Relationships among tooth loss, prefrailty, and dietary patterns in community-dwelling older Japanese females: a cross-sectional study.

Background/objectives: Poor oral health has been predicted the development of frailty and sarcopenia as well as the subsequent need for long-term care. This cross-sectional study examined the relationships among tooth loss, prefrailty, and dietary patterns in community-dwelling older Japanese females.

Subjects/methods: Information on the number of teeth, food consumption, and lifestyle factors was collected from 271 participants aged ≥ 65 yrs using a questionnaire.

Relationships among falls and dietary patterns, nutritional inadequacy and prefrailty in community-dwelling older Japanese females: A cross-sectional study.

Background And Objectives: Falls are common among older females. This study investigated the relationships among falls and dietary patterns, nutritional inadequacy and prefrailty in community-dwelling older Japanese females.

Methods And Study Design: This cross-sectional study involved 271 females aged 65 and over.

Association of physical prefrailty with prevalence of inadequate nutrient intake in community-dwelling Japanese elderly women: A cross-sectional study.

Background And Objectives: This study evaluated the association of physical prefrailty with the prevalence of inadequate nutrients among community-dwelling Japanese elderly women.

Methods And Study Design: This cross-sectional study included 120 older women (age range, 65-79 years) at an elders college. Frailty was evaluated using the Japanese version of the Cardiovascular Health Study (J-CHS).

Fulminant Tracheobronchial Aspergillosis in an Apparently Healthy Adult.

A 56-year-old healthy man who was a current smoker died from fulminant tracheobronchial aspergillosis despite a month of treatment with a combination of intravenous anti-fungal agents that had been started immediately after the diagnosis. This case report is important for understanding and managing fulminant Aspergillus infections in healthy subjects, although the pathogenesis and underlying pathways are still unknown.

Co-activation of macrophages and T cells contribute to chronic GVHD in human IL-6 transgenic humanised mouse model.

Background: Graft-versus host disease (GVHD) is a complication of stem cell transplantation associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Non-specific immune-suppression, the mainstay of treatment, may result in immune-surveillance dysfunction and disease recurrence.

Methods: We created humanised mice model for chronic GVHD (cGVHD) by injecting cord blood (CB)-derived human CD34CD38CD45RA haematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) into hIL-6 transgenic NOD/SCID/Il2rgKO (NSG) newborns, and compared GVHD progression with NSG newborns receiving CB CD34 cells mimicking acute GVHD.

Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever in a Japanese Traveler with Pre-existing Japanese Encephalitis Virus Antibody.

An adult Japanese man who had just returned from Thailand developed dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF). A primary infection of dengue virus (DENV) was confirmed, specifically DENV serotype 2 (DENV-2), on the basis of the detection of the virus genome, a significant increase in the neutralizing antibody and the isolation of DENV-2. DHF is often observed following a secondary infection from another serotype of dengue virus, particularly in children, but this case was a primary infection of DENV.

Application of an imaging plate system to the direct measurement of a fixed surface contamination.

An imaging plate (IP) system was used as an effective detector for direct measurement of radioactive surface contamination. The IP system displayed images designating the locations and extent of fixed surface contamination of uranyl acetate. The amount of radioactive waste produced during decontamination was reduced because the contaminated spots could be isolated; furthermore, creation of radioactive dust during removal of contamination was prevented because the contaminated spots could be removed without being pulverized.

Effect of sera from seronegative myasthenia gravis patients on neuromuscular junctions.

About 85 % of patients with generalized myasthenia gravis (MG) have anti-nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) antibodies in their sera (seropositive MG; SPMG). The other 15 % (seronegative MG; SNMG) are also considered to have antibody-mediated disease, but the nature of the antibodies in SNMG is not fully understood. We investigated the effect of sera from patients with MG on spontaneous muscle action potentials and acetylcholine (ACh)-induced potentials, and we examined the localization of epitopes recognized by SPMG sera or SNMG sera.

Characteristics of bacterial species in positive blood cultures among hospitalized patients in three wards in the Department of Internal Medicine: retrospective chart review 1999-2008.

Objective: This study aimed to establish the clinical significance of positive blood cultures during the past 10 years in Saga University Hospital.

Methods: All hospitalized patients with positive blood cultures in the gastroenterology, hepatology and respiratory wards in the Department of Internal Medicine, Saga University Hospital were evaluated by retrospective chart review between January 1999 and December 2008. The results were compared between period I (1999-2003) and period II (2004-2008).

