Bifidobacterium breve alters immune function and ameliorates DSS-induced inflammation in weanling rats.

Background: Bifidobacterium breve M-16V (M16V) is a probiotic bacterial strain with a long tradition of use in neonatal intensive care units in some countries. Previous study showed that the effects of M16V administration on gene expression were greater during the weaning period than in the neonatal period and were greater in the colon than in the small intestine and spleen, suggesting that M16V has anti-inflammatory effects. In this study, we evaluated the effects of inflammation during the weaning period and the effects of M16V on normal and inflammatory conditions.

Long-term prognosis of hearing loss in patients with unilateral Ménière's disease.

Conclusion: The finding of deteriorated hearing loss at the initial visit at middle to high frequencies is a factor of poor hearing prognosis in Ménière's disease. Early intervention with instructions for lifestyle changes may lead to good outcomes in hearing.

Objective: An attempt was made to examine long-term changes in hearing loss in unilateral Ménière's disease and factors associated with prognosis of hearing loss retrospectively.

Inhibition of intestinal polyp growth by oral ingestion of bovine lactoferrin and immune cells in the large intestine.

Studies using animal models have demonstrated that ingestion of bovine lactoferrin (bLF) inhibits carcinogenesis in the colon and other organs of experimental animals. As a result of these studies, a blinded, randomized, controlled clinical trial was conducted in the National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, Japan to determine whether ingestion of bLF had an effect on the growth of colorectal polyps in humans. Patients with colorectal polyps ≤5 mm diameter and likely to be adenomas ingested 0, 1.

Time-dependent expression profiles of microRNAs and mRNAs in rat milk whey.

Functional RNAs, such as microRNA (miRNA) and mRNA, are present in milk, but their roles are unknown. To clarify the roles of milk RNAs, further studies using experimental animals such as rats are needed. However, it is unclear whether rat milk also contains functional RNAs and what their time dependent expression profiles are.

Risk factors for poor outcome of a single Epley maneuver and residual positional vertigo in patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.

Conclusion: The findings suggest that in patients with posterior semicircular canal (PSCC) benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (P-BPPV), head trauma and prolonged bedrest, but not inner ear disease, are risk factors for poor outcome of a single Epley maneuver and persistent residual positional vertigo.

Objectives: We first examined the efficacy of a single Epley maneuver and then assessed the time course in remission of residual positional vertigo in patients with idiopathic P-BPPV and secondary P-BPPV.

Methods: A total of 157 patients with idiopathic P-BPPV and 40 patients with secondary P-BPPV (secondary to head trauma in 8 patients, to prolonged bedrest in 14 patients, and to inner ear disease in 18 patients) were treated with a single Epley maneuver.

Purification of RNA from milk whey.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small regulatory RNA molecules that modulate specific target mRNAs and play very important roles in physiological processes. They were recently detected in body fluids such as blood, urine, saliva, and milk. These body fluid miRNAs have been studied thoroughly as potential diagnostic biomarkers.

Energy requirement assessed by doubly-labeled water method in patients with advanced amyotrophic lateral sclerosis managed by tracheotomy positive pressure ventilation.

This study aimed to clarify the energy requirement in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) undergoing tracheostomy positive pressure ventilation with tracheostomy. Total energy expenditure (TEE) was measured in 10 hospitalized bedridden ALS patients using the doubly-labeled water (DLW) method. The mean TEE/day and TEE/fat- free mass estimated by DLW method were 934 ± 201 kcal/day and 34.

Effects of sleep position on time course in remission of positional vertigo in patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.

Conclusion: The findings suggest that it is easy for otoconial debris dislodged from the utricle to fall into the posterior semicircular canal (PSCC) or the horizontal semicircular canal (HSCC) of the undermost ear during sleep, but not to exit from the uppermost ear in patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV).

Objective: The aims of the present study were two-fold. (1) To examine the association between the preferred side of head-lying during sleep and the side of the affected ear in patients with both posterior canal BPPV (P-BPPV) and horizontal canal BPPV (H-BPPV).

Influences of casein hydrolysate ingestion on cerebral activity, autonomic nerve activity, and anxiety.

