A Thickening Agent Using Powder Exhibits Suitable Properties for People with Dysphagia.

In an aging society, the novel concept of added food functionality in a dysphagia diet is necessary for preventing diseases and maintain nutrition intake. The present study evaluated the utilization of as a thickened liquid for people with dysphagia due to its unique physical properties and beneficial effects on chronic inflammation. The viscosity of the prepared thickened liquid using freeze-dried powder was compared with those of xanthan gum and commercially available thickened liquids in selected conditions resembling to cooking.

Early Coagulopathy in Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury: A Pediatric Acute and Critical Care Medicine Asian Network (PACCMAN) Retrospective Study.

Background: Although early coagulopathy increases mortality in adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI), less is known about pediatric TBI.

Objective: To describe the prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), and platelet levels of children with moderate to severe TBI to identify predictors of early coagulopathy and study the association with clinical outcomes.

Methods: Using the Pediatric Acute and Critical Care Medicine Asian Network (PACCMAN) TBI retrospective cohort, we identified patients <16 yr old with a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) ≤13.

Red-kerneled rice proanthocyanidin inhibits arachidonate 5-lipoxygenase and decreases psoriasis-like skin inflammation.

5-lipoxygenase is a key enzyme in the synthesis of leukotrienes from arachidonic acid. The produced leukotrienes are involved in inflammatory diseases including psoriasis, asthma, and atherosclerosis. A suitable 5-lipoxygenase inhibitor might be useful for preventing and improving the symptoms of leukotriene-related inflammatory diseases.

Ellagitannins from leaves suppress microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 expression and induce lung cancer cells to undergo apoptosis.

Prostaglandin E (PGE), which is a potent pro-inflammatory lipid mediator, is biosynthesized from arachidonic acid by cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and microsomal PGE synthase-1 (mPGES-1). Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are used clinically as COX inhibitors, but they have gastrointestinal and cardiovascular side-effects. Thus, the terminal enzyme mPGES-1 holds promise as the next therapeutic target.

[Epidemiological study of factors associated with quitting a job among pregnant working women].

Objective: More women in Japan continue to quit a job when they find out they are pregnant than in other industrialized countries. The purpose of this study was to clarify factors affecting the quitting rate among female workers who become aware they are pregnant.

Methods: All pregnant women visiting or admitted to seven obstetrics medical institutions in Nara Prefecture between November and December 2004 for examination or delivery were surveyed.

Multiple myeloma with a variant Burkitt-type translocation, t(2;8)(p12;q24), associated with hyperammonemia.

We report an 82-year-old Japanese woman with multiple myeloma (MM). She developed disorientation due to hyperammonemia after melphalan and prednisolone therapy and abruptly died with a rapid clinical course. Karyotypic analysis of bone marrow showed complex abnormalities including a variant Burkitt-type translocation, t(2;8)(p12;q24), but the patient had IgG-lambda type M-proteinemia.

Richter's syndrome presenting as a nasal lymphoma.

Richter's syndrome (RS) is a high-grade large cell lymphoma arising in patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The prognosis of RS is very poor and the development of RS is a serious complication of CLL. We present a case of a patient with a 4-year history of B-cell CLL who developed diffuse large B-cell nasal lymphoma.

A clinicopathological study of lung cancer patients with occupational exposure to chrysotile asbestos fibers.

Objective: To summarize the features of asbestos-related lung cancer.

Patients: Thirty-one lung cancer patients with occupational exposure to chrysotile asbestos fibers. They worked or had worked in one asbestos factory or its subcontracters.

[Establishment of a simple fluorescent microscopy method for measurement of the CD4/CD8 ratio in BALF].

The authors established an easy fluorescent microscopy method to measure the ratio of CD4 (helper/inducer T lymphocytes) to CD8 (suppressor/cytotoxic T lymphocytes) (CD4/CD8 ratio) in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) in patients with diffuse pulmonary diseases and measles pneumonia. The CD4/CD8 ratio determined by this method strongly correlated with the CD4/CD8 ratio obtained by flow cytometry in both peripheral blood lymphocytes and BALF lymphocytes. When the proportion of lymphocytes in BALF nuclear cells is more than 6%, the CD4/CD8 ratio in BALF was measurable.

Exacerbation of pemphigus by rifampicin.

Rifampicin therapy caused exacerbation of skin lesions, rising serum pemphigus antibody titres, and decreased serum betamethasone levels in a 59-year-old man with pemphigus vulgaris. Exacerbation of pemphigus was confined to the period of rifampicin therapy and seems to be best explained by the effect of rifampicin on the metabolism of betamethasone. Physicians prescribing rifampicin for the treatment of tuberculosis should be aware of its potential to produce such an important adverse reaction.