Comprehensive survey on the use of plastic additives in toy products used in Japan.

Background: Plastic additives have adverse effects on human health. Children frequently use toys that contain various substances found in paints, plasticizers, and other materials, which heighten the risk of specific chemical exposure. Infants are particularly prone to chemical exposure through the "mouthing" behavior because of the possibility of placing toys in their mouths.

A 37-Year-Old Man With Intellectual Disability Discovered to Have Aspartylglucosaminuria: Implications for the Diagnosis of Genetic Causes.

Objectives: The causes of intellectual disability (ID) are varied, with as many as 1,400 causative genes. We attempted to identify the causative gene in a patient with long-standing undiagnosed ID.

Methods: Although this was an isolated case with no family history, we searched for the causative gene using trio-based whole-exome sequencing (trio-WES), because severe ID is often caused by genetic variations, and inherited metabolic disorders (IMDs) are assumed to be the cause when regression and epilepsy occur.

Effects of diallyl disulfide administration on insulin resistance in high-fat diet-fed mice.

Objectives: Diallyl disulfide (DADS) is a natural organosulfur compound found in garlic and related plants with various pharmacologic effects. However, whether DADS improves obesity-induced insulin resistance (IR) and its underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of DADS on systemic IR in high-fat diet-induced obese mice.

Antisense oligonucleotide-based targeting of Tau-tubulin kinase 1 prevents hippocampal accumulation of phosphorylated tau in PS19 tauopathy mice.

Tau tubulin kinase-1 (TTBK1), a neuron-specific tau kinase, is highly expressed in the entorhinal cortex and hippocampal regions, where early tau pathology evolves in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The protein expression level of TTBK1 is elevated in the cortex brain tissues with AD patients compared to the control subjects. We therefore hypothesized that antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) based targeting Ttbk1 could prevent the accumulation of phosphorylated tau, thereby delaying the development of tau pathology in AD.

Methylmercury-induced reactive oxygen species-dependent and independent dysregulation of MAP kinase-related signaling pathway in cultured normal rat cerebellar astrocytes.

Methylmercury (MeHg), a global environmental pollutant, could seriously damage the central nervous system (CNS) and cause neurological disorders such as cerebellar symptoms. Although numerous studies have revealed detailed toxicity mechanisms of MeHg in neurons, toxicity in astrocytes is barely known. Here, we tried to shed light on the toxicity mechanisms of MeHg exposure in cultured normal rat cerebellar astrocytes (NRA), focusing on the involvement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in MeHg toxicity by assessing the effects of major antioxidants Trolox, a free-radical scavenger, N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), a potent thiol-containing antioxidant, and glutathione (GSH), an endogenous thiol-containing antioxidant.