This study examined the influences of the oral ingestion of casein hydrolysate from bovine milk at rest physiologically and psychologically. Eleven male university students were given a casein hydrolysate drink (H) or a maltitol drink as a control (C) in a crossover study. Just before and one hour after ingestion of each drink, the total-hemoglobin (tHb) concentrations at ten points of the prefrontal cortex to evaluate cerebral activity, and heart rate variability (HRV) to evaluate autonomic nerve activity through spectral analysis were measured as physiological indicators.

microRNA as a new immune-regulatory agent in breast milk.

Background: Breast milk is a complex liquid that provides nutrition to the infant and facilitates the maturation of the infant's immune system. Recent studies indicated that microRNA (miRNA) exists in human body fluid. Because miRNAs are known to regulate various immune systems, we hypothesized that human breast milk contains miRNAs that may be important for the development of the infant's immune system.

Is glycemic index of food a feasible predictor of appetite, hunger, and satiety?

This review assesses the feasibility of using glycemic index (GI) as a predictor of appetite, hunger and satiety by surveying published human intervention studies. We also discuss the relationship between GI and two appetite/satiety control hormones, leptin and ghrelin. Ingestion of high-GI food increased hunger and lowered satiety in short-term human intervention studies.

3D analysis of benign positional nystagmus due to cupulolithiasis in posterior semicircular canal.

Conclusions: The characteristic of both the vertical-torsional positional nystagmus with long time constant and its disappearance at the neutral head position could diagnose cupulolithiasis in posterior semicircular canal (PSCC) in the eight patients with the PSCC type of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (P-BPPV).

Objective: The aim of the study was to diagnose cupulolithiasis in patients with P-BPPV.

Patients And Methods: We used three-dimensional rotation axis analysis of nystagmus of the vertical-torsional positional nystagmus in 111 patients with P-BPPV and evaluated its time constant.

Lack of chronic oral toxicity of chemopreventive bovine lactoferrin in F344/DuCrj rats.

Studies were undertaken to determine whether bovine lactoferrin (bLF) and related compounds, shown to prevent carcinogenesis in the colon and other organs in rats, have any toxic effects in long-term feeding studies. In experiment I, male F344/DuCrj rats received a basal diet containing 0.2% bLF for 40 weeks.

Effects of hypergravity on histamine H1 receptor mRNA expression in hypothalamus and brainstem of rats: implications for development of motion sickness.

Conclusion: The study findings suggest that histamine was released from the axon terminals in the hypothalamus and brainstem and the released histamine activated post-synaptic H1 receptors there, resulting in the development of motion sickness.

Objectives: We first examined which subtype of post-synaptic histaminergic receptor was responsible for the development of motion sickness. We then examined whether H1 receptors were up-regulated in various areas of the rat brain after 2 G hypergravity load, because the stimulation of H1 receptor was reported to up-regulate the level of H1 receptor protein expression through augmentation of H1 receptor mRNA expression.

Changes in slow phase eye velocity and time constant of positional nystagmus at transform from cupulolithiasis to canalolithiasis.

Changes in slow phase eye velocity (SPEV) and time constant (TC) of benign paroxysmal positional nystagmus in horizontal canal type were examined at transitional period from cupulolithiasis (apogeotropic nystagmus) into canalolithiasis (geotropic nystagmus) in two patients. SPEV and TC of positional nystagmus were tri-dimensionally analyzed. The first patient showed an apogeotropic nystagmus.

Differential diagnosis of true and pseudo-bilateral benign positional nystagmus.

Conclusions: Two patients showing two rotational axes of their positional nystagmus had canalolithiasis in bilateral posterior semicircular canals (PSCCs), leading to the diagnosis of true bilateral benign paroxysmal positional nystagmus (P-BPPN). Another 18 patients had a single rotation axis of their positional nystagmus with short time constant (TC) on one side and long TC on the other. Since canalolithiasis in the uppermost PSCC may be transient cupulolithiasis, evoking positional nystagmus with long TC, the diagnosis of the latter patients should be pseudo-bilateral P-BPPN.

Prevention of carcinogenesis and cancer metastasis by bovine lactoferrin.

