Search

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between stroke patients' lower limb joints' range of motion (ROM) at the time of hospital discharge and post-stroke femoral neck fracture. [Subjects] The subjects were 41 femoral neck fracture patients at Sankuro Hospital: 28 cases with history of stroke; 13 cases with no history of stroke. [Methods] We investigated the length of hospital stay for fracture, side of fracture, ROM of lower limb joints at the times of hospital admittance and discharge, activities of daily living (ADL), and circumstances of the fracture. For 7 cases, we further researched ROM of lower limb joints at the time of hospital discharge for stroke, ADL, and the time from hospital discharge for stroke to fracture. [Results] There were a number of cases of right side hemiplegia patients who experienced fracture while going to the toilet in the middle of the night. A significant correlation was found between lower limb joints' ROM at the time of discharge for stroke and the time from discharge to fracture. [Conclusion] The results suggest the possibility of identifying patients at high risk of femoral neck fracture from ROM of lower limb joints at the time of hospital discharge for stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We used the newly developed "modality differential" (MD) method to investigate the sensory-relevance properties of adjective scales that are widely used in the semantic differential (SD) technique. Participants (N=342) were asked to rate the relevance of each of 17-19 adjective pairs, selected from a total 75 pairs for ten sensory modalities, using a 7-point scale. We conducted a principal component analysis and a cluster analysis on the obtained MD data. We found that this data were well explained by the three components or three categories of proximal, proprioceptive, and distal-type senses, corresponding to psychological classification of sense modalities. In addition, we analyzed the sensory-relevance properties of the adjective scales that make up the three factors of the SD technique. We found that the adjectives of the Evaluation factor can be regarded as multi-sensory scales that show generally higher relevance magnitudes for multiple modalities. On the other hand, the adjectives making up the Activity and Potency factors show high relevance to specific modalities such as auditory/kinesthetic and tactile modalities, respectively. We discussed differential uses of the MD method for measuring the sensory-relevance of several materials such as artworks or industrial products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An 18-year-old man was admitted to our hospital due to gross hematuria and proteinuria after a marathon race. Contrast-enhanced CT showed no remarkable findings. His gross hematuria and proteinuria disappeared with- out treatment. One year later, he was admitted to our hospital due to reburrent gross hematuria and anemia (serum hemoglobin level of 8.0 g/dL). Both contrast-enhanced CT and renal arteriography revealed no remarkable find- ings; however, cystoscopy showed that his hematuria came from the left ureteral orifice. Ureteroscopy revealed hemorrhage from a large hemangioma at the left renal papilla of the calix. He presented with intermittent gross hematuria, proteinuria, and hypocomplimentemia, suggesting the possibility of glomerulonephritis. His gross hematuria and proteinuria improved after laser coagulation was performed.

Calcifying cystic odontogenic tumors are benign tumors, characterized by the presence of ghost cells and calcified materials. We evaluated clinical characteristics of calcifying cystic odontogenic tumors in 21 cases at the Maxillofacial Surgery, Tokyo Medical and Dental University Hospital, between January 1979 and December 2006. Of the 21 lesions that were studied, 12 were observed in male patients, and 9 in female patients. The median age was 13.0 years (range, 4-69 years). Of the 21 lesions, 11 were located in the maxilla (intraosseous), 9 in the mandible (intraosseous), and 1 in the lower gingiva (extraosseous). Radiographically, 18 lesions appeared as unilocular radiolucencies, and 2 lesions as multilocular radiolucencies. Impacted teeth were observed in 15 cases. In 20 cases, the lesions were treated by enucleation. The follow-up duration ranged from 2 years, 5 months to 28 years, 8 months, and in 1 case, the lesion recurred and showed a malignant transformation 2 years 10 months after the treatment. Histopathologically, the lining epithelium consisted of cuboidal or columnar odontogenic cells. Ghost cells were frequently calcified, and the tissue was hardened. In 14 cases, the tumor was associated with odontoma.

The purpose of this study is to state the clinical and colorimetric features of pigmented lesions on oral mucosa. Among 201 pigmented lesions on oral mucosa, there were 74 melanin pigmentations (36.9%), 72 exogenous pigmentations (35.8%), 28 pigmented nevi (13.9%), and 27 malignant melanomas (13.4%). Melanin pigmentations were found mainly on the gingiva and lip, exogenous pigmentations were on the gingiva, pigmented nevi were found on the buccal mucosa, and malignant melanomas were on the upper gingiva. Thirty-six pigmented lesions were measured by colorimeter, and each lesion was evaluated numerically using the CIE L*a*b* colorimetric system. The statistical significance was confirmed by Tukey's test and a p value <0.05 was assumed as a significant difference. The color distribution of melanin pigmentation and exogenous pigmentation and malignant melanoma were significantly lower than normal mucosa in L*. A statistical significance was found between each pigmented lesion and normal mucosa in a* and b*. Among malignant melanoma and melanin pigmentation or exogenous pigmentation, a statistical significance was found in a* and b*. The color difference between melanin pigmentation and malignant melanoma was significant. The color distribution is thought to be different in each pigmented lesion, and we suggest that it is useful to use colorimetric features to diagnose each pigmented lesion.

The current efforts and strategies have greatly helped reduce transfusion-associated risks. Indeed, the risk of being infected by a contaminated blood unit today is lower than that thirty years ago. This improvement is due to the introduction of nucleic acid testing (NAT). Compatibility testing is designed to ensure that the patient receives the intended units of red cell concentrate (RCC) and that transfusion will be effective with minimum risk of adverse reactions. The process includes ABO and Rh typing of patients, testing recipient serum for clinically important alloantibodies, and crossmatching donor red cells with recipient serum by a technique that detects serological incompatibility.

We used the newly developed "modality differential" (MD) method to investigate the sensory-relevance properties of adjective scales that are widely used in the semantic differential (SD) technique. Participants (N = 342) were asked to rate the relevance of each of 17-19 adjective pairs, selected from a total 75 pairs for ten sensory modalities, using a 7-point scale. We conducted a principal component analysis and a cluster analysis on the obtained MD data. We found that this data were well explained by the three components or three categories of proximal, proprioceptive, and distal-type senses, corresponding to psychological classification of sense modalities. In addition, we analyzed the sensory-relevance properties of the adjective scales that make up the three factors of the SD technique. We found that the adjectives of the Evaluation factor can be regarded as multi-sensory scales that show generally higher relevance magnitudes for multiple modalities. On the other hand, the adjectives making up the Activity and Potency factors show high relevance to specific modalities such as auditory/kinesthetic and tactile modalities, respectively. We discussed differential uses of the MD method for measuring the sensory-relevance of several materials such as artworks or industrial products.

The impressions of words and drawings that represented the same concepts (joy, anger, tranquility, etc.) were examined by the semantic differential technique. In the word (W) condition where the participants were presented with only the word stimuli, two factors (Evaluation and Activity) were extracted. By contrast, in the drawing (D) condition where the participants only saw the drawings, three factors (Evaluation, Activity, and Potency) were extracted and the potency factor was found to have large factor loadings for the adjective-pairs containing high relevance to tactile sensation. The same tendencies were found in the drawing + word (DW) condition where the drawings and the words were presented simultaneously. These results revealed that the factor structure in the W condition differed from those in the D and the DW conditions, and that the drawings aroused tactile sensations. Further analysis in the evaluation factor implied that the impressions produced in the DW condition had unique characters that could not be reduced to those in the W and the D conditions.