[Intracranial germinoma associated with Down syndrome: case report and review of literature].

It is well known that Down syndrome is sometimes associated with leukemia. However, there have been only a few case reports of a relationship between Down syndrome and brain tumors. The case was that of a 35-year-old man with Down syndrome complaining of gait disturbance.

[Postoperative patterns of improvement of symptoms and degrees of satisfaction in families of patients after operations for definite idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus: a long-term follow-up study].

Purpose: To clarify the patterns of improvement of pre- and post-operative symptoms and family satisfaction in patients with definite idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPN) who responded well to shunt intervention.

Subjects And Methods: The subjects included 40 patients definitively diagnosed with iNPH and who were followed up for one year or longer (age, 61-85; male-to-female ratio, 18: 22). The study focused on (1) preoperative clinical symptoms, (2) improvements in symptoms at 1, 3, 5, and 12 months after surgery, and the satisfaction of the families based on medical results of the Zarit caregiver burden interview, and infomation through questionnaires to medical personnel.

Pathophysiology of cerebral circulatory disorders in idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus.

This study was conducted to elucidate the pathologic conditions of cerebral circulatory disorders in idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH). Among 44 possible iNPH patients, 40 patients underwent shunt surgery based on diagnostic flow charts plotted by the Southern Tohoku method and were evaluated to be shunt-effective at the end of the first post-surgical month. The cerebral blood flow (CBF) was measured by N-isopropyl-((123)I)-P-iodo-amphetamine single photon emission computed tomography (mean, mCBF; cortical region, cCBF; thalamus-basal ganglia region, tbCBF on autoradiography [ARG] method) and the perfusion patterns of the cerebral cortex were measured based on three-dimensional stereotactic surface projection (3D-SSP) Z-score images, before and 1 month after the surgery in all 40 subjects.

[Reinvestigation of CSF outflow resistance value in idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus--comparing epidural pressure monitoring with lumbar subarachnoid cerebrospinal fluid pressure monitoring].

Purpose: To compare the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) outflow resistance values (Ro) with epidural pressure (EDP) monitoring and lumbar subarachnoid CSF pressure (L-CSFP) monitoring.

Subjects And Methods: The subjects were 14 patients with possible iNPH (age: 59-74 years old, ratio of male and female 8:6). All the patients were subjected to an infusion test by a single bolus injection method (1 ml/sec.

[Significance of shunt efficacy decision of SPECT on idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus].

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the significance of the shunt-effect evaluation of SPECT in idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH).

Subjects And Methods: The subjects were 15 patients with possible iNPH, aged 62-83 (mean 75.3, the ratio of males to females to 6:9), who were treated at our department during the period from June to September, 2004.

Induction of heat shock protein 40 and GrpE mRNAs following transient focal cerebral ischemia in the rat.

Cerebral ischemia is associated with the induction of several heat shock proteins (HSPs), but the effects on HSP40 and GrpE are less clear. The present study investigated the induction of Hsp40 and GrpE mRNAs following 30 min of middle cerebral artery occlusion in the rat model. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and in situ hybridization analyses showed significant induction of both mRNAs in the ischemic cortex.