Thrombolysis for Acute Wake-Up and Unclear-Onset Strokes with Alteplase at 0.6 mg/kg in Clinical Practice: THAWS2 Study.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to determine the safety and efficacy of intravenous (IV) alteplase at 0.6 mg/kg for patients with acute wake-up or unclear-onset strokes in clinical practice.

Methods: This multicenter observational study enrolled acute ischemic stroke patients with last-known-well time >4.

Tumefactive eosinophil-rich non-granulomatous small vessel vasculitis in the cerebrum in a patient with idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome.

The definite diagnosis of central nervous system vasculitis requires pathological verification by biopsy or surgical resection of the lesion, which may not always be feasible. A 74-year-old woman with a history of allergic rhinitis, but not asthma, presented with slowly progressive left hemiparesis. Magnetic resonance imaging of the head revealed a heterogeneously enhancing mass involving the right internal capsule and corona radiata.

Association between Serum Uric Acid Level and Activity of Daily Living in Japanese Patients with Ischemic Stroke.

Background: An association between serum uric acid and outcomes of ischemic stroke has been reported, but the results are controversial. The aim of this study is to clarify how uric acid may affect activities of daily living after acute ischemic stroke.

Methods: Consecutive Japanese patients with acute ischemic stroke were analyzed.

Association between body mass index and outcome in Japanese ischemic stroke patients.

Aim: An association between body mass index (BMI) and stroke outcome have been reported, but the results are controversial. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether BMI is associated with ischemic stroke outcome.

Methods: Consecutive Japanese acute ischemic stroke patients were analyzed.

Plasma Brain Natriuretic Peptide is a Marker of Prognostic Functional Outcome in Non-Cardioembolic Infarction.

Background: High plasma levels of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) may also be observed in patients with non-cardioembolic infarction (CEI). We aimed to evaluate the relation between plasma BNP level, clinical parameters, and functional outcome in patients with and without CEI.

Method: This study analyzed consecutive Japanese patients with acute ischemic stroke.

Validity of the Japanese version of the REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD) Screening Questionnaire for detecting probable RBD in the general population.

Aims: In order to evaluate the validity of the REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD) Screening Questionnaire (RBDSQ) as a screening tool for RBD in a general population setting, we conducted a validation study using residents of a rural community.

Methods: We sent questionnaires that included the RBDSQ to 2631 eligible adult residents in the town of Daisen, Japan.

Results: Of those residents, 1572 participants (59.

Epidemiological survey of frontotemporal lobar degeneration in tottori prefecture, Japan.

Background: The prevalence of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) in Japan is unknown. An epidemiological survey study of FTLD was undertaken in Tottori Prefecture, a district in the western region of Japan.

Methods: Hospitals in Tottori Prefecture were surveyed by a two-step questionnaire in 2010, and the prevalence of FTLD per 100,000 inhabitants was calculated using the actual number of patients and inhabitants in Tottori Prefecture on the prevalence day of October 1, 2010.

A two-year follow-up study on the symptoms of sleep disturbances/insomnia and their effects on daytime functioning.

Objective: This study attempts to identify changes in the symptoms of sleep disturbances/insomnia over a two-year course and their effects on daytime functioning.

Methods: We administered two population-based epidemiological surveys in 2005 and 2007 to participants from rural Japan.

Results: In the first survey, 30.

Prospective survey on the natural course of restless legs syndrome over two years in a closed cohort.

Objective: This study was set out to identify the population with restless legs syndrome (RLS) developing a chronic course and the impact of long-term morbidity of RLS on disorder related dysfunctions.

Methods: Two population-based epidemiological surveys were performed in 2005 and 2007 on the same cohort in Japan. Questionnaires including demographics, measurement scales for depression, quality of life, subjective sleep disturbances, and the NIH/IRLSSG consensus questionnaire for RLS diagnosis, were distributed to participants, and then telephone interviews were performed to determine the diagnosis and severity of RLS.

Correlations among insomnia symptoms, sleep medication use and depressive symptoms.

Aim: To elucidate the factors associated with insomnia symptoms and the use of sleep medication, and the correlations among insomnia symptoms, sleep medication use and depressive symptoms in the general population.

Methods: This survey was conducted in a rural community of Japan. Questionnaires consisted of basic information, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and a 12-item version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale, and were administered to all community members aged 20 years or over.

Long-term prognosis of patients with large subcortical infarctions.

Aim: We assessed the long-term prognosis of patients with large subcortical infarctions (LSCI).

Methods: We defined LSCI as lesions > or =15 mm confined to deep penetrating arteries without a cardioembolic or atherothrombotic source. Patients with acute ischemic strokes were consecutively registered and followed for 751 +/- 441 days.

Changes in prevalence and incidence of Parkinson's disease in Japan during a quarter of a century.

Background/aim: To determine the prevalence and incidence of Parkinson's disease (PD) and compare them with results from our previous studies.

