Journal of Medical and Dental Sciences最新文献

The aim of this study was to determine transport of lidocaine ions through a hairless rat skin in vivo and to compare the efficacy of alternating current (AC) with that of direct current (DC) iontophoresis (IOP). We measured the concentration of lidocaine transported through a cellophane membrane or a hairless rat dorsal skin applying either AC-IOP or DC-IOP. The results revealed that lidocaine concentration increased in a time-dependent manner in vitro in both DC-IOP and AC-IOP. However, the in vivo study showed different tendencies in lidocaine concentration. In the DCIOP group, lidocaine concentration reached its maximum 20 min after current application and then decreased rapidly; the AC-IOP group showed an increase in lidocaine concentration in a time-dependent manner. There were no side effects such as electrical burns in the rats. In conclusion, AC can be applied for long periods and DC for short periods, or their application time can be appropriately scheduled. Our study also suggests the mechanism by which voltage waveforms affect the skin when applied by IOP. In the future, these findings will be a solid foundation for developing various kinds of medical equipment such as scheduled drug delivery system that can easily deliver various types of drug.

Chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH) is prevalent among elderly populations worldwide, and its mysterious pathogenesis has been discussed in the literature for decades. The issues remaining to be solved in regard to CSDH include the initiating events; the bleeding into the subdural space and the formation of the outer and inner membranes, its development; increase and liquefaction of hematoma, the optimal treatments, and the natural history. The pathophysiology is becoming more clear due to recent findings from computed tomography studies and human models of CSDH. In this work, we review previous studies on CSDH and present a new integrated concept about the development of this common condition after head injuries.

The long QT syndrome type 2 (LQT2) is inheritable life threatening arrhythmic disorder and one of the most common genetic variants in long QT syndrome. There are some indications for treatment of the patients with LQT2 but it is impossible to completely prevent fatal arrhythmia. To develop novel therapy for the patients with LQT2, it has been desired to generate diseasespecific and patient-specific disease model. Human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are somatic cell-derived pluripotent stem cells with infinite proliferation ability and multipotency. Patient-specific iPS cells can be derived from patient somatic cells, have all genomic information encoded in patient's genome including mutation and all SNPs, and can be ideal disease models of the patients. To generate disease model for LQT2 by iPS cells, we should firstly generate iPS cells from the patient with LQT2 and confirm the genomic mutation in iPS cells. In this study, we showed the successful generation of iPS cells from a patient with KCNH2 G603D mutation. The patient specific iPS cells properly expressed stem cell markers, such as NANOG and OCT3/4. We also confirmed that the KCNH2 G603D (G1808A) mutation was taken over in patient specific iPS cells. These patient-specific iPS cells may contribute to the future analysis for disease pathogenesis and drug innovation.

We examined the changes in psychological distress and quality of life (QOL) during the perioperative period in oral cancer patients undergoing surgery and investigated the relationship between patient's psychological distress and QOL. Methods. Fifty patients participated. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS; Japanese version), as a psychological test and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy General (FACT-G); and Head and Neck (FACT-H&N), as quality of life (QOL) surveys were administered preoperatively, after surgery, and 1 month after leaving the hospital. Results. Anxiety was highest pre-operation and depression was highest post-operation, but improvements in both were seen post-discharge. At the pre-operation time point, anxiety and depression low-score groups had significantly high scores on Emotional well-being and Functional well-being. At the post-operation time point, anxiety and depression low-score groups had significantly high scores on all QOL subscales. Conclusion. Providing psychological support while considering anxiety might be particularly useful preoperatively whereas providing psychological support while considering depression might be particularly useful postoperatively.

We employed a questionnaire survey to assess attitudes toward informed consent (IC) among hospital doctors. Based on the result of the correlation analysis, the following two hypotheses were identified. The first hypothesis is that "the doctor's belief that the patient's self-determination is possible promotes cure of illness by obtaining IC." The second hypothesis is that "the doctor's belief that the patient's self-determination is possible has a positive influence on patient's quality of life by obtaining IC." We clarified the rationale for explaining these two hypotheses by applying cross tabulation analysis, discriminant analysis and principal component analysis (PCA). The doctors were divided into two groups in terms of their position on the patient's self-determination. One group of doctors believed the possibility of patient's self-determination, and the other did not. Through our statistical analyses, the characteristics that discriminate these two groups were identified. It was revealed that the former group placed a great importance on the hospitality value, while the latter placed an importance on the service value. Agreement or rejection of the concept of IC has been demonstrated as a key distinguishing factor between the two groups. The results of PCA showed that the doctor's belief on the patient's self-determination in obtaining IC had a significant effect on medical outcomes, and the two above-mentioned hypotheses were revealed.