Object: This study was performed to determine the clinical characteristics of asthmatics with bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) that could not be normalized by 6 months of treatment with a moderate dose of an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS).
Methods: Thirty-four symptomatic patients with mild to moderate asthma, who had never received any ICS, were treated with 200 μg of inhaled fluticasone propionate twice a day for 6 months. Spirometry, BHR to methacholine, exhaled nitric oxide (NO) and eosinophils in induced sputum were examined before and 2 and 6 months after beginning treatment.
Results: FEV₁ was increased and bronchial responsiveness, exhaled NO and sputum eosinophilia were significantly decreased 2 and 6 months after starting ICS treatment. Bronchial responsiveness was further decreased at 6 months together with a further increase in FEV₁. In 13 patients, BHR was not normalized despite the 6 months of treatment. This group showed a higher prevalence of males, those with a smoking history and airflow limitation, a higher eosinophil count in the sputum following 6 months of treatment and a longer history of asthma. Multiple, stepwise, linear regression analysis showed that sputum eosinophilia and lower FEV₁/FVC following 6 months of treatment and a longer history of asthma were significant independent determinants for BHR after 6 months of ICS treatment.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that the resistance to a moderate dose of ICS for BHR in asthmatics may be significantly associated with remained airflow limitation, eosinophilic airway inflammation resistive to moderate dose of ICS, and delayed introduction of ICS therapy.

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Objective: To report the clinical features of 9 patients with both abducens nerve palsy and postganglionic Horner syndrome.
Patients and Methods: Nine patients with this symptom combination were examined by our Neuro-ophthalmology Clinic in Nihon University Itabashi Hospital between 1978 and 2004. Patient ages ranged from 28 to 63 years (average 47.2±8.7 years). Six patients were males and 3 were females. Primary diseases, accompanying symptoms and prognoses were surveyed.
Results: In primary diseases, neoplasm in the cavernous sinus was observed in 2 patients, sphenoidal sinus cyst in 2, intra-cavernous carotid aneurysm in 2, epipharynx carcinoma in 1, chordoma in the base of the skull in 1, and meningioma in the middle cranial fossa in 1. Five patients with extra-cavernous sinus lesions; sphenoidal sinus cyst, epipharynx carcinoma, chordoma and meningioma, complained of severe headache. However, in patients without severe headache, intra-cavernous sinus lesions such as carotid aneurysm and metastatic carcinoma were detected. After therapy, abducens nerve palsy improved in 5 patients, however, Horner syndrome persisted in all patients.
Conclusion: We emphasize that this symptom combination is an important sign of lesions in the posterior portion of the cavernous sinus or in its vicinity. Moreover, the presence or absence of severe headache depends on whether the lesion is in the intra-cavernous or extra-cavernous sinus.

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Object: Scabies infestation is very common among bedridden elderly patients. The standard method of diagnosis for scabies by scraping the skin requires some skill. Therefore, dermatologists employ this method. However, dermatologists are usually not present in most long-term nursing units. Thus, we tried to catch mites using a strong transparent adhesive tape commercially available for packing use as an alternative method for the diagnosis of severe scabies infestation.
Methods: After firmly applying the adhesive side of the tape onto an appropriate skin lesion of patients, the tape was pulled off and transferred directly onto a slide for microscopy, affixing the adhered separated part of the corneal skin.
Patients: When a massive outbreak of scabies infestation occurred in May 2004 at the nursing unit of K hospital with thirty-one bedridden elderly patients, we tried to detect scabies mite using an adhesive tape.
Results: We could detect mites from six patients using this tape method. The diagnosis was confirmed by the standard scraping method. By the tape method we could observe some mites moving around and also could see a striated structure with dark red or weak red color or gray color granule-like constitution on the body of some mites. We found mites only on the skin of the fingers and toes where the skin of a patient is thin. Recently, massive scabies infestation in elderly long-term residents has been reported elsewhere. This tape method is simple and useful for diagnosis of severe scabies infestation in long-term nursing units.

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A 67-year-old diabetic man was emergently hospitalized in our department because of a huge duodenal ulcer without visible vessels. Despite of intravenous administration of 40 mg omeprazole and fasting with intravenous nutritional support, endoscopically unmanageable massive bleeding occurred on the 8th hospital day. Emergent angiography showed extravasation of contrast media from a duodenal branch of the proper hepatic artery, and superselective arterial embolization was successfully achieved. The patient recovered from the hemorrhagic shock and underwent subsequent successful surgery. Analysis of CYP2C19 enzyme genotype indicated the patient was a homozygous extensive metabolizer, considered a poor responder for omeprazole treatment.

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A 55 year-old man with huge coronary artery fistula to the right atrium is presented. The Qp/Qs ratio was 1.6. We failed to place simultaneously three interlocking detachable coils for closing the fistula, because the coils were washed out into the right atrium. We deployed the coronary stent at the distal portion of the coronary artery. This procedure enabled us to anchor 7 electrically or interlocking detachable coils and to interrupt the shunt flow. A Doppler flow wire was useful to reveal instantaneously the extent of flow reduction even when contrast angiography was not performed in each procedure.

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We describe a 50-year-old woman who developed chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) one year after onset of hemochromatosis. Electrodiagnostic studies showed evidence of multifocal demyelination. Marked hypergammaglobulinemia with positive anti-nuclear and anti-DNA antibodies was found. Corticosteroid treatment resulted in a significant lessening of neurological symptoms. This is the first case of CIDP with hemochromatosis. The association may be coincidental, but the altered immune system by hemochromatosis was possibly related to the development of CIDP in this patient.

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We report a rare case of subacute combined degeneration of the spinal cord concomitant with gastric cancer. A 67-year-old man was admitted because of posterior column symptoms, pyramidal tract sign and peripheral neuropathy with severe hyperchromic anemia. He was treated with mecobalamin 1 mg IM, after which his anemia and neurological signs recovered. He was diagnosed as having subacute combined degeneration with pernicious anemia. Subsequent stomach biopsy revealed gastric cancer, and the patient underwent gastrectomy. It is a well known association that chronic atrophic gastritis is associated with gastric cancer or subacute combined degeneration. Our findings suggest that in this case subacute combined degeneration and gastric cancer are independent of each other; rather, both resulted from chronic atrophic gastritis.

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