Environmental and physical factors predisposing middle-aged and older Japanese adults to falls and fall-related fractures in the home.

AIM: To identify environmental and physical factors that predispose middle-aged and older Japanese adults to falls and fall-related fractures in the home. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was carried out in 2014. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 15 000 community-dwelling adults in Japan. The overall crude response rate was 13%. Response data were analyzed from 1561 individuals aged ≥40 years using multiple imputation to analyze missing data. We evaluated falls without fractures and fall-related fractures during the previous 3 years according to demographic, physical and environmental factors, including age, sex, long-term care insurance certification, type of house and barrier-free housing. RESULTS: Of the 1561 adults (mean age 68.1 ± 13.0 years), 28% experienced a fall in the home. Among the individuals who experienced a fall, 11% experienced fall-related fractures. These individuals were more likely to be women (OR 2.4, 95.0% CI 1.1-5.1), have LTCI certification (OR 3.9, 95.0% CI 1.6-9.4) and be living in a barrier home (OR 4.0, 95.0% CI 1.6-9.8), after adjustment for covariates. CONCLUSIONS: Environmental factors, such as living in a barrier home, are critical for fall-related fractures, in addition to demographic and physical factors. A multidisciplinary approach that considers both physical and environmental factors is necessary for reducing the incidence of fall-related fractures among middle-aged and older Japanese adults. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2018; 18: 1372-1377.

Clinical features of subarachnoid hemorrhage in patients with positive cancer history.

Advances in cancer treatment have dramatically increased long-term survivors. Prolonged survival increases comorbidity risk, but there is a paucity of studies on how cancer history alters clinical outcomes from subsequent diseases. This study aims to investigate whether positive cancer history influences clinical outcome following subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). We retrospectively reviewed consecutive SAH patients admitted between January 2008 and March 2014. Medical histories, known SAH risk factors, and outcome were compared between SAH patients with and without cancer history. Out of the 498 SAH patients, 55 cases had cancer history, 438 cases had no cancer history and 5 cases had an unknown cancer history. Compared with SAH patients without cancer history, those with cancer history had poorer Hunt & Hess grade at SAH presentation (P = 0.021), and poorer modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score at discharge (P < 0.001). After adjustment for age, sex, modified Fisher, previous SAH, history of hypertension, current smoking status, and current alcohol consumption, positive cancer history remained an independent risk factor for poorer mRS0-6 [odds ratio (OR) = 2.25, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.28-3.94] and mRS6 (OR = 2.74, 95 % CI 1.40-5.37). Furthermore, stratified analysis by Hunt & Hess grade adjusted by age, sex, and modified Fisher scale, OR of poorer mRS0-6 was 2.12 (95 % CI 0.89-5.05) and OR of mRS6 was 3.68 (95 % CI 1.35-10.04). After adjustment of patients for demographic factors, classical risk factors for SAH and Hunt & Hess grade, previous cancer history is a risk factor for the poor functional outcome of SAH.

[Concomitant intracerebral hemorrhage and cerebral infarction in moyamoya disease: a case report].

We encountered a case of moyamoya disease which exhibited intracerebral hemorrhage with intraventricular hemorrhage followed by cerebral infarction in a short time. A 39-year-old female presenting with sudden onset disturbance of consciousness was admitted to our hospital. Radiological investigation on admission revealed intracerebral hemorrhage in the left temporal lobe and intraventricular hemorrhage due to moyamoya disease. The patient experienced cerebral infarction of the left frontotemporal area with brain swelling after 20 hours had passed. In spite of immediate left frontotemporal craniectomy and evacuation of the hematoma, she died 9 days after the operation. This case indicates that adequate control of intracranial pressure such as ventricular drainage is important to prevent progression of ischemic attack at an early stage. But it is not known what case of cerebral hemorrhage due to moyamoya disease would be complicated by cerebral infarction. The detection of the patient's consciousness level at an early stage could be a landmark to prevent further ischemic complications.

How does water diffusion in human white matter change following ischemic stroke?

