Effect of Catastrophic Thinking on the Analgesic Effect of Electroacupuncture.

Introduction: Patients with chronic pain and high-level catastrophic thoughts often do not respond to acupuncture. This may be related to hypofunctioning of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the descending pain inhibitory system. Therefore, we examined the relationship between the level of catastrophic thinking and the analgesic effect of electroacupuncture using the pain catastrophizing scale (PCS). We also evaluated the descending pain inhibitory system using conditioned pain modulation (CPM) and offset analgesia (OA). The relationship between catastrophic thinking and the descending pain inhibitory system was also examined. Materials and Methods: After testing the hospital anxiety and depression scale and the PCS in 14 healthy adults, the current pain threshold (CPT), CPM, and OA were measured, in order, before the intervention. Thereafter, electroacupuncture was applied to 3 limbs (the dominant hand and both lower extremities) at 4 Hz, and to the scalp at 100 Hz, for 30 minutes, and the CPT was measured again immediately after the intervention. The difference in the CPT before and after the intervention was taken as the analgesic effect. Results: The participants were divided into 2 groups, the H-PCS group (≥16 points) and the L-PCS group (≤15 points), according to the PCS score, and the analgesic effects of electroacupuncture were significantly different (P = 0.04). However, no relationship was found between the PCS score and the CPM (r = -0.02, P = 0.94) and OA effects (r = -0.19, P = 0.49). Conclusion: It was suggested that people with high-level catastrophic thinking may find it difficult to obtain the analgesic effects of electroacupuncture.

Intramolecular Diels-Alder Reactions of α-Bromostyrene-Functionalized Unsaturated Carboxamides.

Intramolecular cycloaddition reactions of α-bromostyrene-functionalized amides of monomethyl fumarate were investigated. The reaction of the amides with Et3N in toluene at 110 °C gave 1,4-dihydronaphthalenes. The 1,4-dihydronaphthalenes may be produced via the intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction, proton transfer, and dehydrobromination by a base, along with C═C bond isomerization by proton transfer. The reaction of amide derivatives with halogen on a benzene ring and alkali metal carbonates in toluene at 110 °C gave naphthalene derivatives directly. Dehydrogenation of various 1,4-dihydronaphthalenes with cesium or rubidium carbonate in toluene at 110 °C gave naphthalene derivatives. The retardation by TEMPO, acceleration by air for some substrates, and density functional theory calculations suggest a radical mechanism caused by intervention of molecular oxygen.

Physical Parameters, Use of Specific Medical Treatments, Nursing Levels, and Activities of Daily Living Are Potential Indicators for Forgoing Maintenance Hemodialysis.

Maintenance hemodialysis (HD) therapy is essential for survival in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD); however, HD can also be life-threatening in the final stages of ESRD. Currently, no clear indicators and/or biomarkers exist regarding when HD should be forgone. In the present study, we examined temporal changes in multiple clinical parameters, including biochemical data, physical data, the use of specific medical treatments, nursing care levels, and the activities of daily living (ADL) in 47 ESRD patients who underwent maintenance HD and who died in our hospital. We also investigated the status of informed consents regarding the forgoing of HD in these patients. We found that while biochemical parameters were unaltered, physical parameters such as consciousness levels and blood pressure gradually deteriorated during hospitalization. The use of the following specific medical treatments significantly increased over time: vasopressor use, O2 inhalation, and ventilator use. The need for nursing care increased and the ADL levels decreased toward the time of death. Medical doctors gave information regarding forgoing HD to patients and/or their family/relatives in 55% of cases, obtained agreement to forego HD in 45% of cases, and HD was actually foregone in 38% of cases. Most clinical parameters were not significantly different between the patients whose HD sessions were forgone versus those in whom HD was continued, indicating that HD was foregone in the very last stages of life. The results suggest that physical parameters, the use of specific medical treatments, the levels of nursing care, and ADL are potential indicators for forgoing HD in the final stages of ESRD.

Variations of plantar thermographic patterns in normal controls and non-ulcer diabetic patients: novel classification using angiosome concept.

