Three serine proteinase inhibitors, MCTI-I, MCTI-II, and MCEI-I, were isolated from bitter gourd (Momordica charantia LINN.) seeds. MCTI-I and MCTI-II were inhibitors for trypsin and MCEI-I was an elastase inhibitor. Their amino acid sequences and the positions of disulfide bridges of MCTI-II were determined to be as follows. (sequence; see text)
The aim of the study was to assess the antifungal prophylactic efficacy, safety, and tolerability of micafungin, 150 mg daily, and to evaluate the usefulness of monitoring 1,3-beta-d-glucan (BG) in neutropenic patients undergoing chemotherapy for hematological malignancies. This investigation was a retrospective, non-randomized study. A group of patients who did not receive systemic antifungal prophylaxis was compared to another group of patients who received micafungin 150 mg daily. All patients admitted with hematological malignancy and undergoing chemotherapy or stem cell transplant were included. The plasma BG level was measured once weekly. The clinical endpoint was the diagnosis of invasive fungal infection (IFI). Antifungal prophylaxis led to a significant decrease in the occurrence of IFI (from 12.3% to 1.5%, p = 0.001). Few severe adverse effects clearly attributable to micafungin were seen. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and efficiency of BG values >8.9 pg/mL for diagnosis of IFI were 0.90, 0.99, 0.82, 0.99, and 0.99, respectively. Micafungin, 150 mg daily, is an effective and safe drug for antifungal prophylaxis, and monitoring of BG antigenemia is a useful tool for diagnosis of IFI in neutropenic patients with hematological malignancies.
Pregabalin is a first-line treatment option for neuropathic pain. Recently, some cases of pregabalin-induced hypoglycemia have been reported, which can complicate the treatment of neuropathic pain and worsen patient outcomes. Therefore, a better understanding of the clinical condition of patients with pregabalin-induced hypoglycemia is desirable. In this study, we evaluated the risk of hypoglycemia in patients administered pregabalin, using the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report database. All patients on pregabalin not taking any antidiabetic agents were screened from April 2004 to July 2020, and data on adverse events related to hypoglycemia, sex, age, weight, and the presence of chronic kidney disease were collected. Gabapentin and duloxetine, which are usually indicated for neuropathic pain, were used for comparison. Among 242 275 patients, 4287 were administered pregabalin, which included 37 patients who reported hypoglycemic incidents. Disproportionality of hypoglycemia was observed in patients administered pregabalin (reporting odds ratio, 2.25; 95%CI, 1.16-3.13; P < .01), whereas this was not the case in patients taking gabapentin and duloxetine. Multivariate logistic regression showed that hypoglycemia in patients on pregabalin was associated with age ≥70 years (odds ratio, 2.76; 95%CI, 1.29-5.91; P < 0.01) and weight <40 kg (odds ratio, 2.97; 95%CI, 1.32-6.71; P < 0.01). These findings suggest that pregabalin may be associated with a higher risk of hypoglycemia, especially in elderly individuals with low body weight. Health care providers may need to be aware of pregabalin-induced hypoglycemia in patients with these risk factors during therapy.
Alpine vegetation is considered to be sensitive to climate change. This assumption is supported by an increasing number of observational studies. Vegetation changes during the last decade at Mt. Komagatake in central Japan are reported. Four permanent quadrats of 1 m ´ 1 m at each of four plots (total 16 quadrats) are set and each quadrat is divided into 100 small grids (0.1 m ´ 0.1 m). All vascular plant species are recorded in each grid. Soil surface temperature (at depth of 1 cm) is automatically recorded with data loggers at 1-h intervals to determine the start day of the growing season and to calculate the effective cumulative soil temperature. Species numbers did not differ significantly between 2008 and 2017. However, total plant numbers did increase significantly in 2017 from those in 2008. At the study sites, effective cumulative soil temperatures partly explain the increase in total plant numbers. Dwarf shrubs had a tendency to increase compared to graminoids and forbs.
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