Background Rikkunshito, a traditional Japanese (Kampo) medicine, is widely prescribed as an oral preparation for the treatment of functional dyspepsia (FD). In our previous study, we reported that extracorporeal ultrasonography (US) is a useful technique for the assessment of the gastric accommodation reflex (AR) and duodenogastric motility. In this study, we examined the effects of Rikkunshito on the gastroduodenal function in patients with FD.
Methods Sixteen FD patients (median age, 45 y) underwent US, before and after 14 days of treatment with Rikkunshito (7.5 g b.d.). For assessment of the AR, a cross-sectional area of the proximal stomach was measured after incremental ingestion of a liquid meal up to 400-mL. The expansion rate was used as the parameter to determine the AR. Then, the gastric emptying rate (GER), motility index (MI), and reflux index (RI) were evaluated using previously reported methods.
Results Although no significant changes were observed in the total score of the Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS), the scores of 3 of the 15 symptoms of GSRS decreased significantly after treatment with Rikkunshito. The expansion rate of the proximal stomach was significantly greater after treatment with Rikkunshito than before the treatment. Although the GER and MI increased significantly, no significant differences in the RI were observed after treatment with Rikkunshito.
Conclusion These observations suggested that Rikkunshito may be beneficial for the treatment of FD patients with impaired AR and gastric motility. These results also suggested that Rikkunshito has a therapeutic potential for FD and GERD.

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Background Patients with congenital solitary kidney have an increased risk of developing hypertension, proteinuria and renal insufficiency. However, the specific factors associated with the progression of renal function in adults with congenital solitary kidney remain still unclear. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that are independently associated with renal function progression in patients with congenital solitary kidney.
Methods Sixty-five Chinese adults with congenital solitary kidney (48 patients with unilateral renal agenesis and 17 with severe unilateral renal dysplasia) were recruited into our study retrospectively. Clinical data were analyzed.
Results Of sixty-five patients with congenital solitary kidney, the prevalence of hypertension, proteinuria and renal insufficiency was 36.9%, 35.4% and 38.5%, respectively. There was no significant difference in the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) between patients with and without hypertension, whereas GFR in patients with proteinuria was significantly lower than in those without proteinuria (p<0.05). While there was no statistically significant difference in prevalence of hypertension between patients with and without renal insufficiency, the prevalence of proteinuria in patients with renal insufficiency was significantly higher than in those without renal insufficiency (p<0.05). Logistic regression analysis revealed that kidney length and proteinuria were independently associated with the progression of renal function (OR=0.20, 95%CI 0.05-0.79, and OR=8.30, 95%CI 2.30-29.96, respectively).
Conclusion Hypertension, proteinuria or renal insufficiency was present in approximately one-third of adults with congenital solitary kidney. Those with a kidney length of less than 120 mm or proteinuria had a much higher risk of renal insufficiency.

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Objective Mizoribine (MZR) is an immunosuppressant that inhibits nucleic acid metabolism and is a relatively safe disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD). We evaluated the efficacy and safety of one single dose per day for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Patients and Methods In this study 32 patients with RA received MZR therapy. We evaluated the average dose of MZR and prednisolone, response to treatment and peak plasma level of MZR.
Results The average dose of MZR was 146.1±31.2 (range: 50-200) mg/day. The average dose of prednisolone was 4.63±3.59 (range: 0-14) mg/day. The average plasma level of MZR, measured after 3 hours, was 2.20±0.49 μg/mL in the responder group and 1.59±0.82 μg/mL in the non-responder group (p=0.020). The treatment with MZR for 24 weeks was completed by 71.9% of patients and the proportion of patients who achieved a good and moderate response rate according to the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) criteria was 56.3% at 24 weeks. The plasma level of MZR which was greater than or equal to 2.12 μg/mL was significantly correlated with the clinical response (p<0.01). Only one of thirty-two cases discontinued the treatment, because of skin eruption.
Conclusion This study included patients that could not be treated with other DMARDs and/or biologic agents because of age, interstitial pneumonia and other complications. We show that MZR may be a useful and relatively safe therapy for patients in this group.

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Objective This study was undertaken to explore a bibliometric approach to quantitatively assess current research trends in lung cancer in Japan, using the related literature in the Science Citation Index (SCI) database from 1991 to 2008.
Materials and Methods Articles were analyzed by the scientific output and research performances of individuals, institutes, and collaborative countries with Japan. Distribution of words in the article title, author keywords, and KeyWords Plus in different periods was applied to evaluate research trends by the frequency of keywords used.
Results Keyword analysis indicated that there has been a strategy to connect molecular biology with clinical practice. Researchers in Japan have published high impact articles related to non-small cell and small cell lung cancer.
Conclusion Finally, this study highlights the topics in lung cancer research that are becoming popular in Japan.

