A nonclassical bHLH Rbpj transcription factor complex is required for specification of GABAergic neurons independent of Notch signaling.

Neural networks are balanced by inhibitory and excitatory neuronal activity. The formation of these networks is initially generated through neuronal subtype specification controlled by transcription factors. The basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor Ptf1a is essential for the generation of GABAergic inhibitory neurons in the dorsal spinal cord, cerebellum, and retina.

Nationwide survey on the prevalence of anti-tuberculosis drug resistance in the Republic of Yemen, 2004.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of resistance to the four major anti-tuberculosis drugs, isoniazid, rifampicin, streptomycin and ethambutol, in Yemen.

Methods: Cluster sampling with probability proportionate to size was applied. Susceptibility to four major anti-tuberculosis drugs was examined.

Long-term perospirone treatment with a single dose at bedtime in schizophrenia: relevant to intermittent dopamine D2 receptor antagonism.

Perospirone, a serotonin 5-HT2A and dopamine D2 receptor antagonist, is metabolized to ID-15036 by CYP3A4 and the elimination half-life (T1/2) for the latter is longer than the former. The active metabolite ID-15036 is an 8-times weaker D2 antagonist than perospirone, although it has a high affinity for 5-HT2A receptor. In this study, we measured the plasma concentrations of perospirone and ID-15036 in the long-term stable schizophrenic patients with a single dose of perospirone at bedtime.

Early pancreatic development requires the vertebrate Suppressor of Hairless (RBPJ) in the PTF1 bHLH complex.

PTF1a is an unusual basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor that is required for the development of the pancreas. We show that early in pancreatic development, active PTF1a requires interaction with RBPJ, the vertebrate Suppressor of Hairless, within a stable trimeric DNA-binding complex (PTF1). Later, as acinar cell development begins, RBPJ is swapped for RBPJL, the constitutively active, pancreas-restricted paralog of RBPJ.

A possible association between missense polymorphism of the breakpoint cluster region gene and lithium prophylaxis in bipolar disorder.

Lithium is one of the most commonly used drugs for the treatment of bipolar disorder. To prescribe lithium appropriately to patients, predictors of response to this drug were explored, and several genetic markers are considered to be good candidates. We previously reported a significant association between genetic variations in the breakpoint cluster region (BCR) gene and bipolar disorder.

A survey on the referral of tuberculosis patients at the National Tuberculosis Institute, Yemen.

The study aims to determine whether the tuberculosis (TB) patients referred from the National Tuberculosis Institute (NTI), Sana'a City, actually present themselves, are registered and initiate treatment at the health facilities to which they are referred. In 2004, 591 smear-positive TB cases were diagnosed, 481 cases were referred back to health centres, 75 cases were registered at the NTI and 35 cases could not be retrieved. Among the 481 referred cases, 427 cases actually presented themselves and were registered at the health centres (88.

Randomized clinical trial of the effects of perioperative use of immune-enhancing enteral formula on metabolic and immunological status in patients undergoing esophagectomy.

Background: Although perioperative immune-enhancing enteral formula (IEEF) is effective to decrease the rate of infectious complications, it is not clear whether perioperative use of IEEF decreases the incidence of postoperative complications and improves clinical outcome in patients who have undergone esophagectomy. A prospective randomized clinical trial was performed to examine the effects of perioperative IEEF on nutritional and immunological status in patients with esophageal carcinoma who have been treated with esophagectomy.

Methods: A total of 30 patients were randomly assigned to two groups, each receiving 3 days of preoperative and postoperative enteral nutrition through jejunostomy started within 24 h after operation, either with immune-enhancing enteral formula (group IEEF, n = 16) or with regular polymeric enteral formula (group C, n = 14).

[Curved intertrochanteric varus osteotomy].

Curved intertrochanteric varus osteotomy is osteotomized between the lesser trochanter and the greater trochanter which is curved so as to place the femoral head in a varus position by rotating it in the coronal plane. After mean follow-up of 5.4 years of 57 joints, approximately 98% of joints were preserved and 90% of joints were protected from the progression of disease.

Effects of cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A4 inhibitors on the anxiolytic action of tandospirone in rat contextual conditioned fear.

