Eperisone Hydrochloride, a Muscle Relaxant, Is a Potent P2X7 Receptor Antagonist.

Eperisone Hydrochloride was launched in Japan in 1983 and has been used to improve muscle tone and treat spastic paralysis (Originator: Eisai Co., Ltd.).

Selenium deficiency and scurvy due to an imbalanced diet of snacks and lacto-fermenting drinks: a case report of a 7-year-old boy with autism spectrum disorder.

Background: There have been reports of isolated trace elements or vitamin deficiencies due to imbalanced diets, but no cases of selenium deficiency combined with scurvy have been reported.

Case Presentation: A 7 year-old boy diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder and mild psychomotor retardation, started an imbalanced diet including specific snacks and lacto-fermenting drinks from 5 years of age. Gingival hemorrhage and perioral erosions occurred at 6 years and 8 months of age, and he was referred to our hospital at 7 years of age.

Paleoceanography and dinoflagellate cyst stratigraphy across the Lower-Middle Pleistocene Subseries (Calabrian-Chibanian Stage) boundary at the Chiba composite section, Japan.

Unlabelled: A dinoflagellate cyst record from the highly resolved Chiba composite section in Japan has been used to reconstruct sea-surface paleoceanographic changes across the Lower-Middle Pleistocene Subseries (Calabrian-Chibanian Stage) boundary at the global stratotype, constituting the first detailed study of this microfossil group from the Pleistocene of the Japanese Pacific margin. Cold, subarctic water masses from 794.2 ka gave way to warming and rapid retreat of the Subpolar Front at 789.

Paleoceanography of the northwestern Pacific across the Early-Middle Pleistocene boundary (Marine Isotope Stages 20-18).

Unlabelled: The fluctuating position of the boundary between the Kuroshio (warm) and Oyashio (cold) currents in the mid-latitude western North Pacific affects both heat transport and air-ocean interactions and has significant consequences for the East Asian climate. We reconstruct the paleoceanography of Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 20-18, MIS 19 being one of the closest astronomical analogues to the present interglacial, through multiple proxies including microfossil assemblage data, planktonic foraminiferal isotopes (δO and δC), and foraminiferal Mg/Ca-based temperature records, from the Chiba composite section (CbCS) exposed on the Boso Peninsula, east-central Japan. Principal component analysis (PCA) is used to capture dominant patterns of the temporal variation in these marine records, and shows that the relative abundances of calcareous nannofossil and radiolarian taxa are consistent with the water mass types inferred from geochemical proxies.

Long-tailed distributions of inter-event times as mixtures of exponential distributions.

Inter-event times of various human behaviour are apparently non-Poissonian and obey long-tailed distributions as opposed to exponential distributions, which correspond to Poisson processes. It has been suggested that human individuals may switch between different states, in each of which they are regarded to generate events obeying a Poisson process. If this is the case, inter-event times should approximately obey a mixture of exponential distributions with different parameter values.

CO-Gas-Responsive Liquid Marble.

Liquid marbles were prepared using a water droplet and nonprotonated hydrophobic poly(2-,-diisopropylaminoethyl methacrylate) (PDiPAEMA) powder. Although the nonprotonated PDiPAEMA was hydrophobic, PDiPAEMA became hydrophilic because of the protonation of the pendant tertiary amino groups under acidic conditions. Therefore, liquid marbles stabilized with PDiPAEMA powder could float on a neutral to basic water surface, but they immediately disintegrated on an acidic water surface.

Usefulness of positron emission tomography for differentiating gliomas according to the 2016 World Health Organization classification of tumors of the central nervous system.

Objective: Positron emission tomography (PET) is important in the noninvasive diagnostic imaging of gliomas. There are many PET studies on glioma diagnosis based on the 2007 WHO classification; however, there are no studies on glioma diagnosis using the new classification (the 2016 WHO classification). Here, the authors investigated the relationship between uptake of 11C-methionine (MET), 11C-choline (CHO), and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) on PET imaging and isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) status (wild-type [IDH-wt] or mutant [IDH-mut]) in astrocytic and oligodendroglial tumors according to the 2016 WHO classification.

Millennial-scale northern Hemisphere Atlantic-Pacific climate teleconnections in the earliest Middle Pleistocene.

Suborbital-scale climate variations, possibly caused by solar activity, are observed in the Holocene and last-glacial climates. Recently published bicentennial-resolution paleoceanic environmental records reveal millennial-scale high-amplitude oscillations postdating the last geomagnetic reversal in the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 19 interglacial. These oscillations, together with decoupling of post-reversal warming from maximum sea-level highstand in mid-latitudes, are key features for understanding the climate system of MIS 19 and the following Middle Pleistocene.

