Publications by authors named "Chihiro Minami"

We present two cases of congenital vaginal agenesis with functional uterine corpus, manifesting with periodic lower abdominal pain and hematometra in adolescence. Both patients were successfully treated with the creation of neovagina and neocanal structures to discharge menstrual blood; this may also facilitate the preservation of fertility. Both cases were characterized by degrees of congenital vaginal agenesis, whether short or completely absent, with no communication between the uterine cavity and external genitalia, as confirmed by physical examination and imaging.

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Fear and anxiety affect the activities of daily living and require concerted management, such as coping strategies, to preserve quality of life. The infralimbic (IL) and prelimbic (PL) medial prefrontal cortices have been implicated in the regulation of fear- and anxiety-like behavior, but their roles in overcoming fear- and anxiety-like behavior remain unknown. We investigated the anxiolytic-like effects of electrical stimulation of the IL and PL cortices in rats during the elevated plus-maze test.

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Sociability promotes a sound daily life for individuals. Reduced sociability is a central symptom of various neuropsychiatric disorders, and yet the neural mechanisms underlying reduced sociability remain unclear. The prelimbic cortex (PL) and infralimbic cortex (IL) have been suggested to play an important role in the neural mechanisms underlying sociability because isolation rearing in rats results in impairment of social behavior and structural changes in the PL and IL.

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Using magnetoencephalography, we measured 20-Hz activity induced after the common peroneal nerve (CPN) stimulation in 15 healthy subjects during the execution of foot movement or its motor imagery, and examined whether the 20-Hz activity is suppressed during motor imagery of foot movement. The prominent 20-Hz activity was contralaterally induced in the paracentral area after CPN stimulation, and it was almost completely suppressed during execution of the foot movement and partially suppressed during its motor imagery. These results suggest that the modulation of the 20-Hz activity is a useful indicator of the motor imagery of foot movement.

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Mirror therapy is one of the promising rehabilitation therapeutic interventions but the neural basis of the therapeutic effect remains unknown. It has been reported that the 20-Hz rhythmic activity is induced in the primary motor cortex after median nerve stimulation and the amount of the induced activity is decreased when the primary motor cortex is activated. In the present study, to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying mirror therapy, we investigated whether the mirror reflection of a hand holding a pencil modulates the stimulus-induced 20-Hz activity.

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