Internal medicine
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Objective Snoring is a common physical condition in active workers. However, the link between snoring and health problems is poorly understood. Therefore, the prevalence of snoring in Japanese workers and the relationships between snoring and lifestyle-related diseases were investigated. ⋯ In women, snoring was not an independent comorbid factor for lifestyle-related diseases when adjusted for the age and body mass index. Conclusion Snoring was shown to be a frequent pathophysiology in active workers. It was a health indicator for active workers, and especially in men, intervention for snoring may reduce the risk of developing lifestyle-related diseases.
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Case Reports
Familial Mediterranean Fever Is Important in the Differential Diagnosis of Recurrent Aseptic Meningitis in Japan.
Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an autoinflammatory disease characterized by a recurrent fever and multiple serositis. In the present report, we discuss the case of a 42-year-old man diagnosed with FMF accompanied by recurrent aseptic meningitis (RAM). ⋯ FMF, in which RAM is a major symptom, has also been described in previous reports. Therefore, FMF should be considered in the differential diagnosis of causative diseases for RAM.
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A 56-year-old healthy man who was a current smoker died from fulminant tracheobronchial aspergillosis despite a month of treatment with a combination of intravenous anti-fungal agents that had been started immediately after the diagnosis. This case report is important for understanding and managing fulminant Aspergillus infections in healthy subjects, although the pathogenesis and underlying pathways are still unknown.
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Objective A positive correlation is observed between the progression of renal impairment and the increasing risk of cardiovascular disease. Our aim was to examine the relationship between the renal resistive index (RRI) assessed by duplex sonography and the extent of atherosclerosis in patients without renal impairment undergoing vascular imaging studies. Methods The RRI was evaluated pre-procedurally among 106 outpatients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ≥60 mL/min/1.73 m2 undergoing clinically-driven coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA). ⋯ The RRI was significantly increased with an increasing number of atherosclerotic vessels (absence of atherosclerosis: 0.65±0.04 vs. single-site atherosclerosis: 0.67±0.06 vs. multi-site atherosclerosis: 0.71±0.05, p<0.001). A multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that RRI>0.70 [odds ratio (OR): 4.05, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.37-12.0, p=0.01], cardio ankle vascular index (CAVI) ≥9.0 (OR: 8.18, 95% CI: 2.47-27.1, p<0.01), diabetes (OR: 4.34, 95% CI: 1.37-13.7, p=0.01) and an eGFR>90 mL/min/1.73 m2 (OR: 5.89, 95% CI: 1.39-25.1, p=0.01) were associated with multi-site atherosclerosis. Conclusion The RRI, a sub-clinical renal parameter is an atherosclerotic marker in patients without renal impairment.
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Objective The presence of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in a cryptogenic stroke (CS) patient with a right-to-left shunt (RLS) may lead to the development of paradoxical embolism. The aim of the present was to investigate the prevalence of DVT and pulmonary embolism (PE) in CS patients and the clinical features of CS in relation to DVT location and the presence of PE. Methods The medical records of 903 patients with cerebral infarction were retrospectively reviewed. ⋯ The P-DVT/PE group comprised 8.3% of the CS patients with an RLS and included a larger number of patients with multi-territory infarction than the D-DVT group. The D-DVT and P-DVT/PE groups tended to be female and older, while the P-DVT/PE group tended to have pre-stroke disability. Conclusion CS patients, especially those with multi-territory lesions, should be immediately examined for DVT and PE.