Internal Medicine
Online ISSN : 1349-7235
Print ISSN : 0918-2918
ISSN-L : 0918-2918
48 巻, 12 号
選択された号の論文の37件中1~37を表示しています
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
  • Tomoyuki Tsujikawa, Akira Andoh, Osamu Inatomi, Shigeki Bamba, Tamio N ...
    2009 年 48 巻 12 号 p. 933-937
    発行日: 2009年
    公開日: 2009/06/15
    ジャーナル オープンアクセス
    Aim We investigated whether steroid therapy for Crohn's disease (CD) patients influences bone mineral density (BMD), and whether alendronate is effective for improving this loss of BMD.
    Methods We recruited 16 outpatients with CD. The BMD of the whole body, the lumbar spine, and the proximal femoral neck was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptimetry. The BMD was expressed as a T score. Some CD patients with low BMD values had been given vitamin K2 or alendronate for one year.
    Results In the steroid-dependent group, the mean dose of prednisolone was 968 mg per year and 2.7 mg per day. Although the duration of the disease was not related to the T score, the amount of total steroids was negatively correlated with the T score among patients taking no preventative drugs. The T score in the vitamin K2 group after one year did was not altered in the 3 areas examined. On the other hand, the T score in the alendronate group increased by 2.8% for the whole body, 4.5% in the lumbar spine, and 3.4% in the proximal femoral neck.
    Conclusion The BMD of Japanese CD patients was decreased depending on the total amount of steroid administered, and oral alendronate improved the loss of BMD.
  • Terumi Kamisawa, Kensuke Takuma, Sawako Kuruma, Junko Fujiwara, Hajime ...
    2009 年 48 巻 12 号 p. 939-943
    発行日: 2009年
    公開日: 2009/06/15
    ジャーナル オープンアクセス
    Objective Autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) may be a pancreatic lesion of IgG4-related systemic disease. Lacrimal gland swelling is a rare extrapancreatic lesion of AIP. The aim of the present study was to investigate lacrimal gland function in AIP patients, and to determine changes after steroid therapy.
    Patients and Methods Schirmer's test and sialochemistry were done prospectively in 11 AIP patients. These tests were also performed after steroid therapy in 7 patients.
    Results Dysfunction of tear secretion was found in at least one eye in 7 (64%) patients. The average lower level in both eyes was 4.3±1.5 mm in the 7 patients with lacrimal gland dysfunction, which was significantly lower than the 8.2±2.4 mm in patients with normal lacrimal gland function (p=0.005). There were no significant differences between the two groups in age at diagnosis of AIP, sex ratio, and the presence of swelling of the lacrimal glands and the salivary glands. Although there was no significant difference, mean serum IgG4 levels and mean salivary Na+ and β2 microglobulin levels were lower in patients with normal lacrimal gland function. After steroid therapy, lacrimal gland function improved in 3 of 5 patients with impaired lacrimal gland function, though the degree of improvement was not marked compared to the improvement of salivary gland function.
    Conclusion Lacrimal gland function was frequently impaired in AIP patients, even when no lacrimal gland swelling was observed clinically. Lacrimal gland function impairment appears to be similar to impairment of salivary gland function in AIP patients.
  • Konosuke Nakaji, Shigeo Suzumura, Yukinori Nakae, Kensaku Kojima, Mits ...
    2009 年 48 巻 12 号 p. 945-952
    発行日: 2009年
    公開日: 2009/06/15
    ジャーナル オープンアクセス
    Objective To evaluate the effects of localized irrigation with epinephrine saline after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP).
    Patients and Methods One hundred and fourteen patients who underwent ERCP in our institute were treated with or without irrigation using epinephrine diluted in saline after ERCP to prevent post-ERCP pancreatitis. The serum amylase levels, white blood cell counts, and urine amylase levels were measured at 24 and 48 hours after ERCP.
    Results The treatment resulted in improvements in all items. A univariate analysis of the explanatory variables between the treatment and untreated groups revealed the treatment to be effective, but not statistically significant. Gender and cannulation of the pancreatic duct were the only variables with significant partial regression coefficients in the multiple regression model with all explanatory variables (p=0.045). When a stratified analysis was conducted using gender as a moderator variable, the treatment became a significant preventive factor (p=0.038), and cannulation of the pancreatic duct was a significant risk factor (p=0.027) in female patients.
