Clinical characteristics of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients with gender, age, and physiology staging at Okinawa Chubu Hospital.

Background: Gender, age, and physiology (GAP) staging was recently advocated for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). However, clinical findings of GAP staging for IPF are limited. We aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics of IPF patients according to GAP staging in our hospital.

Validation of sputum Gram stain for treatment of community-acquired pneumonia and healthcare-associated pneumonia: a prospective observational study.

Background: The usefulness of sputum Gram stain in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is controversial. There has been no study to evaluate the diagnostic value of this method in patients with healthcare-associated pneumonia (HCAP). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of sputum Gram stain in etiological diagnosis and pathogen-targeted antibiotic treatment of CAP and HCAP.

Staging of acute exacerbation in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the predictors of a 3-month mortality rate of acute exacerbation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and provide a new staging system.

Methods: A total of 594 patients with IPF were included in this retrospective, observational study conducted from January 2001 to December 2010 at Okinawa Chubu Hospital.

Results: Among the 594 patients, 58 (9.

A prospective comparison of nursing- and healthcare-associated pneumonia (NHCAP) with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).

Nursing- and healthcare-associated pneumonia (NHCAP) has been proposed by the Japanese Respiratory Society as a new category of pneumonia considering the characteristics of the Japanese medical care environment. It is necessary to ascertain the epidemiology and clinical outcomes of NHCAP. A prospective study was conducted of patients with pneumonia who were hospitalized at our hospital from August 2011 to July 2012.

A cohort study of mortality predictors and characteristics of patients with combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema.

Objectives: Our purpose was to assess the clinical data, predictors of mortality and acute exacerbation (AE) in combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema (CPFE) patients.

Design: Single-centre retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Teaching hospital in Japan.

Development and terminal differentiation of pulp and periodontal nerve elements in subcutaneous transplants of molar tooth germs and incisors of the rat.

Ectopic tooth transplants are known to receive rich innervation of local neurons, but the precise location and structural features of neurites in the pulp and periodontal ligament (PDL) of such transplants are unclear. In this experiment, the molar tooth germs of rat embryos and incisors of young rats were subcutaneously transplanted into the dorsal regions of rats and processed, at various time intervals, for immunohistochemical demonstration of neural elements. Teeth with periodontal tissue elements developed in most of the molar transplants in 6 or 8 wk and received rich innervation, including some autonomic fibres, in the pulp.

First autopsy study of an Okinawan centenarian: absence of many age-related diseases.

Consistent with the compression-of-morbidity hypothesis, several studies have reported that a significant proportion of centenarians delay or escape age-related diseases. Of those who live with such diseases for a long time, many appear to do so with better functional status than do younger persons who do not achieve extreme old age. The authors describe the first autopsy in an Okinawan-Japanese centenarian who escaped many age-related illnesses and delayed frailty toward the end of her very long life.

Deterioration of eelgrass, Zostera marina L., meadows by water pollution in Seto Inland Sea, Japan.

Survival of transplanted Zostera marina L. (eelgrass) and environmental conditions (water quality, bottom sediments, sedimentation on leaves and flow regime) were studied concurrently in the center, edge, and at the outside of a eelgrass meadow located in a eutrophic coastal zone in northern Hiroshima Bay, Seto Inland Sea, Japan. Eelgrass transplants at the outside of the meadow declined significantly, whereas those at the center were consistently well established.