Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and dissociative disorder among abused children.

The aim of this study was to investigate the psychiatric problems and characteristics among children of child abuse (CA). Specifically, the authors investigated whether attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms were exhibited before or after CA. A total of 39 abused child inpatients who were treated at Aichi Children's Health and Medical Center, Aichi, Japan, (mean age, 10.

Clinical features and treatment outcome in Japanese patients with social anxiety disorder: chart review study.

The lifetime prevalence of social anxiety disorder (SAD) is high at 3-13%, but there have been only limited reports investigating the clinical features of this disorder in a large number of Japanese patients. The authors have conducted a retrospective, chart review study of 52 patients with SAD and obtained the following results. (i) The proportion of SAD in first visit outpatients at the Department of Psychiatry, Niigata University Medical and Dental Hospital, Niigata, Japan, was 1.

Parietal white matter abnormalities in obsessive-compulsive disorder: a magnetic resonance spectroscopy study at 3-Tesla.

Objective: To identify a neurochemical basis for the hypothesis that an aberrant cortico-subcortical circuit underlies obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The white matter was also investigated because of recent research which suggests the altered connectivity of axons.

Method: Using 3-Tesla magnetic resonance spectroscopy, the relative concentrations of N-acetylaspartate (NAA) and choline-containing compounds (Cho) to creatine/phosphocreatine (Cr) were measured in the anterior cingulate, basal ganglia, thalamus, frontal and parietal white matter of 12 OCD patients, and 32 control subjects.

Gender differences in prolactin elevation induced by olanzapine in Japanese drug-naïve schizophrenic patients.

We investigated the effect of gender on plasma prolactin levels in 20 Japanese drug-naïve schizophrenic patients [10 male, 10 female, aged 25.4+/-10.3 (mean+/-S.

Efficacy of interferon monotherapy in young adult patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection.

Background: Suppression of the progression to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma is important, especially for young hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients. The aim of this study was to analyze the response to interferon (IFN) monotherapy in young HCV patients.

Methods: Between 1989 and 2002, 1021 anti-HCV-positive patients hospitalized at Toranomon Hospital received IFN monotherapy.

Lack of a relationship between the pupillary light reflex response and state/trait anxiety in remitted patients with panic disorder.

Objective: Recently, some studies have indicated that pupillary function only correlates with state/trait anxiety in healthy subjects. In the present study, we examined whether or not there were relationships between the PLR functions and state/trait anxiety in remitted (the absence of panic attack (PA) symptoms for at least 6 months) PD patients compared to normal control (NC) subjects.

Methods: Before and after audiovisual stimulation (AS) that induced mental stress through exposure to video images of high stress experiences, such as driving motor vehicles, the pupillary light reflex (PLR) was measured with an infrared pupillometer in 30 remitted PD patients and 30 age- and gender-matched NC subjects.

Origin of neovascular structure in an early stage of hepatocellular carcinoma: study of alpha-smooth muscle actin immunohistochemistry in serial thin sections of surgically resected cancer.

Background: To elucidate the origin of the neovascular structure found in well-differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), an immunohistochemical study was performed on sequential thin section specimens.

Method: Eleven surgically resected specimens of well-differentiated HCC were analyzed for neovascular structure using monoclonal alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA) antibody. Each paraffin specimen was serially sliced to a thickness of 3 microm for immunohistochemistry.

No association between the brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene and schizophrenia in a Japanese population.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays important roles in the survival, maintenance and growth of neurons. Several studies have indicated that BDNF is likely to be related to the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Recent genetic analyses have revealed that BDNF gene polymorphisms are associated with schizophrenia, although contradictory negative findings have also been reported.

Prediction model of hepatocarcinogenesis for patients with hepatitis C virus-related cirrhosis. Validation with internal and external cohorts.

Background/aims: To estimate hepatocarcinogenesis rates in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related cirrhosis, an accurate prediction table was created.

Methods: A total of 183 patients between 1974 and 1990 were assessed for carcinogenesis rate and risk factors. Predicted carcinogenesis rates were validated using a cohort from the same hospital between 1991 and 2003 (n=302) and an external cohort from Tokyo National Hospital between 1975 and 2002 (n=205).

A long-term glycyrrhizin injection therapy reduces hepatocellular carcinogenesis rate in patients with interferon-resistant active chronic hepatitis C: a cohort study of 1249 patients.

To elucidate the influence of a glycyrrhizin therapy on hepatocarcinogenesis rate in interferon (IFN)-resistant hepatitis C, we retrospectively analyzed 1249 patients with chronic hepatitis with or without cirrhosis. Among 346 patients with high alanine transaminase value (twice or more of upper limit of normal), 244 patients received intravenous glycyrrhizin injection and 102 patients did not, after judgment of IFN resistance. Crude carcinogenesis rates in the treated and untreated group were 13.

A new multisuction cardiac positioner for multivessel off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting.

Objective: : To accomplish successful multivessel off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting, safe, reproducible, and effective exposure of all coronary territories is essential. For this purpose, we developed a new, simple, multisuction cardiac positioner.

