, no study has been published on tuberculosis following unrelated cord blood transplantation (UCBT). We retrospectively reviewed medical records of 113 adult patients with a median age of 54 years who underwent reduced-intensity UCBT (RI-UCBT) at Toranomon Hospital from March 2002 to May 2004. Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections were diagnosed in three patients (2.7%), of these two patients developed primary infection and one patient developed reactivation of latent tuberculosis. The interval between RI-UCBT and the diagnosis of tuberculosis was 34, 41 and 61 days. All the patients had disseminated disease at diagnosis. Histological examination showed the lack of granuloma in caseous necrosis. Combination antituberculous treatments showed limited efficacy, and two patients died immediately after diagnosis. M. tuberculosis caused life-threatening illness, rapidly progressing in RI-UCBT recipients. The lack of granuloma in caseous necrosis suggests the impaired T-cell function in early post transplant phase of RI-UCBT. We should consider M. tuberculosis in the differential diagnoses of fever of unknown source after RI-UCBT.     

Development of a novel photosensitizer, talaporfin sodium, for the photodynamic therapy (PDT)

Recently, in Japan, a novel photosensitizer, talaporfin sodium was developed for the photodynamic therapies of various diseases including malignant tumors. At the same time, a diode laser device, Panalas 6405, to be used for this therapy was developed. Talaporfin was first extracted and refined from plant chlorophyll and was found that the skin photosensitivity caused by drug disappeared faster than the existing photosensitizer. Clinically, in the patients with early lung cancer, the complete response was obtained in 85.7% of the lesions (36/42 lesions) by the administration of 40 mg/m2 followed by laser irradiation at 100 J/cm2 4-6 hours later. The sensitivity disappeared mostly within 2 weeks.     

悉尼系统的再评价:内镜活检对除菌前后胃粘膜炎症与幽门螺杆菌感染的精确判断

本研究旨在以悉尼系统为基础,利用常规内镜下活检取材,探讨除菌前后 Hp 感染或残留与胃粘膜炎症的关系,为 Hp感染胃粘膜的观察提出一种规范化评价方法.通过对1237例内镜活检及316例除菌治疗后复检病例的观察,表明该分级系统标准易于掌握,能客观反映 Hp 感染后胃粘膜生物学特性,特别适合于 Hp 感染后胃粘膜炎症程度的判断和除菌治疗效果的评价,适于临床推广.进一步的研究表明由于胃窦、胃角或胃体部位取材,Hp 的检出率及定植量并无明显的差异,因此临床内镜活检中,无需强调多点或多部位取材.     

水凝胶包埋酶(单凝胶和双网络凝胶)及磁性粒子固定化酶的制备及评价(英文)

酶固定化过程中,固定化酶的方法及其载体的选择是酶固定化过程的关键因素,适宜的固定化法和良好的载体微环境对酶活保持率提高和稳定性增强尤其重要。在本研究中,利用96孔微分析板评价了用于高通量筛选的水凝胶包埋酶(单凝胶和双网络凝胶)及磁性粒子固定化酶的制备方法及其对酶活性(保存时间,精度和重现性)的影响。胰蛋白酶(trypsin)成功地包埋在单凝胶和双网络凝胶中并且固定在磁性粒子上,然而,包埋在单凝胶和双网络凝胶,或固定在磁性粒子上的胃蛋白酶无法与底物反应。在对酶的适应性方面,与双网络凝胶比较,单凝胶和磁性粒子固定化法更加优越,适用于多种酶(如:胰蛋白酶,葡糖苷酸酶,CYP1A1)的固定。然而,我们也发现浸置后,以单凝胶包埋的固定酶有较多的损失。双网络凝胶包埋法只限于包埋胰蛋白酶,无法用于包埋其它酶,例如葡糖苷酸酶、CYP1A1和胃蛋白酶,因为双网络凝胶包埋法会由于丙烯酰胺和过硫酸胺的存在而使酶失去活性。在三种酶固定方法中,磁性粒子固定酶的方法能够最好地保留酶活性。另外,磁性粒子固定酶的稳定性比其他两种方法好,存放一周后胰蛋白酶和葡糖苷酸酶的活性没有任何下降。其次,磁性粒子固定法的重复利用重现性也良好。此外,尽管双网络凝胶法包埋酶的种类有限,但是我们认为通过改变丙烯酰胺等载体的选择和设计,改进载体微环境,可以使包埋酶的效率得到提高。