Antifungal Medication in IC Unit Using Invasive Candidosis Checklist as Reference / 日本農村医学会雑誌

　　Many patients carried into the emergency room or intensive care unit are suspected to have risk factors for deep-seated mycosis. Using the Actions Bundle, which itemizes diagnosis and treatment of invasive candidiasis, we carried out investigations into facts about the use of antifungal drugs in the intensive care unit of our hospital. The subjects of this retrospective study were 11 ICU patients who were given antifungal drugs intravenously between April 2013 and March 2014. Their medication records revealed that micafungin was administered to five patients, fosfluconazole to another five patients and fulconazole to the remaining one patient. The ratio of the cases where the dugs were used in compliance with what the Actions Bundle suggested worked out at 71.4±15.9%. When it came to the collection rate of two sets of blood culture and the proper dosage, the compliance rates were the lowest with 36% each. As regards dosage, 18% was excessive, 36% proper and 45% insufficient. As pharmacists in charge of the ICU, we have to use the checklist more effectively and intervene in the care of patients with invasive candidiasis at an early stage.

Characteristics of pre-existing physical factors associated with the onset of Osgood–Schlatter disease in junior soccer players / 体力科学

The aim of this study is to investigate the characteristics of pre-existing physical factors associated with the onset of Osgood-Schlatter disease (OSD) in junior soccer players. Fifty-nine junior soccer players of the elementary school were included in this study. The boys who had been diagnosed as OSD were excluded. At the time of the first investigation, the subjects were examined through physical evaluation and an ultrasonography. The subjects were followed up one and a half years, and the tibial tuberosity was classified according to the growth stages using the ultrasonography. After the end of follow-up period, the subjects were divided into two groups, those with signs and symptoms of OSD that appeared during the follow up period and those without that. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for the comparison between OSD group’s and control group’s initial assessments. The players who were followed up for one and half years were 38 people. 5 knees of the 4 players were clinically diagnosed as OSD (OSD group), and the remaining 34 players with no symptoms of the OSD constituted the control group. The range of the bilateral hip external rotation, straight leg raise of the non-dominant side, and knee flexion in the OSD group were significantly lower than those in the control group (p < 0.05). We concluded that a decrease in specific joint flexibility might be related with the onset of OSD.

Gender differences in kinematics during landing motion and effect of the prevention program for lower extremity injuries on kinematics in junior basketball players / 体力科学

Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury often occurs as a result of knee valgus collapse during landing or pivoting in sports activity. Previous studies reported that the risk of ACL injuries was reduced by jump and balance training, and those training can be effective as the prevention program for the ACL injuries. But those studies often focused on only adult athletes, and there are few studies focused on junior athletes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the pattern of landing movement in junior athletes, and to verify the effect of the prevention program. One-hundred and ten junior basketball players (boys; 61, girls;49, age ranging 12 to 15) were subjected in this study. We measured the knee flexion, valgus angles and jump height during continuous vertical jump. After measuring, they executed a prevention program for 12 weeks. The motion pattern of the knee during jump test were compaired between before and after prevention program. Female athletes showed greater knee valgus angle at initial landing phase and grater maximum knee valgus angle than those of males. As a result of the prevention program, maximum knee valgus angle was significantly decreased in female athletes. The greater angle of knee valgus in female may increase the risk of ACL injuries. Present study suggests that the prevention program is useful for reducing the risk of ACL injury. Increment of jump height in male players after this program might be considered that this training program has also an effect of performance improvement.