Candidemia from an upper urinary tract infection complicated by candida endophthalmitis.

A 51-year-old Japanese woman developed candidemia as an outpatient secondary to a Candida albicans upper urinary tract infection complicated by previously undiagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus with poor glycemic control and ureterolithiasis. The patient did not have any risk factors typically associated with candidemia, such as an indwelling vascular catheter, parenteral nutrition or broad-spectrum antibiotic use. During the clinical course, her condition was complicated by unilateral candida endophthalmitis, which progressed despite the administration of systemic antifungal agents and ultimately required vitreous surgery.

One-year intranasal application of growth hormone releasing peptide-2 improves body weight and hypoglycemia in a severely emaciated anorexia nervosa patient.

Background: In Japan, growth hormone releasing peptide-2 (GHRP-2) is clinically used as a diagnostic agent for growth hormone secretion deficiency, but the therapeutic application of GHRP-2 has not been studied in anorexia nervosa. GHRP-2 reportedly exhibits agonistic action for ghrelin receptor and increases food intake.

Methods: We administered GHRP-2 to a patient with a 20-year history of anorexia nervosa to determine whether GHRP-2 treatment increases food intake and body weight.

Phenotypic Variability and Newly Identified Mutations of the IVD Gene in Japanese Patients with Isovaleric Acidemia.

Isovaleric acidemia (IVA) is an autosomal recessive inborn error affecting leucine metabolism. It is caused by a deficiency in isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase (IVD), a mitochondrial matrix enzyme that catalyzes the oxidation of isovaleryl-CoA to 3-methylcrotonyl-CoA. IVD is a FAD-containing enzyme, consisting of four identical subunits.

Detection of an unconventional superconducting phase in the vicinity of the strong first-order magnetic transition in CrAs using (75)As-nuclear quadrupole resonance.

Pressure-induced superconductivity was recently discovered in the binary helimagnet CrAs. We report the results of measurements of nuclear quadrupole resonance for CrAs under pressure. In the vicinity of the critical pressure P(c) between the helimagnetic (HM) and paramagnetic (PM) phases, a phase separation is observed.

Clinical management provided by board-certificated physiatrists in early rehabilitation is a significant determinant of functional improvement in acute stroke patients: a retrospective analysis of Japan rehabilitation database.

Background: Early rehabilitation for acute stroke patients is widely recommended. We tested the hypothesis that clinical outcome of stroke patients who receive early rehabilitation managed by board-certificated physiatrists (BCP) is generally better than that provided by other medical specialties.

Methods: Data of stroke patients who underwent early rehabilitation in 19 acute hospitals between January 2005 and December 2013 were collected from the Japan Rehabilitation Database and analyzed retrospectively.

Microsatellite Analysis of the Population Genetic Structure of Anolis carolinensis Introduced to the Ogasawara Islands.

DNA analysis can reveal the origins and dispersal patterns of invasive species. The green anole Anolis carolinensis is one such alien animal, which has been dispersed widely by humans from its native North America to many Pacific Ocean islands. In the Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands, this anole was recorded from Chichi-jima at the end of the 1960s, and then from Haha-jima in the early 1980s.

Comparison of brachial artery flow-mediated dilation in youth with type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Aims/introduction: Brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) is a method of evaluating the function of vascular endothelial cells and is utilized for early diagnosis of atherosclerotic diseases. Only a few studies evaluated the risks for major vascular complications in youth with type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus from the aspect of the early development of atherosclerosis. We studied whether there is a difference in vascular endothelial cell function between youth with type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus.

Increase in rate of force development with skin cooling during isometric knee extension.

Rate of force development (RFD) plays an important role when performing rapid and forceful movements. Cold-induced afferent input with transient skin cooling (SC) can modulate neural drive. However, the relationship between RFD and SC is unknown.

Effects of quetiapine on DNA methylation in neuroblastoma cells.

Epigenetic regulation may be involved in the pathophysiology of mental disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and in the pharmacological action of drugs. Characterizing the epigenetic effects of drugs is an important step to optimal treatment. We performed comprehensive and gene-specific DNA methylation analyses of quetiapine using human neuroblastoma cells.

Aortic valve aneurysm responsible for acute congestive heart failure and histological findings: A case report.

We experienced a case of acute congestive heart failure in a 73-year-old man who had been followed up due to mild-to-moderate aortic stenosis and moderate-to-severe aortic regurgitation. A huge aortic valve aneurysm was found to extend from his right coronary cusp to a left ventricular outflow tract, resulting in moderate subaortic obstruction and severe aortic regurgitation. Surgical repair was performed and a perforated aneurysm of right aortic cusp was identified.

Functional characterization of neural-restrictive silencer element in mouse pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) gene expression.

Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) is predominantly localized in the nervous system, but the underlying mechanism in its neuron-specific expression remains unclear. In addition to two neural-restrictive silencer-like element (NRSLE1 and 2), as reported previously, we have identified the third element in -1,601 to -1,581 bp from the translational initiation site of mouse PACAP gene and termed it as NRSLE3, of which, the sequence and location were highly conserved among mouse, rat, and human PACAP genes. In luciferase reporter assay, the deletion or site-directed mutagenesis of NRSLE3 in the reporter gene construct, driven by heterologous SV40 promoter, cancelled the repression of luciferase activity in non-neuronal Swiss-3T3 cells.

Design and evaluation of a 1.1-GHz surface coil resonator for electron paramagnetic resonance-based tooth dosimetry.

This paper describes an optimized design of a surface coil resonator for in vivo electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR)-based tooth dosimetry. Using the optimized resonator, dose estimates with the standard error of the mean of approximately 0.5 Gy were achieved with irradiated human teeth.

Involvement of cAMP/EPAC/TRPM2 activation in glucose- and incretin-induced insulin secretion.

In pancreatic β-cells, closure of the ATP-sensitive K(+) (K(ATP)) channel is an initial process triggering glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. In addition, constitutive opening of background nonselective cation channels (NSCCs) is essentially required to effectively evoke depolarization as a consequence of K(ATP) channel closure. Thus, it is hypothesized that further opening of NSCC facilitates membrane excitability.

Global catalogue of microorganisms (gcm): a comprehensive database and information retrieval, analysis, and visualization system for microbial resources.

Background: Throughout the long history of industrial and academic research, many microbes have been isolated, characterized and preserved (whenever possible) in culture collections. With the steady accumulation in observational data of biodiversity as well as microbial sequencing data, bio-resource centers have to function as data and information repositories to serve academia, industry, and regulators on behalf of and for the general public. Hence, the World Data Centre for Microorganisms (WDCM) started to take its responsibility for constructing an effective information environment that would promote and sustain microbial research data activities, and bridge the gaps currently present within and outside the microbiology communities.

Cardiac metaiodobenzylguanidine imaging and heart failure.

The autonomic nervous system has pivotal roles in pathophysiology and prognosis in patients with heart failure. Cardiac (123)I-labeled metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) imaging enables noninvasive and quantitative assessment of cardiac sympathetic innervation in cardiology practice. Several investigations have demonstrated independent and incremental prognostic values of this imaging technique in combination with clinical information in patients with heart failure.

Urine screening for patients with developmental disabilities detected a patient with creatine transporter deficiency due to a novel missense mutation in SLC6A8.

Creatine transporter deficiency (CTD) is an example of X-linked intellectual disability syndromes, caused by mutations in SLC6A8 on Xq28. Although this is the second most frequent genetic cause of intellectual disabilities in Europe or America after Fragile X syndrome, information on the morbidity of this disease is limited in Japan. Using the HPLC screening method we have established recently, we examined samples of urine of 105 patients (73 males and 32 females) with developmental disabilities at our medical center.

532 nm low-power laser irradiation recovers γ-secretase inhibitor-mediated cell growth suppression and promotes cell proliferation via Akt signaling.

Background And Objective: The γ-secretase inhibitor (GSI) has been shown to inhibit expression of amyloid beta (Aβ), but GSI also has a side effect of reducing cell survival. Since low-power laser irradiation (LLI) has been known to promote cell survival, we examined whether 532 nm LLI can rescue the GSI side effect or not.

Study Design/materials And Methods: The human-derived glioblastoma cells (A-172) were cultured in 35 mm culture dishes or 96-well plate.

Effect of mood stabilizers on DNA methylation in human neuroblastoma cells.

Unraveling the epigenetic status of neuronal cells in the brain is critical to our understanding of the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders, which may reflect a complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors. Several epigenetic studies of mood disorders have been conducted with postmortem brains. However, proper interpretation of the results is hampered by our scant understanding of the effects of mood stabilizers on the epigenetic status of neuronal cells.

High net modal gain (>100 cm(-1)) in 19-stacked InGaAs quantum dot laser diodes at 1000 nm wavelength band.

An InGaAs quantum dot (QD) laser diode with 19-stacked QDs separated by 20 nm-thick GaAs spacers was fabricated using an ultrahigh-rate molecular beam epitaxial growth technique, and the laser characteristics were evaluated. A 19-stacked simple broad area QD laser diode was lased at the 1000 nm waveband. A net modal gain of 103 cm(-1) was obtained at 2.

A community-based cross-sectional and longitudinal study uncovered asymptomatic proteinuria in Japanese adults with low body weight.

Although proteinuria is highly prevalent in obese individuals, the association between proteinuria and low body weight is equivocal. In this study we determine whether low body weight is more strongly associated with proteinuria compared with normal weight. The association between body mass index (BMI) and proteinuria was examined in a cross-sectional study of 62,582 asymptomatic individuals aged 20-70 years without known kidney diseases recruited, based on the results of medical checkups in 1999.