Diamond-rich crystalline nanosheets seeded with a Langmuir monolayer of arachidic acid on water.

The enigmatic self-assembling ability of nanodiamond (ND) particles has been discovered herein. Diamond-rich crystalline nanosheets with thickness of approximately ∼25 nm were grown from a Langmuir monolayer of arachidic acid (AA) at the interface between air and a dilute aqueous ND solution. Their fine rectangular shapes with uniform uniaxial birefringence indicate appreciable crystallinity, thus supporting that they are hydrated colloidal crystals of homogeneous ND particles.

Analysis of primary treatment and prognosis of spontaneous urticaria.

Background: The prognosis of spontaneous urticaria in association with early treatment remains unclear. In this study, we retrospectively studied the prognosis of acute spontaneous urticaria in relation to age and treatments in a local clinic of dermatology.

Methods: Out of 5000 patients who visited an office dermatology clinic, clinical records of patients with spontaneous urticaria were extracted.

Highly Oriented J-Aggregates of Nitroazo Dye and Its Surface-Induced Chromism.

Highly oriented J-aggregates of a nitroazo dye were obtained in solid thin films on aligned poly(tetrafluoroethylene) surfaces. During film deposition on a friction-transferred poly(tetrafluoroethylene) layer, a sharp peak grew in the polarized absorption spectra around 613 nm, which was red-shifted 117 nm from the peak in dilute dichloromethane solution. The peak showed remarkable optical anisotropy: dichroic ratios D of up to 22 were observed, and the intrinsic D value should substantially exceed this value.

[ANALYSIS OF PRIMARY TREATMENT AND PROGNOSIS OF SPONTANEOUS URTICARIA IN A LOCAL CLINIC OF OFFICE DERMATOLOGY].

Background: Prognosis of spontaneous urticaria in association with early treatment remained unclear. In this study, we retrospectively studied the prognosis of acute spontaneous urticaria in relation to age and treatments in a local clinic of dermatology.

Methods: Out of 5000 patients who visited an office dermatology clinic, clinical records of patients with spontaneous urticaria were extracted.

Type I Chiari malformation presenting central sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is a rare but a well-known clinical feature of type I Chiari malformation. It may be obstructive or central in nature. Sleep apnea in patients with type I Chiari malformation rarely presents without accompanying neurological signs or symptoms.

Onsite medical rounds and fact-finding activities conducted by Nippon Medical School in Miyagi prefecture after the Great East Japan Earthquake 2011.

This report describes our onsite medical rounds and fact-finding activities conducted in the acute phase and medical relief work conducted in the subacute phase in Miyagi prefecture following the Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunami that occurred off northeastern Honshu on March 11, 2011. As part of the All-Japan Hospital Association medical team deployed to the disaster area, a Nippon Medical School team conducted fact-finding and onsite medical rounds and evaluated basic life and medical needs in the affected areas of Shiogama and Tagajo. We performed triage for more than 2,000 casualties, but in our medical rounds of hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes, we found no severely injured person but did find 1 case of hyperglycemia.

[Efficacy of sweat-antigen-inactivating skin care products on itching of patients with atopic dermatitis].

Background: Many patients with atopic dermatitis showed immediate-type hypersensitivity against sweat antigen. Therefore, to deal with sweating is important to prevent itching and aggravations of dermatitis of patient with atopic dermatitis. We had searched a substance that inactivated sweat antigen adopting histamine release test.

[Taking showers at school is beneficial for children with severer atopic dermatitis].

Background: Sweat(ing) is a common aggravating factor of atopic dermatitis (AD), and many school children with AD experience the exacerbation of their disease in summer.

Objective: We evaluated the usefulness of taking shower at the school for the management of AD in summer.

Methods: Fifty-eight school children with moderate or severer atopic dermatitis were enrolled in the study.

Community validation of the U.K. diagnostic criteria for atopic dermatitis in Japanese elementary schoolchildren.

Background: A simple list of diagnostic criteria for atopic dermatitis for use in epidemiological studies was developed by a U.K. working party.

[Cholinergic urticaria successfully treated by immunotherapy with partially purified sweat antigen].

