バンドウ フリョ シュウヨウジョ ノ ドイツヘイ ガ オオアサヒコ ジンジャ ケイダイ ニ ツクッタ ハシ ト コウエン

German prisoners in the Bandō prisoner-of-war (POW) camp made bridges and a park in the forest of the Ooasahiko-Jinja Shrine during 1917-1919. Details of the constructions were a 15 m-long wood bridge and five small wood bridges, four stone bridges, road with a total length of 1,130 m, stone embankments, slopes, two flights of stone steps with a length of 8 m and 3 m according to the record written by Adolf Deutschmann who planned and directed the work. Two stone bridges called Doitsu-bashi (German bridge) and Megane-bashi (glasses bridge) remain and the Doitsu-bashi has been designated as a cultural asset of Tokushima prefecture. However, other constructions have been disappeared or became unclear now. In this study, we tried to clarify their precise place and history using an old map of the Ooasahiko-Jinja Shrine, photos and pictures of German prisoners, and interview to an old resident who participated in improvement of the forest around 1970. Results indicated that the road and the stone bridge still remain in some part. In addition to Adolf Deutschmann we found that Max Bunge was an important member of the work. He has not been noticed in previous studies of the Bandō POW camp, although he was a famous person in the German community in Qingdao by some heroic behaviors, and that he became a mayor of his hometown Heiligenhafen after he was released from the camp. He wrote about beautiful nature of the shrine’s forest and about his sympathy to faith of Japanese pilgrims who he saw during construction work

Efficacy of omeprazole, famotidine, mosapride and teprenone in patients with upper gastrointestinal symptoms: an omeprazole-controlled randomized study (J-FOCUS)

Abstract Background In Japan, treatment guidelines are lacking for patients with upper gastrointestinal symptoms. We aimed to compare the efficacy of different drugs for the treatment of uninvestigated upper gastrointestinal symptoms. Methods This was a randomized, open-label, parallel-group multicenter study. Helicobacter pylori-negative, endoscopically uninvestigated patients ≥ 20 years of age with upper gastrointestinal symptoms of at least moderate severity (Global Overall Symptom score [GOS] ≥ 4 on a 7-point Likert scale) were randomized to treatment with omeprazole (10 mg once daily), famotidine (10 mg twice daily), mosapride (5 mg three times daily) or teprenone (50 mg three times daily). The primary endpoint was sufficient relief of upper gastrointestinal symptoms after 4 weeks of treatment (GOS ≤ 2). UMIN clinical trial registration number: UMIN000005399. Results Of 471 randomized patients, 454 were included in the full analysis set. After 4 weeks of treatment, sufficient symptom relief was achieved by 66.9% of patients in the omeprazole group, compared with 41.0%, 36.3% and 32.3% in the famotidine, mosapride and teprenone groups, respectively (all, p  Conclusions The favorable efficacy and safety profiles of omeprazole in relieving uninvestigated upper gastrointestinal symptoms support its use as first-line treatment in this patient group in Japan. Patients who show no improvement in symptoms despite PPI use, and those with alarm symptoms (such as vomiting, GI bleeding or acute weight loss) should receive further investigation, including prompt referral for endoscopy. Trial registration UMIN000005399.</p