The topical penta-peptide Gly-Pro-Ile-Gly-Ser increases the proportion of thick hair in Japanese men with androgenetic alopecia.

Background: A penta-peptide, Gly-Pro-Ile-Gly-Ser (GPIGS), promotes proliferation of mouse hair keratinocytes and accelerates hair growth in mice.

Aim Of This Study: This study focused on the ability of the peptide to promote human hair growth.

Methods: We used a human hair keratinocyte proliferation assay and organ cultures of human hair follicle as in vitro systems.

[Complete Response in Far-Advanced Esophageal Cancer Treated with Induction Chemotherapy Followed by Definitive Chemoradiotherapy].

We report a case of far-advanced esophageal cancer in which induction chemotherapy followed by chemoradiotherapy achieved complete remission. A 61-year-old female presented to our hospital with dyspnea and hoarseness. CT revealed a tumor at the cervical esophagus invading and narrowing the trachea, a bulky metastasis at the right paraesophageal node, and nodal metastases at levels II and III of the left neck.

Total mastectomy and chest reconstruction for a rapidly progressing giant phyllodes tumor with skin necrosis: a case report.

Phyllodes tumors are rare fibroepithelial neoplasms of the breast. In the literature, borderline or malignant tumors have been reported to present with unusual characteristics including a short clinical history and extremely rapid tumor growth. Skin necrosis and infection sometimes accompanies these malignancies.

Effectiveness of Trivalent Inactivated Influenza Vaccine in Children Estimated by a Test-Negative Case-Control Design Study Based on Influenza Rapid Diagnostic Test Results.

We assessed vaccine effectiveness (VE) against medically attended, laboratory-confirmed influenza in children 6 months to 15 years of age in 22 hospitals in Japan during the 2013-14 season. Our study was conducted according to a test-negative case-control design based on influenza rapid diagnostic test (IRDT) results. Outpatients who came to our clinics with a fever of 38 °C or over and had undergone an IRDT were enrolled in this study.

Association of baseline plasma des-acyl ghrelin level with the response to rikkunshito in patients with functional dyspepsia.

Background And Aim: We recently conducted a randomized placebo-controlled trial on the efficacy and safety of rikkunshito, a standardized Japanese herbal medicine, for the treatment of functional dyspepsia (FD). The present post-hoc study aimed to evaluate the differences in clinical characteristics between responders and non-responders among FD patients who received rikkunshito for 8 weeks.

Methods: Rikkunshito responders were defined by using a global patient assessment.

IgG4-related disease in the sinonasal cavity accompanied by intranasal structure loss.

IgG4-related disease was recently proposed under the classification of systemic chronic inflammatory disease. In the field of otolaryngology, organ-specific diagnostic criteria have been established for the occurrence of this condition in the salivary glands, but not in the sinonasal cavity. Here we report a case involving a 70-year-old man with IgG4-related disease in the sinonasal cavity.

A case of metastatic female adnexal tumor of probable Wolffian origin.

•We present a case of female adnexal tumor of probable Wolffian origin progressed rapidly while it is classified in LPM.•This case suggests that recurrence can occur within 1 year in patients with tumor implants at initial surgery.

Development and validation of a pre-percutaneous coronary intervention risk model of contrast-induced acute kidney injury with an integer scoring system.

Previous models for contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) include procedure-related variables in addition to pre-procedural variables. We sought to develop a risk model for CI-AKI based on pre-procedural variables and compare its predictability with a conventional risk model and also to develop an integer score system based on selected variables. A total of 5,936 consecutive PCIs registered in the Japanese Cardiovascular Database were analyzed (derivation cohort, n = 3,957; validation cohort, n = 1,979).

Impact of body mass index on in-hospital complications in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention in a Japanese real-world multicenter registry.

Background: Obesity is associated with advanced cardiovascular disease. However, some studies have reported the "obesity paradox" after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The relationship between body mass index (BMI) and clinical outcomes after PCI has not been thoroughly investigated, especially in Asian populations.

Olfactory function in elderly people and patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Background: Olfactory function is an important sensory perception function that helps us detect the smell of spoiled food, dirty clothing, and gas leaks. If ageing and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are accompanied by a decline in olfactory function, this might reduce the ability to sense danger, placing the safety and hygiene of elderly people at risk.

Methods: Subjects in this study included 113 healthy subjects aged 20-89 years and 12 persons with AD aged 62-85 years.

A review of the indirect protection of younger children and the elderly through a mass influenza vaccination program in Japan.

In the past, Japan's strategy for controlling influenza was to vaccinate schoolchildren based on the theory that this could reduce influenza epidemics in the community, and a special program to vaccinate schoolchildren against influenza was begun in 1962. However, the program was discontinued in 1994 because of lack of evidence that it had limited the spread of influenza in the community. In 2001, it was reported that a clear decrease in excess mortality had coincided with the timing of the schoolchild vaccination program.

Spectrum of cutaneous vasculitis in eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Churg-Strauss): a case series.

Background: The diverse histopathologic spectrum of cutaneous vasculitis in eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA, Churg-Strauss syndrome) has not been well described.

Methods: Fifteen skin biopsy specimens from 9 EGPA patients with histopathologically proven necrotizing vasculitis were reviewed clinicopathologically.

