Voluntary Forelimbs Exercise Reduces Immobilization-Induced Mechanical Hyperalgesia in the Rat Hind Paw.

Voluntary exercise is sufficient to protect against neuropathic pain. However, it is unclear whether voluntary exercise reduces immobilization-induced hyperalgesia. We examined the effect of voluntary forelimb exercise on immobilized-induced hyperalgesia in hind paws of rats.

Mechanisms underlying immobilization-induced muscle pain in rats.

Introduction: We investigated the mechanisms underlying immobilization-induced muscle pain in rats.

Methods: In rat skeletal muscle, pressure pain threshold (PPT) of the gastrocnemius muscle was measured, and nerve growth factor (NGF) level, peripheral nerve fiber density, macrophage number, and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) mRNA expression were examined. An NGF receptor inhibitor was injected intramuscularly to assess the relationship between PPT and NGF levels.

Low-intensity muscle contraction exercise following the onset of arthritis improves hyperalgesia via reduction of joint inflammation and central sensitization in the spinal cord in a rat model.

We examined the effect of immobilization, low-intensity muscle contraction exercise, and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) on tissue inflammation and acute pain following the onset of arthritis in a rat model. Sixty Wistar rats were divided into five groups: (1) Arthritis group, (2) arthritis and immobilization (Immobilization group), (3) arthritis and low intensity muscle contraction (Exercise group), (4) arthritis and TENS (TENS group), and (5) sham arthritis (Sham group). Arthritis was induced in the right knee joints by single injection of 3% kaolin and carrageenan.

Novel ENU-Induced Mutation in Tbx6 Causes Dominant Spondylocostal Dysostosis-Like Vertebral Malformations in the Rat.

Congenital vertebral malformations caused by embryonic segmentation defects are relatively common in humans and domestic animals. Although reverse genetics approaches in mice have provided information on the molecular mechanisms of embryonic somite segmentation, hypothesis-driven approaches cannot adequately reflect human dysmorphology within the population. In a N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) mutagenesis project in Kyoto, the Oune mutant rat strain was isolated due to a short and kinked caudal vertebra phenotype.

Reproducibility in the global indices for multifocal visual evoked potentials and Humphrey visual fields in controls and glaucomatous eyes within a 2-year period.

Purpose: In previous studies, we applied receiver operating characteristic curve analysis to the signal-to-noise ratio distributions in the signal and noise windows of multifocal VEP (mfVEP) response. The areas under the curve thus obtained (SNR-AUC) were found to quantitatively detect glaucomatous visual field damage. The present study evaluated the reproducibility of SNR-AUC and the Humphrey visual field (HVF) global indices in 37 eyes with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG; POAG group) and in 30 controls (control group) within a 2-year period.

Effect of refractive errors on multifocal VEP responses and standard automated perimetry tests in a single population.

Background: We have previously reported that the degree of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) distribution overlaps between a signal window and a noise window in multifocal VEP (mfVEP) responses, which is determined by the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve termed SNR-AUC, can quantitatively detect glaucomatous visual functional damage. However, the effect of high myopia on this parameter is not yet known.

Methods: SNR-AUC, total deviation, and retinal sensitivity on the Humphrey visual field (HVF) test were compared among 34 eyes>-6 diopters (control) and 21 eyes≤-6 diopters (high myopia), both of which were ophthalmoscopically normal and had a best-corrected visual acuity of 20/20.

Photocontrol of the mitotic kinesin Eg5 using a novel S-trityl-L-cysteine analogue as a photochromic inhibitor.

Because the mitotic kinesin Eg5 is essential for the formation of bipolar spindles during eukaryotic cell division, it has been considered as a potential target for cancer treatment. A number of specific and potent inhibitors of Eg5 are known. S-trityl-L-cysteine is one of the inhibitors of Eg5 whose molecular mechanism of inhibition was well studied.

Photocontrol of mitotic kinesin Eg5 facilitated by thiol-reactive photochromic molecules incorporated into the loop L5 functional loop.

Kinesin Eg5 is a plus-end-directed microtubule-based motor that is essential for bipolar spindle formation during eukaryotic cell division. Loop L5 of mitotic kinesin Eg5 is a key region determining ATPase activity and motor function. Photochromic molecules undergo reversible isomerization in response to ultraviolet and visible light irradiation.

3CD, but not 3C, cleaves the VP1/2A site efficiently during Aichi virus polyprotein processing through interaction with 2A.

Picornavirus genomes are translated into a single large polyprotein, which is processed by virus-encoded proteases into individual functional proteins. 3C of all picornaviruses is a protease, and the leader (L) and 2A proteins of some picornaviruses are also involved in polyprotein processing. Aichi virus (AiV), which is associated with acute gastroenteritis in humans, is a member of the genus Kobuvirus of the family Picornaviridae.

ACBD3-mediated recruitment of PI4KB to picornavirus RNA replication sites.

Phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase IIIβ (PI4KB) is a host factor required for genome RNA replication of enteroviruses, small non-enveloped viruses belonging to the family Picornaviridae. Here, we demonstrated that PI4KB is also essential for genome replication of another picornavirus, Aichi virus (AiV), but is recruited to the genome replication sites by a different strategy from that utilized by enteroviruses. AiV non-structural proteins, 2B, 2BC, 2C, 3A, and 3AB, interacted with a Golgi protein, acyl-coenzyme A binding domain containing 3 (ACBD3).

