A Case of Trigeminal Neuralgia in an Adult Patient With Lambdoid Synostosis.

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is characterized by sudden, brief intense pain in the distribution of the unilateral trigeminal nerve (TGN). Neurovascular compression (NVC) of the TGN is the most common cause of TN. Recent studies have suggested that a structural anomaly of the posterior cranial fossa might be involved in the development of TN, and several studies have documented the association between NVC-related TN and congenital posterior cranial deformities in adults.

Effect of cerebrospinal fluid drainage pressure in descending and thoracoabdominal aortic repair: a prospective multicenter observational study.

Purpose: Cerebrospinal fluid drainage (CSFD) is recommended during open or endovascular thoracic aortic repair. However, the incidence of CSFD complications is still high. Recently, CSF pressure has been kept high to avoid complications, but the efficacy of CSFD at higher pressures has not been confirmed.

pH-Sensitive Oscillatory Motion of a Urease Motor on the Urea Aqueous Phase.

A self-propelled object coupled with an enzyme reaction between urease and urea was investigated at the air/aqueous interface. A plastic object that was fixed to a urease-immobilized filter paper was used as a self-propelled object, termed a urease motor, placed on an aqueous urea solution. The driving force of the urease motor is the difference in the surface tension around the object.

Mass Spectrometric Characterization of Histone H3 Isolated from Reconstituted and Acetylated Nucleosome Core Particle.

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) of histone N-terminal tails in nucleosome core particle (NCP), such as acetylation, play crucial roles in regulating gene expression. To unveil the regulation mechanism, atomic-level structural analysis of modified NCP is effective with verifying the PTMs of histones. So far, identification of PTMs of NCP originating from living cells has mainly been performed using mass spectrometry (MS) techniques, such as bottom-up approach.

Cerebrospinal fluid drainage to prevent postoperative spinal cord injury in thoracic aortic repair.

Background: Cerebrospinal fluid drainage (CSFD) is recommended as a spinal cord protective strategy in open and endovascular thoracic aortic repair. Although small studies support the use of CSFD, systematic reviews have not suggested definite conclusion and a large-scale study is needed. Therefore, we reviewed medical records of patients who had undergone descending and thoracoabdominal aortic repair (both open and endovascular repair) at multiple institutions to assess the association between CSFD and postoperative motor deficits.

A practical guide for anesthetic management during intraoperative motor evoked potential monitoring.

Postoperative motor dysfunction can develop after spinal surgery, neurosurgery and aortic surgery, in which there is a risk of injury of motor pathway. In order to prevent such devastating complication, intraoperative monitoring of motor evoked potentials (MEP) has been conducted. However, to prevent postoperative motor dysfunction, proper understanding of MEP monitoring and proper anesthetic managements are required.

Interfacial Dynamics in the Spontaneous Motion of an Aqueous Droplet.

Self-propelled droplets can spontaneously move using chemical energy. In several reports of self-propelled droplets, interfacial chemical reactions occur at the oil/aqueous interface to induce the Marangoni flow. While the dynamics of interfacial tension is essential to the droplet motion, there are few reports that quantitatively discuss the moving mechanism based on interfacial tension measurements.

Association Between Motor-Evoked Potentials and Spinal Cord Damage Diagnosed With Magnetic Resonance Imaging After Thoracoabdominal and Descending Aortic Aneurysm Repair.

Objectives: The authors investigated the association between intraoperative motor-evoked potential (MEP) changes and the severity of spinal cord infarction diagnosed with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to clarify the discrepancy between them, which was observed in patients with postoperative motor deficits after thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic surgery.

Design: A multicenter retrospective study.

Setting: Motor-evoked potential <25% of control values was deemed positive for spinal cord ischemia.

Analysis of a lectin microarray identifies altered sialylation of mouse serum glycoproteins induced by whole-body radiation exposure.

Microarrays containing 45 different lectins were analyzed to identify global changes in the glycosylation of serum glycoproteins from mice exposed to whole-body γ-radiation. The results showed that radiation exposure increased and decreased the relative amounts of α-2,3- and α-2,6-sialic acids, respectively. The expression of α-2,3- and α-2,6-sialyltransferase genes in the liver was analyzed to determine whether changes in their expression were responsible for the sialic acid changes.