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An 84-year-old woman under warfarin therapy, who had undergone mechanical valve replacement 29 months previously, developed coagulation abnormalities after antibiotic treatment for pyelonephritis. Laboratory findings included PT at 47.6 sec, activated thromboplastin time (APTT) at 147 sec, factor V (FV) activity of 4% and FV inhibitor of 8 BU. Although overt bleeding was not observed, administration of prednisolone was started. Her coagulation abnormalities were rapidly normalized. It was later determined that the patient had received bovine thrombin at surgery. The presence of a FV inhibitor should be considered in the differential diagnosis in patients demonstrating an unexpected prolongation of PT under warfarin therapy following surgery.

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A 91-year-old depressed woman had resistant hypertension despite a triple combination of anti-hypertensives, including a Ca-antagonist, an angiotensin receptor blocker, and a thiazide diuretic at optimal doses. She had hypokalemic metabolic alkalosis, elevated plasma cortisol and ACTH, and elevated urinary cortisol. The high-dose dexamethasone did not suppress the elevated ACTH and cortisol. The addition of spironolactone to her previous medications controlled and normalized hypertension, hypokalemia, and hormonal abnormalities within 4 months. Her blood pressure, serum electrolytes, and the hormonal states remained normalized for more than a year thereafter. Her depressed mental state also improved after spironolactone.

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Primary adrenal lymphoma (PAL) is extremely rare although involvement of malignant lymphoma into adrenals is common. We report a case of a 58-year-old man with bilateral PAL who demonstrated adrenal insufficiency. Primary large B-cell lymphoma was proven by a computed tomography-guided needle biopsy of the adrenal tumor. Although a complete remission was once achieved by combination chemotherapy plus rituximab, a recurrence occurred with brain metastasis leading to his death. We concluded that PAL should be considered as a possible cause of bilateral adrenal incidentalomas with progressive adrenal insufficiency.

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We describe two cases of Fabry disease in non-blood-related Japanese men, manifesting recurrent stroke even after the start of enzyme replacement therapy. Both exhibited chronic inflammation and ocular involvement with elevated levels of serum C reactive protein prior to the onset of stroke. We, therefore, suggest the association among persistent inflammation, ocular involvement and recurrent stroke in a certain subset of Fabry disease patients. Both cases received enzyme replacement therapy with no improvement in inflammatory signs or laboratory data. These cases suggest that Fabry disease should be considered in young patients with cryptogenic stroke or CNS manifestations and fever of unknown origin.

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A 48-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital in 2003, complaining of weight loss. Complete blood cell count revealed thrombocytopenia. Abdominal CT demonstrated marked splenomegaly. FDG-PET revealed a hot spot in the whole spleen. A splenectomy was performed. Histological examination was typical for angiosarcoma. Adjuvant chemotherapy was given, and high-dose chemotherapy with autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation was performed. Thrombocytopenia developed again in 2008. CT scan showed a hepatic tumor. A fine-needle biopsy of the liver revealed the first relapse. Despite hepatic lobectomy, radiofrequency ablations and administration of recombinant interleukin-2, she died from respiratory failure in 2009.

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We report a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who showed periodic peritonitis with spontaneous remission. She showed compound heterozygous mutations in the MEFV gene, leading to the diagnosis of familial Mediterranean fever (FMF). Oral colchicine successfully reduced the severity and frequency of her peritonitis. SLE occasionally manifests abdominal symptoms, but in cases with periodic peritonitis, associated FMF should be considered as a possible cause.

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A 37-year-old man was admitted to our hospital for precordial chest pain. He had taken prednisolone (5 mg/day) for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and had been symptom free for the past 12 years. Echocardiography and contrast-enhanced CT of chest showed an enlarged ascending aortic aneurysm, which is rarely seen in SLE. Severe aortic regurgitation was also present, and surgical replacement of the ascending aorta and aortic valve was successfully accomplished by the Bentall procedure. Medial cystic necrosis in the ascending aorta, which is rarely seen in SLE angiopathy, was confirmed by histology. There were no significant histopathological findings in the aortic valve.

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A 26-year-old man was hospitalized with a 1-month history of fever. Cervical lymph node biopsy showed necrosis in the paracortical area with abundant nuclear debris and proliferation of histiocytes. A diagnosis of histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis (HNL) (Kikuchi's disease) was made. He received methylprednisolone pulse therapy (MPT) (0.5 g/day for 3 days) without maintenance therapy and experienced dramatic improvement. We also used MPT for another 12 cases of HNL. All patients became afebrile within 1 day without adverse events. Four patients relapsed after the initial MPT, but only 1 patient relapsed during the following year. Our results suggest that MPT is warranted in HNL patients with prolonged fever.

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