Influenza A virus infection disrupts oligodendrocyte homeostasis and alters the myelin lipidome in the adult mouse.

Background: Recent data suggest that myelin may be altered by physiological events occurring outside of the central nervous system, which may cause changes to cognition and behavior. Similarly, peripheral infection by non-neurotropic viruses is also known to evoke changes to cognition and behavior.

Methods: Mice were inoculated with saline or influenza A virus.

Pulse transit time-estimated blood pressure: a comparison of beat-to-beat and intermittent measurement.

Pulse transit time (PTT), which refers to the travel time between two arterial sites within the same cardiac cycle, has been developed as a novel cuffless form of continuous blood pressure (BP) monitoring. The aim of this study was to investigate differences in BP parameters, including BP variability, between those assessed by beat-to-beat PTT-estimated BP (eBP) and those assessed by intermittent PTT-estimated BP at fixed time intervals (eBP) in patients suspected of having sleep disordered breathing (SDB). In 330 patients with SDB (average age, 66.

Mode of death in elderly and super-elderly patients with acute heart failure: Insights from Japanese heart failure registry.

Background: In Japan, both the prevalence of the elderly and super-elderly and those of acute heart failure (AHF) have been increasing rapidly.

Methods: This registry was a prospective multicenter cohort, which enrolled a total of 1253 patients with AHF. In this study, 1117 patients' follow-up data were available and were categorized into three groups according to age: <75 years old (nonelderly), 75-84 years old (elderly), and ≥ 85 years old (super-elderly).

Association Between Physical Status and the Effects of Combination Therapy With Renin-Angiotensin System Inhibitors and β-Blockers in Patients With Acute Heart Failure.

This study investigated whether combination therapy (CT) with renin-angiotensin system inhibitors and β-blockers improved endpoints in acute heart failure (AHF). AHF patients were recruited to this prospective multicenter cohort study between April 2015 and August 2017. Patients were divided into 3 categories based on ejection fraction (EF), namely heart failure (HF) with reduced EF (HFrEF), HF with midrange EF (HFmrEF), and HF with preserved EF (HFpEF), and a further into 2 groups according to physical status (those who could walk independently outdoors and those who could not).

Living Alone and Gender Differences in Rehospitalization for Heart Failure After Discharge Among Acute Heart Failure Patients.

Home treatment for heart failure (HF) is one of the most important problems in patients after discharge as a secondary preventive measure for rehospitalization for HF. However, there are no detailed studies on gender differences in sociopsychological factors such as living alone for HF rehospitalization among patients with acute HF (AHF).This prospective multicenter cohort study enrolled patients with AHF between April 2015 and August 2017.

The clinical characteristics and outcomes of heart failure patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease from the Japanese community-based registry.

Both heart failure (HF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are common diseases, but few studies have assessed the relationship between COPD and outcomes in patients with acute HF, especially in relation to age or ejection fraction (EF). The Kitakawachi Clinical Background and Outcome of Heart Failure Registry was a prospective, multicenter, community-based cohort and enrolled a total of 1,102 patients with acute HF between 2015 and 2017 in this study. The primary endpoint was defined as a composite endpoint that included all-cause mortality and hospitalization for HF.

Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Heart Failure Patients With Long-Term Care Insurance - Insights From the Kitakawachi Clinical Background and Outcome of Heart Failure Registry.

Background: In Japan, the long-term care insurance (LTCI) system has an important role in helping elderly people, but there have been no clinical studies that have examined the relationship between the LTCI and prognosis for patients with acute heart failure (HF).

Methods and results: This registry was a prospective multicenter cohort, 1,253 patients were enrolled and 965 patients with acute HF aged ≥65 years were comprised the study group. The composite endpoint included all-cause death and hospitalization for HF after discharge.

A decline in activities of daily living due to acute heart failure is an independent risk factor of hospitalization for heart failure and mortality.

Background: Although activities of daily living (ADL) are recognized as being pertinent in averting relevant readmission of heart failure (HF) and mortality, little research has been conducted to assess a correlation between a decline in ADL and outcomes in HF patients.

Methods: The Kitakawachi Clinical Background and Outcome of Heart Failure Registry is a prospective, multicenter, community-based cohort of HF patients. We categorized the patients into four types of ADL: independent outdoor walking, independent indoor walking, indoor walking with assistance, and abasia.

Small-Vessel Vasculopathy Due to Aberrant Autophagy in LAMP-2 Deficiency.

Lysosomal associated membrane protein 2 (LAMP2) is physiologically implicated in autophagy. A genetic LAMP2 defect causes Danon disease, which consists of two major phenotypes of myopathy and cardiomyopathy. In addition, arteriopathy may manifest on rare occasions but the pathological basis remains unknown.

Activation of oligodendroglial Stat3 is required for efficient remyelination.

Multiple sclerosis is the most prevalent demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) and is histologically characterized by perivascular demyelination as well as neurodegeneration. While the degree of axonal damage is correlated with clinical disability, it is believed that remyelination can protect axons from degeneration and slow disease progression. Therefore, understanding the intricacies associated with myelination and remyelination may lead to therapeutics that can enhance the remyelination process and slow axon degeneration and loss of function.

