Multicenter randomized double-blind placebo-controlled crossover study of the effect of prolonged noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation on posture or gait in vestibulopathy.

Objective: This multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial aimed to evaluate whether prolonged noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation improves body balance in patients with vestibulopathy.

Materials And Methods: This trial was registered in the Japan Pharmaceutical Information Center Clinical Trials Information registry (jRCT1080224083). Subjects were 20- to 85-year-old patients who had been unsteady for more than one year and whose symptoms had persisted despite more than six months of rehabilitation.

Identification and estimation of causal peer effects using double negative controls for unmeasured network confounding.

Identification and estimation of causal peer effects are challenging in observational studies for two reasons. The first is the identification challenge due to unmeasured network confounding, for example, homophily bias and contextual confounding. The second is network dependence of observations.

The clinical and genetic landscape of early-onset thrombophilia in Japan.

Objectives: To determine the optimal management for early-onset thrombophilia (EOT), the genetic and clinical features of protein C (PC)-, protein S (PS)-, or antithrombin (AT)-deficient patients of ≤20 years of age were studied in Japan.

Methods/results: Clinical and genetic information of all genetically diagnosed cases was collected through the prospective, retrospective study, and literature review. One-hundred-one patients had PC (n = 55), PS (n = 29), or AT deficiency (n = 18).

Ductus Arteriosus Aneurysm and Pulmonary Artery Thromboses in a Protein S-Deficient Newborn.

Ductus arteriosus aneurysm (DAA) asymptomatically occurs in newborn infants and resolves spontaneously. High-risk DAA with compression, rupture, and thrombosis requires early surgical intervention. Newborn infants have the highest risk of thrombosis among pediatric patients, but the genetic predisposition is difficult to determine in infancy.

Live Imaging of the Dehydration Effect of Isosorbide on the Normal and Hydropic Guinea Pig Cochleae Using Optical Coherence Tomography.

Objective: To investigate the isosorbide-induced dehydration effect on the endolymphatic space by intratympanic administration of isosorbide.

Background: Isosorbide, an osmotic diuretic, is used orally as a typical conservative therapy for Menière's disease (MD) in Japan. The dehydration effect occurs 6 hours after isosorbide ingestion.

How to make causal inferences using texts.

Text as data techniques offer a great promise: the ability to inductively discover measures that are useful for testing social science theories with large collections of text. Nearly all text-based causal inferences depend on a latent representation of the text, but we show that estimating this latent representation from the data creates underacknowledged risks: we may introduce an identification problem or overfit. To address these risks, we introduce a split-sample workflow for making rigorous causal inferences with discovered measures as treatments or outcomes.

Pediatric pulmonary veno-occlusive disease associated with a novel BMPR2 variant.

Pulmonary veno-occlusive disease (PVOD) and idiopathic/heritable pulmonary arterial hypertension (I/HPAH) cause progressive PH on the distinct genetic impact. A 29-month-old boy presented with a loss of consciousness. He had severe PH refractory to pulmonary vasodilators.

Synthesis and Properties of V-Shaped Xanthene Dyes with Tunable and Predictable Absorption and Emission Wavelengths.

V-shaped xanthene dyes capable of predicting absorption and emission wavelengths are described. These dyes were synthesized by bridging a xanthene ring and an aryl moiety of fluorescein through ether covalent bonds. These dyes showed longer absorption and emission wavelengths than those of the parent fluorescein.

Synthesis of Bridged Indigos and Their Thermoisomerization and Photoisomerization Behaviors.

Bridged indigos were synthesized by bridging the two nitrogen atoms in the indigo structure with a carbon chain, and their properties were carefully examined. These bridged indigos have intrinsic planar chirality, and the enantiomers were separated using chiral high-performance liquid chromatography. When the chiral bridged indigos were subjected to thermo- and photoisomerization, the corresponding ()-indigo was not observed at all, and racemization was observed.

Clinical Impact of Heritable Thrombophilia on Neonatal-Onset Thromboembolism: A Nationwide Study in Japan.

Objective: To clarify the incidence and genetic risk of neonatal-thromboembolism, we conducted a nationwide study exploring the impact of thrombophilia on neonatal-thromboembolism in Japan.

Study Design: A questionnaire survey was conducted for perinatal centers in Japan, focusing on the clinical expression, genotype, treatment, and outcome of patients who developed thromboembolism within 28 days of birth from 2014 to 2018.

Results: The estimated incidence of neonatal-thromboembolism was 0.

[Diagnosis and management of early-onset thrombophilia/thrombosis: a review].

