Correlation between P50 suppression and psychometric schizotypy among non-clinical Japanese subjects.

The link between P50 suppression and psychometric schizotypy was previously reported in non-clinical English-speaking subjects; however, whether a similar relationship exists within a different ethnic sample is unknown. Furthermore, whether such a relationship can also be accounted for by such basic personality characteristics as extraversion or neuroticism has not yet been reported. In the present study, we investigated the correlations of P50 suppression with psychometric schizotypy, and with extraversion or neuroticism among non-clinical Japanese.

Increased rate of P300 latency prolongation with age in drug-naive and first episode schizophrenia.

Objective: Previous studies have found an increased rate of P300 latency prolongation with age in medicated chronic patients with schizophrenia, suggesting a pathological neurodegenerative process. In this study, we investigated whether this abnormality was identified in drug-naive and first episode patients with schizophrenia.

Methods: P300 from auditory stimuli was recorded from 20 drug naive and first episode male patients with schizophrenia and compared with 23 age and handedness matched healthy male controls.

The N200 abnormalities of auditory event-related potentials in patients with panic disorder.

Cognitive impairment in patients with panic disorder (PD) has been studied using event-related potentials (ERPs). However, previous studies obtained ERP data only at a few scalp sites, and seldom investigated N200 measurements from the difference waveforms. In the present study, auditory ERPs were recorded at 16 scalp sites during an active discrimination task of oddball paradigm.

Abnormalities of auditory P300 cortical current density in patients with schizophrenia using high density recording.

While P300 current density analysis has been performed in schizophrenic patients, the event-related potential data have never been obtained using a high density recording, nor have their cortical images been well demonstrated. In this study, the auditory P300 elicited by an oddball paradigm was recorded using a high density recording system of 128 channels. Thirteen male patients who met DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia were compared with 20 healthy male controls.

Analysis of microsatellite instability, K-ras gene mutation and p53 protein overexpression in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

Background/aims: Genetic alterations are considered to play an important role in both the carcinogenesis and biological behavior of human malignancies. However, the clinical implications of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma are poorly understood. We investigated the microsatellite instability, K-ras gene mutations and p53 protein overexpression and their correlation with clinicopathological features to elucidate the clinical implications of genetic alterations in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

Microsatellite instability in patients with gastric remnant cancer.

BACKGROUND: About 2% of patients who undergo partial distal gastrectomy for gastroduodenal diseases develop gastric remnant cancer 10 to 30 years after the gastrectomy. It is important in clinical practice to determine a molecular marker to identify patients susceptible to gastric remnant cancer.METHODS: We investigated nine gastric remnant cancers (from nine individuals who had gastrectomies for primary gastric cancer or gastroduodenal ulcer) for microsatellite instability (MSI) at six loci, using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Barrett's adenocarcinoma associated with acquired eventration of the diaphragm.

We report a rare case of Barrett's adenocarcinoma asso-ciated with acquired eventration of the diaphragm in a 71-year-old woman. She initially developed dysphagia and epigastric discomfort in May, 1997. On July 9, she was referred to our Department of Surgery at the Ryukyus University Hospital for thorough examination and treatment.