Objective Functional dyspepsia (FD) is defined as persistent or recurrent pain or discomfort centered in the upper abdomen without organic disease. Psychosocial factors have been proposed as an important element in the pathophysiology of FD. Therefore, psychotropic agents having antianxiety or antidepressive action are expected to alleviate FD. We previously reported on the treatment of FD using such agents in a systematic review, wherein the effectiveness of the agents on FD was suggested, although there were several limitations. We searched for articles on this subject after our systematic review and re-reviewed them systematically.

Methods Articles were searched for in MEDLINE from 2003 to 2014 using terms related to antianxiety or antidepressive agents. Clinical studies in which the effectiveness of such agents was clearly stated were selected from the retrieved articles. The newly selected and previously selected studies were combined, and statistical analyses were carried out.

Results Nine studies were selected. Five of the studies indicated a significant symptomatic improvement using psychotropic drugs. A statistical analysis suggested a significant treatment effect of psychotropic agents having antianxiety or antidepressive action [pooled relative risk (PRR), 0.72; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.52-0.99; p=0.0406] but did not show a significant benefit of treatment with agents having an antidepressive action alone (PRR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.38-1.03; p=0.0665).

Conclusion Our systematic review suggested that psychotropic drugs having antianxiety and antidepressive actions as a whole might be effective in alleviating FD symptoms, whereas those having only antidepressive action were not effective.

Objective The endoscopic ultrasound-guided rendezvous technique (EUS-RV) is a salvage method for failed selective biliary cannulation. Three puncture routes have been reported, with many comparisons between the intra-hepatic and extra-hepatic biliary ducts. We used the trans-esophagus (TE) and trans-jejunum (TJ) routes. In the present study, the utility of EUS-RV for biliary access was evaluated, focusing on the approach routes.

Methods and Patients In 39 patients, 42 puncture routes were evaluated in detail. EUS-RV was performed between January 2010 and December 2014. The patients were prospectively enrolled, and their clinical data were retrospectively collected.

Results The patients' median age was 71 (range 29-84) years. The indications for endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) were malignant biliary obstruction in 24 patients and benign biliary disease in 15. The technical success rate was 78.6% (33/42) and was similar among approach routes (p=0.377). The overall complication rate was 16.7% (7/42) and was similar among approach routes (p=0.489). However, mediastinal emphysema occurred in 2 TE route EUS-RV patients. No EUS-RV-related deaths occurred.

Conclusion EUS-RV proved reliable after failed ERCP. The selection of the appropriate route based on the patient's condition is crucial.

Objective Patients with perihilar malignancy often develop recurrence of infectious cholangitis, which makes further transpapillary intervention extremely difficult. As endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided biliary drainage (EUS-BD) of an intrahepatic bile duct is a possible option for additional intervention, the aim of this study was to estimate the feasibility of such intervention.

Methods and Patients Patients who had undergone EUS-BD after further transpapillary intervention was deemed impossible or ineffective were investigated in this study. Those who had not received previous interventions via the papilla were excluded. Procedure-related adverse events, clinical efficacy, and time to recurrence of jaundice or infectious cholangitis transthyretin (TTR) were evaluated.

Results Seven patients were eligible for the study between 2007 and 2016 (7 men; mean age, 77 years; 4 with perihilar cholangiocarcinoma and 3 with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma). No procedure-related adverse events were observed. EUS-BD was clinically effective and enabled hospital discharge in 4 patients (57%). The TTR in these 4 clinically effective patients was 43, 105, 118, and 147 days after the procedure (median, 112 days).

Conclusion EUS-BD was found to be safe and often effective in patients in whom additional transpapillary intervention had become difficult, although its efficacy was limited to a short period.

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of an early detection program for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in a primary care setting in Japan.

Methods Participants of ≥40 years of age who regularly visited a general practitioner's clinic due to chronic disease were asked to complete a COPD screening questionnaire (COPD Population Screener; COPD-PS) and undergo simplified spirometry using a handheld spirometric device. Patients who showed possible COPD were referred to a respiratory specialist and underwent a detailed examination that included spirometry and chest radiography.

