Abstract Positron emission tomography (PET) with fluorodeoxyglucose F18 ( 18 F‐FDG) is useful for detecting malignancies, but benign lesions occasionally have false‐positive 18 F‐FDG uptake. Here, we report the cases of five postmenopausal women with solid ovarian tumors suspected to be ovarian cancer on magnetic resonance imaging and 18 F‐FDG uptake. Mean age of the five patients was 57 years (range, 53–65 years). Average early standardized uptake value (SUV) of 18 F‐FDG was 5.76 (range, 2.2–12.0) and delayed SUV was 6.56 (range, 2.4–13.8). In all five patients, frozen section diagnosis at surgery was thecoma, and bilateral salpingo‐oophorectomy was performed. On immunohistochemistry, immunoreactive glucose transporter 5 (GLUT5) expression was detected in thecoma tissues. This case shows that thecoma sometimes has positive 18 F‐FDG uptake on positron emission tomography–computed tomography (PET‐CT), indicating the need for caution regarding false‐positive PET‐CT in patients with benign solid ovarian tumor.
Magnesium oxide is widely used for treating opioid-induced constipation, a serious analgesic-associated problem. Opioid analgesic users are often prescribed non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which are sometimes combined with acid suppressants to prevent gastrointestinal adverse events. Magnesium preparations combined with acid suppressants may diminish magnesium preparations' laxative effect. This study was aimed at evaluating the effect of magnesium preparations combined with acid suppressants on the incidence of opioid-induced constipation by using the Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System.
Tamoxifen is an anti-estrogenic drug that is widely used for endocrine-dependent breast cancer as adjuvant hormonal therapy, and its use has been reported to be frequently associated with high levels of serum estradiol. Since the population of premenopausal women receiving tamoxifen therapy is growing in Japan, we retrospectively analyzed the incidence of ovarian hyperstimulation by tamoxifen therapy in Japanese women.Eleven patients who received surgical therapy for endocrine-dependent breast cancer and showed high values of serum estradiol during post-operative tamoxifen therapy were recruited in this study and evaluated by examining the serum concentration of follicular stimulating hormone (FSH) and follicular development.The mean age, serum concentrations of estradiol and FSH, and follicular diameter were 41.3 years old, 1015.8 pg/mL, 11.8 mIU/mL, and 3.47 cm, respectively. In 6 cases, multiple follicular development was observed, while the other cases showed single follicular development with a mean serum estradiol level of 848.6 pg/mL and follicular diameter of 4.46 cm. There was no significant difference in age or FSH concentration between the two groups. The mean periods from the start of the single administration of tamoxifen to the initial detection of a high estradiol concentration was 716.5 days.These findings indicate that tamoxifen could stimulate the ovarian function even after 2-year treatment. Since single and multiple follicular developments with large sizes were observed, dual mechanisms through the inhibition of both negative and positive feedback to the hypothalamic-pituitary-axis can be proposed to explain the adverse effects of tamoxifen on ovarian function.
A direct mixing type axial flow cyclone heat exchanger between gas and high temperature particles is proposed which serves as particle separator as well and its heat transfer performance was examined both experimentally and numerically. In this heat exchanger, the particles, after being mixed directly with gas, transfer their heat to the gas in the form of quasi-counter-flow and are effectively re-separated by centrifugal force due to swirling motion of the gas. The following results were obtained from the experiments by using the mock-up apparatus: high heat transfer performance was achieved by mounting a particle diffuser just below the particles' feeding nozzle in order to promote the dispersion of particles in the vessel. Furthermore, by investigating the effect of the location of particles' feeding nozzle on the heat transfer performance, the case when the nozzle was flush with the gas inlet was concluded to be most suitable.
Objectives: Platinum compounds cause several adverse events, such as nephrotoxicity, gastrointestinal toxicity, myelosuppression, ototoxicity, and neurotoxicity. We evaluated the incidence of renal impairment as adverse events are related to the administration of platinum compounds using the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report database. Methods: We analyzed adverse events associated with the use of platinum compounds reported from April 2004 to November 2016. The reporting odds ratio at 95% confidence interval was used to detect the signal for each renal impairment incidence. We evaluated the time-to-onset profile of renal impairment and assessed the hazard type using Weibull shape parameter and used the applied association rule mining technique to discover undetected relationships such as possible risk factor. Results: In total, 430,587 reports in the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report database were analyzed. The reporting odds ratios (95% confidence interval) for renal impairment resulting from the use of cisplatin, oxaliplatin, carboplatin, and nedaplatin were 2.7 (2.5–3.0), 0.6 (0.5–0.7), 0.8 (0.7–1.0), and 1.3 (0.8–2.1), respectively. The lower limit of the reporting odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for cisplatin was >1. The median (lower–upper quartile) onset time of renal impairment following the use of platinum-based compounds was 6.0–8.0 days. The Weibull shape parameter β and 95% confidence interval upper limit of oxaliplatin were <1. In the association rule mining, the score of lift for patients who were treated with cisplatin and co-administered furosemide, loxoprofen, or pemetrexed was high. Similarly, the scores for patients with hypertension or diabetes mellitus were high. Conclusion: Our findings suggest a potential risk of renal impairment during cisplatin use in real-world setting. The present findings demonstrate that the incidence of renal impairment following cisplatin use should be closely monitored when patients are hypertensive or diabetic, or when they are co-administered furosemide, loxoprofen, or pemetrexed. In addition, healthcare professionals should closely assess a patient’s background prior to treatment.
Enzymes which catalyze the formation of free radicals in vitro will catalyze similar reactions in vivo. We believe that the formation of some kinds of free radicals has definite physiological meanings in metabolism. In this sense, the enzymes forming such free radicals are concluded to be in evolutionally advanced states. Elaborated structure and function of enzymes such as horseradish peroxidase and microsomal flavoproteins support the idea. Deleterious and side reactions caused by free radicals are assumed to be minimized in vivo by localizing the reactions, but this assumption should be verified by future studies.
To reduce pharmacy-related medical expenses, it is necessary to reduce drug costs. One way to achieve this is by increasing the usage rate of generic drugs. The purpose of this study was to identify platelet aggregation inhibitors (PAIs) that contribute to high drug costs and are sold as brand-name drugs in order to increase the usage rate of generic drugs, and to analyze the factors that affect the usage rate of generic drug. We conducted a cross-sectional study based on the National Database of Health Insurance Claims and Specific Health Checkups of Japan Open Data Japan (NODJ) of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and datasets containing related medical information from official statistical surveys such as the Basic Survey on Wage Structure. Monthly personal income in each prefecture were negatively correlated with outpatient out-of-hospital and outpatient in-hospital prescriptions of the PAIs clopidogrel (75 mg), cilostazol (50 mg), cilostazol (100 mg), and ticlopidine (100 mg), but not between monthly personal income and outpatient out-of-hospital prescription of ticlopidine (100 mg). For outpatient out-of-hospital prescriptions and outpatient in-hospital prescriptions, negative correlation was generally observed between the usage rate of generic drug and monthly personal income, except for ticlopidine (100 mg), which has the lowest price among the brand-name drugs. The usage rate of generic PAIs is negatively correlated with monthly personal income. Promoting the use of generic drugs among high-income earners might be necessary to further increase the usage rate of generic drug.