Orientation Direction Control in Liquid Crystalline Photoalignable Polymeric Films by Adjusting the Free-Surface Condition.

Adjusting the free-surface condition facilely controls the in-plane and out-of-plane orientations in liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) films. Top coating with aromatic molecules onto LC polymethacrylate films with -benzylideneaniline (NBA) or 4-methoxybiphenyl (MB) side groups (PNBAM or PMBM) and subsequent annealing generate a random planar orientation while simultaneously removing the coated aromatic molecules, whereas annealing noncoated films induces a homeotropic orientation of the mesogenic side groups. Additionally, irradiating a top-coated PNBAM film with linearly polarized (LP) 365 nm light induces an in-plane molecular reorientation of the NBA side groups without changing the orientation in the homeotropically oriented region.

Relationship between spontaneous expiratory flow-volume curve pattern and air-flow obstruction in elderly COPD patients.

Background: Assessment of the degree of air-flow obstruction is important for determining the treatment strategy in COPD patients. However, in some elderly COPD patients, measuring FVC is impossible because of cognitive dysfunction or severe dyspnea. In such patients a simple test of airways obstruction requiring only a short run of tidal breathing would be useful.

Feasibility study on biweekly paclitaxel treatment as maintenance chemotherapy in advanced müllerian carcinoma.

Aim: To evaluate the feasibility of biweekly paclitaxel treatment as maintenance chemotherapy for patients with advanced müllerian carcinoma.

Methods: Thirty patients with stage III or IV ovarian, fallopian tube, and peritoneal cancers who underwent primary optimal surgery and standard 6 cycles of carboplatin/taxane-based chemotherapy and exhibited a complete clinical response were entered in this study. Paclitaxel 80 mg/m(2) was administered biweekly for 12 cycles.

Validity study of the standing test for imbalance and disequilibrium (SIDE): Is the amount of body sway in adopted postures consistent with item order?

The standing test for imbalance and disequilibrium (SIDE) is a discriminative measure developed for the purpose of identifying balance deficits that may cause falls. The purpose of the present study was to determine the validity of the sequence of postures used in SIDE. Subjects comprised 30 men with a mean (±standard deviation) age of 21.

Olig2 is useful in the differential diagnosis of oligodendrogliomas and extraventricular neurocytomas.

A 42-year-old woman had suffered from headaches since April 2009. Computed tomography revealed a tumor with marked calcification in the left frontal lobe adjacent to the left anterior horn of the lateral ventricle. T1-weighted gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging showed a well-enhanced tumor at the lesion.

A case of multicentric Castleman's disease having lung lesion successfully treated with humanized anti-interleukin-6 receptor antibody, tocilizumab.

This report presents the case of a patient demonstrating multicentric Castleman's disease (MCD) with a lung lesion that was successfully treated with an anti-interleukin-6 receptor antibody, tocilizumab in combination with corticosteroid and tacrolimus. A 43-yr-old female with abnormal shadows on a chest X-ray was referred to the hospital for further examination. She was diagnosed as having MCD based on the characteristic pathology of inguinal lymph node, lung lesions, laboratory data, and undifferentiated arthritis.

Form birefringence in intrinsic birefringent media possessing a subwavelength structure.

We theoretically investigate optical birefringence originating from subwavelength structures in intrinsic birefringent media. Assuming alternating layers of isotropic and anisotropic materials, the propagation of optical waves is simulated on the basis of the finite difference time domain method. Optical polarization changes throughout the structure reveal the birefringence of the layered structure as a whole.

Effects of angiotensin on the expression of fibrosis-associated cytokines, growth factors, and matrix proteins in human lung fibroblasts.

Background And Objectives: Angiotensin (Ang) II plays an important role in fibrogenesis in various organs, including the lung. The aim of this study is to elucidate (i) the effects of Ang II on the expression of cytokines, growth factors or matrix proteins in normal human lung fibroblasts, and (ii) the inhibitory effects of an Ang II type 1 (AT1) receptor blocker, candesartan.

Methods: Normal human adult lung fibroblasts were cultured.

Phase II study of intraperitoneal carboplatin with intravenous paclitaxel in patients with suboptimal residual epithelial ovarian or primary peritoneal cancer: a Sankai Gynecology Cancer Study Group Study.

