Convenient microfluidic cartridge for single-molecule droplet PCR using common laboratory equipment.

We have previously established a cost-efficient in-house system for single-molecule droplet polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using a polydimethylsiloxane microfluidic cartridge and common laboratory equipment. However, the microfluidic cartridge was only capable of generating monodisperse water-in-oil droplets. Therefore, careful and time-consuming manual droplet handling using a micropipette was required to transfer droplets between the three discrete steps involved in the workflow of droplet PCR-i.

Dysregulated fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling in neurological and psychiatric disorders.

The role of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) system in brain-related disorders has received considerable attention in recent years. To understand the role of this system in neurological and psychiatric disorders, it is important to identify the specific members of the FGF family that are implicated, their location and the various mechanisms they can be modulated. Each disorder appears to impact specific molecular players in unique anatomical locations, and all of these could conceivably become targets for treatment.

Fibroblast growth factor 9 is a novel modulator of negative affect.

Both gene expression profiling in postmortem human brain and studies using animal models have implicated the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family in affect regulation and suggest a potential role in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD). FGF2, the most widely characterized family member, is down-regulated in the depressed brain and plays a protective role in rodent models of affective disorders. By contrast, using three microarray analyses followed by quantitative RT-PCR confirmation, we show that FGF9 expression is up-regulated in the hippocampus of individuals with MDD, and that FGF9 expression is inversely related to the expression of FGF2.

Tomographic comparison of cone-rod and rod-cone retinal dystrophies.

Purpose: To investigate the relationship between impairment of cone/rod photoreceptors and changes in optical coherence tomography (OCT) findings.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical records of 35 patients with cone-rod dystrophy (CRD) and 35 visual acuity-matched patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP). The presence or absence of the external limiting membrane (ELM), inner segment ellipsoid (ISe), interdigitation zone (IZ), and foveal cavitation (hyporeflective space in the outer retina) were determined using OCT image evaluation.

Dynamic optical imaging of metabolic and NADPH oxidase-derived superoxide in live mouse brain using fluorescence lifetime unmixing.

Superoxide is the single-electron reduction product of molecular oxygen generated by mitochondria and the innate immune enzyme complex, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase (Nox), and its isoforms. Initially identified as critical to the host defense against infection, superoxide has recently emerged as an important signaling molecule and as a proposed mediator of central nervous system injury in stroke, neurodegenerative conditions, and aging itself. Complete understanding of superoxide in central nervous system disease has been hampered by lack of noninvasive imaging techniques to evaluate this highly reactive, short-lived molecule in vivo.

Meat-type chickens have a higher efficiency of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation than laying-type chickens.

Meat-type chickens show high feed efficiency and have a very rapid growth rate compared with laying-type chickens. To clarify whether the type-specific difference in feed conversion efficiency is involved in mitochondrial bioenergetics, modular kinetic analysis was applied to oxidative phosphorylation in skeletal muscle mitochondria of both type chickens. Mitochondria from skeletal muscle of meat-type chickens showed greater substrate oxidation and phosphorylating activities, and less proton leak than those of the laying-type, resulting in a higher efficiency of oxidative phosphorylation.

Secondary structural change of bovine serum albumin in thermal denaturation up to 130 degrees C and protective effect of sodium dodecyl sulfate on the change.

The secondary structure of bovine serum albumin (BSA) was first examined in the thermal denaturation up to 130 degrees C. The helicity (66%) of the protein decreased with rise of temperature. Half of the original helicity was lost at 80 degrees C, but the helicity of 16% was still maintained even at 130 degrees C.

Acute renal failure after exercise in a Japanese sumo wrestler with renal hypouricemia.

Familial renal hypouricemia is a hereditary disease characterized by extraordinary high renal uric acid clearance and is associated with acute renal failure (ARF). An 18-year-old sumo wrestler developed ARF after anaerobic exercise. Several hours after the exercise, he had a pain in the loins with oliguria, headache, and nausea.

[A case of dopamine-secreting pheochromocytoma].