Results A total of 111 patients with possible COPD were referred for close examination. Among these patients, 27 patients were newly diagnosed with COPD. The patients with COPD were older, had lower BMI values, and had a longer smoking history in comparison to non-COPD patients. COPD patients also had more comorbid conditions. A diagnosis of COPD was significantly associated with a high COPD-PS score (p<0.001) and the detection of possible airflow limitation evaluated by the handheld spirometric device (p<0.01). An ROC curve analysis demonstrated that 5 points was the best COPD-PS cut-off value for the diagnosis of COPD. The combination of both tools showed 40.7% of sensitivity and 96.4% of specificity.

Conclusion The use of the COPD-PS plus a handheld spirometric device could facilitate the early detection of undiagnosed COPD in primary care.

Objective This study aimed to evaluate swallowing dysfunction in patients with spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy and to identify the most appropriate method of assessing swallowing dysfunction using a videofluoroscopic swallowing study.

Methods In the videofluoroscopic swallowing study, patients were instructed to swallow 3 mL of 40% weight/volume barium sulfate twice, and the pharyngeal residue was measured. We used three different methods to quantify the pharyngeal barium residue and an eight-point scale to evaluate the laryngeal penetration leading to aspiration pneumoniae.

Patients We assessed 111 patients with spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy who weren't undergoing disease-specific treatment.

Results Our results showed that the pharyngeal barium residue after initial swallowing correlated better with the bulbar-related functional rating scales than that after multiple deglutition. This correlation was vague when the data from patients whose barium residue was >50% were eliminated. In addition, evaluating the pharyngeal residue after initial swallowing proved to be the most sensitive method with regard to laryngeal penetration.

Conclusion This study showed that the pharyngeal barium residue after initial swallowing was the most appropriate parameter for quantitatively assessing the degree of dysphagia using a videofluoroscopic swallowing study and suggests that this method may predict laryngeal penetration and aspiration in patients with spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy.

Objective To investigate the factors associated with depression, including the serum oxytocin (OXT) levels, disease activity, activities of daily living (ADLs) and quality of life (QOL), and their effects on rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods This study included 42-RA-patients. We measured the following variables before and after 6 months of treatment with biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs): the baseline characteristics (including age, sex, disease duration, smoking, and body mass index), the doses of prednisolone and methotrexate, the serum level of matrix metalloprotease-3, the erythrocyte sedimentation rate and the C-reactive protein level. The disease activity of RA was assessed using the Simplified Disease Activity Index (SDAI), depression was assessed using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), the ADLs were assessed using the Health Assessment Questionnaire disability index and the QOL was assessed using the Short Form (SF)-36. The serum OXT levels were determined using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Results The HAM-D score was significantly correlated with the SDAI, and the mental component summary score of the SF-36. However, the serum OXT levels were not correlated with the HAM-D score. The serum OXT levels before and after bDMARDs treatment did not differ to a statistically significant extent, regardless of the presence of depression. Although the differences in the serum levels of OXT were observed prior to the initiation of treatment, there was no gender difference after treatment.

Conclusion Although RA complicated by depression may be related to the following high disease activity, a poor QOL and poor ADLs, the serum OXT levels were not directly correlated.

Objective Bath-related sudden cardiac arrests occur frequently in Japan. Although previous studies have reported that most fatal events occurr in winter, the reason why such events exhibit a seasonal variation has not been elucidated. In this study, we hypothesized that the occurrence of bath-related deaths was correlated with a low air temperature.

Methods This prospective cross-sectional observational study was conducted in the Tokyo Metropolitan area between October 2012 and March 2013. Data were collected for all cases involving the activation of the emergency medical system because of an accident or acute illness related to bathing that occurred in Tokyo during the study period. In particular, elderly (≥65 years) cardiac arrest victims who had been found in a bathtub filled with water were enrolled. The relationship between the daily number of cardiac arrest events and the lowest daily air temperature in Tokyo was studied using a nonlinear regression model.

Results A total of 3,624 bath-related events were registered in this study. Among these events, 1,081 deaths of elderly individuals who had been found in a bathtub filled with water were recorded. A close correlation was observed between the daily number of events and the lowest daily air temperature. This correlation was described by the following equation: y=8.38e^-0.07x, where y was the daily number of cardiac arrests and x was the lowest daily air temperature.

Conclusion A low air temperature was closely correlated with the occurrence of bath-related cardiac arrest.

