Postnatal development of thalamic reticular nucleus projections to the anterior thalamic nuclei in rats.

The thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) projects inhibitory signals to the thalamus, thereby controlling thalamocortical connections. Few studies have examined the development of TRN projections to the anterior thalamic nuclei with regard to axon course and the axon terminal distributions. In the present study, we used parvalbumin (PV) immunostaining to investigate inhibitory projections from the TRN to the thalamus in postnatal (P) 2- to 5-week-old rats (P14-35).

Novel piperidinylpyrimidine derivatives as inhibitors of HIV-1 LTR activation.

Piperidinylpyrimidine derivatives, previously prepared as inhibitors of TNF-alpha production, were evaluated for their inhibitory activity against HIV-1 LTR activation. Some of these derivatives inhibited activation of HIV-1 LTR-directed CAT gene expression induced by PMA in Jurkat cells. In this report, we describe SAR in this series of compounds and show that the 3,4-methylenedioxybenzoyl (piperonyloyl) group on the nitrogen of piperidine and lipophilic substitution at the C(6)-position of pyrimidine are important for this inhibitory activity.

[Study of a CT scanning method that improves gravity effects to enable differentiation of inflammatory diseases in chest CT].

In chest CT images, the dorsal lower lung field often shows an infiltration-like shadow in patients who cannot stop breathing or take a deep breath. The cause of this phenomenon might be due to the effects of gravity. Since we had observed decreased effects of gravity by conducting additional CT scanning for patients in an oblique position (55 degrees ) or a nearly lateral position, we conducted a clinical study to investigate this matter.

Determination of action spectrum for sparfloxacin-photosensitized single-strand breaks in plasmid pBR322 DNA.

Background: Various drugs have been reported to induce photosensitivity as a side effect. Sparfloxacin (SPFX) is well known to trigger dermatological phototoxicity upon solar radiation exposure.

Purpose: To prevent SPFX-induced phototoxicity, we determined the wavelength range responsible for SPFX phototoxicity.