Increasing attention is being paid to chemopreventive agents for individuals at high risk of cancer. We have concentrated on bovine lactoferrin (bLF), an 80 kDa iron-binding glycoprotein known to have anti-microbial and immunoprotective effects. Lactoferrin is particularly abundant in colostrum, and is also present in tears, saliva and seminal and uterine secretions.

Natural history of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo and efficacy of Epley and Lempert maneuvers.

We assessed the efficacy of Epley maneuver in patients with posterior canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (P-BPPV) and Lempert maneuver in patients with horizontal canal BPPV (H-BPPV). In patients with P-BPPV, positional vertigo in patients treated by Epley maneuver was significantly resolved more quickly than that in untreated patients. But in patients with H-BPPV, there were no significant differences of time course in remission of positional vertigo between untreated patients and patients treated by Lempert maneuver.

Microarray analysis of stress-related gene expression in patients with Ménière's disease.

We developed an original microarray carrying 1,467 cDNAs of stress-related genes for the assessment of stress responses. In this study, we used microarray analysis to assess the stress-related gene expression profiles in peripheral leukocytes in 2 patients with definite Ménière's disease. In the attack and active phases, mRNA expression levels of 57 genes and 163 genes were either up-regulated more than twofold or down-regulated by less than half in patient 1 and patient 2, respectively.

[Incidence of vertigo and dizziness disorders at a university hospital].

Subjects were 626 patients reporting vertigo or dizziness seen at the University Hospital Department of Otolaryngology from April 2001 to September 2003. Patients were diagnosed based on diagnostic criteria prescribed by the Japan Society for Equilibrium Research. The most common peripheral vestibular disorder was benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (32%), followed by Meniere's disease (12%).

Comparing the accuracy of video-oculography and the scleral search coil system in human eye movement analysis.

The measurement of eye movements in three dimensions is an important tool to investigate the human vestibular and oculomotor system. The primary methods for three dimensional eye movement measurement are the scleral search coil system (SSCS) and video-oculography (VOG). In the present study, we compare the accuracy of VOG with that of SSCS using an artificial eye.

Vertical canal function in normal subjects and patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.

Objectives: To assess the dynamics of the vertical semicircular canal (VSCC)-ocular reflex in normal subjects and then to compare their gain in VSCC-ocular reflex with that of patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV).

Material And Methods: Subjects were sinusoidally rotated around the earth-vertical axis with their head tilted 60 degrees backward and turned 45 degrees to the right or left side from the sagittal plane at frequencies of 0.1, 0.

Lactoferrin modifies apoptosis-related gene expression in the colon of the azoxymethane-treated rat.

Lactoferrin, an iron-binding glycoprotein, exhibits suppressive effects on development of azoxymethane (AOM)-induced tumors in the rat colon, but the mechanisms are largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the effect of lactoferrin on the gene expression of 10 apoptosis-related molecules in colon mucosa of AOM-treated rats during early and late stages of colon carcinogenesis by reverse transcription PCR. Here we document that a death-inducing receptor, Fas, and a pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 family member, Bid, are increased in the colon mucosa in proportion to decreases in AOM-induced aberrant crypt foci by lactoferrin.

Dynamics of the vestibulo-ocular reflex in patients with the horizontal semicircular canal variant of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.

Objective: Two types of direction-changing positional nystagmus, the geotropic and apogeotropic variants, are observed in patients with the horizontal semicircular canal (HSCC) type of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (H-BPPV). In this study, we assessed the dynamics of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) of the HSCC in patients with H-BPPV.

Material And Methods: Patients were rotated about the earth-vertical axis at frequencies of 0.

Lactoferrin enhances Fas expression and apoptosis in the colon mucosa of azoxymethane-treated rats.

Bovine lactoferrin, a multifunctional glycoprotein, has been shown to strongly inhibit development of azoxymethane (AOM)-induced rat colon tumors. Little, however, is known about the inhibitory mechanisms. We have demonstrated recently that lactoferrin enhances the expression of a member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor family, Fas, in the colon mucosa during both early and late stages of carcinogenesis.