A 70-year-old man with myotonic dystrophy (MD) showed repetitive vomiting and decreased food ingestion. These symptoms were caused by acute mass of steak impaction occluding the esophagus, known as "steakhouse syndrome," which may have occurred in response to esophageal functional changes following gastrointestinal involvement due to MD pathology. The occluding food was successfully removed endoscopically, and his symptoms resolved without relapse. Our case suggests that MD patients can present with "steakhouse syndrome" due to bolus food impaction occluding the esophagus as one of their gastrointestinal manifestations, which underscores the need for its consideration in MD patients presenting with similar symptoms.

We herein report the case of a 78-year-old woman with an intraductal tumor with scant mucin production in a moderately dilated main pancreatic duct that resembled an intraductal tubulopapillary neoplasm (ITPN) on imaging. An endoscopic transpapillary forceps biopsy enabled an accurate preoperative diagnosis of the tumor as an oncocytic type intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) of the pancreas microscopically showing papillary growth consisting of oncocytic cells with a typical mucin expression profile, although with few intraepithelial lumina containing mucin. This is the first case of an oncocytic type IPMN mimicking an ITPN that was able to be diagnosed preoperatively.

We report four adult cases of ceftriaxone (CTRX)-induced pseudolithiasis and nephrolithiasis. With the exception of case 1, none of our cases showed abdominal symptoms. Our patients, who had central nervous system (CNS) infections, had been treated with CTRX (4 g/day) for 35-69 days. CTRX-induced pseudolithiasis and nephrolithiasis can appear depending on the total dose of CTRX and the duration for which it is administered. Patients with bacterial CNS infections who are treated with CTRX are typically treated with higher doses for longer periods. It should be recognized that these patients are at higher risk of developing CTRX-induced pseudolithiasis and nephrolithiasis.

Severe pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) rarely develops in children with an atrial septal defect (ASD), even those with a large defect. We herein report the case of a 27-year-old man with a moderate-sized secundum ASD and right ventricular failure due to severe PAH, which developed in his early teens. He was diagnosed as having a genetic mutation of the bone morphogenetic protein receptor-2 (BMPR2) gene and was successfully treated with bilateral lung transplantation with ASD path closure. In patients with congenital heart disease, a genetic analysis may provide information about the lifetime risk of developing PAH.

A delayed diagnosis of insulinoma remains a clinical issue. Hypoglycemic symptoms can mimic neuropsychiatric disorders such as epilepsy. A 27-year-old woman with a history of epilepsy and anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) developed repeated seizures and neuropsychiatric symptoms after a 9-year asymptomatic interval. She had received transient treatment with AEDs before the possibility of hypoglycemia was considered. Following a clinical diagnosis of insulinoma, distal pancreatectomy was performed; her seizures didn't occur again. The early diagnosis of insulinoma requires vigilance not only for hypoglycemia in patients with neuropsychiatric symptoms but also for the possible masking effects of a history of epilepsy and preceding AED usage.

Herein, we report on an 82-year-old woman who presented with anorexia. The patient had hyponatremia with preserved urinary osmotic pressure. T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a lack of high signal intensity (SI) in the posterior pituitary lobe. Based on the patient's high levels of N-terminal prohormone of brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), heart failure was suspected. The heart failure may have caused arginine vasopressin (AVP) secretion. The depletion of AVP secretory granules may therefore cause the posterior pituitary gland to disappear on T1-weighted MRI.

An 86-year-old Japanese man was diagnosed with stage IV lung adenocarcinoma. The patient was treated with crizotinib after echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4 (EML4)-anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangement was detected from his pleural effusion. He subsequently developed abdominal pain and rebound tenderness in the right lower abdomen. Contrast-enhanced abdominal CT showed a low-density area in the abdominal cavity. The size of the abscess was decreased by drainage and the administration of antibiotics. Fistulography revealed a fistula from the rectum to the abscess, and a diagnosis of lower intestinal tract perforation with abscess formation was made. Crizotinib was discontinued and treatment with alectinib was initiated. The patient remains under treatment as an outpatient at our department without adverse effects.

Extramedullary relapse (EMR) after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is relatively rare. The most commonly reported sites in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients after allo-HSCT are soft tissue and the central nervous system, and the gastrointestinal system is an uncommon site. We herein report a unique case with massive hematemesis resulting from gastrointestinal relapse of ALL after allo-HSCT. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy showed bleeding from a 1.5-cm submucosal tumorous lesion with central ulceration on the anterior wall of the stomach. At the same time, computed tomography revealed extramedullary relapse at the breast and bilateral adrenal glands.

