Objective: This study aimed to develop screening items that can identify stuttering, even by those who are not familiar with stuttering (e
Received 9 December 2019, accepted 23 December 2019 Correspondence to: Mari Higashikawa, Department of Rehabilitation, School of Allied Health Sciences, Kitasato University 1-15-1 Kitasato, Minami-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0373, Japan E-mail: mari-h@kitasato-u.ac.jp The effects of speech therapy for aphasic patients in Japan on linguistic function, functional communication ability in daily life, and non-linguistic intelligence
ecently gradually worldwide, the biggest problem to hinder health conditions is becoming clinical depression. In this article, we describe pathological depression as clinical depression, and feelings of depression as depression. There were estimated to be 322 million people worldwide with depression in 2015, which had increased by about 18% from 2005 to 2015. Clinical depression was ranked third in the Global Burden of Diseases in 2004, but it is predicted to be No. 1 in 2030. This means that in countries around the world, clinical depression is becoming the most important issue not only in the mental health domain but also in the whole health domain. In other words, clinical depression seems to be becoming the biggest risk factor threatening the survival, achievement and well being of people all over the world. The first line of depression therapy excluding medication therapy is clarified by randomized controlled Original Contribution Kitasato Med J 2019; 49: 26-34
hronic Hepatitis C (CHC) causes a variety of liver damage, leading to the development of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. CHC treatment should be considered from the interrelation of patients' reaction to hepatitis C virus (HCV) therapy and HCV genotype. Telaprevir (TVR) is an inhibitor of HCV NS3/ 4A serine protease and is administered with peginterferon alpha-2b (PEG-IFN) and ribavirin (RBV). High sustained viral response (SVR) has been reported with TVR use; however, side effects, such as rash (38%−39%) and hemoglobin level (Hb) decrease (91.3%−100%), are observed with a high frequency. Simeprevir (SMV), a NS3/4A protease inhibitor, is a next generation of TVR and is currently used worldwide. However, although response rates are similar between combination therapy Original Contribution Kitasato Med J 2017; 47: 1-9
ancreatic fistula (PF) formation remains an unsolved complication after distal pancreatectomy (DP), occurring at a rate of 7% to 50% in recent studies. Although several surgical techniques for closure of the remnant pancreas after DP have been used to reduce the risk of PF, the ideal method remains controversial and undetermined. Among currently available techniques, hand-sewn closure and stapler closure of the remnant pancreas are most commonly performed, and many studies have compared the advantages of these two procedures. Some studies showed that the incidence of PF was lower after stapler closures than after hand-sewn closures. In contrast, other studies found no significant difference in the incidence of PF between these two methods. Two meta-analyses comparing stapler vs. hand-sewn Original Contribution Kitasato Med J 2017; 47: 17-25
ataract surgery includes elements of refractive surgery. Since premium lenses, such as aspheric, multifocal, and toric intraocular lenses (IOLs), have become available, requests for improving postoperative visual ability have been increasing. Therefore, reducing refractive errors after cataract surgery to achieve desired postoperative refraction and visual outcomes has become more important. The causes of refractive errors after cataract surgery have been quantified and analyzed giving: measurement accuracy of preoperative biometry, prediction accuracy of IOL fixing position, manufacturer's product accuracy, and others. Among those, accurate prediction of IOL position has been reported to be a main determinant of IOL power errors, accounting for up to 35.5% of postoperative refractive errors. Original Contribution Kitasato Med J 2017; 47: 110-117
