The Effectiveness of Indonesia's Seven - Step Return to Work Assessment on a Distal Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome : A Case Report Study.

Tarsal tunnel syndrome (TTS) is a nerve entrapment of the posterior tibial nerve. This uncommon condition frequently goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed even though it interferes with the daily activities of workers. Here we discuss the return to work status of a 37-year-old male patient who manages a manufacturing plant.

Costs of psychotropics for outpatients with bipolar disorder in Japan; the MUSUBI 2016 survey.

Background: Although the costs of bipolar disorder (BD) treatments are associated with local and universal factors, data from non-Western countries remain limited. The associations between clinical features and costs of outpatient pharmacotherapy have not been well characterize. To estimate the costs of outpatient BD treatments and their associations with clinical features in a Japanese population, we investigated with special reference to the costs of medicines constituted the bulk of the total healthcare expense and were steadily increasing.

RR interval variability in the evaluation of ventricular tachycardia and effects of implantable cardioverter defibrillator therapy.

Background: An implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) is the most reliable therapeutic device for preventing sudden cardiac death in patients with sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT). Regarding its effectiveness, targeted VT is defined based on the tachyarrhythmia cycle length. However, variations in RR interval variability of VTs may occur.

Estimated model of psychotropic polypharmacy for bipolar disorder: Analysis using patients' and practitioners' parameters in the MUSUBI study.

Objective: This study aims to clarify the relevant factors influencing practitioners' methods of prescribing medications for bipolar disorder, in a nation-wide survey in Japan.

Methods: The clinical records of 3130 outpatients with bipolar disorder were consecutively reviewed from 176 psychiatric outpatient clinics. Fifteen parameters, that is, five patients' including five general characteristics (sex, age, education, occupation, and social adjustment), five patients' aspects of mental functioning (onset age, comorbid mental illness, rapid-cycling, psychopathologic severity, and followed-up years), and five practitioners' characteristics (sex, age, specialist experience, clinic standing years, and location), were evaluated.

Follow-Up of Occupational Health Issues and Measures Taken in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Where Decommissioning Work Has Continued Over 6 Years Since 2014.

Objectives: To follow up arising occupational health (OH) issues, measures taken, and their performances in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant since 2014, and thus share experiences and extend the contribution of OH to long-term decommissioning work and preparation for future disasters.

Methods: Necessary information from official reports and through the OH-related activities involved was collected and analyzed.

Results: The issues were categorized into establishment of the OH management system, three individual issues, and others.

Development, Success Factors, and Challenges of Government-Led Health and Productivity Management Initiatives in Japan.

Objective: This study aimed to describe the Japanese government-led health and productivity management (HPM) strategy, specific initiatives, and success factors.

Methods: Self-described corporation data obtained from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry for 2014 to 2019 were analyzed descriptively.

Results: Nationally, more than 8000 corporations participated in the HPM initiative, and performance improved each year.

Muscle BDNF improves synaptic and contractile muscle strength in Kennedy's disease mice in a muscle-type specific manner.

Key Points: Muscle-derived neurotrophic factors may offer therapeutic promise for treating neuromuscular diseases. We report that a muscle-derived neurotrophic factor, BDNF, rescues synaptic and muscle function in a muscle-type specific manner in mice modelling Kennedy's disease (KD). We also find that BDNF rescues select molecular mechanisms in slow and fast muscle that may underlie the improved cellular function.

Clinical and histopathological characteristics and survival analysis of 4594 Japanese patients with melanoma.

Background: The incidence of melanoma among those of an Asian ethnicity is lower than in Caucasians; few large-scale Asian studies that include follow-up data have been reported.

Objectives: To investigate the clinical characteristics of Japanese patients with melanoma and to evaluate the prognostic factors.

Methods: Detailed patient information was collected from the database of Japanese Melanoma Study Group of the Japanese Skin Cancer Society.

Disease Affects Expression in Synaptic and Extrasynaptic Regions of Skeletal Muscle of Three SBMA Mouse Models.

Spinal bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) is a slowly progressive, androgen-dependent neuromuscular disease in men that is characterized by both muscle and synaptic dysfunction. Because gene expression in muscle is heterogeneous, with synaptic myonuclei expressing genes that regulate synaptic function and extrasynaptic myonuclei expressing genes to regulate contractile function, we used quantitative PCR to compare gene expression in these two domains of muscle from three different mouse models of SBMA: the "97Q" model that ubiquitously expresses mutant human androgen receptor (AR), the 113Q knock-in (KI) model that expresses humanized mouse AR with an expanded glutamine tract, and the "myogenic" model that overexpresses wild-type rat AR only in skeletal muscle. We were particularly interested in neurotrophic factors because of their role in maintaining neuromuscular function via effects on both muscle and synaptic function, and their implicated role in SBMA.

Radiological patterns of pulmonary involvement may predict treatment response in rheumatoid arthritis: A retrospective study.

Background: There have been no reports on the relationship between lung radiological patterns and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity or RA treatment response in patients with RA-associated lung disease (RA-LD).

Methods: Patients with RA-LD who underwent treatment for RA from April 2005 to March 2015 were retrospectively evaluated. RA-LD patients were divided into three groups based on high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) patterns [usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP), nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP), and bronchiolitis].