Multi-compartment neuron-glia co-culture platform for localized CNS axon-glia interaction study.

Formation of myelin sheaths by oligodendrocytes (OLs) in the central nervous system (CNS) is essential for rapid nerve impulse conduction. Reciprocal signaling between axons and OLs orchestrates myelinogenesis but remains largely elusive. In this study, we present a multi-compartment CNS neuron-glia microfluidic co-culture platform.

Astrocytes promote TNF-mediated toxicity to oligodendrocyte precursors.

Neuroinflammation and increased production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in the CNS have been implicated in many neurological diseases including white matter disorders periventricular leukomalacia and multiple sclerosis. However, the exact role of TNF in these diseases and how it mediates oligodendrocyte injury remain unclear. Previously, we demonstrated that lipopolysaccharide (LPS) selectively kills oligodendrocyte precursors (preOLs) in a non-cell autonomous fashion through the induction of TNF in mixed glial cultures.

Preparation of rat brain aggregate cultures for neuron and glia development studies.

An in vitro system that recapitulates the development and differentiation of progenitors into mature neurons and glia in the central nervous system (CNS) would provide a powerful platform for neuroscientists to investigate axo-glial interactions, properties and differentiation of multipotent progenitors, and progression of oligodendroglial lineage cells at the cellular and molecular level. We describe here a CNS aggregate culture system from embryonic rat forebrains, which can be maintained in a serum-free medium up to 3-4 weeks and is used in our laboratory as a model to study neuron-glia interaction and CNS myelination. This video clip will demonstrate how to isolate and grow these CNS aggregate cultures from E16 rat brain.

A multi-compartment CNS neuron-glia Co-culture microfluidic platform.

We present a novel multi-compartment neuron co-culture microsystem platform for in vitro CNS axon-glia interaction research, capable of conducting up to six independent experiments in parallel for higher-throughput. We developed a new fabrication method to create microfluidic devices having both micro and macro scale structures within the same device through a single soft-lithography process, enabling mass fabrication with good repeatability. The multi-compartment microfluidic co-culture platform is composed of one soma compartment for neurons and six axon/glia compartments for oligodendrocytes (OLs).

Microfluidic compartmentalized co-culture platform for CNS axon myelination research.

This paper presents a circular microfluidic compartmentalized co-culture platform that can be used for central nervous system (CNS) axon myelination research. The microfluidic platform is composed of a soma compartment and an axon/glia compartment connected through arrays of axon-guiding microchannels. Myelin-producing glia, oligodendrocytes (OLs), placed in the axon/glia compartment, interact with only axons but not with neuronal somata confined to the soma compartment, reminiscent to in vivo situation where many axon fibres are myelinated by OLs at distance away from neuronal cell bodies.

[The findings of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in pulmonary arterial hypertension].

Technical advances of multidetector-row computed tomography(MDCT) and magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) made these modalities more important in the evaluation and for differential diagnosis of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The advantages of CT and MRI are noninvasive examination, wide field of view, excellent reproducibility, high spatial resolution and 3-dimensional (3-D) reconstruction images. Morphological changes of the PAH, which are right ventricular hypertrophy and dilatation of main and central pulmonary artery(PA), right ventricle, right atria, superior and inferior vena cava, and coronary sinus, are depicted well by these modalities.

Tumor necrosis factor alpha mediates lipopolysaccharide-induced microglial toxicity to developing oligodendrocytes when astrocytes are present.

Reactive microglia and astrocytes are present in lesions of white matter disorders, such as periventricular leukomalacia and multiple sclerosis. However, it is not clear whether they are actively involved in the pathogenesis of these disorders. Previous studies demonstrated that microglia, but not astrocytes, are required for lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced selective killing of developing oligodendrocytes (preOLs) and that the toxicity is mediated by microglia-derived peroxynitrite.

Osteopetrosis and thalamic hypomyelinosis with synaptic degeneration in DAP12-deficient mice.

Deletions in the DAP12 gene in humans result in Nasu-Hakola disease, characterized by a combination of bone fractures and psychotic symptoms similar to schizophrenia, rapidly progressing to presenile dementia. However, it is not known why these disorders develop upon deficiency in DAP12, an immunoreceptor signal activator protein initially identified in the immune system. Here we show that DAP12-deficient (DAP12(-/-)) mice develop an increased bone mass (osteopetrosis) and a reduction of myelin (hypomyelinosis) accentuated in the thalamus.

L-isoform but not S-isoform of myelin associated glycoprotein promotes neurite outgrowth of mouse cerebellar neurons.

Myelin associated glycoprotein (MAG) has growth promoting effect on mouse cerebellar neurons. In the present study, we examined which isoform of MAG has the effect. cDNA for L-MAG and S-MAG was stably transfected into BALB/c 3T3 cells, on which cerebellar neurons were cultured.

[CT and MRI findings of pulmonary hypertension].

Although computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can not measure the pulmonary arterial pressure, those can depict the morphological changes due to pulmonary hypertension, which are dilatation of main and central pulmonary artery, right ventricular hypertrophy and dilatation of right ventricle, right atrium, vena cava and coronary sinus. Right ventricular volume, mass and ejection fraction are calculated quantitatively by MRI using Simpson method. Thromboembolism can be detected by enhanced CT.