3-Hydroxy-2-Nitrobenzoic Acid as a MALDI Matrix for In-Source Decay and Evaluation of the Isomers.

In in-source decay (ISD) in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI)-mass spectrometry (MS), 1,5-diaminonaphthalene (1,5-DAN) is a most frequently used matrix probably due to the highly sensitive detection of fragment ions. 1,5-DAN is a reducing matrix generating c- and z-series ions by N-Cα bond cleavage. However, it is difficult for reducing matrices to distinguish leucine and isoleucine, and generate c-series ions owing to proline (Pro) at residues n.

Clinical Utility of Intraoperative Motor-Evoked Potential Monitoring to Prevent Postoperative Spinal Cord Injury in Thoracic and Thoracoabdominal Aneurysm Repair: An Audit of the Japanese Association of Spinal Cord Protection in Aortic Surgery Database.

Background: Spinal cord ischemic injury is the most devastating sequela of descending and thoracoabdominal aortic surgery. Motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) have been used to intraoperatively assess motor tract function, but it remains unclear whether MEP monitoring can decrease the incidence of postoperative motor deficits. Therefore, we reviewed multicenter medical records of patients who had undergone descending and thoracoabdominal aortic repair (both open surgery and endovascular repair) to assess the association of MEP monitoring with postoperative motor deficits.

Phosphorylation of epidermal growth factor receptor at serine 1047 in cultured lung alveolar epithelial cells by bradykinin B2 receptor stimulation.

Accumulating evidence indicates that epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is desensitized by phosphorylation of serine 1047 (Ser1047). We and other groups have reported that stimulation of a receptor of tumor-necrosis factor α (TNFα) and Toll-like receptor 5 (TLR5) induced the phosphorylation of Ser1047 through activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) in cultured lung alveolar epithelial A549 cells. However, phosphorylation of EGFR at Ser1047 by stimulation of any G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) has not been reported in any cultured cells.

The Flux of Euglena gracilis Cells Depends on the Gradient of Light Intensity.

We have quantified the photomovement behavior of a suspension of Euglena gracilis representing a behavioral response to a light gradient. Despite recent measurements of phototaxis and photophobicity, the details of macroscopic behavior of cell photomovements under conditions of light intensity gradients, which are critical to understand recent experiments on spatially localized bioconvection patterns, have not been fully understood. In this paper, the flux of cell number density under a light intensity gradient was measured by the following two experiments.

Metabolomic screening using ESI-FT MS identifies potential radiation-responsive molecules in mouse urine.

The demand for establishment of high-throughput biodosimetric methods is increasing. Our aim in this study was to identify low-molecular-weight urinary radiation-responsive molecules using electrospray ionization Fourier transform mass spectrometry (ESI-FT MS), and our final goal was to develop a sensitive biodosimetry technique that can be applied in the early triage of a radiation emergency medical system. We identified nine metabolites by statistical comparison of mouse urine before and 8 h after irradiation.

Periodic Oscillatory Motion of a Self-Propelled Motor Driven by Decomposition of H O by Catalase.

A self-propelled motor driven by the enzymatic reaction of catalase adsorbed onto a filter paper floating on an aqueous solution of H O was used to study nonlinear behavior in the motor's motion. An increase in the concentration of H O resulted in a change from no motion to irregular oscillatory motion, periodic oscillatory motion, and continuous motion. The mechanisms underlying oscillation and mode bifurcation are discussed based on experimental results on O bubble formation and growth on the underside of the motor.

3-Hydroxy-4-nitrobenzoic Acid as a MALDI Matrix for In-Source Decay.

In-source decay (ISD) in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) is a rapid sequencing method for peptides. 1,5-Diaminonaphthalene (1,5-DAN) is a most frequently used matrix for ISD. However, using 1,5-DAN generates mainly c- and z-series ions by N-Cα bond cleavage, which makes it difficult to distinguish leucine (Leu) and isoleucine (Ile), and frequently lacks c(n-1)-series ions owing to proline (Pro) at residues n.

Nitration is exclusive to defense-related PR-1, PR-3 and PR-5 proteins in tobacco leaves.

