Fractionated administration of carboplatin/paclitaxel reduces neurotoxicity in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

The combination of carboplatin/paclitaxel is commonly used as chemotherapy for advanced non-small cell lung cancer. However, the relatively high incidence of neurotoxicity remains a problem. This study was undertaken to determine whether the fractionated administration regimen can reduce the neurotoxicity.

Patients in whom active tuberculosis was diagnosed after admission to a Japanese university hospital from 2005 through 2007.

To identify problems in early diagnosis of tuberculosis and to design countermeasures against the disease, we examined the status of active tuberculosis among patients admitted to a university hospital that did not have an isolation ward for tuberculosis. Between 2005 and 2007, we analyzed demographic characteristics, disease type, chest radiologic findings, and the process leading to diagnosis. Active tuberculosis was diagnosed after admission in 55 patients (34 males and 21 females): pulmonary tuberculosis, 26; tuberculous pleuritis, 13; tuberculous meningitis, 6; miliary tuberculosis, 4; tuberculous pericarditis, 3; lymph-node tuberculosis, 2; and tracheal and bronchial tuberculosis, 1.

An analysis of characteristics of patients with exacerbation of asthma in a large university hospital in Japan.

Background: Considerable progress has been made in the management of asthma with the increasing use of inhaled corticosteroids. However, asthma exacerbation remains a problem. To analyze the characteristics of patients with exacerbation of asthma who visited our hospital in order to better understand the risk factors for fatal asthma.

Relation between the antimicrobial susceptibility of clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from respiratory specimens and antimicrobial use density (AUD) from 2005 through 2008.

Objective: To examine the relation between annual trends in the antimicrobial susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and drug usage, we compared annual changes in the susceptibility rates of P. aeruginosa clinical isolates during a 4-year period and annual trends in the overall usage of antimicrobials during the same period.

Methods: We studied annual trends in MIC(90)/MIC(50), antimicrobial use density (AUD), and antimicrobial susceptibility rates based on clinical breakpoints for 150 strains of P.

[Legionnaires' disease with acute renal failure caused by Legionella pneumophilla serogroup 4].

A 77-year-old man who had fever and chest pain was admitted to a neighboring hospital on a diagnosis of pneumonia. Chest X-ray film finding deteriorated despite treatment with 2 g cefotaxime per day. Because of accompanying acute renal failure, he was transferred to our hospital.