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Takahiko Fukuchi,1,2 Nobue Yanagihara,3 Koichi Imaoka,4 Hitoshi Sugawara1 1Division of General Medicine, Jichi Medical University Saitama Medical Center, Omiya, Saitama, Japan; 2Division of General Internal Medicine, Fukaya Red Cross Hospital, Fukaya, Saitama, Japan; 3Department of Clinical Laboratory, Fukaya Red Cross Hospital, Fukaya, Saitama, Japan; 4Laboratory of Reservoir Control of Zoonoses, Department of Veterinary Science, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Shinjuku, Tokyo, JapanCorrespondence: Takahiko FukuchiJichi Medical University Saitama Medical Center, Division of General Medicine, 1-847, Amanumacho, Omiya-ku, Saitama 330-8503, JapanTel +81 48 647 2111Fax +81 48 644 8617Email chicco@f.email.ne.jpBackground: Brucellosis, an important zoonotic disease, is endemic in various parts of the world. Patients diagnosed with brucellosis in developed countries are often travelers and immigrants from endemic areas. This pathogen is listed as biosafety level 3, which means that it is highly contagious and therefore a risk to clinical laboratory technicians.Case presentation: A 43-year-old Chinese man, who could not understand Japanese, visited our hospital because of an intermittent fever that had persisted for 5 months. Associated symptoms included muscle pain whenever he had a fever. He reported currently working as a welder in Japan. However, his previous employment working in animal husbandry in Heilongjiang, mainland China was not determined at the initial visit owing to language barriers. Two sets of blood culture showed nonfermenting gram-negative bacilli, initially misidentified as Ochrobactrum anthropi and subsequently identified as Brucella abortus. Six-week doxycycline and rifampicin were administered, with intravenous gentamicin for the initial 1 week. The patient recovered without relapse, confirmed by the negative result of a Brucella agglutination test. The patient’s wife and three laboratory technicians were required to undergo blood examinations, which revealed no evidence of infection; however, they received prophylaxis with 3 weeks’ doxycycline and rifampicin.Conclusion: In nonendemic countries, immigrants with imported brucellosis can be treated, to prevent secondary brucellosis infection, an occupational hazard among laboratory technicians. Greater attention is needed for positive findings of blood cultures, which may initially be misidentified as O. anthropi. When providing medical care for immigrants with fever of unknown origin, it is especially important for primary care physicians to overcome language barriers so as to assess pertinent information regarding their home country, such as previous employment, to prevent the spread the imported zoonoses in the era of a dramatically increasing number of immigrants and foreign travelers.Keywords: imported brucellosis, Brucella abortus, zoonosis, Ochrobactrum anthropi, laboratory exposure, laboratory-acquired infection

Yasutaka Takagi,1 Kazunori Santo,1 Masayo Hashimoto,1 Takeo Fukuchi2 1Japan Medical Affairs Group, Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan; 2Division of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan Purpose: This paper aimed to evaluate the intraocular pressure (IOP)-lowering effects of prostaglandin analogs (PGAs) in Japanese patients with normal-tension glaucoma (NTG) by reviewing the current literature. Methods: In February 2018, database searches were performed in PubMed, Embase, ProQuest, and the Japanese databases JAPICDOC and JMEDPlus. Studies were sorted into two categories: Category 1 consisted of studies of patients with NTG who reported reduced IOP values and Category 2 consisted of studies of patients with NTG who had IOP values at predosing and a final evaluation point. Search terms included ([unoprostone or latanoprost or travoprost or bimatoprost or tafluprost] and [glaucoma] and [Japan or Japanese]). The weighted ocular hypotensive efficacy was calculated. A scatter plot analysis was performed and a regression equation was calculated for each medication. The fitting of each regression equation was evaluated by the least squares method. Results: Eleven articles were eligible for Category 1 and 25 articles for Category 2. In the rank order of IOP-lowering efficacy of PGAs, bimatoprost was the strongest and latanoprost the weakest. Travoprost and tafluprost had almost the same level of ocular hypotensive effect, and both were stronger than latanoprost. The scatter plot analysis showed that all PGAs reduced IOP by 15%–20%. At higher IOP (17–18 mmHg), the ocular hypotensive effect was almost the same with latanoprost, travoprost, and tafluprost. In contrast, at lower IOP (12–15 mmHg), the IOP reduction with latanoprost was weaker than with travoprost or tafluprost. Conclusion: This literature review of the ocular hypotensive effects of PGAs in Japanese patients with NTG highlighted that PGAs had different ocular hypotensive effects. Ophthalmologists should understand the IOP-lowering profiles of various PGAs and apply them to patients with NTG on a case-by-case basis. Trial registration: UMIN Clinical Trials Registry UMIN000032344. Keywords: Japanese, normal-tension glaucoma, ocular hypotensive effects, prostaglandin analogs