PURPOSE: Temporal evolution of the water apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) parallel (ADC parallel) and perpendicular (ADC perpendicular) to the human white matter tract following ischemia has not been investigated systematically. We attempted to quantify the evolution of ADC parallel and ADC perpendicular and examine whether it can be interpreted by a model of ischemic edema. METHODS: We retrospectively selected 53 patients with ischemic lesions involving the posterior limb of the internal capsule (PLIC) and placed regions of interest in the right and left PLIC on ADC maps. We performed regression analysis of lesion-to-contralateral ratios of ADC parallel and ADC perpendicular against the time (t = 1-1600 h) from onset. We then fitted the estimated time courses of ADC parallel and ADC perpendicular obtained from the analysis to a model of nerve tissue composed of cylinders (axons) and spheres corresponding to isotropic structures, particularly focal cytoplasmic swellings of glial cells and axons seen in ischemic white matter. RESULTS: The evolution of ADC perpendicular and ADC parallel differed. The estimated time course of ADC parallel in microm(2)*ms(-1) was 0.64 + 0.88 exp (-0.24t) for 1 < t < 54 h and 0.00059t + 0.61 for t >or= 54 h (contralateral normal value, 1.52). That of ADC perpendicular was 0.19-0.063 exp (-0.24t) for 1 < t < 54 h and 0.00040t + 0.17 for t >or=54 h (normal value 0.22). The model fitted to these values showed that the volume of the cylinders decreased, that of the spheres increased, and extracellular volume changed little from one hour to approximately one day after stroke onset. CONCLUSION: In the human PLIC, ADC parallel continued to decrease from one hour to a few days after stroke onset, and ADC perpendicular tended to increase. The temporal evolution could be interpreted by progression of the focal cytoplasmic swelling of glial cells and axons previously observed in animal studies.

[Case of enlargement of an intradiploic epidermoid cyst by a head contusion].

We report a case of enlargement of a intradiploic epidermoid cyst following head trauma in a 19-year-old man. The patient had a swelling on the right side of his forehead from the time of his birth. He sustained a bruise in this region when he was 15 years old, following which the swelling gradually enlarged. When the diameter of the mass increased to 5 cm, he visited our hospital. Computed tomography (CT) scan of the head showed a subcutaneous mass of low density extending from the diploe to the outer tables of the skull. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a hyperintense mass in both T1- and T2-weighted images. During the operation, we found a tumor that was intradiploic and had a thin capsule. The effusion from the tumor resembled an old hematoma, and the tumor did not involve the paranasal sinuses. We concluded the operation by performing cranioplasty using artificial bone. Histological examination revealed that the thin capsule consisted of stratified squamous epithelium and ciliated epithelium. Needle-like cholesterol crystals and hemosiderosis were seen shown in the granulation-like tissue. On the basis of these findings, we diagnosed the mass to bean intradiploic epidermoid cyst and thought that it might have grown following head trauma associated with chronic hemorrhage. This paper reviews the differential diagnosis and pathologic findings of the intradiploic epidermoid cyst along with some previously published cases.

Subarachnoid hemorrhage caused by rupture of a distal anterior inferior cerebellar artery aneurysm--three case reports.

Three female patients, two under 35 years old, presented with ruptured aneurysms of the distal anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA) manifesting as subarachnoid hemorrhage. The first patient had a ruptured saccular aneurysm of the meatal loop of AICA, which was treated by direct neck clipping. The second patient had a ruptured aneurysmal lesion that arose from a microvascular anomaly of the dorsolateral portion of the AICA, which was successfully treated by trapping. The third patient was dead on arrival, and autopsy revealed a ruptured saccular aneurysm in the meatal loop of the AICA. The mechanism of development of distal AICA aneurysm remains unclear, and some cases indicate a complicated causal relationship between the aneurysms and vascular anomalies. Neurosurgeons need to carefully evaluate the vascular structure around the aneurysms by preoperative angiography in each case, and select the most appropriate strategy.

[Case report of lumbar discal cyst].

The authors describe a rare case of lumbar discal cyst which produced manifestations similar o lumbar disc herniation. A 33-year-old man, who had had a crick in the back 3 months previously, suffered from severe low back and right lower-extremity pain. The neurological examination showed the L5 radiculopathy through the positive straight leg-raising test, no motor weakness nor sensory disturbance with normal reflexes. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated an oval shaped extradural lesion with a low signal intensity on T1-weighted images and a high signal intensity on T2-weighted images. Additionally, the surrounding rim of the cyst was enhanced with the addition of Gd-DTPA. As we diagnosed a lumbar discal cyst with severe symptoms, the patient received emergent surgery. The symptom disappeared immediately after surgery. This case implies that early surgery for discal cyst may be an effective means to obtain release from symptoms.

[A case of spontaneous dissection of the cervical carotid artery with pseudoaneurysm].