A 24-years-old man was referred to our University Hospital because of one and a half-year history of disabling symptoms related to physical exertion. Multiple small round-shaped wheals with severe itch were induced by exercise, warmth and psychological stress. These symptoms were resistant to histamine H1-receptor antagonists.

Anaphylactic shock caused by exposure to sea anemones.

Background: Since the first report of a dog that developed severe systemic symptoms in response to a second injection of sea anemone toxin by Richet and Portier in 1902, no clear human cases of anaphylaxis related to exposure to sea anemones has been reported in the literature.

Methods: A 24-year-old man with an episode of local urticaria on his first contact with a sea anemone (Stichodactyla haddoni), developed dyspnea, severe urticaria and hypotension on exposure to water containing the dead bodies of the organism. To study whether this reaction was mediated by antigen-specific IgE, we performed a histamine release test with blood, Western blotting with serum and lymphocyte proliferating test with peripheral blood mononuclear cells of the patient, for the homogenate of sea anemones.

[Analysis of the prevalence of subtypes of urticaria and angioedema].

Background: The prevalence of various subtypes of urticaria in Japan has not been analyzed.

Methods: We have classified 260 (105 males and 155 females) out patients with urticaria based on the classification in Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of urticaria and angioedema" prepared by the Japanese Dermatological Association with slight modification.

Results: The urticaria in 200 out of 260 (76.

OCA4: evidence for a founder effect for the p.D157N mutation of the MATP gene in Japanese and Korean.

Oculocutaneous albinism type 4 (OCA4) was identified as a rare form of human OCA among a group of autosomal recessive hypopigmentary disorders. Little is known about the prevailing distribution of patients of OCA4 with mutations of the MATP gene, although one Turkish, five German, one Korean, and 18 Japanese patients have been reported so far. The p.

The effectiveness of montelukast for the treatment of anti-histamine-resistant chronic urticaria.

Many patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria are not sufficiently controlled with histamine H(1)-receptor antagonists. Leukotriene receptor antagonists have been reported to be effective for certain cases of urticaria, although their proper application remains to be established. To study the effectiveness of montelukast, a leukotriene receptor antagonist, for the treatment of chronic urticaria that was not controlled by histamine H(1)-receptor antagonists.

Photoluminescence properties of vapor deposited films of a bisazomethine dye.

Steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) measurements on vapor deposited films of a non-ionic bisazomethine dye have been performed. In the films, it is possible to control the ratio between J-aggregate and crystalline phases of the dye by means of exposure to chloroform vapour, and thus the origin of PL can be determined from comparison between several films. In the films, PL was emitted exclusively from the crystalline phase.

Pelodera strongyloides infestation presenting as pruritic dermatitis.

Pelodera strongyloides is a free-living soil nematode of the order Rhabditida. We report an 18-year-old man with P strongyloides skin infestation. In this case, pruritic follicular papulopustules developed on the buttocks, then the right flank.

IgE-mediated hypersensitivity against human sweat antigen in patients with atopic dermatitis.

Sweating aggravates itch in atopic dermatitis, but the mechanism is unclear. In this study, we examined the involvement of type I hypersensitivity in the aggravation of atopic dermatitis by sweating. Skin tests with autologous sweat were positive in 56 of 66 patients (84.

Carbamylated hemoglobin as a therapeutic marker in hemodialysis.

Carbamylation requires isocyanic acid derived from urea. Carbamylation of hemoglobin (Hb) produces carbamylated Hb (carbHb), which could serve as a marker of posttranslational protein modification possibly associated with such uremic complications as atherosclerosis. Since relative carbHb levels are determined by mean urea concentration and duration of exposure, they could be used to assess the adequacy of a patient's hemodialysis (HD) regimen.

Using an air-pad sensor for the diagnosis of sleep apnea: a trial study.

An air-pad sensor (APS) was developed to record respiratory effort non-invasively. The APS is placed under the subjects' bodies and acoustic signals received by the pad are analysed. Nine patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and two healthy subjects were examined using an APS and daytime polysomnography, including intraesophageal pressure (Peso), simultaneously.