Comparison of leukotriene receptor antagonists and anti-histamines as an add-on therapy in patients with asthma complicated by allergic rhinitis.

Patients with asthma are often complicated by allergic rhinitis, and the intimate pathophysiological association between allergic rhinitis and asthma often imposes a significant morbidity on affected individuals. The present study was conducted to assess the clinical efficacies of leukotriene receptor antagonists (LTRAs) and anti-histamines on asthma as an add-on therapy in patients with asthma complicated by allergic rhinitis. Consecutive patients with asthma were recruited to fill in systematic self-administered questionnaires concerning symptoms and conditions related to asthma and allergic rhinitis.

Concurrent lung cancer in non-tuberculous mycobacteriosis: case report.

An 82-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital after multiple round opacities were detected in chest X-rays performed during a routine health screening. Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) was found in sputum cultures, and compatible pathological findings on biopsy confirmed pulmonary MAC infection, whereas biopsies from another opacity revealed adenocarcinoma of the lung.Curative surgery for the lung cancer confirmed a concurrence of lung cancer and pulmonary MAC infection.

Adult meningism and viral meningitis, 1997-2004: clinical data and cerebrospinal fluid cytokines.

Objective: Although meningism manifesting acute headache has been observed to be associated with common viral and bacterial infections, its definition and pathogenesis have not been clarified. Clinical findings and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cytokines in adult patients with meningism were investigated and compared with those in viral meningitis.

Patients And Methods: Among the adult inpatients in our hospital from 1997 to 2004, 5 with meningism and 17 with viral meningitis were identified according to the criteria described in this study, and their clinical data were analyzed.

Molecular phylogenetic and chemical analyses of the microbial mats in deep-sea cold seep sediments at the northeastern Japan Sea.

Microbial communities inhabiting deep-sea cold seep sediments at the northeastern Japan Sea were characterized by molecular phylogenetic and chemical analyses. White patchy microbial mats were observed along the fault offshore the Hokkaido Island and sediment samples were collected from two stations at the southern foot of the Shiribeshi seamount (M1 site at a depth of 2,961 m on the active fault) and off the Motta Cape site (M2 site at a depth of 3,064 m off the active fault). The phylogenetic and terminal-restriction fragment polymorphism analyses of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA genes revealed that microbial community structures were different between two sampling stations.

Herpes simplex virus type 2 recurrent meningitis (Mollaret's meningitis): a consideration for the recurrent pathogenesis.

We report a 44-year-old Japanese woman with herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 2 recurrent meningitis (Mollaret's meningitis). The diagnosis was confirmed by nested polymerase chain reaction in her cerebrospinal fluid, but the patient's conventional HSV antibodies by complement fixation, neutralizing test or enzyme immunoassay showed low titres with low lymphoproliferative response. Several similar cases are discussed.

Tuberculosis associated with gastrectomy.

We describe the incidence and clinical features of patients with tuberculosis who had undergone gastric resection in our hospital. A total of 26 patients with tuberculosis who had undergone gastric resection were studied. The prevalence of gastrectomy among patients with tuberculosis was 8.

A multifunctional shuttling protein nucleolin is a macrophage receptor for apoptotic cells.

Early apoptotic Jurkat T cells undergo capping of CD43, and its polylactosaminyl saccharide chains serve as ligands for phagocytosis by macrophages. This suggests the presence of a polylactosaminoglycan-binding receptor on macrophages. Here we show that this receptor is nucleolin, a multifunctional shuttling protein present in nucleus, cytoplasm, and on the surface of some types of cells.

[Pulmonary tuberculosis mimicking fungus ball].

We treated a 42-year-old man with pulmonary tuberculosis presenting as a round mass in a cavitary lesion that resembled a fungus ball. These findings appeared within a short time. The diagnosis was confirmed by isolation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from his sputum.

Biochemical and genetic characterization of mundticin KS, an antilisterial peptide produced by Enterococcus mundtii NFRI 7393.

Mundticin KS, a bacteriocin produced by Enterococcus mundtii NFRI 7393 isolated from grass silage in Thailand, is active against closely related lactic acid bacteria and the food-borne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes. In this study, biochemical and genetic characterization of mundticin KS was done. Mundticin KS was purified to homogeneity by ammonium sulfate precipitation, sequential ion-exchange chromatography, and solid-phase extraction.