Methods: We examined epidemiological characteristics of PD patients using a service-based study in Yonago City, and a door-to-door study in Daisen Town. The prevalence days were April 1, 2004 in Yonago, and April 1, 2003 in Daisen.

Prevalence of restless legs syndrome in a rural community in Japan.

To assess the prevalence and clinical significance of restless legs syndrome (RLS) in a Japanese population, we carried out a community-based survey in a rural area of Japan. We sent questionnaires requesting information on demographics, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale, the Short Form-8, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the National Institutes of Health/International RLS Study Group (IRLSSG) consensus questionnaire, and the IRLSSG severity scale for RLS (IRLS) to 5,528 eligible adult residents in the town of Daisen in the Tottori prefecture of Japan. Next, we performed telephone interviews to identify subjects with probable RLS.

CSF orexin levels of Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, progressive supranuclear palsy and corticobasal degeneration.

Excessive daytime sleepiness has been widely accepted as a common problem not only in Parkinson's disease (PD) but also in other related disorders. Lowered excretion of orexin A (hypocretin 1) into the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is known to play a pathological role in narcolepsy and secondary hypersomnia due to hypothalamic dysfunction. Although the levels of CSF orexin in PD have been previously examined, the results have been controversial, and no systematic investigation of CSF orexin excretion has been conducted on PD related disorders.

Epidemiology of primary focal dystonias in the western area of Tottori prefecture in Japan: Comparison with prevalence evaluated in 1993.

An epidemiological survey of primary focal dystonias in the western area of Tottori Prefecture in Japan was conducted in 2003, and the results were compared with those of a previous survey in 1993. The service-based prevalence of primary focal dystonia was 13.7 per 100,000 population, representing an increase from that found in the 1993 survey.

[Anti-Yo antibody associated paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration with gastric adenocarcinoma in a male patient: a case report].

We report a 71-year-old man presenting with paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration (PCD) associated anti-Yo antibody after surgery for gastric adenocarcinoma. Seven months after partial gastrectomy, he deviated to the right on walking. Furthermore, a feeling of dysarthria appeared and he was unable to sit after 2 months.

Increased plasma transforming growth factor-beta1 in migraine.

Background And Objectives: Migraine is characterized by the peripheral and central sensitization of pain perceptive neural systems, and neurogenic inflammation is a key step in the development of migraine headache. We focused on transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1), which is a multifunctional proinflammatory cytokine. To address the possibility of TGF-beta1 involvement in migraine, we investigated the plasma level of TGF-beta1 in patients with migraine headache during headache-free periods.

[An update on the familial headache syndromes].

Migraine is a common form of the chronic headache syndromes. Although the pathogenesis of migraine still remains enigmatic, there have been remarkable progress in headache research. Point mutations of P/Q-type Ca2+ channel alpha 1 subunit (CACNA1A) gene have been identified in familial hemiplegic migraine (FHM), which linked to chromosome 19 (FHM-1, OMIM 141500).

Association of the insertion/deletion polymorphism of the angiotensin I-converting enzyme gene in patients of migraine with aura.

Recently, several angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and an angiotensin II receptor blocker were demonstrated to have a clinically important prophylactic effect in migraine. ACE is one of the key enzymes in the rennin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, which modulates vascular tension and blood pressure. In humans, serum ACE levels are strongly genetically determined.

Stroke recurrence within the first year following cerebral infarction--Tottori University Lacunar Infarction Prognosis Study (TULIPS).

Objectives: To identify determinants of recurrence after ischemic stroke in the Japanese population.

Materials And Methods: We enrolled 885 patients with acute ischemic stroke that had been admitted to our community hospitals. A total of 831 cases were followed for 1 year after the index stroke.

Prevalence of progressive supranuclear palsy in Yonago, Japan.

There have been few reports of the prevalence of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP): the present study examines its prevalence in Japan and compares the findings with those in Europe and the United States. The prevalence per 100,000 was 5.82 (men, 9.

A haplotype of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene is protective against late-onset Alzheimer's disease.

Epidemiological studies have shown that elevated plasma homocysteine (Hcy) levels play an important role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In spite of the evidence that a C677T polymorphism in the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene elevates plasma Hcy levels, the impact of the C677T polymorphism on the development of AD is controversial. Here, we performed a genetic case-control study in a Japanese population to investigate whether three polymorphisms of the MTHFR gene, C677T (Ala222Val), A1298C (Glu429Ala), and A1793G (Arg594Gln), are associated with the development of late-onset AD (LOAD).

Population-based door-to-door survey of migraine in Japan: the Daisen study.

Objectives: To determine prevalence and characteristics of migraine in Japan, and to investigate use of medical care and whether food preference is associated with risk of migraine.

Methods: Structured questionnaires were given to all adult residents (N = 5758; 2681 men and 3077 women) in Daisen, a rural community in western Japan. Second questionnaires, specific to headache, were given to 1628 residents with headache.