Integrated education of gross anatomy and CT radiology for current advances in medicine

It is essential to learn human anatomy in 3D for advanced medicine. We designed such an education system by integrating anatomy dissection with diagnostic CT radiology. Cadavers were scanned by CT, and students consulted the postmortem CT images while dissecting the cadaver to gain a better understanding of 3D human anatomy and diagnostic radiology. Students used handheld DICOM viewers at the bench-side (OsiriX on iPod touch). Students had lectures and workshops on diagnostic radiology, and study assignments where they discussed findings in anatomy labs in comparison with CT radiology. This teaching method for gross anatomy was used from 2009, and yielded positive students’ perspectives, and significant improvements in radiology skills at clinical courses.This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: Tohru Murakami, Yuki Tajika, Hitoshi Ueno, Sachiko Awata, Satoshi Hirasawa, Maki Sugimoto, Yoshihiko Kominato, Yoshito Tsushima, Keigo Endo, and Hiroshi Yorifuji. An integrated teaching method of gross anatomy and computed tomography radiology. Anat Sci Educ, 2014, which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ doi/10.1002/ase.1430/abstract

Multicenter, single-blind, randomized controlled study of the efficacy and safety of favipiravir and nafamostat mesilate in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia

Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of nafamostat combined with favipiravir for the treatment of COVID-19. Methods: We conducted a multicenter, randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel assignment study in hospitalized patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 pneumonia. Patients were randomly assigned to receive favipiravir alone (n = 24) or nafamostat with favipiravir (n = 21). The outcomes included changes in the World Health Organization clinical progression scale score, time to improvement in body temperature, and improvement in oxygen saturation (SpO2). Results: There was no significant difference in the changes in the clinical progression scale between nafamostat with favipiravir and favipiravir alone groups (median, -0.444 vs -0.150, respectively; least-squares mean difference, -0.294; P = 0.364). The time to improvement in body temperature was significantly shorter in the combination group (5.0 days; 95% confidence interval, 4.0-7.0) than in the favipiravir group (9.0 days; 95% confidence interval, 7.0-18.0; P =0.009). The changes in SpO2 were greater in the combination group than in the favipiravir group (0.526% vs -1.304%, respectively; least-squares mean difference, 1.831; P = 0.022). No serious adverse events or deaths were reported, but phlebitis occurred in 57.1% of the patients in the combination group. Conclusion: Although our study showed no differences in clinical progression, earlier defervescence, and recovery of SpO2 were observed in the combination group