Tsugumichi Sato

Room-Temperature Reversible Spin Hall Effect

Reversible spin Hall effect comprising the direct and inverse spin Hall effects was electrically detected at room temperature. A platinum wire with a strong spin-orbit interaction is used not only as a spin current absorber but also as a spin-current source in the specially designed lateral structure. The obtained spin Hall conductivities are 2.4 x 10(4) (Omega m)(-1) at room temperature, 10(4) times larger than the previously reported values of semiconductor systems. Spin Hall conductivities obtained from both the direct and inverse spin Hall effects are experimentally confirmed to be the same, demonstrating the Onsager reciprocal relations between spin and charge currents.

Case-control study on the association of upper gastrointestinal bleeding and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in Japan.

ObjectiveStudies in Western populations have shown the association of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB). The role of Helicobacter pylori infection in NSAIDs-related UGIB remains to be studied. We conducted a case-control study in Japan to investigate these related topics.MethodsCases of UGIB due to duodenal or gastric ulcer, or gastritis were identified in 14 study hospitals in various areas of Japan. For each case, two controls were identified from population registries in the same district. Information on drugs and other risk factors was obtained from 175 cases and 347 controls by telephone interviews. Anti-H. pylori antibody in the urine was measured in a single laboratory for all the cases and 225 controls.ResultsThe odds ratio (OR) of UGIB was 5.5 for aspirin and 6.1 for other NSAIDs (NANSAIDs) (p<0.01). The OR for regular use was higher than for occasional use both for aspirin (7.7 vs 2.0) and NANSAIDs (7.3 vs 4.1). Loxoprofen (5.9), frequently used in Japan as a safe ‘prodrug’, was significantly associated with UGIB. The odds ratio for H. pylori infection was 4.9 and the relative excess risk due to the interaction between H. pylori and the use of NSAID was 1.2 (95% CI: −5.8–8.1).ConclusionNSAIDs including loxoprofen increase the risk of UGIB in Japan as in Western countries, with a similar magnitude of association. There was no evidence of biological interaction between NSAIDs and H. pylori infection.

Epidemiology of psoriasis and palmoplantar pustulosis: a nationwide study using the Japanese national claims database

Objective The primary objective was to estimate the national prevalence of psoriasis and palmoplantar pustulosis (PPP) in Japan. Secondary objectives were to determine (1) whether psoriasis and PPP disease activity varies by season, and (2) whether disease severity is associated with concurrent diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidaemia and hypertension. Settings Patients with a psoriasis or PPP diagnosis code between April 2010 and March 2011 were identified using a Japanese national database. Participants 565u2005903 patients with psoriasis or PPP were identified. No patient was excluded. Primary and secondary outcome measures National prevalence was calculated using census data. We estimated the difference in the proportion of patients who used healthcare services, as a proxy for disease activity, between the hot and cold seasons and the difference in the standardised prevalence of comorbidities between severe and mild disease. The measures were estimated separately for the two broad disease categories of psoriasis and PPP but not in all patients as planned because the two disease categories had major differences. Results The national prevalence of psoriasis and PPP was 0.34% (95% CI 0.34% to 0.34%) and 0.12% (0.12% to 0.12%), respectively. The difference in the proportion of patients who used healthcare services in the hot compared to the cold season was −0.3% (−0.5% to −0.1%) for psoriasis and 10.0% (9.8% to 10.3%) for PPP. The difference in the standardised prevalence between severe and mild psoriasis was 3.1% (2.7% to 3.4%), 3.2% (2.8% to 3.6%) and 5.1% (4.7% to 5.6%) for concurrent diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidaemia and hypertension, respectively. No significant difference in the prevalence of comorbidity was observed for PPP. Conclusions The national prevalence, seasonal variation in disease activity and prevalence of comorbidities in Japanese patients with psoriasis and PPP estimated in this descriptive study may be used as basic information for future studies.

Survival and Prognostic Factors in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: A Retrospective Study of 314 patients in the West Part of Japan

OBJECTIVEnThe objective in our study was to examine baseline and other characteristics associated with survival in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma in Japan.nnnMETHODSnThree hundred and fourteen patients with an adjudicated diagnosis of mesothelioma were examined. Survival was evaluated by the Kaplan-Meier method with the log-rank test. The Cox model was used to estimate the hazard ratio for the possible prognostic factors.nnnRESULTSnOf 314 patients, 223 (71%) died and only 40 (13%) were still alive at the end of the observation period starting from the day of diagnosis, while 51 (16%) were transferred to other hospitals or had the last health service contact before the end of the study period yielding the median survival of 308 days. In the multivariate analysis, age older than 70 years (hazard ratio = 2.17; 95% confidence interval, 1.36-3.46), non-epithelioid type (hazard ratio = 1.58; 95% confidence interval, 1.15-2.18), poor performance status (hazard ratio = 3.22; 95% confidence interval, 1.19-8.74), high white blood cell count (hazard ratio = 1.49; 95% confidence interval, 0.99-2.26) and high C-reactive protein level (hazard ratio = 1.80; 95% confidence interval, 1.06-3.06) were negatively associated with survival, after adjustment for other factors.nnnCONCLUSIONSnSome baseline conditions including old age, poor performance status, non-epithelioid type, high white blood cell count and high C-reactive protein level were determinants of poor survival of patients with malignant mesothelioma.