Results: Among 8 patients with dermal small vessel vasculitis, neutrophilic vasculitis was observed in 2 myeloperoxidase (MPO)-antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA)-positive patients, whereas the remaining 6 MPO-ANCA-negative patients showed eosinophilic vasculitis in 3 and a mixed infiltrate of neutrophils and eosinophils in another 3 patients.

[Acute hepatitis C infection with prolonged intrahepatic cholestasis and remarkable progression of fibrosis mimicking fibrosing cholestatic hepatitis].

We report the case of a 71-year-old woman with acute hepatitis C infection and persistent viremia since 2 years. Her clinical course was characterized by general fatigue and prolonged jaundice with unusually high serum bilirubin levels. Liver histology showed lymphocyte infiltration, marked fibrosis, and severe cholestasis in the periportal zone, findings mimicking fibrosing cholestatic hepatitis (FCH).

Comparison between virus shedding and fever duration after treating children with pandemic A H1N1/09 and children with A H3N2 with a neuraminidase inhibitor.

Background: Shedding of the pandemic virus during an influenza pandemic is thought to persist longer than shedding of influenza viruses during annual influenza seasons, because people have much less immunity against a pandemic influenza. A correlation is thought to exist between the length of virus shedding and the clinical severity of influenza illness.

Methods: We compared the virus isolation rates of children with pandemic A H1N1/09 influenza infection and children with A H3N2 influenza infection after the patients had been treated with one of three neuraminidase inhibitors (NAI) such as peramivir, laninamivir and oseltamivir.

Cytomegalovirus enteritis in immunocompetent subjects: a case report and review of the literature.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) enteritis (or colitis) is generally diagnosed in immunocompromised patients in association with human immunodeficiency virus infection as well as in recipients of solid organ or hematopoietic stem cell transplant. CMV enteritis has been reported only sporadically in immunocompetent individuals. We encountered a 76-year-old woman who developed CMV enteritis without any previously identified immunocompromised states.

[A case of a metastatic spine tumor treated using a multidisciplinary approach].

A 5 0-year-old man who was a hepatitis B carrier was admitted with back pain due to bone metastasis of the 12 th thoracic vertebra(Th12)in November 2011. He had been diagnosed with liver cancer in January 2010 and underwent liver resection following hepatic arterial chemoembolization. He presented with performance status(PS)2 and a numeric rating scale(NRS) pain score of 8 out of 10 at the time of admission.

[Current status and perspectives of the research in Pendred syndrome].

Pendred syndrome is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by sensorineural hearing loss, goiter, and a partial defect in iodide organification, and is the most common syndromic hearing loss. Hearing loss is congenital in most cases and is accompanied by an enlarged vestibular aqueduct and a Mondini cochlea. Pendred syndrome and autosomal recessive deafness-4 (DFNB4) with enlarged vestibular aqueduct comprise a phenotypic spectrum caused by mutations in SLC26A4.

High preoperative hemoglobin A1c is a risk factor for surgical site infection after posterior thoracic and lumbar spinal instrumentation surgery.

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is reported to be a risk factor for surgical site infection (SSI), which is a serious complication after spinal surgery. The effect of DM on SSI after instrumented spinal surgery remains to be clarified. The aim was to elucidate perioperative risk factors for infection at the surgical site after posterior thoracic and lumbar spinal arthrodesis with instrumentation in patients with DM.

[Central and peripheral nervous system involvement in immunoglobulin G4-related disease].

Immunoglobulin G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a novel clinical disease entity characterized by elevated serum IgG4 concentration and tumefaction or tissue infiltration by IgG4-positive plasma cells. IgG4-RD can occur in various organs, including the pancreas, lacrimal gland, salivary gland, thyroid, lung, bile duct, liver, gastrointestinal tract, kidney, prostate, retroperitoneum, arteries, lymph nodes, skin, and breast. Steroid therapy is often effective.

[Timely colonoscopy leads to faster identification of bleeding diverticulum].

We conducted a retrospective study of the efficacy of a polyethylene glycol purge before colonoscopic examination in 110 patients with colonic diverticular bleeding. The patients' data were assessed for the timing of colonoscopy and the methods used to stop bleeding. The rate at which bleeding diverticula were identified was markedly higher when a purge was used than when it was not (28.

Ovarian pulmonary-type small cell carcinoma: case report and review of the literature.

Ovarian pulmonary-type small cell carcinoma is a rare and extremely aggressive neoplasm. We report the occurrence of an ovarian small cell carcinoma of pulmonary type in a 54-year-old woman. She underwent a total abdominal hysterectomy with a bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy and infracolic omentectomy.

Impact of voglibose on the pharmacokinetics of dapagliflozin in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes.

Introduction: Dapagliflozin is an orally administered selective sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor under development for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Dapagliflozin lowers blood glucose through a reduction in renal glucose reabsorption. This study was performed to assess the effect of the oral antidiabetic agent voglibose [0.

[A patient with advanced gastroesophageal junction cancer responding completely to S-1 monotherapy].

A 74-year-old woman was referred to our hospital for a close examination. A gastrointestinal endoscopic examination revealed an advanced gastroesophageal junction cancer type 3, which was diagnosed as well-differentiated adenocarcinoma. Computed tomography(CT)showed liver and para-aortic lymph node metastases.