A Case of Acute Epidural Hematoma Caused by Mandibular Fossa Fracture.

Acute epidural hematoma is one of the most serious traumatic conditions in neurosurgery, for which emergency surgery may be indicated. Injury to the middle meningeal artery (MMA) is generally the cause of hemorrhage, often accompanied by convexity fractures resulting from head trauma. However, an epidural hematoma by a contusion of the jaw is very rare.

Development of literacy skills for Japanese deaf and hard-of-hearing children.

We compared the reading development of 77 deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) Japanese children, aged 5-7 (40 females), with 139 of their hearing peers (74 females) in 2018. We assessed each group's phonological awareness (PA), grammar, vocabulary, and reading of hiragana (Japanese orthography children learn first). DHH children showed significant delays in grammar and vocabulary but only a slight delay in PA.

Epidemiological study of oral allergy syndrome in birch pollen dispersal-free regions.

Background: Oral allergy syndrome (OAS) is an immediate allergy caused by a cross-reaction of highly homologous common antigens (pan-allergens) contained in fruits/vegetables and pollen.

Methods: A questionnaire was provided to 6824 outpatient visitors and serum levels of specific IgEs against crude antigens and pan-allergen components were measured to study the relationship between the prevalence of OAS and pollinosis in the Fukui Prefecture where there is almost no dispersal of birch pollen.

Results: The prevalence of OAS was 10.

Vision-assisted micromanipulation using closed-loop actuation of multiple microrobots.

Accurate control and precise positioning of opto-thermocapillary flow-addressed bubble microrobots are necessary for micromanipulation. In addition, micromanipulation using the simultaneous actuation of multiple microrobots requires a robust control system to enable independent motion. This paper demonstrates a hybrid closed-loop vision-assisted control system capable of actuating multiple microrobots simultaneously and positioning them at precise locations relative to micro-objects under manipulation.

Vocabulary and Grammar Differences Between Deaf and Hearing Students.

The present study investigated the development of literacy skills of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children in Japan. The three components of literacy, vocabulary, orthographic knowledge, and grammatical knowledge were assessed by using the subtests of the Adaptive Tests for Language Abilities (ATLAN), based on the item response theory developed by the authors). The participants consisted of 207 DHH children (first through twelfth grades) in Study 1, and 425 hearing children (first through sixth grades) in Study 2.

[Abilities needed by Japanese children to write kanji: Development of the ATLAN Kakitori subtest].

In the present study, we newly developed a kanji writing subtest of ATLAN (Adaptive Tests for Language Abilities), which is based on item response theory (Takahashi & Nakamura, 2009; Takahashi, Otomo, & Nakamura, 2012) and can be administered via the Internet. In Study 1, we evaluated two parameters, difficulty and discrimination, of 244 kanji characters based on the results of 1,306 children from 2nd to 9th grade. In Study 2, we analyzed kanji reading and writing subtests of 283 children from 3rd to 6th grade, including their error patterns and stroke order while writing kanji.

Long-term sublingual immunotherapy for Japanese cedar pollinosis and the levels of IL-17A and complement components 3a and 5a.

Allergen-specific immunotherapy is the only treatment that can alter the natural course of allergic disease. We performed long-term sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) for patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis caused by Japanese cedar pollen (SAR-JCP), screened molecules as candidate biomarkers, and investigated serum IL-17A and complement components 3a (C3a) and C5a in order to evaluate whether these molecules show changes correlated to symptom scores. In this study, we found that the long-term SLIT reduced the serum levels of IL-17A and C3a and C5a.

Interdigitated craniotomy: a simple technique to fix a bone flap with only a single plate.

In pterional craniotomy, fixation plates cause artifacts on postoperative radiological images; furthermore, they often disfigure the scalp in hairless areas. The authors describe a simple technique to fix a cranial bone flap with only a single plate underneath the temporalis muscle in an area with hair, rather than using a plate in a hairless area. The key to this technique is to cut the anterior site of the bone flap at alternate angles on the cut surface.

Subarachnoid hemorrhage in a patient with a meningioma and an unruptured aneurysm.

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is usually elicited by cerebrovascular disease and infrequently by brain tumors. A 64-year-old woman presented with SAH with a left petrous meningioma and an unruptured left internal carotid-posterior communicating artery (IC-PcomA) aneurysm. She suffered sudden onset of headache and nausea followed by consciousness disturbance 7 days after onset.

Japanese children's understanding of notational systems.

This study examined Japanese children's understanding of two Japanese notational systems: hiragana and kanji. In three experiments, 126 3- to 6-year-olds were asked to name words written in hiragana or kanji as they appeared with different pictures. Consistent with Bialystok (Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2000, Vol.

Clinical expression in Pfeiffer syndrome type 2 and 3: surveillance in Japan.

Pfeiffer syndrome (PS) is a classic type of craniosynostosis syndrome. Severe cases usually require emergency care at birth. However, early diagnosis is often precluded by the rarity and consequent low awareness of this disease.

Predisposition to subdural hemorrhage in X-linked myotubular myopathy.

X-linked myotubular myopathy is a severe congenital myopathy that can involve multiple organs. We report on a 10-month-old boy who manifested X-linked myotubular myopathy with subdural hemorrhage. The diagnosis of X-linked myotubular myopathy was based on typical muscle pathology and MTM1 missense mutation.