    Conclusion We suggest that irrigating with epinephrine saline into the papilla may be effective for preventing pancreatitis in female patients who received ERCP with cannulation of their pancreatic duct.
  • Eiji Oda, Ryu Kawai
    2009 年 48 巻 12 号 p. 953-958
    発行日: 2009年
    公開日: 2009/06/15
    ジャーナル オープンアクセス
    Background High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) is an independent risk factor of diabetes and cardiovascular disease and it is proposed as a component of metabolic syndrome. Blood levels of hs-CRP are reported to be much lower in Japanese than in Westerners and bimodally distributed in Japanese.
    Methods Very low levels of hs-CRP were examined using medical check-up data of 1,360 Japanese men and 821 women whose plasma levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were below 10 mg/L.
    Results The distribution of hs-CRP levels were skewed but not bimodal in both men and women and very low levels of hs-CRP were significantly related to waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, triglycerides, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in both men and women. The area under receiver operating characteristic curve of hs-CRP for diagnosing metabolic syndrome and Spearman's correlation coefficients between hs-CRP and components of metabolic syndrome were comparable to those of components of metabolic syndrome in both men and women.
    Conclusion Very low levels of hs-CRP were not bimodally distributed but were significantly related to metabolic risk factors in Japanese.
  • Eriko Atsumi, Satomi Yara, Futoshi Higa, Tetsuo Hirata, Shusaku Harana ...
    2009 年 48 巻 12 号 p. 959-965
    発行日: 2009年
    公開日: 2009/06/15
    ジャーナル オープンアクセス
    Background Human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I), the cause of human T cell leukemia, is associated with a high incidence of several other infectious diseases. However, the relationship between pulmonary infections and HTLV-I infection is still unclear.
    Objective A large-scale retrospective study was conducted on hospital inpatients to evaluate the relationship between community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and HTLV-I infection.
    Methods The present study included 4,666 hospitalized patients during 1991-2007. Three hundred and thirteen of them were diagnosed as CAP. The presence of serum HTLV-I antibody was determined in all patients on admission. Prevalence of HTLV-I infection was analyzed between CAP patients and all inpatients. We also compared HTLV-I-positive CAP patients and HTLV-I-negative CAP patients for severity and manifestation of pneumonia.
    Results The prevalence of HTLV-I was higher in CAP patients than in all inpatients (18.9%: 13.7%, p=0.011). The rates of renal diseases and collagen vascular disorders were higher in the HTLV-I-positive CAP patients than in the HTLV-I-negative CAP patients. Multivariate analysis revealed that HTLV-I infection, gender, COPD and collagen vascular disorders were all independent risk factors for CAP. The severity indices of CAP, the PORT score and the CURB-65 score, were higher in the HTLV-I-positive patients than in the HTLV-I-negative patients.
    Conclusion This study demonstrates that HTLV-I infection might be an independent risk factor for CAP and that HTLV-I-infected patients tend to demonstrate a relatively severe form of pneumonia.
  • Michinari Fukuda, Tadashi Kanda, Naoto Kamide, Tsugio Akutsu, Fumihiko ...
    2009 年 48 巻 12 号 p. 967-973
    発行日: 2009年
    公開日: 2009/06/15
    ジャーナル オープンアクセス
    Objective Recent studies have demonstrated gender differences in functional outcome after stroke. However, the underlying reasons for differences have been inconsistent. The present study examined whether gender differences in long-term functional outcomes exist among surviving patients with first-ever ischemic stroke and with individual subtypes of stroke.
    Methods A total of 997 patients (654 men, 343 women) were followed for 5 years after discharge. Patients were assigned to 4 subtypes of ischemic stroke (atherothrombotic, lacunar, cardioembolic and unclassified infarction). Functional outcomes were expressed as locomotor activity, assessed using a questionnaire delivered by mail 1 and 5 years after stroke. Locomotor function was classified into 5 categories according to the grade of disability.
    Results Women showed significantly worse locomotor function than men at both 1 and 5 years (p < 0.001 and p < 0.01, respectively). Furthermore, significant gender differences in functional outcome were observed in all subtypes of ischemic stroke at 1 and 5 years after stroke. Logistic regression analysis revealed that gender was a significant determinant for functional outcome at 1 and 5 years after stroke (p < 0.01 and p < 0.001, respectively). No significant gender difference was seen in the rate of stroke recurrence. Women also showed a worse survival ratio after stroke than men (p < 0.01).
