Internal medicine
-
Observational Study
Prevalence and Associated Factors of Uraemic Pruritus in Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis Patients.
Uraemic pruritus is a distressing symptom that has a negative impact on the quality of life for dialysis patients. The pathophysiology of pruritus in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients is still poorly understood. The present study aims to investigate the prevalence and related risk factors of pruritus in continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients. ⋯ The prevalence of uraemic pruritus was 65.2% in CAPD patients. Sleep disorder, depression, longer vintage, and a higher iPTH level were independent associated factors for pruritus in CAPD patients.
-
The aim of this study was to assess the incidence of vitamin D deficiency in Japanese postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes mellitus. ⋯ Our results showed an alarmingly high incidence of vitamin D deficiency in Japanese women with type 2 diabetes mellitus, with a risk of radial bone osteoporosis, particularly in those patients with a serum 25(OH)D level of <18.5 ng/mL.
-
We evaluated the diagnostic performance of computed tomography (CT) as an initial radiologic test for assessing the optimal timing of colonoscopy in patients with acute lower gastrointestinal bleeding (LGIB) and investigated the effectiveness of contrast-enhanced (CE) CT for detecting colonic diverticular bleeding. ⋯ Urgent CT is useful for determining the optimal timing of colonoscopy in cases of acute LGIB. CE-CT may be used to depict the presence and location of active hemorrhage and provides useful information for subsequent colonoscopy, especially in patients with diverticular bleeding.
-
Objective Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is often associated with concomitant systemic manifestations and comorbidities, such as cardiovascular disease. There are limited data regarding airflow limitation (AL) and atherosclerosis in Japanese patients, and the potential association between AL and arterial stiffness has not yet been investigated in Japanese patients. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the association between AL severity and arterial stiffness using the brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV). ⋯ Using logistic regression models adjusted for the age, body mass index, smoking status, hypersensitive C-reactive protein levels, hypertension, hyperglycemia, and dyslipidemia, an increased baPWV (>1,400 cm/s) was significantly associated with moderate-to-severe AL compared with a normal pulmonary function (odds ratio=2.76; 95% confidence intervals, 1.37-5.55; p=0.004). Conclusion Our results indicated an association between AL and increased arterial stiffness. Arterial stiffness may therefore worsen with an increase in the severity of AL.
-
Insulin degludec (IDeg), a new long-acting basal insulin, and FlexTouch, a new injection device, recently became available in Japan. The efficacy and usefulness of IDeg and FlexTouch, compared with insulin glargine or detemir, were assessed in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. ⋯ Replacing basal insulin with IDeg is useful for the stable and accurate control of blood glucose levels in type 2 diabetes for those receiving a higher dose of basal insulin. Furthermore, the patients with a shorter duration of diabetes and a single insulin injection preferred FlexTouch.