The azapirone derivatives, including tandospirone and buspirone, are anxiolytics with 5-HT(1A) receptor agonistic action. Previous in vitro studies have suggested these azapirone derivatives are mainly metabolized by the cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A4 isoform. The purpose of this study was to clarify the effects CYP3A4 inhibitors have on the anxiolytic action of tandospirone in a conditioned fear stress rat model.

Superconductors: unusual oxygen isotope effects in cuprates?

The possibility that a pairing boson might act as the 'glue' to bind electrons into a Cooper pair in superconductors with a high critical temperature (T(c)) is being actively pursued in condensed-matter physics. Gweon et al. claim that there is a large and unusual oxygen-isotope effect on the electronic structure, indicating that phonons have a special importance in high-temperature superconductors.

T2-weighted MRI of rectosigmoid carcinoma: comparison of respiratory-triggered fast spin-echo, breathhold fast-recovery fast spin-echo, and breathhold single-shot fast spin-echo sequences.

Purpose: To compare the abilities of T2-weighted (T2W) imaging using respiratory-triggered fast spin-echo (RT-FSE), breathhold fast-recovery FSE (BH-FRFSE), and BH single-shot FSE (BH-SSFSE) sequences without an endorectal coil to detect rectosigmoid carcinomas.

Materials And Methods: Forty patients (stage: pT0, 1; pTis-2, 15; pT3-4, 24) were included in the study. All examinations were performed on a 1.

Childbirth and sexual activity after eccentric rotational acetabular osteotomy.

Pelvic osteotomy for symptomatic hip dysplasia usually is performed for young and adolescent females. Delivery after pelvic osteotomy is a concern for patients of childbearing age. We asked whether the clinical results differed before and after pregnancy, whether eccentric rotational acetabular osteotomy alters the bony birth canal, whether pelvic osteotomy impedes the ability to deliver vaginally, and whether sexual activity and quality of life improve if hip pain decreases after surgery.

Factors leading to osteoarthritis after eccentric rotational acetabular osteotomy.

Unlabelled: We performed eccentric rotational acetabular osteotomy consecutively in 273 hips in 248 patients with hip dysplasia. Twenty-one patients were male and 227 were female. The average age was 37.

Effects of valproate on serotonin-induced intracellular calcium mobilization in human platelets.

Objective: Valproate (VPA) is effectively used in the treatment of bipolar disorder, although the mechanism of action is unclear. In patients with bipolar disorder, 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)-induced intraplatelet calcium (Ca) mobilization has been shown to be enhanced.

Methods: We examined the effect of VPA on 5-HT-induced Ca response in the platelets of normal subjects, in the presence of a calmodulin antagonist W-7 (N-[6-aminohexyl]-5-chloro-1-naphthalenesulfonamide), a protein kinase C (PKC) activator phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) or PKC inhibitors staurosporine and bisindolylmaleimide II.

Growth dynamics of domains in ternary fluid vesicles.

We have studied the growth dynamics of domains on ternary fluid vesicles composed of saturated (dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine), unsaturated (dioleoylphosphatidylcholine) phosphatidylcholine lipids, and cholesterol using a fluorescence microscopy. The domain coarsening processes are classified into two types: normal coarsening and trapped coarsening. For the normal coarsening, the domains having flat circular shape grow in a diffusion-and-coalescence manner and phenomenologically the mean size grows as a power law of approximately t(2/3).

Bcl-XL antisense oligonucleotides coupled with antennapedia enhances radiation-induced apoptosis in pancreatic cancer.

Background: Pancreatic cancer is highly resistant to radiation and chemotherapy, and its resistance reflects the enhancement of apoptosis inhibitory genes, including Bcl-2 family. Antennapedia (pAnt) is capable of almost 100% internalization into cells through the lipid bilayer without any cytotoxic effect. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of the Bcl-XL antisense oligonucleotide for radiosensitivity of in vitro and in vivo pancreatic cancer using oligonucleotide conjugated with antennapedia.

Increasing postural sway in rural-community-dwelling elderly persons with knee osteoarthritis.