Protein tyrosine nitration is an important post-translational modification. A variety of nitrated proteins are reported in Arabidopsis leaves and seedlings, sunflower hypocotyls, and pea roots. The identities of nitrated proteins are species-/organ-specific, and chloroplast proteins are most nitratable in leaves.

Hepcidin-2 in mouse urine as a candidate radiation-responsive molecule.

We used high-performance liquid chromatography to separate urine obtained from whole-body gamma-irradiated mice (4 Gy) before analyzing each fraction with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry to identify radiation-responsive molecules. We identified two candidates: hepcidin antimicrobial peptide 2 (hepcidin-2) and peptide fragments of kidney androgen-regulated protein (KAP). We observed that peak increases of hepcidin-2 in urine were delayed in a dose-dependent manner (1 Gy and above); however, the amount of KAP peptide fragments showed no correlation with radiation dose.

Membrane Protein Analyses Using Alkylated Trihydroxyacetophenone (ATHAP) as a MALDI Matrix.

Membrane proteins containing hydrophobic regions have been difficult to analyze using MALDI-MS, probably due to the use of conventional matrices with a low affinity for hydrophobic peptides. Recently, we reported 1-(2,4,6-trihydroxyphenyl)octan-1-one (alkylated trihydroxyacetophenone (ATHAP)) as a matrix for hydrophobic peptides. In this study, ATHAP was applied to analyze membrane proteins containing transmembrane domains.

[Motor Evoked Potentials and Aortic Surgery].

Motor dysfunction following descending and thoracoabdominal aortic surgery including thoracic endovascular aortic repair remains as one of their devastating complications, although several interventions have tried to preserve spinal cord blood flow during and after aortic aneurysm surgery for the purpose of reducing the incidence of postoperative paraplegia. One of the main limitations of protective strategies is the inability to assess the adequacy of spinal cord perfusion and spinal cord function intraoperatively. Advances in stimulation technique using short train pulses could make intraoperative monitoring of functional integrity of motor pathways possible by recording myogenic motor evoked potentials (MEP), which is a highly sensitive technique to assess spinal cord integrity, identifying insufficient blood flow.

Dual selective nitration in Arabidopsis: Almost exclusive nitration of PsbO and PsbP, and highly susceptible nitration of four non-PSII proteins, including peroxiredoxin II E.

Protein tyrosine nitration is a selective process, as revealed in studies of animals. However, evidence for selective protein nitration in plants is scarce. In this study, Arabidopsis plants were exposed to air with or without nitrogen dioxide at 40 ppm for 8 h in light.

In vitro and in vivo evidence for oxalate oxidase activity of a germin-like protein from azalea.

Germins and germin-like proteins (GLPs) comprise large families of extracellular plant glycoproteins that are structurally similar, yet they have been reported to have distinct biochemical activities: oxalate oxidase and superoxide dismutase activities, respectively. We expressed an azalea GLP (RmGLP2) in cultured cells of tobacco, and determined that the extracellular protein fraction and the recombinant RmGLP2 protein purified from these cells catalyzed the oxidation of oxalate. Notably, this activity is purportedly restricted to germin and has not been demonstrated for a GLP.

[Anesthetic management of intra-aortic balloon occlusion (IABO) for seven cases of placenta accreta--a six year experience at our institute].

We studied retrospectively amount of bleeding, clamping time, and the presence or absence of ischemia-reperfusion injury in all seven cases of IABO performed for placenta accreta from 2007 to 2012 at our hospital. We also examined rSO2 change before and after clamping in four cases in which lower-limb rSO2 monitoring was performed with NIRS (near-infrared spectroscopy). There was no case suspected of ischemia-reperfusion injury during and after clamping with the amount of bleeding around 1,580-10,973 ml (mean 4,536 ml) and clamping time of 10-83 min (mean 44 min).

A unique mechanism of successful fertilization in a domestic bird.

Fertilization is an indispensable step for formation of a zygote in sexual reproduction, leading to species survival. When mating occurs, sperm is transported to the female reproductive tracts via the seminal plasma (SP). SP is derived from male accessory sex glands and it plays pivotal roles for fertilization in animals.