A trial to measure local lung volume changes during respiration with CT.

Purpose: To evaluate changes in volume and the CT attenuation value of the pulmonary lobes and peripheral small lung tissue at full inspiration and expiration.

Materials And Methods: We designated (1000+CT insp)/(1000+CT exp)(1000+CT insp)/(1000+CT exp) as CT volume ratio, a new parameter to represent volume changes in lung tissue, and V insp/V exp as actual volume ratio: CT insp, exp: CT attenuation value of measured lung at inspiration and expiration; V insp, exp: actual lung volume measured with CT at inspiration and expiration. Ten normal healthy volunteers were investigated with 5 mm collimation CT in the supine position.

Tryptophan-immobilized column-based immunoadsorption as the choice method for plasmapheresis in Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Plasmapheresis is widely performed as treatment for patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) in the acute phase. As tryptophan-immobilized column-based immunoadsorption (Tr-IA) is a safer method than either double-filtration plasmapheresis (DFPP) or plasma exchange (PE), we investigated whether or not Tr-IA is as effective as other methods, and should be selected as the procedure of choice in patients with GBS. We retrospectively compared clinical outcomes, using Hughes grading, in GBS patients treated with Tr-IA, DFPP or PE.

Serotonin 2C receptor gene Cys23Ser polymorphism: a candidate genetic risk factor of migraine with aura in Japanese population.

Objectives: The goal of this study is to clarify the association between migraine and Serotonin 2C receptor Cys23Ser polymorphism in Japanese population.

Materials And Method: This study included 37 individuals with migraine with aura (MWA), 80 with migraine without aura, 43 with tension type headache (TH) and 360 with controls. The genotypes of Cys23Ser polymorphism were confirmed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism techniques.

Eletriptan for the acute treatment of migraine: results of bridging a Japanese study to Western clinical trials.

Objective: To compare the efficacy, safety and tolerability of eletriptan (20, 40 and 80 mg) to placebo when given to Japanese and Western patients for the acute treatment of migraine.

Methods: A double-blind, randomized, parallel-group trial with the aforementioned therapeutic objectives was conducted in Japan (N = 321). By bridging analysis, data from this study were compared to two migraine trials previously conducted in the US (N = 1190) and Europe (N = 563).

Slowly progressive spread of the stroke-like lesions in MELAS.

Background: Little is known about temporal and spatial progression of the stroke-like lesion during the acute stage of the stroke-like episode in patients with mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes (MELAS).

Methods: In four stroke-like episodes of MELAS observed in three patients, MRI, EEG, and SPECT were studied consecutively within the first month of the onset.

Results: The first presenting symptoms were headache in all four stroke-like episodes, followed by hemianopsia, psychosis, and aphasia.

Inquest results on the aged: comparison between Mie Prefecture and three Medical Examiners' Offices in Japan.

In Japan, the medical examiner system was enforced only in three large cities, Tokyo metropolitan, Osaka and Kobe Cities. In other areas without this system, autopsy rates are much lower than in the areas with the system. Since the population of the aged (>/=65 years old) has been increasing recently, the subjects for medicolegal investigations seem to be also increasing.

Essential role of the cryptic epitope SLAYGLR within osteopontin in a murine model of rheumatoid arthritis.

It has been shown that osteopontin (OPN) plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, the molecular mechanism of OPN action is yet to be elucidated. Splenic monocytes obtained from arthritic mice exhibited a significant capacity for cell migration toward thrombin-cleaved OPN but not toward full-length OPN.

Detection of serum anti-ganglioside antibodies by latex agglutination assay in Guillain-Barré syndrome: comparison with ELISA.

Objective: Rapid detection of serum anti-ganglioside antibodies in Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) could facilitate early diagnosis and early initiation of treatment, which might shorten the term of illness and reduce sequelae. We examined serum anti-ganglioside antibodies in patients with GBS using the latex agglutination assay developed by Alaedini and Latov (J Immunoassay 21: 377-386, 2000) with some modifications.

Materials And Methods: We used 75 sera from GBS patients, which exhibited IgG anti-GM1, GD1b, or GQ1b, or IgM anti-GM2 antibodies on previous enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

Glutathione S-transferase polymorphisms: susceptibility to migraine without aura.

Migraine is considered to be a polygenic multifactorial disease with various environmental and genetic etiologies. We investigated glutathione S-transferase (GST) P1 Ile(105)Val, T1 and M1 polymorphisms in 174 Japanese headache sufferers and 372 Japanese controls. The headache group consisted of 38 cases of migraine with aura, 95 migraine without aura (MWOA) and 41 tension-type headache sufferers.

