Grading of Atrophic Gastritis is Useful for Risk Stratification in Endoscopic Screening for Gastric Cancer.

Objectives: In order to screen for gastric cancer effectively, its interval should be set according to the risk. This study aimed to determine whether risk stratification is possible using the data obtained from medical examination or endoscopic findings.

Methods: First, subjects who underwent both cancer screening and medical examination from 2009 to 2015 and underwent cancer screening once more by 2016 were studied.

Da-Chaihu-Tang alters the pharmacokinetics of nifedipine in rats and a treatment regimen to avoid this.

Objectives: To investigate the influence of co-administrated Da-Chaihu-Tang (DCT; a traditional Chinese formulation) on the pharmacokinetics of nifedipine, as well as the safe optimal dosing interval to avoid the adverse interactions.

Methods: A single dose of DCT was administered with nifedipine simultaneously, 2 h before, 30 min before or 30 min after nifedipine administration. Pharmacokinetics of nifedipine with or without DCT were compared.

KRT12 mutations and in vivo confocal microscopy in two Japanese families with Meesmann corneal dystrophy.

Purpose: To identify genetic mutations and study the corneal epithelium in Japanese patients with Meesmann corneal dystrophy.

Design: Laboratory investigation and prospective observational case series.

Methods: Slit-lamp biomicroscopy with fluorescein vital staining and in vivo confocal microscopy were performed.

Customized photorefractive keratectomy for the correction of regular and irregular astigmatism after penetrating keratoplasty.

Purpose: To report visual, wavefront, and topographic outcomes in 5 post-penetrating keratoplasty patients who underwent customized aspheric topography-guided photorefractive keratectomy for high astigmatism or severe higher-order aberrations.

Methods: A chart review was performed for data collection. The custom aspheric transition zone ablation algorithm (CATz) with the CX III excimer was used for all treatments.

[A case of button battery-induced corneal and conjunctive burn injury and experimental findings of local damage].

Purpose: To report a case of button battery-induced alkaline burn injury of the cornea and conjunctiva, with experimental findings of local damage.

Case: A three-year-old girl had a hard and polished white opacity on the nasal lower cornea and conjunctival injection, caused by a button battery remaining in the conjunctival sac for several hours. The ocular surface was washed carefully with distilled water.

[Curatively resected case of non-functioning pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinoma with multiple liver metastases after downstaging with S-1 monotherapy].

A 73-year-old man diagnosed as having pancreatic body cancer with multiple liver metastases was referred to our hospital. Since the patient preferred oral agents, S-1 monotherapy (4-week administration followed by 2-week interval) was started. The initial dose of S-1 was 80 mg, and gradually increased to 150 mg/day.

Signaling pathways activated by epidermal growth factor receptor or fibroblast growth factor receptor differentially regulate branching morphogenesis in fetal mouse submandibular glands.

Although growth factor signaling is required for embryonic development of organs, individual signaling mechanisms regulating these organotypic processes are just beginning to be defined. We compared signaling activated in fetal mouse submandibular glands (SMGs) by three growth factors, epidermal growth factor (EGF), fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 7, or FGF10, and correlated it with specific events of branching morphogenesis. Immunoblotting showed that EGF strongly stimulated phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase-1/2 (ERK-1/2) and weakly stimulated phosphorylation of phospholipase Cgamma1 (PLCgamma1) and phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K) in cultured E14 SMG.

Evaluation of optical function using a new point spread function analysis system in cataractous and pseudophakic eyes: preliminary results.

Purpose: To evaluate optical function in cataractous and pseudophakic eyes using the new point spread function (PSF) analysis system in a clinical setting.

Methods: We applied this new analysis system in the study of two cataractous eyes and one pseudophakic eye of two patients. Using a PSF analyzer, double-pass PSF was measured directly for each subject, and the single-pass modulation transfer function (MTF) and single-pass PSF were calculated.

Bofutsushosan, a traditional Chinese formulation, prevents intimal thickening and vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation induced by balloon endothelial denudation in rats.

Bofutsushosan (BOF), a traditional Chinese formulation (Kampo formulation in Japanese), is widely used for patients with obesity and hyperlipidemia resulting from long-term inappropriate lifestyles. Since atherosclerosis, a lifestyle-related disease, is accompanied by an abnormal accumulation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) in the intimal area of the artery, we investigated the preventive effect of BOF on intimal thickening. Oral administration of BOF extracts 3 d before and 7 d after balloon endothelial denudation dose dependently suppressed the intimal thickening and proliferation of VSMCs in the intimal area in rat carotid arteries.

Calculation of ocular single-pass modulation transfer function and retinal image simulation from measurements of the polarized double-pass ocular point spread function.

The single-pass modulation transfer function (MTF(sgl)) is an important numerical parameter that can help elucidate the performance and some processes of the human visual system. In previous studies, the MTF(sgl) was calculated from double-pass point spread function (PSF) measurements. These measurements include a depolarized reflection component from the retina that introduces a measurement artifact, and they require long acquisition times to allow averaging to reduce speckle.

Transplantation of cryopreserved human corneas in a xenograft model.

An ideal model to test methods of corneal storage for transplantation would simulate the environment of the grafted human cornea and predict the success of clinical corneal transplants (human to human). In this study, we tested such a model, the corneal xenograft (human to cat). Nine pairs of human corneas were transplanted into both eyes of nine recipient cats.

Keratocyte activation and apoptosis in transplanted human corneas in a xenograft model.

Purpose: To study keratocyte activation and cellular apoptosis in transplanted human corneas during the early postoperative period.

Methods: Ten human donor corneas preserved for 6 days at 4 degrees C were transplanted into the eyes of 10 adult cats. After confocal and specular microscopy in vivo 1 week after keratoplasty, the cats were killed, and the fixed corneas were examined by TUNEL assay and by scanning (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).

Referred pain distribution of the cervical zygapophyseal joints and cervical dorsal rami.

The purpose of this study was to determine the distribution of referred pain from the cervical zygapophyseal joints (C0/1 to C7/Th1) and the cervical dorsal rami (C3 to C7). The subjects were 61 patients who had occipital, neck, and shoulder pain of suspected zygapophyseal origin in whom pain was reproduced by injection of contrast medium into the joints or by electrical stimulation of the dorsal rami. Under fluoroscopic control, the zygapophyseal joints from C0/1 to C7/Th1 were stimulated by the injection of contrast medium and while electrical stimulation of the cervical zygapophyseal dorsal rami at segments C3 to C7 was performed during facet denervation.