We report a case of a pheochromocytoma that exclusively secretes dopamine among a blend of catecholamines. A 66-year-old female was referred to our hospital for further examination of right adrenal tumor. She had no symptoms and no episodes of hypertension.

Comparative morphometric study of bladder detrusor between patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia and controls.

Purpose: We determined the change in the amount of connective tissue of the detrusor in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in relation to the degree of bladder hypertrophy by ultrasound estimated bladder weight. The ratio of connective tissue-to-smooth muscle between controls and BPH cases was compared.

Materials And Methods: For normal controls we used cadaver bladders excised at autopsy from 13 men with no urinary tract diseases.

Noninvasive evaluation of bladder compliance in children using ultrasound estimated bladder weight.

Purpose: In healthy children as well as those with urinary disturbance we determined ultrasound estimated bladder weight with the aim of revealing its possible usefulness as a measure of bladder compliance.

Materials And Methods: We measured ultrasound estimated bladder weight in 71 healthy children with a mean age of 10.3 years, and determined a standard value.

[Clinical evaluation of scintigraphy and tumor biopsy for incidentally detected adrenal masses].

Purpose: A decision tree in diagnosis of incidentally detected adrenal masses (incidentaloma) was made on the basis of these results.

Methods: The clinical usefulness of adrenal scintigraphy with 131I-adosterol and ultrasonically guided tumor biopsy was investigated in 44 patients.

Results: Adrenal scintigraphy was performed in 32 patients, of whom 21 were found to have an increased uptake in the tumor, including 19 cases of cortical adenoma and 2 of hematoma.

Reversible change of bladder hypertrophy due to benign prostatic hyperplasia after surgical relief of obstruction.

Purpose: Ultrasound estimated bladder weight was compared before and after surgery for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) to reveal a possible reversible change in bladder hypertrophy.

Materials And Methods: Ultrasound estimated bladder weight was measured before and after subcapsular (17) or transurethral (16) prostatectomy in 33 male patients with BPH. Sequential changes in the American Urological Association symptom score and urinary flow rate were also examined.

Noninvasive quantitative estimation of infravesical obstruction using ultrasonic measurement of bladder weight.

Purpose: Ultrasound estimated bladder weight was compared to pressure-flow studies to test the ability of ultrasound estimated bladder weight to predict infravesical obstruction.

Materials And Methods: A total of 65 men with urinary symptoms underwent ultrasonic measurement of bladder weight and pressure-flow studies. Assuming the bladder is a sphere, ultrasound estimated bladder weight was calculated from bladder wall thickness measured ultrasonically and intravesical volume.

A statistical study of the American Urological Association symptom index for benign prostatic hyperplasia in participants of mass screening program for prostatic diseases using transrectal sonography.

Purpose: A study was done on the prevalence of urinary symptoms in community based populations in Japan regarding the influences of aging and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) as evaluated by transrectal sonography.

Materials And Methods: In 961 Japanese men 55 to 87 years old who underwent mass screening for prostatic diseases the American Urological Association symptom index scores were compared with age and ultrasonic diagnosis of the prostate.

Results: Moderate to severe symptoms (symptom score 8 or more) were found in 265 of our 961 samples (27.

Ultrasonic estimation of bladder weight as a measure of bladder hypertrophy in men with infravesical obstruction: a preliminary report.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the usefulness of ultrasonic estimation of bladder weight as a measure of bladder hypertrophy using transabdominal ultrasonography in men with infravesical obstruction. Ultrasonically estimated bladder weight (UEBW) was calculated from the thickness of the bladder wall measured ultrasonically and the intravesical volume at the ultrasonic measurement, assuming a spheric bladder. There was a statistically significant correlation (r = 0.

Possible use of ultrasonically-estimated bladder weight in patients with neurogenic bladder dysfunction.

In 25 patients with detrusor areflexia, ultrasonically-estimated bladder weight (UEBW) was compared with bladder capacity and compliance obtained by cystometry, and UEBW was also compared with grade of bladder deformity as evaluated by cystography. UEBW correlated significantly with compliance (P < 0.01) and degree of bladder deformity (P < 0.