Cure for empire: the 'Conquer-Russia-Pill', pharmaceutical manufacturers, and the making of patriotic Japanese, 1904-45.

Seirogan, a popular anti-diarrhoeal pill, is arguably one of the most successful pharmaceutical products of modern Japan. What is less known is that the Japanese army initially developed Seirogan during the Russo-Japanese War as the 'Conquer-Russia-Pill', which was later marketed to the public by private manufacturers. Previous scholars have emphasised the top­down governmental method of mobilising private sectors to manipulate public opinion for the cause of external imperialist expansion and domestic stability during wartime Japan. But the matrix that the Conquer-Russia-Pill allows us to glimpse is an inverted power relation among the state, commercial sectors, and imperial citizens. While the Japanese government remained indifferent if not hostile to jingoistic pharmaceutical manufacturers who could easily disrupt international relations, pharmaceutical companies quickly recognised and exploited the opportunities that the Conquer-Russia-Pill and its symbolism provided under the banner of the empire. In turn, Japanese consumers reacted to commercial sermons carefully anchored in patriotic and militaristic discourses and images by opening their wallets. In other words, the popularity of the Conquer-Russia-Pill was a culmination of the convergence of a governmental initiative to enhance military capabilities, the commercial ingenuity of pharmaceutical manufacturers, and a consumer response to patriotic exhortations.

[A historical review of the therapeutic use of wood creosote. Part II: Original plant source of crude drug wood creosote].

Wood creosote is a medicine that has been listed in the Japanese Pharmacopoeia (JP) since the first edition published in 1886. Medicines containing wood creosote and other natural ingredients have been very popular in Japan and Southeast Asian countries. In Japan, one such medicine, named Seirogan, has been used for more than 100 years. In this paper, we report the results of our examination on the historical aspects of wood creosote. One finding was that creosote, called "kereosote" at that time, was imported to Japan for the first time to Nagasaki by Johann Erdewin Niemann, who was the Director of the Dutch Mercantile House, and prescribed by Johannes Lijdius Catharinus Pompe van Meerdervoort and Anthonius Franciscus Bauduin. From our findings, we concluded that wood creosote was one of the essential medicines for the successful introduction and progression of Western medicine in Japan. Furthermore, we found that Dutch physicians introduced wood creosote to Japanese physicians, including Taizen Sato, Dokai Hayashi, and Jun Matsumoto, and that wood creosote was subsequently popularized by Rintaro (Ogai) Mori during the Russo-Japanese war. In addition, we examined the original plant for wood creosote, and consequently confirmed that the 15th edition of the JP, Supplement Two, clarifying the original plant for wood creosote, matches the pharmaceutical and historical facts. We also provide drug information relating to distinguishing between wood creosote and the creosote bush.

Two cases of gastric Anisakiasis for which oral administration of a medicine containing wood creosote (Seirogan) was effective.

Anisakiasis is a disease characterized by an abrupt onset of sharp epigastric pain, which occurs typically a few hours after eating raw or undercooked seafood. Anisakiasis was a Japanese localized disease in the past, however has become an illness of concern in many countries where eating Japanese style raw or undercooked seafood has become popular. At present, the only effective treatment is an endoscopic removal of the nematode. Development of an effective medicine is expected. We report two cases of Anisakiasis, the symptoms of which were ameliorated after the administration of an over-the-counter (OTC) medicine containing wood creosote (Seirogan). Also, we examined the in vitro effect of the Seirogan on the viability of the nematode. In the two cases, the strong epigastric pain was subdued promptly after oral intake of the Seirogan. The exposure of Seirogan suppressed the viability of Anisakis Larva in vitro dose dependently. The oral administration of medicine containing wood creosote might be effective as a first aid to ameliorate the symptoms of Anisakiasis.

[A historical review of the therapeutic use of wood creosote based on its botanical origin].

After thoroughly studying the chronology of the therapeutic use of wood creosote, we obtained novel findings on its botanical origin. Furthermore, we could demonstrate the importance of differentiating between wood creosote and coal tar creosote, which is clearly stipulated by Japanese Pharmacopoeia.