Diarrhea after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) can be life-threatening, and its etiology includes conditioning regimens, graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), infections, and transplantation-associated microangiopathy (iTAM). Cord colitis syndrome (CCS) has been described as a syndrome of culture-negative and antibiotic-responsive persistent watery and non-bloody diarrhea of uncertain pathogenesis and occurs in umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT) recipients. We encountered a case similar to CCS that developed severe watery diarrhea after UCBT without any signs of GVHD or infection and responded well to metronidazole (MNZ) treatment. Since CCS is very rare, we herein describe a case of MNZ-effective diarrhea after UCBT.

Syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH) may develop in association with several malignancies. However, as an immunohistochemical analysis is not performed in the majority cases, its true cause is often uncertain. We herein report a case of SIADH following chemotherapy due to tumor-derived ADH production in a patient with mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma. A retrospective immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated ADH expression by lymphoma cells. These findings highlight the importance of using an immunohistochemical analysis to determine ADH production by tumor cells in patients with SIADH. Such analyses play an important role in elucidating the pathogenesis of SIADH and determining the most appropriate treatment.

A 54-year-old man with polycystic liver disease received a domino liver transplantation (DLT) from a patient of hereditary ATTR amyloidosis with the transthyretin Ser50Arg mutation. Ten years after transplantation, he felt a slight numbness in his toes, and cardiac amyloidosis was simultaneously suspected upon a heart function evaluation. Biopsy specimens from the myocardium revealed transthyretin amyloidosis with the Ser50Arg mutation. Oral tafamidis therapy has inhibited the progression of neurological and cardiovascular symptoms this far. We herein report this first case of amyloid polyneuropathy and myocardial amyloidosis after DLT from hereditary ATTR amyloidosis with a transthyretin Ser50Arg mutation and discuss similar cases of other mutations.

A 57-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital because of a high fever, anemia, and hyperferritinemia. Since a bone marrow examination revealed hemophagocytosis, she was diagnosed with hemophagocytic syndrome (HPS). During treatment of HPS, a heliotrope rash and Gottron's sign appeared with elevated levels of serum aldolase. She also developed heart failure. She was diagnosed with dermatomyositis (DM) and associated myocarditis. Although the administration of glucocorticoids, calcineurin inhibitors, intravenous immunoglobulins, and etoposide ameliorated the clinical findings of DM and cytopenia, the fever and hyperferritinemia remained. The addition of infliximab to glucocorticoids and tacrolimus improved the fever and hyperferritinemia and enabled a reduction in the dose of prednisolone without relapse of the diseases.

Pneumothorax secondary to septic pulmonary embolism (SPE) is rare but life-threatening. We herein report a long-term hemodialysis patient with psoas abscess caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, associated with other muscle and splenic abscesses and SPE. Intravenous vancomycin treatment and percutaneous drainage of the psoas abscess rapidly improved her condition. However, the SPE lesions continued to increase, and right-sided pneumothorax occurred 10 days after treatment. The pneumothorax resolved after two months and SPE and all abscesses after four months of treatment. Since late-onset pneumothorax caused by SPE can occur despite successful treatment of the primary infection, care should be taken with such patients.

A 66-year-old man with a several year history of thrombocytopenia, pleural effusion and ascites, anasarca, and organomegaly presented with general fatigue, appetite loss, dyspnea with type II respiratory failure. The precise history of the patient and the re-evaluation of lymph node and bone marrow biopsies conducted by the previous physician indicated TAFRO syndrome. The patient's laboratory data improved for a year with tocilizumab, but then worsened to the point that the patient required artificial ventilation due to the deterioration of type II respiratory failure. The replacement of tocilizumab with rituximab yielded a steady improvement, but it was necessary to address the patient's persistent respiratory failure. Peripheral nerve disorder might have been involved with the patient's respiratory failure.

We report a case of liver abscess and portal vein thrombosis, which occurred due to diverticulitis at the terminal ileum in a 59-year-old man. The patient underwent a barium fluoroscopic examination 1 month before presenting to our hospital. He also showed liver dysfunction due to thrombosis at the superior mesenteric and portal veins. His inflammation gradually subsided after the initiation of treatment, but the recovery was not sufficient. Thus, surgery was performed. The patient condition improved after surgery and he was discharged. Barium examinations are relatively safe, but can sometimes cause severe adverse effects in patients with certain risk factors, and an appropriate diagnosis and treatment are necessary when symptoms appear.