Here, we reported the first case of acute lumbar spinal pseudogout attack after lumbar instrumented surgery. We recommend considering pseudogout before and after surgery.

Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) is the most popular thermosensitive polymer, and exhibits a low critical solution temperature of approximately 32°C. This study aimed to examine the usefulness of new cooling sheets, which are manufactured using a thermosensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) material. We prepared cooling-hydrogel sheets containing PNIPAAm (PNIPAAm sheet). We measured the skin temperature on the arms of the subjects using a thermograph and compared the usefulness of the PNIPAAm sheet and a control cooling-hydrogel sheet that did not contain the PNIPAAm mixture. Thermographic measurements obtained 40 min after the treatment with the cooling sheets showed the skin temperature of the subjects treated with the 3.% (w/w) PNIPAAm sheets to be significantly lower than that of the subjects treated with the control cooling-hydrogel sheet (p < 0.005). Compared with the control sheet, the cooling effect of the new PNIPAAm sheet also persisted for a longer duration (up to 100 min). The PNIPAAm sheets exhibited excellent cooling effects. This sheet may therefore be useful for lowering the body temperature of patients with high-grade fever, such as fever due to influenza infection.

No abstract

Background: In general practice, a wide variety of patients often present with various complaints. Some of them have multiple somatic symptoms, and it is possible for a general practitioner to miss an organic disease. In this crosssectional study, we retrospectively examined the correlation between the number of complaints and the prevalence of diseases in order to elucidate clues to help detect organic diseases in patients with multiple somatic complaints. Method:We evaluated 386 new walk-in outpatients who presented to the department of general medicine at the Toyama University Hospital between January 2014 and December 2014 with pain symptoms. Symptoms were classified by the number of pain sites (NPS) and the number of other non-pain complaints (NOC). Then we examined the association between these two variables and the final diagnosis.Results: The prevalence of organic diseases in the four and more NPS group was significantly higher than that of the three or less NPS group (66.7% and 27.5%, respectively). Psychiatric diseases were more prevalent in the group who had three and more NOC than in the patient population with two or less NOC (36.4% and 4.4%, respectively). Conclusion:Counting NPS and NOC could contribute to proper management of patients with multiple somatic complaints.