Stress-induced breakdown of intestinal barrier function in the rat: reversal by wood creosote.

Our previous studies demonstrated that wood creosote (Seirogan) inhibits intestinal secretion and normalizes the transport of electrolytes and water in rats subjected to restraint stress. The goal of the present study was to examine whether wood creosote has a protective effect against stress-induced breakdown of intestinal barrier function. F-344 rats were subjected to 90-min water avoidance stress (WAS) with wood creosote (30 mg/kg) or vehicle administered intragastrically 30 min prior to WAS. Sham stressed rats received wood creosote or vehicle treatment but did not experience the WAS. All rats were euthanized at the end of the WAS or sham-stress and the jejunum and colon were isolated. Epithelial transport was studied in modified Ussing chambers. Spontaneous secretion was assessed by electrophysiological measurement of the short circuit current (I(sc)) while electrical conductance (G) was calculated from the potential difference (PD) and I(sc) using Ohm's law. Intestinal permeability was defined by the mucosal-to-serosal flux of horseradish peroxidase (HRP). WAS significantly elevated basal I(sc) and G and increased epithelial permeability to HRP in the jejunum but not in the colon. Wood creosote resulted in a significant reduction of the stress-induced increase in I(sc), G and the mucosal-to-serosal flux of HRP compared to the vehicle-treated group. Wood creosote caused no significant effects in sham-stressed rats. The results suggest that oral administration of wood creosote may prevent stress-induced diarrhea by preventing aversive effects on small intestinal secretion and barrier function.

New views on antidiarrheal effect of wood creosote: is wood creosote really a gastrointestinal antiseptic?

Wood creosote, the principal ingredient in Seirogan, has a long history as a known gastrointestinal microbicidal agent. When administered orally, the intraluminal concentration of wood creosote is not sufficiently high to achieve this microbicidal effect. Through further animal tests, we have shown that antimotility and antisecretory actions are the principal antidiarrheal effects of wood creosote. Wood creosote inhibits intestinal secretion induced by enterotoxins by blocking the Cl(-) channel on the intestinal epithelium. Wood creosote also decreases intestinal motility accelerated by mechanical, chemical, or electrical stimulus by the inhibition of the Ca(2+) influx into the smooth muscle cells. In this overview, the antimotility and antisecretory effects of wood creosote are compared with those of loperamide. Wood creosote was observed to inhibit stimulated colonic motility, but not normal jejunal motility. Loperamide inhibits normal jejunal motility, but not stimulated colonic motility. Both wood creosote and loperamide inhibit intestinal secretion accelerated by acetylcholine. Wood creosote was found to have greater antisecretory effects in the colon than loperamide. Based upon these findings, we conclude that the antidiarrheal effects of wood creosote are due to both antisecretory activity in the intestine and antimotility in the colon, but not due to the microbicidal activity as previously thought. Wood creosote was found to have no effects on normal intestinal activity. These conclusions are supported by the results of a recent clinical study comparing wood creosote and loperamide, which concluded that wood creosote was more efficacious in relieving abdominal pain and comparable to loperamide in relieving diarrhea.

Multicenter, double-blind, randomized comparison of wood creosote, the principal active ingredient of Seirogan, an herbal antidiarrheal medication, and loperamide in adults with acute nonspecific diarrhea.

BACKGROUND: Seirogan, an herbal medication containing wood creosote, a mixture of simple phenolic (single-ring)compounds, has been marketed in Asia for the past century as an antidiarrheal and antispasmodic medication. This was the first randomized, double-blind study of this herbal medication in patients with acute, nonspecific diarrhea. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy and tolerability of wood creosote with those of loperamide hydrochloride in patients with acute, nonspecific diarrhea. METHODS: This double-blind, randomized, active-controlled study was conducted at 12 centers across the United States and Mexico. Patients aged >or=18 years with acute, nonspecific diarrhea, defined as a history of diarrhea for or=3 unformed stools in the 24 hours before the study, accompanied by >or=1 associated symptom (ie, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramping, and/or fever [

Antidiarrheal activity of wood creosote: inhibition of muscle contraction and enterotoxin-induced fluid secretion in rabbit small intestine.

