Trauma, depression, and resilience of earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster survivors of Hirono, Fukushima, Japan.

Aim: A mega-earthquake and tsunami struck the northeastern coast of Japan, and many survivors were forced to evacuate to temporary housing due to rising radiation levels. The aims of this study were to investigate the prevalence of symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and poor general health among survivors, to test the predictive roles of resilience on mental and physical health, and to examine the predictive sociodemographic factors on resilience.

Methods: Two hundred and forty-one evacuees (men/women: 116/125) from Hirono, Fukushima participated in the study.

Genetic analysis of essential cardiac transcription factors in 256 patients with non-syndromic congenital heart defects.

Background: The genetic basis of most congenital heart defects (CHDs), especially non-syndromic and non-familial conditions, remains largely unknown.

Methods And Results: DNA samples were collected from immortalized cell lines and original genomes of 256 non-syndromic, non-familial patients with cardiac outflow tract (OFT) defects. Genes encoding NKX2.

GATA6 mutations cause human cardiac outflow tract defects by disrupting semaphorin-plexin signaling.

Congenital heart diseases (CHD) occur in nearly 1% of all live births and are the major cause of infant mortality and morbidity. Although an improved understanding of the genetic causes of CHD would provide insight into the underlying pathobiology, the genetic etiology of most CHD remains unknown. Here we show that mutations in the gene encoding the transcription factor GATA6 cause CHD characteristic of a severe form of cardiac outflow tract (OFT) defect, namely persistent truncus arteriosus (PTA).

Diffusion-weighted imaging in ischemic stroke: effect of display method on observers' diagnostic performance.

Rationale And Objectives: When evaluating ischemic stroke on diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI), the display method has not been investigated. The purpose of this study was to determine whether standardization of the display method for DWI affects observers' diagnostic performance in detecting ischemic stroke on DWI.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-six observers evaluated 40 DWI studies in 20 patients with acute (< 6 hours) middle cerebral arterial strokes and 20 controls for the presence of hyperintense lesions in 10 areas using the Alberta Stroke Programme Early CT Score (ASPECTS) system and one area in the corona radiata using a modified version of the ASPECTS system (ASPECTS-DWI).

Determination of normal ranges of mitochondrial respiratory activities by mtDNA transfer from 54 Human subjects to mtDNA-less HeLa cells for identification of the pathogenicities of mutated mtDNAs.

To determine the pathogenicities of mutated mtDNAs in patients with respiration defects, the possible involvement of nuclear DNA mutations has to be excluded, since respiratory function is controlled by both nuclear DNA and mtDNA. This was achieved by showing that the mutated mtDNAs and respiration defects were co-transferred from patients to mtDNA-less human cells, and the resultant cybrid clones carrying mutated mtDNAs expressed respiration defects. To decide whether the cybrid clones expressed respiration defects, in this study the lowest limits of normal respiratory function were evaluated by transfer of mtDNAs from 54 normal subjects to mtDNA-less HeLa cells.

[Shrinkage of carotid plaque in a patient with transient ischemic attack].

A 65-year-old man visited to our hospital, because he felt dull pain on the right side of the neck and had transient weakness of the left hand repeatedly. Carotid ultrasonography revealed a large plaque with severe stenosis and ulceration at the bifurcation of right common carotid artery. The plaque was mostly hypoechoic and only the basal part was hyperechoic.

Reduction of food intake following X-ray irradiation of rats--involvement of visceral afferent nerves.

Radiotherapy for malignant tumours often elicits anorexia or loss of appetite as an adverse effect. However, the mechanism for this is poorly understood. The present study was undertaken to investigate if visceral afferents are responsible for reduction of food intake following X-ray irradiation.