We experienced the case of a dissecting carotid artery presenting with a pulsatile neck mass. This 60-year-old man was admitted to our department due to a progressive, painful left neck mass. The lesion was diagnosed as a dissecting left internal carotid artery with the subsequent formation of a giant pseudoaneurysm. First, the patient underwent an endovascular treatment using self-expandable stent and Guglielmi detachable coils (GDCs). However, four months after the treatment, recurrence of the pseudoaneurysm happened to him, and he was readmitted to our department. Angiographies revealed an enlargement of the pseudoaneurysm. Then, proximal occlusion of the left internal carotid artery was performed using a balloon and GDCs. Ten months after the second endovascular treatment, since symptoms of the central retinal artery embolism and progression of the mass effect occurred, surgical treatment with trapping and resection of the pseudoaneurysm was performed. We investigated pathologically the surgical specimen and could observe a partial thrombosed wall of the pseudoaneurysm. The multiple neovascular channels in the intima and media layers of the aneurysmal wall could be found, and the vasa vasorum in the adventitia was also noted. We thus suggest that mechanism of the enlargement of the pseudoaneurysm may be due to the retrograde neovascular supplies from the vasa vasorum. As a consequence, repeated bleeding and thrombosis in the dissecting arterial wall may result in the formation of partial thrombosed giant aneurysms.

[An autopsy case of Down's syndrome with moyamoya syndrome].

We reported an autopsy case of Down's syndrome with moyamoya syndrome. A 30-year-old male with Down's syndrome suffered from a cerebral infarction and died of brain herniation. Cerebral angiography showed vascular abnormalities that were the same as moyamoya disease. Pathological findings revealed multiple stenosis of main trunk of the cerebral arteries. Pathologically, the stenosed vessels showed eccentric intimal thickness with cholesterin deposit, unlike moyamoya disease. There are only two previous reports of autopsied cases of Down's syndrome with moyamoya syndrome. We postulate that a protein encoded on chromosome 21 may be related to the pathogenesis of Down's syndrome with moyamoya syndrome.

[Nontraumatic arterial dissection of the anterior cerebral artery: six cases report].

Nontraumatic arterial dissection of the anterior cerebral artery (NAD-ACA) is a relatively rare disease entity, although case reports have recently been increased. We treated 6 patients suffering from NAD-ACA from January 1996 to December 2003, and the neuroradiological findings together with the clinical courses were reviewed. There were 3 males and 3 females with a mean age of 57.7-year-old, ranging from 41 to 65. Five patients had a past history of hypertension and one diabetes mellitus. At the onset, all patients presented with clinical manifestations of cerebral ischemia. Among them, all exhibited contralateral hemiparesis with greater weakness of the lower extremity, and two patients exhibited headache. Initial angiography revealed the pearl and string sign in four patients and string sign, tapered occlusion in each one. Follow-up angiographies revealed sequential changes in all patients; four improved and two progressed. Main anatomic site of the lesion was as follows; five in the A2 and one in the A1 portion, in addition, one patient was complicated by saccular aneurysm, one by PCA dissection, and two had with saccular aneurysm contralateral ACA & MCA and VA dissection each other. Four patients were treated conservatively by intravenous administration of argatroban, one by intravenous administration of Dextrane and one by anti-platelet agent in the acute stage. All patients were treated by anti-platelet agents in the chronic stage. Good recovery was achieved in five patients, but one who suffered from severe subarachnoid hemorrhage in the chronic stage died. Our experience suggests that hypertension and/or the succeeding abnormal structural changes in the arterial wall may contribute to the occurrence of this disease. NAD-ACA showing clinical manifestations of cerebral ischemia could result in a relatively good prognosis; however, attention should be paid to patients treated conservatively with a very closed follow-up angiography to prevent a possibility of severe hemorrhage.

[Hemangioblastoma of the optic nerve growing like a dumbbell through the optic canal: case report].

We report a case of optic nerve hemangioblastoma in a 29-year-old man without a family history of von Hippel-Lindau disease or the other organ symptoms. He had progressive loss of vision and proptosis with a dull pain in his right eye. Magnetic resonance image (MRI) showed a gadolinium (Gd) enhancing solid tumor involving the prechiasmal right optic nerve with intraorbital extension. The tumor contained many signal voids of vessels and grew like a dumbbell through the right optic canal. Digital subtraction angiography demonstrated that the hypervascular tumor was fed by the ophthalmic artery and the orbital ramus of the middle meningeal artery. We succeeded in total resection of this hypervascular tumor by orbito-zygomatic approach. This tumor grew unusually like a dumbbell because it occurred in the optic nerve at the part of the optic canal. Histological examination revealed the tumor to be a characteristic hemangioblastoma. The postoperative course was uneventful. Supratentorial hemangioblastomas, especially optic nerve hemangioblastoma are extremely rare. This paper reviews the previous published cases and discusses their findings.

