Diagnosis and management of intestinal Behçet’s disease

Behçet’s disease (BD) is a chronic relapsing disease with multiple organ system involvement characterized clinically by oral and genital aphthae, cutaneous lesions, and ophthalmological, neurological, and/or gastrointestinal manifestations. Little clinical evidence is available regarding the management of patients with intestinal BD, despite recognition that the presence of intestinal lesions is a poor prognostic factor, causing perforation and massive bleeding. Many recent case reports have suggested that anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF)α monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are effective in patients with intestinal BD. Adalimumab, a fully human anti-TNFα mAb, has been approved in Japan for the treatment of intestinal BD. Here, we review the pathogenesis, diagnosis and management of intestinal BD, including evidence of the efficacy of anti-TNFα mAbs

5-Aminosalicylic acid aggravates colitis mimicking exacerbation of ulcerative colitis

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is one of the major clinical phenotypes of inflammatory bowel diseases. Although 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) is widely used for UC and its efficacy and safety have been demonstrated, a few patients paradoxically develop a severe exacerbation of colitis by 5-ASA administration. It is crucial to know clinical features including endoscopic findings in this condition for making a correct diagnosis and a prompt decision to withdraw the medication. Here, we report case series with UC exacerbated by 5-ASA. Medical records of 8 UC patients experiencing an exacerbation of colitis after induction of 5-ASA that was improved by the withdrawal of 5-ASA but also re-aggravated by dose increase or re-administration of 5-ASA were reviewed. The patients were newly diagnosed with UC, started 5-ASA and developed an exacerbation in approximately 2 to 3 weeks. They did not appear to have systemic allergic reactions. Seven of the 8 patients had a high fever. Three of 5 patients who undertook total colonoscopy showed right-side-dominant colitis. These findings suggest clinical characteristics in this condition. Further assessment of clinical and endoscopic features in more cases is necessary for establishing diagnostic criteria and understanding underlying mechanisms in those cases where 5-ASA aggravates the colitis

Rhodosporidium sp. J-5B株により生産された酵素による各種生澱粉の分解(澱粉資化性酵母に関する研究,自然科学)

赤木らの分離・同定したRhodosporidium sp. J-5Bの生産する菌体外酵素をDEAEカラムを用いて精製して得られたA区分は、市販酵素に比べ、低pHにおいて生澱粉をよく分解し、残存活性率がよかった

Analysis of antireflection coatings using the FD-TD method with the PML absorbing boundary condition

A step-index optical waveguide with an antireflection coating is analyzed using the finite-difference time-domain (FD-TD) method combined with the perfectly matched layer absorbing boundary condition (PML-ABC). It is demonstrated that the numerical simulations having a dynamic range over that for the Mur absorbing boundary condition can be obtained for a single-layer coating. The analysis of a double-layer coating reveals the transient behavior of reflected fields