Improving circulatory disturbance in transient abnormal myelopoiesis.

Transient abnormal myelopoiesis (TAM) in neonates with Down syndrome (DS) is characterized by circulating blast cells in the blood. TAM usually resolves spontaneously, but several studies have associated this condition with early death, focusing on the development of effective treatments. We report the case of a neonate with DS who had TAM and novel GATA1 mutation.

Interleukin-19 downregulates interleukin-4-induced eotaxin production in human nasal fibroblasts.

Background: Interleukin-19 (IL-19), a member of the IL-10 family, is characterized as the cytokine suppressing the release and function of several proinflammatory cytokines. For regulation of local reaction in allergic rhinitis (AR), IL-19 might play an especially important role.

Methods: We examined effects of IL-19 on IL-4-induced eotaxin production by human nasal fibroblasts.

Age-related clinical characteristics of isolated congenital unilateral absence of a pulmonary artery.

Unilateral absence of a pulmonary artery (UAPA) is a rare anomaly. Although UAPA has been reported previously, its age-related pathogenesis and symptoms remain unclear. This retrospective cohort study included cases of UAPA reported in Japan at medical meetings or in the literature from 1990 through 2009.

Apolipoprotein A-IV is a candidate target molecule for the treatment of seasonal allergic rhinitis.

Background: Allergic rhinitis is a global health problem that causes major illnesses and disability worldwide. Allergen-specific immunotherapy (SIT) is the only available treatment that can alter the natural course of allergic disease. However, the precise mechanism underlying allergen-SIT is not well understood.

Suppression of histone deacetylase 3 (HDAC3) enhances apoptosis induced by paclitaxel in human maxillary cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.

Inclusion of chemotherapeutic drugs in treatment of patients with newly diagnosed head and neck cancer has improved response rates and prolonged median survival. Nevertheless, most patients with advanced head and neck cancer are destined to relapse and to develop resistance to initially used drugs such as paclitaxel. Consequently, it has been more important in cancer therapy to determine the molecular mechanisms that are related to cell-killing effects of anti-cancer agents or cancer resistance against them.

Poly(I:C) induces BLyS-expression of airway fibroblasts through phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase.

B lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS), B cell activating factor (BAFF), a member of the tumor necrosis factor ligand superfamily has potent co-stimulatory activity on B cells, and BLyS-production in the airway mucosa is of potential importance as it triggers innate and adaptive immune responses. To investigate whether airway fibroblast could express BLyS, we examined BLyS-expression in human nasal airway fibroblasts and compared to its expression in tonsillar and skin fibroblasts as well as the effect of the Toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands on that in human nasal airway fibroblasts. The expression of BLyS by nasal fibroblasts in the presence of polyinocinic-polycytidykic acid (poly(I:C)) was markedly induced, to a level of more than 100 times higher than that observed in the absence of poly(I:C).

Lipopolysaccharides increase the amount of CXCR4, and modulate the morphology and invasive activity of oral cancer cells in a CXCL12-dependent manner.

Recently, it has been reported that bacterial infections play an important role in the development of cancers of the upper aero digestive tract. To examine the influence of bacterial infections on oral cancer, human oral carcinoma T3M-1 cells were treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for 24 h as a model of infection. The LPS treatment increased the mRNA expression of CXCR4 and invasiveness in T3M-1 cells stimulated with CXCL12.

Osteochondroma of the sella turcica presenting with intratumoral hemorrhage.

A 29-year-old man presented with a primary sellar turcica osteochondroma manifesting as intratumoral hemorrhage mimicking pituitary apoplexy. The patient suffered sudden onset of headache concomitant with vision loss in the left eye. Radiography and computed tomography detected destruction and calcification of the sellar turcica.

Multiple isolated sinus dural arteriovenous fistulas associated with antithrombin III deficiency--case report--.

A 55-year-old man presented with a rare case of multiple isolated sinus dural arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) associated with antithrombin (AT) III deficiency manifesting as sudden onset of headache and gait disturbance. Increased arterial shunting flow had caused intraventricular hemorrhage after incomplete repeated transarterial embolization procedures for dural AVFs. Multiple isolated sinus dural AVFs were located in the anterior superior sagittal sinus (SSS) and transverse sinus, which were completely embolized by direct packing of the isolated sinuses via the SSS.

The feasibility of tissue Doppler acceleration as a new predictor of thrombogenesis in the left atrial appendage associated with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation.

Background: Tissue acceleration utilizing the tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) technique is a new marker of ventricular contraction. We evaluated whether the left atrial appendage (LAA) wall acceleration was associated with thrombosis in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF).

Methods: Seven NVAF patients with thromboembolism (TE), eight without TE, and eight with normal sinus rhythm (NSR) were studied using transesophageal echocardiography.

[A case of the lateral ventricle lesion mimicking arachnoid cyst treated by neuroendoscopic surgery].

A 12-year-old female suffered from intermittent headache with nausea. Neuroradiologic studies demonstrated a cystic lesion in the right trigone with content like cerebrospinal fluid. The right inferior horn was isolated and increased in size.