Pre-clinical symptoms of SBMA may not be androgen-dependent: implications from two SBMA mouse models.

A distinguishing aspect of spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) is its androgen-dependence, possibly explaining why only males are clinically affected. This disease, which impairs neuromuscular function, is linked to a polyglutamine expansion mutation in the androgen receptor (AR). In mouse models of SBMA, motor dysfunction is associated with pronounced defects in neuromuscular transmission, including defects in evoked transmitter release (quantal content, QC) and fiber membrane excitability (based on the resting membrane potential, RMP).

Utility of the Performance of Lumbar Puncture for Febrile Children With Status Epilepticus in the Bacterial Conjugate Vaccine Era.

Background: The necessity of lumbar puncture for the differentiation of central nervous system infection in children with febrile status epilepticus (FSE) remains controversial. The aim of the present study is to investigate the diagnostic necessity of lumbar puncture for children with FSE after the introduction of bacterial conjugate vaccines into the infant immunization program.

Methods: Our retrospective cohort study was performed in children 6 to 60 months of age who were admitted to the pediatric ward at Kitakyushu General Hospital from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2015, for seizures with fever.

Early Mortality and Morbidity in Infants with Birth Weight of 500 Grams or Less in Japan.

Objective: To assess the short-term prognosis of Japanese infants with a birth weight (BW) of ≤500 g.

Study Design: Demographic and clinical data were reviewed for 1473 live born infants with a BW ≤500 g at gestational age ≥22 weeks who were treated in the 204 affiliated hospitals of the Neonatal Research Network of Japan between 2003 and 2012.

Results: Survival to hospital discharge occurred in 811 of 1473 infants (55%; 95% CI 53%-58%).

Difference between Japanese Secondary and Tertiary Medical Facilities Regarding Changes in the Hospitalization of Children for Pneumonia after the Introduction of the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine.

This study aimed to compare hospitalization of children for pneumonia between secondary and tertiary medical facilities, which hospitalize many children without and with underlying diseases, respectively, after the introduction of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV). Our retrospective study included children admitted to the Department of Pediatrics at Kitakyushu General Hospital, a secondary medical facility, and the Hospital of the University of Occupational and Environment Health, Japan, a tertiary medical facility, from 2009 to 2013 for pneumonia. We compared the change in the rate of hospitalization for pneumonia after the introduction of the 7-valent PCV between the secondary and tertiary medical facilities.

Defects in Neuromuscular Transmission May Underlie Motor Dysfunction in Spinal and Bulbar Muscular Atrophy.

Unlabelled: Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) in men is an androgen-dependent neuromuscular disease caused by expanded CAG repeats in the androgen receptor (AR). Whether muscle or motor neuron dysfunction or both underlies motor impairment in SBMA is unknown. Muscles of SBMA mice show significant contractile dysfunction, implicating them as a likely source of motor dysfunction, but whether disease also impairs neuromuscular transmission is an open question.

Genotype-dependent differences in age of manifestation and arrhythmia complications in short QT syndrome.

Background: Short QT syndrome (SQTS) is a rare inheritable arrhythmia, associated with atrial and ventricular fibrillations, caused by mutations in six cardiac ion channel genes with high penetrance. However, genotype-specific clinical differences between SQTS patients remain to be elucidated.

Methods And Results: We screened five unrelated Japanese SQTS families, and identified three mutations in KCNH2 and KCNQ1.

Pulmonary toxicity of well-dispersed multi-wall carbon nanotubes following inhalation and intratracheal instillation.

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), dispersed in suspensions consisting mainly of individual tubes, were used for intratracheal instillation and inhalation studies. Rats intratracheally received a dose of 0.2 mg, or 1 mg of MWCNTs and were sacrificed from 3 days to 6 months.

The incidence and risk factors for venous obstruction after implantation of transvenous pacing leads.

Several investigators have shown that the incidence of venous obstruction after pacemaker implantation was observed in 31-50% of pacemaker patients. However, these previous reports did not investigate the venous system prior to implantation. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence and risk factors for venous obstruction in patients with transvenous pacing leads.

Influence of colonization with mutans streptococci on caries risk in Japanese preschool children: 24 month survival analysis.

Purpose: This study evaluates how various microbial- and salivary-related risk factors influenced the hazard for caries development in preschool children.

Methods: The study population consisted of 131 subjects (age: 0.5 to 6.

Intracoronary papaverine induced myocardial lactate production in patients with angiographically normal coronary arteries.

Although intracoronary papaverine has been widely used for the measurement of coronary flow reserve, little is known concerning whether papaverine may produce deleterious metabolic changes in humans. We investigated the effect of papaverine on lactate metabolism in 28 patients with normal coronary arteries. We continuously monitored phasic coronary flow velocity in the proximal left anterior descending coronary artery using Doppler guidewire.

[Secular changes of the mean birth weight in Japan during the past 20 years (single births, 1969-88)].

Using vital statistics (1981-1988) of the Japanese government, the mean birth weight (MBW) classified by sex was calculated from a birth weight distribution of the single births with 500g intervals for all Japan, prefectures and regions. These MBWs were linked with the MBW of 1969-1980 in our previous reports (Ref. 1) 2)).