Thermometry of the plantar skin temperature has been one of the important parameters for assessing ulceration risks in diabetic patients. Recent progress of infrared thermographic technology allows us to obtain imaging of temperature distribution of the whole plantar skin. However, it has not been fully elucidated to what extent the individual variation of the plantar thermographic patterns shows different trends between normal controls and diabetics. In this study, we made a novel framework of conceptual classification with 20 different categories of plantar thermographic patterns according to the foot angiosome concept. The thermographic images from 32 normal volunteers and 129 non-ulcer diabetic patients, recruited from Diabetes Foot Outpatient Clinic of the University of Tokyo Hospital, were allocated to the above-mentioned framework categories. In the normal group, thermographic patterns of more than 65% of feet were allocated to the two typical categories, including the 'butterfly pattern' among the 20 categories, whereas 225 feet (87.2%) of the diabetic groups were variously allocated to 18 out of the 20 categories. This is the first study, which describes detailed plantar thermographic patterns, showing wider variations in the diabetic patients than in the normal subjects. Thermography will be one of the screening options to assess circulatory status in both daily foot care and surgical intervention.

Do nutritional markers in wound fluid reflect pressure ulcer status?

Evaluation of wound fluid characteristics for pressure ulcer (PU) assessment in clinical settings remains subjective, requiring considerable expertise. This cross-sectional study focused on nutritional markers in wound fluid as possible objective tools and investigated whether they reflect the PU status according to the healing phase, infection, and granulation, especially after adjusting for serum values. Twenty-eight patients with 32 full-thickness PUs were studied. The concentration of albumin, total protein, glucose, and zinc in wound fluid were measured. For PU status, the healing phases and infection were evaluated by clinical signs, and the degree of granulation tissue formation was determined as the hydroxyproline concentration. The wound fluid/serum ratio for albumin was significantly lower during the inflammatory phase than during the proliferative phase (p=0.020). Infected wound fluid contained less glucose (0.3-1.0 mmol/L) than noninfected ones did (5.0-7.6 mmol/L) in an intraindividual comparison of three cases. The wound fluid/serum ratio for glucose was negatively correlated with hydroxyproline level in the proliferative phase (rho=-0.73, p=0.007), while zinc level in wound fluid showed a positive correlation (rho=0.61, p=0.028). Our results suggest that these traditional nutritional markers in wound fluid, especially wound fluid/serum ratio may be useful to evaluate local PU status.

Ultrasonographic and thermographic screening for latent inflammation in diabetic foot callus.

AIMS: Inflammation within the diabetic foot callus may be an earliest, predicting symptom of foot ulcer developing later. The purpose of this study was to identify latent inflammation within the foot callus using thermography and ultrasonography, and to investigate relationship between the inflammatory findings in callus and presence or absence of diabetes. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of 60 cases with asymptomatic foot callus; the 30 diabetic patients and the 30 non-diabetic matched volunteers. Inflammation was defined using physiological imaging techniques; as skin temperature elevation in thermography and low echoic lesion in ultrasonography. RESULTS: Sixty-three and ninety-four calli were observed in the diabetic and non-diabetic groups, respectively. The inflammation signs were detected by both of the two techniques in 10% of the calli in the diabetic group. No inflammation was noted in the non-diabetic group (p=0.014). CONCLUSIONS: The inflammation signs presented here were specifically observed in the diabetic group. We consider that the physiological imaging techniques may be valuable screening tools for potential risk of diabetic foot ulcers.

Exploring the relationship between skin property and absorbent pad environment.

AIM: The aim of this study is to identify the related factors of skin lesions found in the surrounding environment of absorbent pads by clinical investigation. BACKGROUND: Most older patients with incontinence use absorbent products, therefore causing many patients to have skin lesion in the absorbent pad area. To prevent these skin lesions from occurring, it is necessary to examine the absorbent pad environment of clinical patients since there are many contributing factors that complicate the pathophysiology in this area. DESIGN: A cross-sectional design was used. METHODS: One hundred older Japanese patients with faecal and/or urinary incontinence using diapers and absorbent pads participated. Excluding blanchable erythema, the presence of skin lesions in the absorbent pad area was confirmed. Skin pH, hydration level and bacterial cultures were used to assess the skin property. Absorbent pad environment and patient demographics were also investigated. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of skin lesions was 36%. Forty percent of the skin lesions were contact dermatitis. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that only the presence of diarrhoea independently affected contact dermatitis. CONCLUSION: There was a significant relationship between contact dermatitis and the use of absorbent pads when the patient had diarrhoea. Although the factors related to skin lesions in the absorbent pad area are complexly intertwined, this study was the first to be able to determine diarrhoea as one specific factor in clinical setting. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: This finding suggests that the presence of diarrhoea is significantly related with contact dermatitis. Therefore, when a patient has diarrhoea, health-care professionals should immediately implement a preventative care program which includes careful skin observation and improved skin care. It is also necessary to develop a more effective absorbent pad to protect the skin of incontinent patients who suffer from the irritating effects of liquid stool.