Transcranial bypass for spontaneous intracranial carotid artery dissection--a case report.

A case of spontaneous intracranial artery dissection (IAD) of the anterior circulation is reported. A 32-year-old man developed left hemiparesis with headache. Angiographies (AGs) showed progressive occlusion of the distal end of the right internal carotid artery.

Migraine with aura-like headache associated with moyamoya disease.

A 49-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital because of severe headache. She had a 10-month history of migraine with aura-like headache that occurred every 7 to 10 days and was preceded by photopsia. Brain CT showed cerebral infarction of the left occipital lobe.

[Meningioma associated with acute subdural hematoma: a case report].

We present a case of meningioma associated with acute subdural hematoma. This 67-year-old male had a sudden onset of severe headache when he was on the train. He had a CT scan which revealed an acute subdural hematoma at the left parietal convex.

[Valproate induced parkinsonism].

Among side effects due to sodium valproate (VPA) administration, parkinsonism is very rare. We report here three cases of VPA induced parkinsonism. Case 1 (75 year-old-woman) developed parkinsonism (rigidity, akinesia, postural instability) 41 month after the VPA administration (800 mg/day).

Internal carotid-posterior communicating artery aneurysm manifesting as an unusual ocular motor paresis after minor head trauma--case report.

A 75-year-old female fell down in the road and hit her head. Two days later her right eye abduction was slightly limited on right lateral gaze. Cerebral angiography revealed an ipsilateral internal carotid-posterior communicating artery aneurysm.

Developmental studies of dystrophin and other cytoskeletal proteins in cultured muscle cells.

We studied the developmental changes of localization of dystrophin and other cytoskeletal proteins, especially actin, spectrin and dystrophin related protein (DRP) using immunocytochemistry and quick-freezing and deep-etching (QF-DE) method. In developmental studies of mouse and human muscle cultures, some myoblasts had positive-reactions to spectrin, DRP, and F-actin, but not dystrophin. In aneurally cultured myotubes, dystrophin, DRP, and spectrin were localized diffusely in the cytoplasm and later in discontinuous patterns on the plasma membrane, when myotubes became mature.

Mutism developing after bilateral thalamo-capsular lesions by neuro-Behçet disease.

We described a 44-year old right-handed man showing mutism, left hemiplegia and pseudobulbar palsy after CT and MRI documented bilateral thalamo-capsular lesions by neuro-Behçet disease. Single photon emission tomography (SPECT) and Xenon CT revealed hypoperfusion of the bilateral frontal lobes. The pathophysiological mechanism of mutism was discussed and we postulate that mutism might occur as the result of frontal lobe dysfunction due to the disconnection of thalamocortical fiber from thalamus to frontal cortex and that it could be interpreted as an incomplete form of akinetic mutism.

Developmental studies of the expression of myosin heavy chain isoforms in cultured human muscle aneurally and innervated with fetal rat spinal cord.

To study the influence of innervation of human muscle fiber type differentiation, we performed immunohistochemical studies using three monoclonal antibodies (McAbs) to myosin heavy chain (MHC) on cultured human muscles at different developmental stages. McAbs QM 355 (McAb-1), E 35-3 (McAb-2) and SM 1-11-2 (McAb-3) bound to fiber types I, IIA, IIB and IIC, types IIA, IIB and IIC, and type I, respectively. At the mononucleated cell stage the majority was immunonegative to the three McAbs; however, a few myoblasts were immunopositive to the McAb-1.

Immunocytochemical study of dystrophin in cultured mouse muscle cells by the quick-freezing and deep-etching method.

Dystrophin, the protein product of the Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) gene, is deficient in patients with DMD and in mdx mice. It is immunocytochemically localized in skeletal muscle sarcolemma. However, little is known about the three-dimensional ultrastructural localization of dystrophin and its relationship with other cytoskeletal proteins.

The influence of muscle contractile activity versus neural factors on morphologic properties of innervated cultured human muscle.

In contrast to aneurally cultured human muscle, which is immature in regard to its morphologic phenotype and only rarely and weakly contracts spontaneously, innervated cultured human muscle fibres have: (1) nearly continuous, d-tubocurarine-inhibitable contractions; (2) well-developed cross-striations, basal lamina, t-tubules, and postsynaptic folds of the neuromuscular junctions; (3) the majority of their nuclei peripheralized; and (4) acetylcholinesterase-positive sites present only at the neuromuscular junctions. To see whether the expression of the muscle morphologic phenotype is induced only by neural factors generated from the spinal cord explants or also by their frequent contractile activity, we paralyzed innervated cultured human muscle fibres with 2 microM tetrodotoxin for four weeks, either from the first day of muscle contractions or following four weeks of muscle contractions. In both experimental designs, by light microscopy tetrodotoxin paralysis abolished cross-striations and caused prominent internalization of muscle nuclei; however, it did not influence the intensity of acetylcholinesterase staining at the neuromuscular junctions.

Glucocorticoid increases acetylcholinesterase and organization of the postsynaptic membrane in innervated cultured human muscle.

We have studied the influence of hydrocortisone (HC) on the neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) established on cultured human muscle fibers that had been innervated by fetal rat spinal cord neurons. Treatment with HC was begun 4 weeks after innervation and continued for 1-28 days. Four weeks of treatment significantly increased (a) size of acetylcholinesterase (AChE)-positive sites, indicative of NMJs; (b) intensity of AChE staining; (c) A12-AChE (junctional) molecular fraction; and (d) organization of junctional postsynaptic folds.

Developmental study of the expression of dystrophin in cultured human muscle aneurally and innervated with fetal rat spinal cord.

So far there have been no developmental studies including the influences of innervation and contractile activity on the expression of dystrophin in cultured human muscle. We performed immunocytochemical studies of the localization of dystrophin on aneurally cultured non-contracting (AMs) and innervated continuously contracting cross-striated human muscle fibers (ICMs) with fetal rat spinal cord from normal and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) biopsied muscles. In normal AMs, myoblasts and some immature AMs showed negative staining of dystrophin, but many AMs had a patchy (discontinuous) distribution of dystrophin in the subplasmalemmal region and with some granularity near the sarcolemma and in the deeper cytoplasm.