Contact Dermatitis after Prescription of an Ophthalmic Ointment Containing Fradiomycin Sulfate: A Retrospective Database Study Using Japanese Health Insurance Claims Data.

BACKGROUND: Topical ointments containing fradiomycin sulfate, such as fradiomycin sulfate/methylprednisolone (F/M) and fradiomycin sulfate/betamethasone sodium phosphate (F/B), are known to cause allergic contact dermatitis (CD) in some patients, especially when used for the periocular region. F/M is commonly prescribed to patients for various conditions; however, there are no reports with respect to the incidence of CD caused by F/M in actual practice. OBJECTIVE: The aim was to investigate the incidence of CD using a data-based retrospective cohort study. METHODS: Using a Japanese health insurance claims database [MinaCare Co. Ltd. healthcare database (MinaCare HDB)], a comparative assessment was conducted of F/M and another combination drug (F/B) and two single-drug treatments (ophthalmic ointments with either an antibiotic or a steroid). The total data set consisted of 1,176,082 individuals in the MinaCare HDB, with 54,016 having received prescriptions for one of the four investigational drug regimens. RESULTS: Overall, the incidences of CD were similar in three of the four groups in this study (F/M 0.091; F/B 0.092; steroids 0.102), while being lower in the fourth group (antibiotics 0.060). Even after confirmation of a diagnosis of CD, prescriptions for the investigational drugs were repeatedly filled for some patients. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that there was no clear difference in the incidence of CD after filling prescriptions for F/M, F/B, and ophthalmic ointment containing a steroid, while the incidence with antibiotics was lower by 0.03-0.04 compared with the other groups. Considering the observation that the investigational drugs were repeatedly prescribed even after the diagnosis of CD, it is critical that the risk of CD with these prescribed topical ointments is better understood by primary care physicians in order to take appropriate countermeasures.

A retrospective, cross-sectional study of real-world values of cardiovascular risk factors using a healthcare database in Japan.

BACKGROUND: Data collected by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), namely data from the Specific Health Checkups and Specific Health Guidance (MHLW-SH) and the National Health and Nutrition Survey (MHLW-H&N) allow assessment of blood pressure (BP), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) in Japan. Recently, a large database of employment-based health insurance has been developed by MinaCare Co. Ltd. METHODS: A retrospective, cross-sectional study using the Japanese healthcare checkup database developed by MinaCare Co. Ltd. was designed to investigate the distribution of real-world values of BP, LDL-C, and HbA1c in Japan. Data in the MinaCare database were also compared with those in the two national data sources to assess the extent to which the health status in Japan is reflected in each data source. RESULTS: Of the healthcare checkup results of 232515 subjects in the 2011 MinaCare database, 49.9% were male and 50.1% were female. The age of the subjects ranged from < 20 to > 70 years. The proportion of subjects with systolic BP (SBP) ≥ 140 mmHg, LDL-C ≥ 140 mg/dL, and HbA1c ≥ 6.1% generally increased with increasing age. If one focused on the upper-end age group representing the majority of the MinaCare study population (i.e. age range, 55-59 years), the proportions of subjects with SBP ≥ 140 mmHg, LDL-C ≥ 140 mg/dL, and HbA1c ≥ 6.1% were 19.0%/12.2% (males/females), 27.2%/42.7%, and 13.5%/5.4%, respectively. The MinaCare database was mostly comparable with the two national data sources; however, some notable differences in BP and lipid parameters were found between MHLW-H&N and the other two data sources. CONCLUSIONS: Analysis of the MinaCare database indicated that a substantial proportion of subjects did not achieve the target BP, LDL-C, and HbA1c levels to reduce the risk of future cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease events. The results were generally consistent with those of the national data sources. Considering its characteristics of low selection bias, large sample size, wide age distribution, and high flexibility in analysis of subject-level data, the MinaCare database is highly valuable for studying the health status of the population covered by employment-based health insurance.

Nonlinear optical properties of gold nanoparticles selectively introduced into the periodic microdomains of block copolymers.

Nonlinear-optical nanocomposite materials with a photonic crystal structure were fabricated using block copolymers and gold nanoparticles. By dispersing the gold nanoparticles into the selective microdomains of the block copolymers, we could achieve the enhancement of nonlinear optical properties as revealed by the Z-scan technique. The optical nonlinearities were enhanced by the local field effect and the effect of the periodic distribution of the microdomains filled with gold nanoparticles. Furthermore, the highest optical nonlinearity was achieved by matching the domain spacing of the copolymers with the frequency of the surface plasmon resonance peak of the gold.