Kiyoshi Yaoeda,1,2 Atsushi Fukushima,1 Motohiro Shirakashi,3 Atsushi Miki,4 Takeo Fukuchi2 1Department of Ophthalmology, Yaoeda Eye Clinic, Nagaoka, Niigata, Japan; 2Division of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Niigata, Japan; 3Department of Ophthalmology, Kido Eye Clinic, Niigata, Niigata, Japan; 4Department of Ophthalmology, Kawasaki Medical School, Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine whether fluctuations in intraocular pressure (IOP) occur as a result of the order of IOP measurements or successive IOP measurements in patients with glaucoma and, if so, identify the factors causing these fluctuations.Patients and methods: Four hundred twenty-eight eyes of 214 Japanese patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) were enrolled. Patients treated with beta-blockers or prostaglandin analogs alone were included. Additionally, in the IOP measurements by noncontact tonometer, the same cases of IOP of the right and left eyes prior to this study were included in this study. Four successive IOP measurements were carried out using a Goldmann applanation tonometer as follows: IOP was measured in the first eye (right or left) and then in the fellow eye and IOP was again measured in the first eye and then in the fellow eye. Repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to test the differences in IOP between successive measurements. Generalized linear mixed models were used to test differences in IOP measurements between the right and the left eyes on repeated applanation tonometry and according to the order of measurement. Conditional binomial logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with fluctuating repeated applanation tonometry measurements. A P-value of

Hiroshi Nakase,1,2 Shinji Sakuma,3 Takumi Fukuchi,4 Takuya Yoshino,1,5 Kohta Mohri,3 Kohei Miyata,3,6 Hironori Kumagai,6 Ken-Ichiro Hiwatari,6 Kazufumi Tsubaki,6 Tetsuya Ikejima,6 Etsuo Tobita,6 Meiying Zhu,7 Kevin J Wilson,7 Kay Washington,8 John C Gore,7,9–13 Wellington Pham7,9–12,14 1Division of Endoscopy, Kyoto University Hospital, Kyoto, Japan; 2Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan; 3Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Setsunan University, Hirakata, Osaka, Japan; 4Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Osakafu Saiseikai Nakatsu Hospital, Osaka, Japan; 5Division of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Digestive Disease Center, Kitano Hospital, Osaka, Japan; 6Advanced Materials R&D Laboratory, ADEKA Corp., Tokyo, Japan; 7Department of Radiology, Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, 8Division of Gastrointestinal and Hepatic Pathology, Vanderbilt School of Medicine, 9Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, 10Department of Biomedical Engineering, 11Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt School of Medicine, 12Vanderbilt Brain Institute, 13Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, 14Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA Abstract: The Thomsen–Friedenreich (TF) antigen represents a prognostic biomarker of colorectal carcinoma. Here, using a nanobeacon, the surface of which was fabricated with peanut agglutinin as TF-binding molecules, we demonstrate that the nanobeacon is able to detect TF antigen in frozen and freshly biopsied polyps using fluorescence microscopy. Our results provide important clues about how to detect aberrant colonic tissues in the most timely fashion. Given the versatile application method for this topical nanobeacon, the protocol used in this work is amenable to clinical colonoscopy. Moreover, the prospects of clinical translation of this technology are evident. Keywords: TF antigen, fluorescence colonoscopy, nanobeacon, colorectal cancer

Kiyoshi Yaoeda,1,2 Atsushi Fukushima,1 Motohiro Shirakashi,3 Takeo Fukuchi2 1Yaoeda Eye Clinic, Nagaoka, 2Division of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, 3Kido Eye Clinic, Niigata, Japan Purpose: To investigate the correlation coefficients between intraocular pressure (IOP) before and after adjusting for central corneal thickness (CCT) and corneal biomechanical properties. Patients and methods: A total of 218 eyes of 218 patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (mean age =71.5 years; mean spherical equivalent =-0.51 D; mean deviation determined by Humphrey visual field analyzer =-3.22 dB) were included in this study. The tIOP and tIOPCCT, which were adjusted by the CCT (with tIOP meaning IOP not adjusted by CCT, as determined using the CT-1P; and tIOPCCT meaning IOP adjusted by CCT, as determined using the CT-1P), were determined using a noncontact tonometer. The IOPg and IOPCCT, which were adjusted by CCT, and IOPcc adjusted by corneal biomechanical properties were determined using a Reichert 7CR (with IOPg meaning IOP not adjusted by CCT or corneal biomechanical properties, as determined using the Reichert 7CR; IOPCCT meaning IOP adjusted by CCT, as determined using the Reichert 7CR; and IOPcc meaning IOP adjusted by corneal biomechanical properties, as determined using the Reichert 7CR). The GT and GTCCT adjusted by CCT were determined using a Goldmann applanation tonometer (with GT meaning IOP not adjusted by CCT, as determined using the Goldmann applanation tonometer; and with GTCCT meaning IOP adjusted by CCT, as determined using the GAT). Pearson’s correlation coefficients among the IOPs were calculated and compared. P-values

Translational and rotational ion temperatures are measured in a radio-frequency-produced nitrogen plasma which is produced by the excitation of N(sub 2)(super +) molecules. The excitation is performed by a tunable dye laser and the laser-induced fluorescence is employed for the analysis of ion heating and cooling in a plasma. Translational temperature is 10 times greater than the rotational temperature.

Laser-induced fluorescence and a floating double-Langmuir probe were used to evaluate electron temperature variations in a pulsed radio frequency nitrogen plasma. Low-energy electrons induced metastable N2 level excitation which occupied the N2(B3(Pi(g))) level having an 8 millisecond radiative lifetime.