Two Cases of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Successfully Treated With Kampo Medicine.

CONTEXT: Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) is a chronic disorder in which minimal but sustained exposure to particular chemicals causes headaches, vertigo, and multiple other symptoms. Up to 10% of cases are clinically unresponsive to treatment. Kampo medicines include multiple crude components with many applications for organ disorders. OBJECTIVE: The research team aimed to assess the efficacy of goreisan, a Japanese Kampo medicine, for 2 patients diagnosed with intractable cases of MCS. DESIGN: The research team conducted case studies with 2 female patients. SETTING: The study took place at the Kampo clinic in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the Japanese Red Cross Maebashi Hospital in Maebashi, Gunma, Japan. PARTICIPANTS: The participants were patients at the clinic. INTERVENTION: The first participant received the Kampo formula goreisan for her headaches and keigairengyoto for her mucosal discomfort; the second received goreisan for her headaches and kakkonto to reduce her shoulder-muscle stiffness. The participants received Kampo treatments for one month. OUTCOME MEASURES: The first participant's MCS symptoms were evaluated with the Quick Environment Exposure Sensitivity Inventory questionnaire (QEESI); the second using a numeric rating scale (NRS). RESULTS: After the Kampo treatments, the first participant's QEESI scores for chemical intolerance, symptom severity, and life impact were reduced from 47, 92, and 76 to 37, 39, and 55 points, respectively. The second participant's NRS scores were likewise reduced from 6, 8, and 8 out of 10 to 1, 2, and 1 out of 10. Symptoms were relieved in both patients, and didn't recur. CONCLUSIONS: These results highlight the potential benefits of Kampo medicine for the treatment of intractable MCS. Further investigations will be needed to confirm the mechanism of action, thereby improving the understanding of the effectiveness of Kampo medicine for MCS therapy.

Development and evaluation of an electromagnetic hypersensitivity questionnaire for Japanese people.

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of a Japanese version of an electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) questionnaire, originally developed by Eltiti et al. in the United Kingdom. Using this Japanese EHS questionnaire, surveys were conducted on 1306 controls and 127 self-selected EHS subjects in Japan. Principal component analysis of controls revealed eight principal symptom groups, namely, nervous, skin-related, head-related, auditory and vestibular, musculoskeletal, allergy-related, sensory, and heart/chest-related. The reliability of the Japanese EHS questionnaire was confirmed by high to moderate intraclass correlation coefficients in a test-retest analysis, and high Cronbach's α coefficients (0.853-0.953) from each subscale. A comparison of scores of each subscale between self-selected EHS subjects and age- and sex-matched controls using bivariate logistic regression analysis, Mann-Whitney U- and χ(2) tests, verified the validity of the questionnaire. This study demonstrated that the Japanese EHS questionnaire is reliable and valid, and can be used for surveillance of EHS individuals in Japan. Furthermore, based on multiple logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic analyses, we propose specific preliminary criteria for screening EHS individuals in Japan. Bioelectromagnetics. 37:353-372, 2016. © 2016 The Authors. Bioelectromagnetics Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Properties and physiological functions of UDP-sugar pyrophosphorylase in Arabidopsis.

UDP-sugar pyrophosphorylase catalyzes the conversion of various monosaccharide 1-phosphates to the respective UDP-sugars in the salvage pathway. Using the genomic database, we cloned a putative gene for UDP-sugar pyrophosphorylase from Arabidopsis. Although relatively stronger expression was detected in the vascular tissue of leaves and the pollen, AtUSP is expressed in most cell types of Arabidopsis, indicating a housekeeping function in nucleotide sugar metabolism. Recombinant AtUSP expressed in Escherichia coli exhibited broad specificity toward monosaccharide 1-phosphates, resulting in the formation of various UDP-sugars such as UDP-glucose, -galactose, -glucuronic acid, -xylose and -L-arabinose. A loss-of-function mutation in the AtUSP gene caused by T-DNA insertion completely abolished male fertility. These results indicate that AtUSP functions as a UDP-sugar pyrophosphorylase in the salvage pathway, and that the generation of UDP-sugars from monosaccharide 1-phosphates catalyzed by AtUSP is essential for pollen development in Arabidopsis.