Methods: : This new cardiac positioner consists of 3 small independent suction cups and suction tubes made of silicone.

The effect of 5-hydroxytryptamine 3A and 3B receptor genes on nausea induced by paroxetine.

We investigated the effect of 5-hydroxytryptamine 3A and 3B receptor (HTR3A and HTR3B) gene polymorphisms on nausea induced by paroxetine in Japanese psychiatric patients. Blood samples were collected from 78 individuals after at least 2 weeks treatment with the same daily dose of paroxetine. The patients visited every 2 weeks and the paroxetine dose was changed in response to their clinical symptoms.

Annexin 2 and hemorrhagic disorder in vascular intimal carcinomatosis.

Vascular intimal carcinomatosis refers to a characteristic tumor proliferation on vascular intima that replaces normal endothelium. This pathological event of unknown cause is quite different from tumor thrombotic microangiopathy due to the absence of thrombi on the tumor cell surfaces. We analyzed renal transitional cell carcinoma cases with metastasis to the main pulmonary arteries and marked hyperfibrino(geno)lysis.

Natural history of compensated cirrhosis in the Child-Pugh class A compared between 490 patients with hepatitis C and 167 with B virus infections.

Natural histories of compensated cirrhosis in the Child-Pugh class A were compared between the 490 patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and 167 patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) who were followed for more than 1 year up to 20 years without antiviral treatment. Patients with HCV were older (median age: 59 vs. 45 years), less predominantly male (59.

Long-term outcome after hepatitis B surface antigen seroclearance in patients with chronic hepatitis B.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to elucidate the long-term outcome after hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) seroclearance in a large number of Japanese patients.

Methods: We studied the biochemical, virologic, histologic, and prolonged prognoses of 231 Japanese patients with HBsAg seroclearance (median follow-up, 6.5 years).

Efficacy of interferon therapy in elderly patients with chronic hepatitis C.

Objective: We assessed the efficacy and safety of interferon (IFN) monotherapy in 84 elderly patients aged > or =65 years with chronic hepatitis C in a retrospective cohort study.

Methods: Twenty-two of the 84 elderly patients were treated with IFN at a dose of 6 million units daily for 6-8 weeks, 18 patients were treated 2-3 times a week for 24 weeks and 44 patients were treated daily for 2-8 weeks and 2-3 times a week for 16-24 weeks.

Results: A sustained virological response (SVR) occurred in 35.

Interaction analysis between tmRNA and SmpB from Thermus thermophilus.

Small protein B, SmpB, is a tmRNA-specific binding protein essential for trans-translation. We examined the interaction between SmpB and tmRNA from Thermus thermophilus, using biochemical and NMR methods. Chemical footprinting analyses using full-length tmRNA demonstrated that the sites protected upon SmpB binding are located exclusively in the tRNA-like domain (TLD) of tmRNA.

Clinical and virological features of non-breakthrough and severe exacerbation due to lamivudine-resistant hepatitis B virus mutants.

Patients who develop YMDD mutant during lamivudine therapy for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection exhibit various clinical courses. Some patients show normal ALT levels, whereas others develop severe hepatitis exacerbations (SHEs) due to YMDD mutants. We studied 136 patients with YMDD mutant among 362 Japanese adult patients on lamivudine therapy.

Genomewide high-density SNP linkage analysis of 236 Japanese families supports the existence of schizophrenia susceptibility loci on chromosomes 1p, 14q, and 20p.

The Japanese Schizophrenia Sib-Pair Linkage Group (JSSLG) is a multisite collaborative study group that was organized to create a national resource for affected sib pair (ASP) studies of schizophrenia in Japan. We used a high-density single-nucleotide-polymorphism (SNP) genotyping assay, the Illumina BeadArray linkage mapping panel (version 4) comprising 5,861 SNPs, to perform a genomewide linkage analysis of JSSLG samples comprising 236 Japanese families with 268 nonindependent ASPs with schizophrenia. All subjects were Japanese.

Dysplastic nodules frequently develop into hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with chronic viral hepatitis and cirrhosis.

Background: Advances in imaging technology have enhanced the detection of small nodular lesions during the course of chronic liver disease.

Methods: Between 1995 and 2002, the authors examined 154 consecutive patients with small hepatic nodules without hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) over a median duration of 2.8 years.

Supportive evidence for neuregulin 1 as a susceptibility gene for schizophrenia in a Japanese population.

Schizophrenia is a complex genetic disorder and affects approximately 1% of the population worldwide. Recently, Stefansson et al. identified neuregulin 1 (NRG1) on 8p12 as a susceptibility gene for schizophrenia in the Icelandic population.

Virological outcomes in patients infected chronically with hepatitis B virus genotype A in comparison with genotypes B and C.

In a single hospital in Tokyo, the 87 patients infected persistently with hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype A, the 413 with B, and the 3,389 with C were compared for virological outcome. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was cleared from the serum in 12% (3/26), 2% (2/112), and 3% (23/826) of patients with genotypes A, B, and C, respectively, at 5 years of follow-up (P = 0.0395).