Evidence of the molecular epidemiology of thrombophilia is growing, and the clinical management of adult thromboembolism patients has recently made significant progress. On the other hand, there is little or no evidence concerning the genetic variation, treatment, and prophylaxis of thromboembolism development in the early life stage. The clinical presentation of early-onset thrombosis/thrombophilia, which mostly occurs in newborns and adolescents, differs from that in cases of adult-onset.

Mild neonatal complications following guideline-compliant vacuum-assisted delivery in Japan: improvements still needed.

Introduction: Neonatal cephalohematoma and hyperbilirubinemia are often encountered after vacuum-assisted delivery. For safe obstetric practice, guidelines for vacuum procedure were published in 2014 in Japan. We aimed to identify the risk of mild neonatal complications since guideline introduction.

Impact of clinical practice guidelines for vacuum-assisted delivery on maternal and neonatal outcomes in Japan: A single-center observational study.

Aim: Practice guidelines for vacuum-assisted delivery in Japan were revised in 2014 to improve clinical safety. We aimed to determine the success rates of vacuum delivery before and after the release of the revised guidelines.

Methods: This retrospective observational study included singleton deliveries at term gestation.

Live imaging and functional changes of the inner ear in an animal model of Meniere's disease.

The symptoms of Meniere's disease (MD) are generally considered to be related to endolymphatic hydrops (EH). There are many recent reports supporting the possibility that vasopressin (VP) is closely linked to the formation of EH in Meniere's disease. Based on this, we developed a clinically relevant animal model of Meniere's disease in which a VP type 2 receptor agonist was administered after electrocauterization of the endolymphatic sac.

Weather condition, air pollutants, and epidemics as factors that potentially influence the development of Kawasaki disease.

Environmental factors have been suspected to have effects on the development of Kawasaki disease. However, the associations have been conflicting. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of air pollution, weather conditions, and epidemic infections on the risks for Kawasaki disease in Japan.

Noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation has a greater ameliorating effect on posture in unstable subjects: a feasibility study.

Ameliorating effect of noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation (nGVS) on posture varies among subjects. In this feasibility study, we investigated the association between original postural instability and the ameliorating effect of nGVS on posture. Data were collected in a previously published study.

Late-Onset Circulatory Collapse and Risk of Cerebral Palsy in Extremely Preterm Infants.

Objective: To investigate whether the development of postnatal, late-onset refractory hypotension, referred to as late-onset circulatory collapse, was associated with an increased risk of developing cerebral palsy (CP) at 3 years of age in extremely preterm infants.

Methods: In this historical cohort study, infants who were born at 22-27 weeks of gestation from 2008 to 2012 in the Neonatal Research Network of Japan were eligible. The study sample consisted of 3474 infants (45.

Noisy Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation Sustainably Improves Posture in Bilateral Vestibulopathy.

Patients with bilateral vestibulopathy (BV) suffer from persistent postural imbalance, leading to a marked decrease in quality of life and a higher risk of falls. However, so far, the effective treatments for BV are very limited. We examined whether long-term noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation (nGVS) keeps improving body balance after the cessation of the stimulus in BV patients.

Noisy vestibular stimulation increases gait speed in normals and in bilateral vestibulopathy.

Background: Galvanic vestibular stimulation delivered as zero-mean current noise (noisy GVS) has been shown to improve static and dynamic postural stability probably by enhancing vestibular information.

Objective: /Hypothesis: To examine the effect of an imperceptible level of noisy GVS on dynamic locomotion in normal subjects as well as in patients with bilateral vestibulopathy.

Methods: Walking performance of 19 healthy subjects and 12 patients with bilateral vestibulopathy at their preferred speed was examined during application of noisy GVS with an amplitude ranging from 0 to 1000 μA.

Clinical features of otolith organ-specific vestibular dysfunction.

Objective: To elucidate the clinical features and vestibular symptoms of patients with otolith organ dysfunction in the presence of normal function of the semicircular canals.

Methods: We reviewed the clinical records of 277 consecutive new patients with balance disorders who underwent testing of cervical and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMPs and oVEMPs) as well as caloric testing and video head impulse testing (vHIT).

Results: We identified 76 patients who showed normal caloric responses and normal vHIT findings in each SCC plane, but abnormal responses in cVEMP and/or oVEMP testing.

Effects of Peripheral Vestibular Dysfunction on Dynamic Postural Stability Measured by the Functional Reach Test and Timed Up and Go Test.

Objective: To investigate the influence of vestibular function on dynamic postural stability assessed by the functional reach test (FRT) and the timed up and go test (TUG).

Study Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: Tertiary referral center.