Publications by authors named "Ruriko Mochizuki"
Writing Impairments in Japanese Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment and with Mild Alzheimer's Disease.
Dement Geriatr Cogn Dis Extra
October 2015
Background/aims: We investigated writing abilities in patients with the amnestic type of mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and mild Alzheimer's disease (AD). To examine the earliest changes in writing function, we used writing tests for both words and sentences with different types of Japanese characters (Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji).
Methods: A total of 25 aMCI patients, 38 AD patients, and 22 healthy controls performed writing to dictation for Kana and Kanji words, copied Kanji words, and wrote in response to a picture story task.
Article Synopsis
- Mild Alzheimer's disease patients generally retain language skills, but their writing abilities show significant impairment, especially when it comes to dictating Kanji words.
- A study involving 52 Japanese patients with mild AD and 22 controls used brain imaging (SPECT) to analyze the relationship between writing performance and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF).
- Findings indicated that non-response errors were the most common type of writing error, and these errors negatively correlated with rCBF in specific brain regions, suggesting that difficulty in recalling Kanji is linked to reduced cortical activity in the left frontal, parietal, and temporal areas in early Alzheimer's disease.
An Escherichia coli mutant, LL103, harboring a mutation (Ser15 to Phe) in ribosomal protein L7/L12 was isolated among revertants of a streptomycin-dependent strain. In the crystal structure of the L7/L12 dimer, residue 15 within the N-terminal domain contacts the C-terminal domain of the partner monomer. We tested effects of the mutation on molecular assembly by biochemical approaches.
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