FR235222, a fungal metabolite, is a novel immunosuppressant that inhibits mammalian histone deacetylase (HDAC) II. Biological activities in animal models.

FR235222, a novel immunosuppressant which possesses potent inhibitory effects on the activity of mammalian histone deacetylases (HDACs), has been isolated from the fermentation broth of a fungus, Acremonium sp. No. 27082.

Reliability and validity of the Japanese Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS) Questionnaire.

Objective: This study was designed to assess the test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and validity of a Japanese translation of the Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS) Questionnaire in a sample of Japanese patients with headache.

Background: Previous studies have demonstrated that the English-language version of the MIDAS Questionnaire is a reliable and valid instrument for the assessment of migraine-related disability. Any translations of the MIDAS Questionnaire must also be assessed for reliability and validity.

Enhancement of growth by expression of poplar cellulase in Arabidopsis thaliana.

To study the role of cellulose and cellulase in plant growth, we expressed poplar cellulase (PaPopCel1) constitutively in Arabidopsis thaliana. Expression increased the size of the rosettes due to increased cell size. The change in growth was accompanied by changes in biomechanical properties due to cell wall structure indicative of decrease in xyloglucan cross-linked with cellulose microfibrils by chemical analysis and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra.

The role of PopCel1 and PopCel2 in poplar leaf growth and cellulose biosynthesis.

Poplar calli transcribed two cellulase (endo-1,4-beta-glucanase) genes, PopCel1 and PopCel2, whose mRNAs were differentially located in the growing leaves of poplar during cell wall synthesis. Histochemical and RT-PCR analyses of promoter-GUS fusion gene activities in transgenic poplar demonstrated that PopCel1 promoter-derived GUS activity was localized in the petiole and leaf veins, whereas PopCel2 was confined to mesophyll cells and disappeared from the tip during the development of leaves. Autoradiography of the leaf showed that the radioactivity of [14C]sucrose incorporated into cellulose corresponded to the combination of the sucrose-induced tissue-specific patterns of PopCel1 and PopCel2.

[Cerebrovascular accidents with familial antithrombin III deficiency--gene analysis study].

We report two cases of the cerebral infarction with familial antithrombin III type I deficiency. Case 1 is a 47-year-old woman presenting deep cerebral vein thrombosis. Case 2 is a 20-year-old man presenting the top of the basilar syndrome.

Neuronal hyperexcitability in stroke-like episodes of MELAS syndrome.

Background: The pathogenesis of stroke-like episodes in patients with mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) remains unknown.

Methods: Fourteen stroke-like episodes in six patients with MELAS were studied using clinical, neuroradiologic, and electrophysiologic approaches. In two patients postmortem examination was done.

Molecular cloning of DAX1 and SHP cDNAs and their expression patterns in the Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus.

Piscine DAX1 and SHP cDNAs with an open reading frame encoding 296 and 258 amino acid residues, respectively, as well as SHP partial gene fragment, were cloned from Nile tilapia. Phylogenetic analyses of DAX1s, SHPs, and homologous EST fragments indicate that DAX1 and SHP are conserved in gene structure and are present throughout vertebrates. A single band of approximately 1.

Helical CT features of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy.

Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC), also known as arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, is a disorder of the heart muscle of unknown origin. It is characterized by electrical instability of the heart as a result of replacement of the right ventricular myocardium with fatty or fibrous fatty tissue. Dilatation of the right ventricle; fatty tissue in conspicuous trabeculae of the right ventricle, especially in the anterior wall, apex, and inferior (diaphragmatic) wall; and a scalloped appearance (bulging) of the right ventricular wall are characteristic findings at helical computed tomography (CT) that may be used to diagnose ARVC.

[Neurosarcoidosis].

Sarcoidosis is a chronic systemic disease of unknown causes characterized by noncauseating granuloma in various organs. Neurological involvement occurs in 5-6% of patients with sarcoidosis. Most patients with neurosarcoidosis have extraneurologic abnormalities and extraneurologic biopsies usually support the diagnosis, however, nearly half of the patients with neurosarcoidosis present with neurological manifestations without systemic symptoms.

Evidence against strong correlation between chest symptoms and ischemic coronary changes after subcutaneous sumatriptan injection.

Objective: To evaluate the adverse events possibly caused by sumatriptan injection and explore the relationship between chest symptoms along with sumatriptan injection and coronary ischemia among Japanese patients with migraine.

Methods: A cumulative total of 112 subcutaneous injections in 62 patients were evaluated. ECG was continuously monitored before and until 5 minutes after injection on 92 occasions.