    Conclusion The present study demonstrated significantly worse functional outcomes for women than for men at 1 and 5 years after stroke. Gender differences in long-term functional outcomes by subtypes of ischemic stroke were also significant.
  • Satoshi Kamei, Akihiko Morita, Naohide Tanaka, Masato Matsuura, Mitsuh ...
    2009 年 48 巻 12 号 p. 975-980
    発行日: 2009年
    公開日: 2009/06/15
    ジャーナル オープンアクセス
    Objective We have observed alterations of quantitative (q)-EEG findings occurring in interferon (IFN)-α treated chronic hepatitis C (CH-C) patients, and found patient's age to be one factor influencing such EEG alterations. In the present study we evaluated the correlation between q-EEG alterations during IFN-α treatment and the severity of hepatitis based on liver biopsies.
    Methods A total of 102 CH-C patients underwent blind, prospective and serial q-EEG examinations. The IFN-α was administered under the same therapeutic regimen to all patients. Serial EEGs were obtained before, at 2 and 4 weeks, and at 2-3 days after the conclusion of treatment. The absolute powers of each frequency band in different periods were determined by q-EEG. Staging (of fibrosis) and grading (of inflammatory cell infiltration) were scaled according to Desmet's classification. We evaluated the relationship between q-EEG and scales of staging or grading.
    Results Age distributions did not differ significantly among stages or grades. As the stage or grade increased, the alterations of EEG during IFN-α treatment became more pronounced, and significant (repeated-measures analysis of variances; both, p<0.0001).
    Conclusion Alterations of the EEG occurring during IFN-α treatment became pronounced with more severe pathological findings for CH-C. Alterations in the EEGs during IFN-α treatment should be carefully monitored in CH-C patients with severe pathological findings.
  • Yoshiaki Kaji, Koichi Hirata
    2009 年 48 巻 12 号 p. 981-986
    発行日: 2009年
    公開日: 2009/06/15
    ジャーナル オープンアクセス
    Objective The importance of psychiatric comorbidity in migraine has long been recognized. There is a growing body of evidence that these psychiatric comorbidities share diverse epidemiological properties, pathophysiological mechanisms, and treatment response. The prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities is high in patients with medication-overuse headache (MOH).
    Methods To understand the characteristics of mood disorders in MOH in Japanese patients, we studied and evaluated the characteristics of psychiatric comorbidities in MOH.
    Results The results suggested that mood disorders in MOH are similar to those in endogenous depression but different from those of secondary mood disorders associated with other diseases. Suspicion of depression and intervention are essential for providing medical care for patients with MOH.
    Conclusion Affective disorders diagnosed in migraine patients might later progress to MOH. In contrast, migraine patients without MOH and healthy subjects had a similar prevalence of mood disorders.
  • Naoyasu Yoshida, Mitsunori Okamoto, Yuko Makita, Kiyomi Nanba, Masao Y ...
    2009 年 48 巻 12 号 p. 987-992
    発行日: 2009年
    公開日: 2009/06/15
    ジャーナル オープンアクセス
    Objective Senile persons have reduced left ventricular (LV) relaxation and increased late diastolic filling. However, the determinant factor of the enhanced active emptying of the left atrium has not been well established.
    Methods Subjects were 62 healthy individuals with a mean age of 58±19 (21-85) years. The biplane modified Simpson's rule was applied to measure left atrial (LA) volume at pre-atrial contraction (LAVpre) as an index of LA preload and LA volume change during atrial contraction (LASV) as an index of active LA emptying. These values were divided by the body surface area and represented as LAVpreI and LASVI, respectively. Postero-basal (dorsal cranial) left atrial wall velocity (LAWV) during atrial contraction as an index of LA contractility was measured in the apical three-chamber view by two-dimensional tissue Doppler echocardiography.
    Results Age significantly correlated with mitral flow velocity (TMA), velocity-time integral during atrial contraction (TMAVTI) and LASVI (r= 0.63, p<0.001 and r=0.71, p<0.001, r=0.21, p=0.049, respectively). LAVpreI was significantly correlated with age (r=0.44, p<0.001), LASVI (r=0.71, p<0.001), TMA (r=0.31, p=0.008) and TMAVTI (r=0.40, p<0.001). LAWV remained unchanged with aging and had no correlation with TMA, TMAVTI or LASVI.
    Conclusion The enlargement of the LA in senile persons may be a major determinant of enhanced active LA emptying and the increased LA contractility may be less contributory.
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