Journal of UOEH最新文献

An open-ended questionnaire was administered to the participants of a six-part lecture series on self-controlled management of chemical substances regarding the support those participants would need when transitioning to that system, and the required elements of support were examined using a text-mining tool (KH Coder Ver. 3). The subjects were 59 persons who attended the lectures on an overview of self-controlled management of chemical substances and answered a questionnaire after the course. The lectures were organized by the Graduate School of Occupational Health, University of Occupational and Environmental Health from January-February 2022. The participants themselves indicated that they needed knowledge and up-to-date information on the revised law, as well as education about chemical substances. As for the support needed for individuals, the following were considered necessary: to provide support for education; management; information; the latest information; and education about the toxicity and dangers of chemical substances, which are necessary for education and chemical substance management in accordance with the revised law. As for the support needed for organizations, it was considered necessary to support the understanding of top management and the securing of necessary human resources.

Positional instillation of contrast (PIC) cystography is effective for detecting occult vesicoureteral reflux (VUR), which can not be revealed by standard voiding cystourethrography (VCUG). We experienced two cases of young female patients; one had repeated urinary tract infection with a negative VUR on standard VCUG, and the other had findings suggestive of reflux hydronephrosis and intolerance of standard VCUG. They underwent PIC cystography, and occult VUR was detected in both cases. Both were successfully treated with simultaneous endoscopic injection therapy with dextranomer/hyaluronic acid. PIC cystography is useful for detecting occult VUR in children with negative VUR findings on standard VCUG or who are unable to tolerate standard VCUG.

Rheumatoid meningitis is a rare neurological manifestation that is difficult to diagnose. Here we report a 77-year-old woman who developed a left hemiparesis because of an arachnoid cyst with rheumatoid meningitis. The patient had a 13 year history of rheumatoid arthritis, which had been successfully treated. She developed left hemiparesis and visited our hospital. MRI showed a high signal intensity lesion in the right frontal subarachnoid space and an arachnoid cyst on Fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR). A gadolinium enhanced T1 weighted image revealed associated abnormal enhancement. We removed the arachnoid cyst and diagnosed the patient as having rheumatoid meningitis. Her symptoms and MRI findings improved rapidly by methylprednisolone pulse therapy. Rheumatoid meningitis is rare, but a case of arachnoid cyst associated with rheumatoid meningitis was extremely rare. This is the first report of such a case.

Myalgia is the most frequently reported neuromuscular symptom in COVID-19 patients, with a frequency of around 20% in pregnant women. Acute myositis due to COVID-19 is severe and requires medical intervention. There have been some reports of acute myositis due to COVID-19, mostly in elderly men, but rarely in pregnant women. Here we report a case of a pregnant woman who was diagnosed with acute myositis following COVID-19 illness early in her pregnancy. She had been affected by morning sickness since the 6th week of gestation and was diagnosed with COVID-19 at the 12th week. Muscle pain appeared in her limbs 5 days after the diagnosis of COVID-19, with a predominance of pain in the lower limbs, and her gait gradually became unstable. We concluded that it was acute myositis complicated by COVID-19 and hypokalemia, but we could not determine whether hypokalemia or COVID-19 or both were the cause of the muscle damage in this case. Pregnant women diagnosed with COVID-19 often complain of myalgia and fatigue, and when a pregnant woman's symptoms are severe we should keep in mind that they may be suffering from muscle damage that needs medical intervention.

The management of workplace chemicals shifted from a regulatory-based to a self-managed approach as of April 2023. To assess readiness, concerns, and necessary support for this change, a free-response questionnaire survey was conducted for the participants of the "Promoting self-management of chemicals in enterprises" seminar held by the Department of Occupational Health, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan, in January-February 2023. Text-mining using KH Coder (Ver.3) was conducted to investigate relationships between words that appeared in sentences using a co-occurrence network and hierarchical cluster analysis. From the questionnaire's description text, combinations of the terms "information" and "collection," "small and medium-sized" and "enterprise," and "chemical" and "substance" were extracted. Results suggest a need for "information gathering" and "support for small and medium-sized enterprises."

Few studies have examined the effect of immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) on the overall progression of breast cancer therapy. This study examins the effect of IBR on the breast cancer therapy. 142 patients underwent mastectomy in our department (With IBR group, n = 17; Without IBR group, n = 125). We examined the number of days from diagnosis to surgery, operation time, length of postoperative stay, number of days from surgery to postoperative therapy, and complications in patients with or without breast reconstruction and by type of reconstruction. In the IBR group, the operation time was longer (P < 0.001), postoperative hospital stay was longer when adjusted for multivariate analysis (P = 0.008), and complications were significantly more common (P < 0.001), but there was no significant difference when limited to grade ≥3 complications. There was no difference until the start of postoperative treatment. The results reveal that IBR requires coordination between the surgical and operating room staff, and does not affect the transition to postoperative treatment but does affect an increased incidence of minor complications and length of postoperative stay.