[A proposal of a novel palliative care scale and analysis of suffering in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis].

OBJECTIVE: We proposed a novel palliative care scale (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Palliative Care Scale: ALSPCS) for patients with ALS, and analyzed the suffering reported by patients. METHODS: Thirty-one patients participated in the study. The ALSPCS has 15 items to evaluate physical and psychological suffering; patients scored their subjective suffering on a scale of 0-5 for each item. This study analyzed 13 of 15 items. RESULTS: The mean scores obtained from the patients were as follows: 'dyspnea', 2.5; 'pain', 2.4; 'restlessness', 2.4; 'thirst', 3.0; 'burning sensation', 2.0; 'choking', 2.0; 'nausea', 0.4; 'constipation', 1.5; 'insomnia', 2.5; 'anxiety', 3.5; 'loneliness', 2.4; 'irritation', 2.1; and 'communication difficulty', 2.3. Multiple correlation analysis using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient showed significant correlations of dyspnea with restlessness, thirst, burning sensation and anxiety; of restlessness with dyspnea, thirst, loneliness and irritation; and of anxiety with dyspnea, thirst and loneliness (P < 0.0038 after Bonferroni's correction). In the principal component analysis, every item showed a positive loading value in the first principal component. Dyspnea, restlessness, thirst, anxiety, loneliness and irritation had loading values >0.7; thus, these symptoms might be the main features in ALS patients. The total scores or each ALSPCS score showed no significant association with post-assessment survival period. CONCLUSION: This study, using ALSPCS, showed that the subjective suffering of ALS patients was variable and strongly correlated with each other. Appropriate and comprehensive assessment of physical and psychological affliction with ALSPCS could be potentially useful in verifying the effectiveness of palliative care for end-of-life stage ALS patients in the future.

[Evaluation of method for simultaneous determination of pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables by collaborative study].

A collaborative study involving 8 laboratories was conducted to evaluate a method for the simultaneous determination of pesticide residues in 6 types of fruits and vegetables (spinach, tomato, apple, radish, cabbage and carrot). The method of analysis was the same as reported by Kakimoto et al. in 2003. One hundred and thirty-nine pesticides were spiked by each of 8 laboratories at levels of 0.1 microg/g (pesticides analyzed by GC/MS) or 0.5 microg/g (pesticides analyzed by HPLC) into the 6 kinds of samples. Statistical analysis showed that 111 pesticides could be analyzed with practical precision by this method. For screening purposes, the method could analyze 118 pesticides. The median values of the limits of detection were 0.001-0.041 microg/g. The calibration curves were linear in the range of 0.5-5 microg/mL for most pesticides with median correlation coefficients of 0.983-1.000.

Influence of low-temperature processing of the brackish-water bivalve, Corbicula japonica, on the ornithine content of its extract.

The ornithine content of an extract of the brackish-water bivalve, Corbicula japonica, increased when the bivalve was frozen. It was not influenced by the period of freezing. This phenomenon was not apparent in the scallop, little-neck clam, or hard clam. We applied various low-temperature conditions for processing the bivalve from 4 degrees C to -10 degrees C and measured the ornithine content of each extract. The ornithine content was maximized by processing at - 4 degrees C. The increase in this ornithine content was reduced when the bivalve was stored at 5 degrees C or 15 degrees C after processing at - 4 degrees C, this decrease being reversed when the bivalve was again processed at - 4 degrees C after warming. Low-temperature processing of the brackish-water bivalve therefore increased the ornithine content of the extract.