Medication Reminder Device for the Elderly Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment

Reminder devices reportedly improve medication adherence in the elderly patients with mild dementia; however, the efficacy of such devices remains unexplored. Therefore, a 3-month before and after study with convenience sampling was conducted to determine the efficacy of a medication reminder device used by 18 participants (aged 81.2 +/- 6.2 years) with Clinical Dementia Rating scores of 0.5 or 1. At the onset of device use, examiners visited the users' homes to ensure that they and their caregivers understood how to use the device. Caregivers monitored its use during the first week. Values of the self-administration medication rate during 1 week for 13 (72.2%) users showed improvement at 3 months. This result revealed that reminder devices can improve medication adherence in the elderly patients with mild cognitive impairment. Further study is needed to assess the magnitude of this improvement and to enhance its support for users with mild cognitive impairment.ArticleAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ALZHEIMERS DISEASE AND OTHER DEMENTIAS. 27(4):238-242 (2012)journal articl

Silk protein of the larval caddisfly, Sienopsyche marmorata (trichoptera: stenopsychidae)(trichoptera: stenopsychidae)

Stenopsyche marmorata is one of the common caddisfly species inrivers and streamsin Japan which is distributed in East Palaearctic Region･ The larvae spin Silk fiber between stones on the bottom of Bowing water, the silk proteinofS･ marmorata would be one of the best sources of natural biopolymersthat could be used as materials for aquatic industrial purposes･ In order to analyze the basic characteristics towards further applications, we measured physical properties, thermal behaviorsand molecular confわrmation of the silk protein of larval S marmorata･ The wet weight of the larval body andthe silkgland of SOrata Were 543･5土5419and 44･7土17･9 mg, respectively, The water content of the liquid silk protein in the silkglands of the living larvae was 73.4土2.2%. The elongation atthe breaking point of the solid silk proteingland in dry state was 2･2%, whilethat of sampleinwet state was･ 6012%, suggestlngthe silk protein glands become soft and stretchable in wet conditions. FT-IR spectra of the silk protein film showed a major absorption band at 1650 cm-1 (Amide I band), which is attributed to the random coil molecular conformation. The silk fiber showed a major endothemiCpeak at 32loC onthe differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) curve, which position is slightly higher than the endothemic peak for the silk film, Suggesting an increaseinthe thermal stabilityfbr the silk fiber from caddisfly,Article信州大学山地水環境教育研究センター研究報告 6: 1-8(2010)departmental bulletin pape

Effect of Obstructive Jaundice and Nitric Oxide on the Profiles of Intestinal Bacterial Flora in Wild and iNOS−/− Mice

We previously reported that the plasma level of endotoxin and colonic expression of IgA in the mouse increased with obstructive jaundice induced by bile duct ligation (BDL). To elucidate the mechanism of the BDL-induced increase, we analyzed the effect of BDL on intestinal flora in wild type and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS)-deficient mice (iNOS−/−) using the terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis (T-RFLP) and 16S rDNA clone libraries. The amounts of bacterial DNA detected in fecal samples from both animal groups pretreated with antibiotics were extremely low as compared with untreated groups. We found that the profiles of enteric bacteria changed markedly after BDL. The bacterial composition is significantly different between not only wild type and iNOS−/− mice but also those before and after BDL, respectively. Among enteric bacteria examined, Lactobacillus murinus was found to increase markedly after BDL in rectum of both animal groups. However, Escherichia coli markedly increased after BDL in the iNOS−/− mice. These findings suggest that profiles of enteric flora change markedly in animals during obstructive jaundice by some mechanism that is affected by bile constituents and iNOS-derived NO

Combined vitreous and cataract surgeries in highly hyperopic eye

We report a case of a patient with a highly hyperopic eye who underwent cataract surgery combined with vitreous surgery to create a posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) to prevent choroidal neovascularization (CNV). A 78-year-old man noticed a decrease in his vision due to a cataract in his right eye. The patient had a severe visual loss in his left eye because of a CNV 2 years after a cataract surgery. His visual acuities were 20/30 OD and 20/600 OS, and funduscopic examination showed an orange-colored lesion OD and degenerative subretinal fibrosis OS. The posterior vitreous was attached to the retina in both eyes. The axial length was 18.9 mm OD and 19.0 mm OS. Cataract surgery combined with vitreous surgery to create PVD was performed on the right eye, and the vision improved to 20/20 with no signs of developing CNV after 5 years. We conclude that cataract surgery combined with vitreous surgery to create a PVD may prevent the development of CNV in highly hyperopic eyes

癌関連線維芽細胞(CAF)によるナチュラルキラー細胞(NK)細胞活性抑制メカニズムに関する研究

学位の種別: 課程博士審査委員会委員 : （主査）東京大学教授 秋下 雅弘, 東京大学講師 平田 哲也, 東京大学講師 山下 裕玄, 東京大学講師 二藤 隆春, 東京大学講師 平田 陽一郎University of Tokyo(東京大学