Wood creosote has long been used as an antidiarrheal agent, but its mechanism of action is not well understood. To elucidate the mechanism of its antidiarrheal activity, we have addressed questions whether it inhibits fluid secretion induced by Escherichia coli heat-stable enterotoxin (STa) in rabbit jejunum in vivo, and whether it inhibits muscle contraction of isolated rabbit ileum ex vivo. Wood creosote (10-100 mg/l) instilled in a ligated loop of jejunum inhibited STa-induced fluid secretion (p < 0.05). It also inhibited the spontaneous phasic, acetylcholine-induced tonic and Ba2+-induced tonic contractions of longitudinal and circular muscles of ileum dose-dependently with IC(50) values of 130-530 mg/l. These data provide further evidence that the antidiarrheal activity of wood creosote is attributable to its antisecretory and antimotility effects.

[The kinetics of apical cicatrization. An experimental study apropos of 25 cases with radiologic imaging]. / La cinetique de la cicatrisation apicale. Etude experimentale a propos de 25 cas d'images radiologiques.

The conventional usage of endo-canalar antiseptic of Rockle's type (SEPTODONT Laboratory) and the application of a standard protocol during two seances have shown: a 68% successful rate of healing at six months post therapeutic follow up, the diameter decrease of radiological images of peri-apical lesions, more than 80% in relative value; for about 20 teeth drawned lots (in a prospective study). This reduction of 33% at least at the maxillary and 50% at the mandible may be a reliable indicator for an endodontic surgical decision or fixed prosthetic rehabilitation report since the third month (especially peri-apical lesions of more than five millimetres of diameter). The respect of the security apical-limit of the root canal filling is fundamental. The second Senegalese (Dakar) serial will permit us to evaluate the use of calcium hydroxide in mediate and prolonged canalar disinfection.

Demonstration of antidiarrheal and antimotility effects of wood creosote.

Wood creosote administered to rats prevented castor-oil-induced diarrhea with an ED50 of 53 mg/kg p.o. This antidiarrheal effect was apparently produced by acceleration of net fluid absorption from the intestine, as shown by a 52% decrease (p < 0.001) of residual fluid volume in an intestinal loop, and partly by suppression of intestinal motility. Wood creosote also inhibited spontaneous longitudinal contractions of isolated ileal segments in rats (IC50 = 28 mg/l) and guinea pigs (IC50 = 17 mg/l). Contractions of the guinea pig ileum induced by electrical stimulation, bradykinin and acetylcholine were also inhibited dose-dependently. We conclude that wood creosote has an antidiarrheal activity and that this effect is exerted by inhibition of intestinal motility and by augmentation of net fluid absorption from the intestine.

Formocresol pulpotomy in primary molars: a long-term radiographic evaluation.

Of 137 pulpotomies with Tempophore, 13 percent failed. In comparison with pulpotomies using Ca(OH)2, in which higher failure rates occurred (Magnusson, Schröder), we can conclude that the pulpotomy with Tempophore, as well as with Buckley's formocresol, can be considered a clinically successful therapy. These therapies permit the preservation of even extensively carious primary molars, until their normal exfoliation time. The preservation of these teeth prevents the appearance of functional as well as orthodontic problems, because the arch-length is not adversely affected. The mesial tipping or drifting of the permanent molars is, furthermore, prevented.

Evaluation of coal tar fractions for use in psoriasiform diseases using the mouse tail test. III. High boiling tar oil acids.

Twelve phenolic fractions of creosote and anthracene oils derived from a high temperature tar were applied in an ointment base to mouse tail skin. After treatment with the higher boiling acids, formerly parakeratotic scale areas underwent granular layer induction and 'basket-weave' keratin was produced. Changes in distribution of acid phosphatase and in horny layer fluorescence were consistent with the conversion to an orthokeratotic state. It is suggested that some of these phenols may be of value in the treatment of chronic psoriasis.