[A case of peripheral-type primitive neuroectodermal tumor arising in the dura mater at the frontal base].

A 7-year-old boy was admitted to our hospital because of headache and frequent vomiting. The patient was noted to have papilloedema and mild palsy of the right abducent nerve. Magnetic resonance image (MRI) revealed a large tumor in the frontal base with tumoral hemorrhage. Angiography showed the tumor was fed by anterior meningeal arteries. At surgery, the tumor was arising in the dura mater at the frontal base, and was removed totally. Histological examination showed the tumor to be composed of small cells with uniform round nuclei and minimal cytoplasm. Immunohistochemical studies were positive for MIC-2, NSE, C-KIT, vimentin, Class III-beta tublin and glycogen, but negative for NFP, synaptophysin, chromogranin A and GFAP. MIB-1 labeling index was 40-50%. The tumor was histologically confirmed to be peripheral-type primitive neuroectodermal tumor(pPNET). Following surgery, he underwent whole brain, whole spine and local radiation therapy(30 Gy in total respectively) and received two 5-day cycles of chemotherapy, consisting of intravenous administration of cisplatin 20 mg/m2/day, etoposide 60 mg/m2/day and IFOS 900 mg/m2/day. After these therapies, follow-up radiological examination showed there was no recurrence of the tumor for 24 months. Intracranial pPNET is rare. Ewing sarcoma and pPNET(ES/pPNET) is the designation given to a family of small round cell tumor arising in bone or soft tissues. Intracranial PNETs are devided into central nervous system PNET(cPNET) and pPNET. It is necessary that intracranial PNETs are divided into two types of PNETs because of different prognosis between these tumors. MIC-2 is a specific marker for pPNET/ES family and is useful in the differential diagnosis of these two types of tumors.

Non-traumatic recurrent dissection and its spontaneous repair in the circle of Willis: report of two autopsy cases.

Post-mortem examinations of the circle of Willis in two cases of subarachnoid hemorrhage disclosed a wide spectrum of vasculopathy ranging from a minimal tear between the intima and media, and between the media and adventitia, to complete transmural disruption leading to the formation of pseudoaneurysms. The presence of coexistence of the focal lesions with complete replacement of the entire arterial wall with thick fibrous connective tissues and the vasculopathy was suggestive of the spontaneous repair of recurrent non-traumatic dissection of intracranial arteries. The patients were 58-year-old and 43-year-old females. There was no history of injury to the head or neck in either case. They were hypertensive, but the degree of atherosclerotic changes in the circle of Willis was compatible with age. There was no histological evidence of vasculitis. The role of hypertension and medial mucoid degeneration in the genesis of non-traumatic dissection of intracranial arteries was discussed.

Which concentration of the inhibitor should be used to predict in vivo drug interactions from in vitro data?

When the metabolism of a drug is competitively or noncompetitively inhibited by another drug, the degree of in vivo interaction can be evaluated from the [I]u/Ki ratio, where [I]u is the unbound concentration around the enzyme and Ki is the inhibition constant of the inhibitor. In the present study, we evaluated the metabolic inhibition potential of drugs known to be inhibitors or substrates of cytochrome P450 by estimating their [I]u/Ki ratio using literature data. The maximum concentration of the inhibitor in the circulating blood ([I]max), its maximum unbound concentration in the circulating blood ([I]max,u), and its maximum unbound concentration at the inlet to the liver ([I]in,max,u) were used as [I]u, and the results were compared with each other. In order to calculate the [I]u/Ki ratios, the pharmacokinetic parameters of each drug were obtained from the literature, together with their reported Ki values determined in in vitro studies using human liver microsomes. For most of the drugs with a calculated [I]in,max,u/Ki ratio less than 0.25, which applied to about half of the drugs investigated, no in vivo interactions had been reported or "no interaction" was reported in clinical studies. In contrast, the [I]max,u/Ki and [I]max/Ki ratio was calculated to be less than 0.25 for about 90% and 65% of the drugs, respectively, and more than a 1.25-fold increase was reported in the area under the concentration-time curve of the co-administered drug for about 30% of such drugs. These findings indicate that the possibility of underestimation of in vivo interactions (possibility of false-negative prediction) is greater when [I]max,u or [I]max values are used compared with using [I]in,max,u values.