Chronotherapy is especially relevant, when the risk and/or intensity of the symptoms of disease vary predicably over time as exemplified by allergic rhinitis, arthritis, asthma, myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, stroke, and peptic ulcer disease. The effectiveness and toxicity of many drugs vary depending on dosing time. Such chronopharmacological phenomena are influenced by not only the pharmacodynamics but also pharmacokinetics of medications. One approach to increasing the efficiency of pharmacotherapy is administering drugs at times during which they are best tolerated. From viewpoints of pharmaceutics, the application of biological rhythm to pharmacotherapy may be accomplished by the appropriate timing of conventionally formulated tabletes and capsules, and the special drug delivery system to synchronize drug concentrations to rhythms in disease activity. In all living organisms, one of the most indispensable biological functions is the circadian clock (suprachiasmatic nucleus; SCN), which acts like a multifunction timer to regulate homeostatic systems such as sleep and activity, hormone levels, appetite, and other bodily functions with 24 hr cycles. Clock genes were identified as the genes that ultimately control a vast array of circadian rhythms in physiology and behavior. Clock gene regulates several disease such as cancer, metabolic syndrome and sleep etc. Therefore, we introduce an overview of the dosing time-dependent alterations in therapeutic outcome and safety of drug. The underlying mechanisms and usefulness are introduced from viewpoints of clock genes and the possibility of pharmacotherapy based on clock genes.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the management of glossalgia (tongue pain) in patients with xerostomia. A total of 35 of 64 xerostomia patients (54.7％) complained of tongue pain. The causes of tongue pain included glossodynia (burning mouth syndrome), n＝25 (39.0％)；oral candidiasis, n＝6 (9.4％)；and traumatic stomatitis, n＝4 (6.3％). According to a logistic regression analysis, the important risk factors for glossodynia included a female gender, an awareness of nocturnal xerostomia, a habit of eating soft-textured food, and a high anxiety score.

This study investigates the contents of prescription inquiries to improve the safety and quality of future medical care. We investigated the number and contents of inquiries regarding external prescriptions filed at the Tanabe Pharmacy Sojiji-mae store in 2010 and 2012 issued by Tsurumi University Dental Hospital. The questions were mainly about safety, including the (1) dosage/administration of a drug, (2) prescription of a drug to which a patient has a history of allergy/adverse reaction, (3) prescription of a drug of the same type or with the same effect as a drug that a patient is currently taking, and (4) prescription of a drug that is contraindicated for or instructed to be carefully used in combination with a drug that a patient is currently taking. Most of the prescription inquiries could be avoided if the issuing physician had the basic knowledge of relevant drugs and maintained an accurate record patients’ history of medication. Educating physicians on these points is likely to improve the safety and quality of medical care.