Purpose: To assess the antitumor efficacy and safety of 2 treatment modalities: intraperitoneal carboplatin combined with intravenous (IV) paclitaxel.

Patients And Methods: Eligible patients were those with epithelial ovarian carcinoma or primary peritoneal carcinoma stages II to IV who underwent initial surgery and had a residual tumor size of 2 cm or larger. Patients received IV paclitaxel 175 mg/m followed by intraperitoneal carboplatin AUC6.

Tumor-associated macrophage/microglia infiltration in human gliomas is correlated with MCP-3, but not MCP-1.

The monocyte chemotactic protein 3 (MCP-3) belongs to the MCP subgroup of the CC chemokines and promotes chemotaxis of immune cells. MCP-1 is believed to play an important role in monocyte infiltration into tumor tissues; however, the relationship between tumor-infiltrating macrophage/microglia (TIM/M) and the expression of chemokines has not been investigated in detail in human glioma samples; therefore, we first examined the expression of several chemokines and chemokine receptors in human tumor cell lines, which included glioma lines, using real-time PCR. We found that several glioma lines expressed MCP-3 predominantly, and not MCP-1.

The relationships between titers of anti-Ro or anti-La as measured by ELISA and salivary production rate with age correction.

The objective of this work was to clarify the clinical significance of titers of anti-Ro and anti-La, the relationships between titers of either anti-Ro or anti-La, and salivary production rate (SPR). These autoantibodies were titrated using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The Saxon test was performed to measure SPR.

Negative correlation of anti-U1RNP antibody titers and the amount of salivary secretion with age correction.

Objective: The aim of this study was to reveal whether or not the presence of anti-U1RNP antibodies is associated with a low amount of salivary secretion (ASS).

Subjects And Methods: Twenty females (mean age 49+/-12 years) who had anti-U1RNP but not ACA, anti-Ro, or anti-La antibodies (anti-U1RNP-positive group), and 65 control females (mean age 50+/-12 years) were included in this study. The saxon test was performed to measure the ASS.

Tumor-infiltrating myeloid-derived suppressor cells are pleiotropic-inflamed monocytes/macrophages that bear M1- and M2-type characteristics.

Here, tumor-infiltrating CD11b(+) myelomonocytoid cells in murine colon adenocarcinoma-38 and GL261 murine glioma were phenotypically characterized. Over 90% were of the CD11b(+)F4/80(+) monocyte/macrophage lineage. They also had a myeloid-derived suppressor cell (MDSC) phenotype, as they suppressed the proliferation of activated splenic CD8(+) T cells and had a CD11b(+)CD11c(+)Gr-1(low)IL-4Ralpha(+) phenotype.

Primary biliary cirrhosis in female subjects with sicca-associated antibodies.

The aim of this study is to clarify the time course of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) in subjects possessing anticentromere antibodies (ACA), anti-Ro, and/or anti-La antibodies, and who used alkaline phosphatase (ALP) as a serological marker for PBC. Female subjects (n = 165), who had at least one of ACA, anti-Ro, and/or anti-La, were enrolled in this study. Groups A (ACA alone, n = 44), B (anti-Ro alone, n = 54), E (anti-Ro and anti-La, n = 52), and DFG (ACA with anti-Ro and/or anti-La, n = 14) were analyzed.

Intermittent intravenous cyclophosphamide pulse therapy for the treatment of active interstitial lung disease associated with collagen vascular diseases.

The availability of intravenous cyclophosphamide (CYC) pulse therapy for collagen vascular diseases (CVD)-associated interstitial lung disease (ILD) has been indicated. However, the standard protocol concerning the dosage and the interval of CYC infusion has not yet been established. The aim of this study is to elucidate the efficacy and the safety of our "divided administration" protocol of CYC for the treatment of CVD-ILD.

Panniculitis in a patient with mixed connective tissue disease.

A 51-year-old woman who had been suffering from mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD) for 8 years developed an erythematous rash with pain and tenderness on her left leg. A skin biopsy revealed septal panniculitis with multiple lymphangiectasis. No vasculitis was observed.

Successful coil embolization of a ruptured hepatic aneurysm in a patient with polyarteritis nodosa accompanied by angioimmunoblastic T cell lymphoma.

Polyarteritis nodosa (PN) occasionally develops in association with malignant disorders. A 71-year-old man suddenly suffered from bleeding due to the rupture of a hepatic artery aneurysm. The ruptured lesion was embolized endovascularly by coiling, and the bleeding was stopped.