The asian pharmacoepidemiology network (AsPEN): Promoting multi-national collaboration for pharmacoepidemiologic research in Asia

Centre for Pharmacoepidemiology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden Medical Research Collaborating Center, Seoul National University Hospital/Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA Department of Medicine, Division of Pharmacoepidemiology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA Department of Medical Informatics, School of Medicine, Hamamatsu University, Shizuoka, Japan Department of Pharmacoepidemiology, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan Institute of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Health Outcome Research Center, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan Department of Preventative Medicine, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea Korea Institute of Drug Safety and Risk Management, Seoul, South Korea Quality Use of Medicines and Pharmacy Research Centre, Sansom Institute for Health Research, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia Duke Clinical Research Institute, Durham, NC, USA Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden Institute of Environmental Medicine, Seoul National University Medical Research Center, Seoul, South Korea Department of Pharmacy Practice and Administration, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA

Multi-country rapid adverse drug event assessment: the Asian Pharmacoepidemiology Network (AsPEN) antipsychotic and acute hyperglycaemia study.

To undertake a multi‐country study to investigate the risk of acute hyperglycaemia with antipsychotic use.

Claims-Based Definition of Death in Japanese Claims Database: Validity and Implications

Background For the pending National Claims Database in Japan, researchers will not have access to death information in the enrollment files. We developed and evaluated a claims-based definition of death. Methodology/Principal Findings We used healthcare claims and enrollment data between January 2005 and August 2009 for 195,193 beneficiaries aged 20 to 74 in 3 private health insurance unions. We developed claims-based definitions of death using discharge or disease status and Charlson comorbidity index (CCI). We calculated sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive values (PPVs) using the enrollment data as a gold standard in the overall population and subgroups divided by demographic and other factors. We also assessed bias and precision in two example studies where an outcome was death. The definition based on the combination of discharge/disease status and CCI provided moderate sensitivity (around 60%) and high specificity (99.99%) and high PPVs (94.8%). In most subgroups, sensitivity of the preferred definition was also around 60% but varied from 28 to 91%. In an example study comparing death rates between two anticancer drug classes, the claims-based definition provided valid and precise hazard ratios (HRs). In another example study comparing two classes of anti-depressants, the HR with the claims-based definition was biased and had lower precision than that with the gold standard definition. Conclusions/Significance The claims-based definitions of death developed in this study had high specificity and PPVs while sensitivity was around 60%. The definitions will be useful in future studies when used with attention to the possible fluctuation of sensitivity in some subpopulations.

Proton pump inhibitors and risk of Clostridium difficile infection: a multi-country study using sequence symmetry analysis

ABSTRACT Objective: To determine the association between incident proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use and Clostridium difficile infections across multiple countries Method: National data covering the total population in Australia and Korea, the Canadian population over 65 years and a 3 million person random sample data set from Taiwan were assessed, as were data from a worker insurance population and a hospital inpatient/outpatient population in Japan. Sequence symmetry analysis was used to assess the association with oral vancomycin dispensing as the outcome of interest. Results: 54,957 patients were included. Positive associations were observed in Australia; adjusted sequence ratio (ASR) 2.48 (95% CI 1.90, 3.12), Korea ASR 2.15 (95%CI 2.11, 2.19), Canada ASR 1.45 (95% CI 1.16, 1.79), Japan hospital dataset ASR 3.21 (95%CI 2.12, 4.55) and Japan worker insurance dataset ASR 5.40 (95% CI 2.73, 8.75). The pooled result was ASR 2.40 (95%CI 1.88, 3.05) and 3.16 (95%CI 1.95, 5.10) when limited to Japan, Korean and Taiwan. Results did not vary by individual PPI. The temporal analysis showed effects within the first two weeks of PPI initiation. Conclusion: Our study confirms the association between PPI initiation and C. difficile infections across countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Prescription sequence symmetry analysis: assessing risk, temporality, and consistency for adverse drug reactions across datasets in five countries

Prescription sequence symmetry analysis (PSSA) is a signal detection method for adverse drug events. Its capacity to consistently detect adverse drug events across different settings has not been tested. We aimed to determine the consistency of PSSA results for detecting positive and negative control adverse drug events across different settings.

Variation in Association Between Thiazolidinediones and Heart Failure Across Ethnic Groups: Retrospective analysis of Large Healthcare Claims Databases in Six Countries

IntroductionThe prevalence of polymorphisms among the metabolising enzymes and pharmacodynamic receptors relevant for the thiazolidinediones differs by ethnic group, a factor that may modify risk of adverse drug events.ObjectiveThe aim of the study was to determine if the risk of oedema or heart failure associated with the thiazolidinediones varies in populations in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Taiwan.MethodsSequence symmetry analyses were undertaken to investigate the risk of peripheral oedema, as measured by incident furosemide dispensing, and risk of hospitalisations for heart failure. Results were pooled, with Australia and Canada representing predominantly Caucasian population and all other countries contributing to Asian population estimates.ResultsPooled estimates of risk for furosemide initiation in the Caucasian populations were significantly increased for pioglitazone [adjusted sequence ratio (ASR) 1.47; 95xa0% confidence interval (CI) 1.14–1.91] and rosiglitazone (ASR 1.65; 95xa0% CI 1.58–1.72), while in the Asian populations, the pooled risk estimates were lower (ASR 1.11; 95xa0% CI 0.93–1.32 and ASR 1.21; 95xa0% CI 1.01–1.45 for pioglitazone and rosiglitazone, respectively). Results for hospitalisation for heart failure showed a similar trend, with elevated risk in the Australian data (ASR 1.88; 95xa0% CI 1.01–3.5 and ASR 1.25; 95xa0% CI 0.76–2.05 for pioglitazone and rosiglitazone, respectively), while no increased risk was found in the pooled results for the Asian populations.ConclusionThe risk of both oedema and heart failure with thiazolidinediones was higher in predominantly Caucasian countries than in the Asian countries assessed. Assessment of adverse events by ethnicity may support safer medicine use.