Background: The purpose of this study was to clarify the influence of pain and radiographic findings of osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee on postural stability in rural-community-dwelling elderly persons.

Methods: A total of 314 participants, consisting of 98 men and 216 women, aged 55 to 83 years, were investigated. Subjects were classified into four groups according to the symptoms and radiographic findings: Normal; Pain (pain without radiographic OA); Asymptomatic OA (radiographic OA without pain); Symptomatic OA (pain with radiographic OA).

Interplay of electron-lattice interactions and superconductivity in superconductivity in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+delta.

Formation of electron pairs is essential to superconductivity. For conventional superconductors, tunnelling spectroscopy has established that pairing is mediated by bosonic modes (phonons); a peak in the second derivative of tunnel current d2I/dV2 corresponds to each phonon mode. For high-transition-temperature (high-T(c)) superconductivity, however, no boson mediating electron pairing has been identified.

Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography: comparison of respiratory-triggered three-dimensional fast-recovery fast spin-echo with parallel imaging technique and breath-hold half-Fourier two-dimensional single-shot fast spin-echo technique.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) using respiratory-triggered (resp) three-dimensional Fourier transformation (3D) fast-recovery fast spin echo (FR-FSE) sequence with array spatial sensitivity technique (ASSET) for visualization of the pancreatobiliary system with breath-hold single thick-section and multiple thin-section MRCP using 2D single shot FSE (SSFSE) sequences.

Materials And Methods: Forty patients underwent MRCP for evaluation of pancreatobiliary abnormalities in a 1.5-T magnet.

Effects of long-term continuous use of immune-enhancing enteral formula on nutritional and immunologic status in non-surgical patients.

Objective: Although the perioperative use of immune-enhancing enteral formula (IEEF) effectively reduces the rate of infectious complications, whether chronic use of IEEF is beneficial is unknown. A prospective randomized clinical trial was performed to examine the safety and effectiveness of long-term IEEF on nutritional and immunologic status in non-surgical patients receiving total enteral nutrition through the gastrostomy access route.

Methods: A total of 30 patients were randomly assigned to two groups in which they received total enteral nutrition, an IEEF (n = 15) or a regular polymeric enteral formula (control group; n = 15) for 12 wk.

Long-term outcome of antidepressant-refractory depression: the relevance of unrecognized bipolarity.

Background: The long-term outcome of antidepressant-refractory depression is not well known. Therefore, the present study investigated the long-term outcome of 26 antidepressant-refractory patients with depression, whom we had studied and treated in 1995.

Methods: Before being classified as nonresponse, these patients had been treated adequately with at least two tricyclic or heterocyclic antidepressants (a minimum of the equivalent of 150 mg of imipramine for 4 weeks).

Involvement of a polymorphism in the 5-HT2A receptor gene in impulsive behavior.

Rationale And Objective: Impulsive behavior has been suggested to occur due to a dysfunction of serotonergic 5-HT neurotransmission. After evaluation by a self-reporting measure, a polymorphism in the promoter of the 5-HT2A receptor gene has been proposed to underlie the impulsive behavior; however, this hypothesis is not convincing. In this study, we examined whether this 5-HT2A receptor gene polymorphism is involved in impulsive aggression by evaluating a behavioral task (go/no-go task) in normal volunteers.

Orotate phosphoribosyltransferase levels measured by a newly established enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in gastric carcinoma.

A number of enzymes have been shown to be involved in the process of activation and/or degradation of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), and are potential candidates for predicting chemosensitivity to 5-FU. Among these, orotate phosphoribosyltransferase (OPRT EC 2.4.

Effect of carbamazepine on the single oral dose pharmacokinetics of perospirone and its active metabolite.

Perospirone is a serotonin 5-HT(2A) and dopamine D(2) receptor antagonist which originated in Japan. It has been shown that perospirone is metabolized to ID-15036 mainly by CYP3A4 based on an in vitro study. To investigate the metabolism of perospirone in humans, the authors measured the concentration of perospirone and ID-15036 after a single oral dose of perospirone (8 mg) in 10 healthy male subjects, before and during coadministration of carbamazepine, known as a potent inducer of CYP3A4.