Receiver-operating characteristic analysis of multifocal VEPs to diagnose and quantify glaucomatous functional damage.

To test whether multifocal visual evoked potential (mfVEP) recording using two perpendicularly placed channels, as previously reported, to measure the degree of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) distribution overlap between a signal window and a noise window would efficiently detect and quantify glaucomatous damage. Humphrey visual field (HVF) and mfVEP were recorded from 56 patients with primary open-angle glaucoma and mean deviation less than -15 dB and 62 age-matched ophthalmologically normal individuals. Areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (SNR-AUC) were calculated based on the proportion of mfVEP responses that exceeded a specific SNR criterion for both windows.

Optimal conditions for multifocal VEP recording for normal Japanese population established by receiver operating characteristic analysis.

The purpose of this study was to establish optimal conditions for recording multifocal visual evoked potentials (mVEPs) in Japanese individuals, whose skull frame presumably differs from Caucasians. The scalp point that was extended from the calcarine fissure was identified using magnetic resonance imaging scans of 200 subjects. MVEPs were recorded from 56 individuals using three single channels and combinations of vertical and horizontal channels.

Overall linkage map of the nonstructural proteins of Aichi virus.

Aichi virus (AiV), which is associated with acute gastroenteritis in humans, is a member of the genus Kobuvirus of the family Picornaviridae. Picornavirus genome replication occurs in replication complexes that include viral nonstructural proteins, host proteins and viral RNA. In poliovirus, all nonstructural proteins are found in the replication complexes, suggesting the ability of the viral nonstructural proteins to interact with each other.

[Influence of commercial soft drinks or green tea intake to occult blood and sugar tests with urinalysis reagent strips].

Consumption of commercial soft drinks or tea has increased in over recent years. In many case, these drinks contains large amount of ascorbic acid as an antioxidant. We examined the influence of ascorbic acid to the result of urine occult blood and sugar tests with urinalysis reagent strips.

Human protein factory for converting the transcriptome into an in vitro-expressed proteome,

Appropriate resources and expression technology necessary for human proteomics on a whole-proteome scale are being developed. We prepared a foundation for simple and efficient production of human proteins using the versatile Gateway vector system. We generated 33,275 human Gateway entry clones for protein synthesis, developed mRNA expression protocols for them and improved the wheat germ cell-free protein synthesis system.

The effect of donor leukocyte infusion on refractory pure red blood cell aplasia after allogeneic stem cell transplantation in a patient with myelodysplastic syndrome developing from Kostmann syndrome.

We describe the clinical course of a patient who experienced refractory pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) after undergoing HLA-matched allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (allo-PBSCT) for refractory anemia with an excess of blasts in transformation that had evolved from Kostmann syndrome. The treatment for patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or acute myeloid leukemia (AML) developing from Kostmann syndrome has not been standardized. We treated this patient with allo-PBSCT using a regimen combining high-dose cytosine arabinoside with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, in addition to total body irradiation and cyclophosphamide without preceding intensive chemotherapy.

Effects of dipeptides having a C-terminal lysine on the cholesterol 7alpha-hydroxylase mRNA level in HepG2 cells.

Inducing expression of the cholesterol-catabolizing enzyme cholesterol 7alpha-hydroxylase (CYP7A1) in the liver can be an effective strategy in preventing hypercholesterolemia and atherosclerosis. We used HepG2 cells to investigate the effects of 1 mM dipeptides having a C-terminal lysine group on the CYP7A1 mRNA level. We found that the dipeptides Asp-Lys, Glu-Lys, and Trp-Lys significantly increased the CYP7A1 mRNA level.

A novel high-throughput (HTP) cloning strategy for site-directed designed chimeragenesis and mutation using the Gateway cloning system.

There is an increasing demand for easy, high-throughput (HTP) methods for protein engineering to support advances in the development of structural biology, bioinformatics and drug design. Here, we describe an N- and C-terminal cloning method utilizing Gateway cloning technology that we have adopted for chimeric and mutant genes production as well as domain shuffling. This method involves only three steps: PCR, in vitro recombination and transformation.

Viral Infections in Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia: Prevalence and Clinical Implications.

Objectives: Viral infections may complicate the diagnosis of juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) in a substantial proportion of patients, but this possibility has not been tested in a prospective study. The authors therefore measured the cellular expression of the MxA protein, a reliable marker of viral infection, at diagnosis in children with JMML to estimate the prevalence of such infections.

Methods: Eighteen children, aged 1 to 69 months, who met the diagnostic criteria of the International JMML Working Group were prospectively studied.

Viral infections in juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia: prevalence and clinical implications.

Objectives: Viral infections may complicate the diagnosis of juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) in a substantial proportion of patients, but this possibility has not been tested in a prospective study. The authors therefore measured the cellular expression of the MxA protein, a reliable marker of viral infection, at diagnosis in children with JMML to estimate the prevalence of such infections.

Methods: Eighteen children, aged 1 to 69 months, who met the diagnostic criteria of the International JMML Working Group were prospectively studied.

Early pathogenesis of cardiac amyloid deposition in senile systemic amyloidosis: close relationship between amyloid deposits and the basement membranes of myocardial cells.

Despite a number of in vitro studies of transthyretin (TTR) amyloidogenesis the early stage of in vivo amyloidogenesis in the human heart is largely unknown. A heart with a mild degree of cardiac amyloidosis removed from a 90-year old woman at autopsy was selected for analysis. The genotype of the TTR was the wild type.