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| Department of
Internal Medicine 3 |
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| (Division of nephrology, hypertension, endocrinology,
and diabetology/metabolism) |
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Introduction |
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| The department was founded in 1951, when Prof.
Nobuo Kusunoki, a prestigous nephrologist, was
elected as the first chairman. During Kusunoki'
term (1951-1975), the department was one of pioneer
institutions of diagnostic procedures of kidney
diseases such as renal biopsy and dialysis therapy
in Japan. The next two decades, the department
was one of the leading research centers of hypertension
and endocrinology (special focus on renin-angiotensin-aldosterone
system) under the supervision of Prof. Soitsu
Fukuchi, the second chairman and a world-leading
researcher in those fields. Since Prof. Tsuyoshi
Watanabe was nominated as the third chairman in
1997, the department has been renewed to fit the
public demands in the 21st century for academic
medical institutions. Eventually, we are stressed
on education of medical and graduate students,
residents and the public including patient and
their family (diabetes educational program and
so forth) in the fields of primary patient care,
general practice of internal medicine, and public
health care. On the other hand, based on the academic
tradition for a half-century, we are also focused
on high-graded clinical activities and research
in the fields of nephrology, hypertension, endocrinology,
and metabolism/diabetology. Our staffs at present
are a chairman/professor, 3 lecturers equivalent
to associate professors, 5 assistant professors,
9 senior residents, 4 junior residents, 4 graduate
students, 2 secretaries and 6 laboratory technicians.
Each lecturer is a subdivisional leader for nephrology
(Tetsuo Katoh), hypertension and endocrinology
(Shigeatsu Hashimoto) or diabetes and metabolism
(Tsuneharu Baba). We run out-patient-clinics for
general internal medicine including those for
new patients on every Tuesday & Friday, kidney
disease clinic & dialysis clinic, hypertension
clinic, diabetes clinic, endocrine clinic on almost
everyday from Monday to Friday. We have a cost-free
special educational program for diabetic patients
& their family and friends every Wednesday
afternoon. We take care of in-patients in our
board with 50 beds. We have scheduled or short-stay
admission programs with critical passes for education
and therapy of diabetic patients, pathological
diagnosis for kidney diseases with renal biopsy,
and low protein diet induction for patients with
diabetic nephropathy. Our clinical conferences
are open to all the physicians and co-medical
staffs of other medical institutions for the collaboration
with the community. |
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Research |
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| The philosophy of our research activity is
to perform original researches of global standard
to help the advancement of patient care and public
health. Thus, our research projects are based
on the data from the daily clinical activities.
The concept or hypothesis derived from the clinical
data should often be extended or confirmed by
the bench works using animal disease models and/or
cellular &molecular biological techniques.
The projects in each of 3 subspecialty research
groups are as follows: |
| 1) Nephrology
group: |
| (1) |
a prospective clinical
study on the prognosis of IgA nephropathy
(Fukushima Study) |
| (2) |
cellular and molecular
biological studies on the mechanical
stress-induced gene expression and
cell proliferation of the mesangial
cells, especially in the relation
to TGF β-smads system |
| (3) |
studies on the roles
of prostanoids and/or fatty acid metabolites
and its receptor, PPARs, in the pathogenesis
of renal diseases and hypertension |
| (4) |
studies on the roles
of oxidation and carbonyl stress in
the complications of chronic renal
failure and dialysis therapy |
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| 2) Hypertension/endocrinology
group: |
| (1) |
clinical and molecular biological
studies on the mechanisms of hypertension-
induced vascular damage |
| (2) |
molecular biological studies on
the roles of dopamine receptor signaling
in the pathogenesis of hypertension |
| (3) |
clinical and molecular biological
studies on the role of insulin resistance
in the pathogenesis of hypertension |
| (4) |
clinical studies on the pathogenesis
and prognosis of pre-Cushing syndrome
and polycyctic ovary syndrome |
| (5) |
clinical trials on anti- hypertensive
therapy for the prevension of hypertensive
brain and/or kidney damages |
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| 3) Diabetology/
metabolism group: |
| (1) |
studies on the relationship between
gene polymorphisms and pathogenesis
and/or progression of diabetic complications
such as diabetic nephropathy, retinopathy
and macroangiopathy |
| (2) |
clinical therapeutic trials for
blood sugar control to establish our
therapeutic guideline in consideration
of glucose metabolic status |
| (3) |
clinical and molecular biological
studies on the roles of homocycteine
and other vasoactive substances for
development and/ or progression of
diabetic complications |
| (4) |
Clinical and molecular biological
studies on the role of insulin resistance
in the pathogenesis of diabetic complications.
(For the references for last one year;
see (5) List of Publications) |
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Education |
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The first goal of our education of medical students
of Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine
and junior residents in our university hospital
is to grow them up to the general internists with
good humanity and ethics, wide-ranged medical
and social knowledge, and abilities to make proper
clinical decisions based on the scientific logics
and epidemiological evidences. For those purposes,
we provide 25 lectures and 12 case study courses
(90 min/ each) in the fields of general internal
medicine, nephrology, hypertension, endocrinology,
metabolism/diabetology and infectious diseases
for 3rd and 4th grade undergraduate students every
year. We also take care of 5-10 medical students
in our in-patient board and outpatient clinic
for the bedside learning program every week during
the school period for 5thand 6th grade students.
Clinical training of junior residents in our university
hospital is also an essential part of educational
obligation for our staffs.
Our graduate students and senior residents are
supervised by our staffs to perform their research
activities and to obtain the abilities essentials
for the specialists in the field of each one's
subspecialty such as a general internist, a nephrologist,
an endocrinologist or a diabetologist as our secondary
educational goal.
We provide a cost-free, voluntary "educational
classes on diabetic mellitus" for the public
in collaboration with our co-medical staffs such
as nurses, dieticians, pharmacists and physical
trainers. We also organize 7 study groups for
case studies and multi-center clinical researches
in the fields of our subspecialties at the prefectural
level for the advancement of medical standards
in our community. |
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Publications |
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Detailed Information |
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http://www.fmu.ac.jp/home/IM3/3nai
top.html
(English version equivalent to Japanese one under
construction) |
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To Contact Us |
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e-mail: im3@fmu.ac.jp
Phone: +81-24-548-2111 ext. 2320-2322.
Fax: 024-548-3044. |
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