Natural History of Paralytic Scoliosis / The Japanese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine

Introduction : We examined the characteristics of paralytic scoliosis using plain radiography.Subjects and methods : We recruited fourteen patients aged ≥ 15 years old with no history of bone surgery at the time of their final observation. Participants included those who had cerebral palsy or those who had a history of encephalitis and underwent spinal frontal plain radiography in the supine position at different time points. We evaluated gross motor function, position and direction of the curve, Cobb angle, rate of variability, and degree of progression at 5-year intervals. We measured the percentage of migration using hip frontal plain radiography to assess hip dislocation.Results : The final Cobb angles were 82.0°, 118.4°, and 92.3°for the thoracic, thoracolumbar (TL), and lumbar curvatures, respectively. TL curvatures showed the greatest progression, although this was not statistically significant. The progression was greatest in the 10-15-year age group (12.5°annually). The final Cobb angles in the hip dislocation, subluxation, and no dislocation groups were 102.8°, 108.8°, and 87.5°, respectively；the difference was not statistically significant. No relationship was observed between the location or progression of curvature and the state of the hip location.Discussion : Paralytic scoliosis progressed most rapidly in 10-15-year-old patients, especially in those with TL lesions. We did not detect any relationships between hip dislocation and Cobb angle, but these parameters progressed at different rates in different patients.

Test Subjects' Perception of Clinical Trials of Drugs and Pharmacist Clinical Research Coordinators' Responsibilities: A Questionnaire Survey / 日本農村医学会雑誌

A questionnaire survey was taken on the subjects administered an investigational new drug in order to look into their attitude toward a clinical testing and assessment of the work of the pharmacists clinical research coordinating the testing. Questionnaires were sent to 75 outpatients who were tested on with a new drug between January 2001 and March 2006. 55 individuals responded to the inquiry. All the subjects were taken care of by the coordinators by turns. The major concerns to the testees when they participated in the trial were the adverse reactions and efficacy of the new drug. Of the subjects who felt uneasy, 79.4% cited the adverse reactions and 50% about the efficacy. Some 80% of the respondents said they were satisfied with the explanation given beforehand about the nature of the clinical testing. The majority of the subjects, when they were in a fix, turned to pharmacist clinical reave coordinators for advice, not the physician nor nurses. The guidance given by the clinical reave coordinators about medication was generally received favorably. From the above-mentioned findings, it was made clear that the pharmacists clinical research coordinating the clinical trial played an important role as consultants in alleviating the anxiety of the testees during the trial. In the future, pharmacists will do the best to measure up to the expectations as coordinators in the clinical trial of new drugs by improving care of the testees individually while taking into their backgrounds and wishes into full consideration.

Study of Methods for Hand-Washing / 日本農村医学会雑誌

Hand-washing before operations is an important and fundamental precaution against infection. However, it should be noted that washing hands many times and brushing excessively damage the skin and cause wound infection during operations. Inthis paper, we examined the disinfection effect of the scrub method using Chlorohexidine gluconate and an ultrasonic cleaner. The scrub method was very effective, whereas the rate of disinfection tended to fall when the utltrasonic method was used.