Publications by authors named "N Minamitani"
Objectives: Methotrexate (MTX) is used as an anchor drug in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), although more than a half of the patients with RA require additional treatments. We designed a prospective study involving two medical centers in Japan to examine the association between the expression of MTX-related genes including a drug transporter ATP-binding cassette sub-family G member 2 (ABCG2) gene and the clinical response to MTX in MTX-naive patients with RA.
Methods: The primary endpoint of this study was good response based on the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) response criteria by Disease Activity Score using 28-joint count (DAS28).
Objective: Mental defeat and cognitive flexibility have been studied as explanatory factors for depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. This study examined mental defeat and cognitive flexibility scores in patients with panic disorder (PD) before and after cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and compared them to those of a gender- and age-matched healthy control group.
Results: Patients with PD (n = 15) received 16 weekly individual CBT sessions, and the control group (n = 35) received no treatment.
Article Synopsis
- A pilot study in Japan assessed the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a 16-week cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) program for treating panic disorder among 15 participants.
- Results showed a significant reduction in panic disorder symptoms, with an average drop of 6.6 points on the Panic Disorder Severity Scale and 66.7% of participants achieving at least a 40% improvement.
- The study suggests that CBT may be beneficial in Japanese clinical settings, but further randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm these findings.
Recent studies have indicated that deposition of beta amyloid peptide in the brains of patients with senile dementia of the Alzheimer type (SDAT) is a consequence of abnormal processing of the beta amyloid protein precursor. In addition, reduced concentrations of various peptides have been measured in post-mortem brain tissue and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with SDAT. We determined concentrations of the peptides derived from prepro-vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP)--peptide histidine methionine-27 (PHM-27), peptide histidine valine (PHV) and VIP--and peptides derived from prepro-somatostatin (prepro-SS), SS-14 and SS-28, in CSF of patients with SDAT by radioimmunoassay combined with high performance liquid chromatography.
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