Hypoperfusion of the Left Insula, Operculum, and Putamen on Technetium-99m Ethyl Cysteinate Dimer (99mTc-ECD) Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography in Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment and Early Alzheimer's Disease.

Objective: The easy Z-score imaging system (eZIS) objectively interprets brain perfusion. Using eZIS-processed images, we observed decreased regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in the left putamen of several patients with forgetfulness. This study aimed to examine this decrease using statistical image analysis.

Abnormal motor cortical plasticity as a useful neurophysiological biomarker for Alzheimer's disease pathology.

Objective: Amyloid-beta (Aβ) and tau accumulations impair long-term potentiation (LTP) induction in animal hippocampi. We investigated relationships between motor-cortical plasticity and biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease (AD) diagnosis in subjects with cognitive decline.

Methods: Twenty-six consecutive subjects who complained of memory problems participated in this study.

Impaired long-term potentiation-like motor cortical plasticity in progressive supranuclear palsy.

Objective: To elucidate long-term potentiation (LTP)-like effects on the primary motor cortical (M1) in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and its relationships with clinical features.

Methods: Participants were 18 probable/possible PSP Richardson syndrome (PSP-RS) patients and 17 healthy controls (HC). We used quadripulse stimulation (QPS) over the M1 with an interstimulus interval of 5 ms (QPS-5) to induce LTP-like effect and analyzed the correlations between the degree of LTP-like effect and clinical features.

Quadripulse transcranial magnetic stimulation inducing long-term depression in healthy subjects may increase seizure risk in some patients with intractable epilepsy.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of quadripulse transcranial magnetic stimulation-50 (QPS-50) in patients with intractable epilepsy.

Methods: Four patients were included in the study. QPS-50, which induces long-term depression in healthy subjects, was administered for 30 min on a weekly basis for 12 weeks.

Repeated Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyradiculoneuropathy Accompanied by Pain and Swelling in Distal Extremities.

An 81-year-old man experienced acute progression of weakness in the extremities accompanied by a fever, tenderness, and swelling in distal parts of the extremities. He had flaccid tetraparesis with fasciculations and general hyporeflexia. Nerve conduction studies indicated demyelinating sensorimotor neuropathy.

Correction: Hoshi et al. High Correlation among Brain-Derived Major Protein Levels in Cerebrospinal Fluid: Implication for Amyloid-Beta and Tau Protein Changes in Alzheimer's Disease. 2022, , 355.

In the original publication [...

[An autopsy case of polyarteritis nodosa accompanied with multiple immune-specific autoantibodies and rhabdomyolysis].

A 72-year-old male complained of fever lasting 1 month and developed muscle weakness and paresthesia in the legs. He presented with muscle weakness, grasping pain, decreased deep tendon reflexes in the extremities, and reduction of tactile sensation in the distal parts of the left leg muscles. Blood tests revealed leukocytosis and inflammatory reactions.

[Unilateral asterixis after hemiballism in a patient with acute cerebral infarction].

An-88-year-old right-handed female complained of repeated intermittent hemiballism in the right upper and lower extremities. She presented to our hospital with monoparesis and asterixis of the right arm, but not hemiballism. Brain MRI revealed acute disseminated cerebral infarctions in the middle cerebral artery watershed area of the left hemisphere, including the striatum and cortical areas.

Expression of Transferrin Protein and Messenger RNA in Neural Cells from Mouse and Human Brain Tissue.

Iron is an essential nutrient in the body. However, iron generates oxidative stress and hence needs to be bound to carrier proteins such as the glycoprotein transferrin (Tf) in body fluids. We previously reported that cerebrospinal fluid contains Tf glycan-isoforms that are derived from the brain, but their origins at the cellular level in the brain have not yet been elucidated.

High Correlation among Brain-Derived Major Protein Levels in Cerebrospinal Fluid: Implication for Amyloid-Beta and Tau Protein Changes in Alzheimer's Disease.

The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) plays an important role in homeostasis of the brain. We previously demonstrated that major CSF proteins such as lipocalin-type prostaglandin D2 synthase (L-PGDS) and transferrin (Tf) that are biosynthesized in the brain could be biomarkers of altered CSF production. Here we report that the levels of these brain-derived CSF proteins correlated well with each other across various neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Enhancement of LTD-like plasticity by associative pairing of quadripulse magnetic stimulation with peripheral nerve stimulation.

Objective: Quadripulse magnetic stimulation (QPS) is useful for changing corticospinal excitability, but the long-term depression (LTD)-like effect considerably has low responder rate. To solve this problem, we modified inhibitory QPS (QPS) by pairing it with the application of an electrical stimulus (ES) to peripheral nerves (paired-associative QPS [PA-QPS]), and investigated the effects of PA-QPS on motor-evoked potentials (MEPs).

Methods: The peripheral-nerve ES was applied at two timings with a synchrony to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the primary motor cortex (M1).

Intensity dependency of peripheral nerve stimulation in spinal LTP induced by paired associative corticospinal-motoneuronal stimulation (PCMS).

Paired associative corticospinal-motoneuronal stimulation (PCMS) induces plasticity at synapses between corticospinal tracts (CSTs) and spinal motoneurons (SMs). We investigated the effects of peripheral nerve electrical stimulation (PNS) intensity on PCMS-induced plasticity. PCMS consisted of 180 paired stimuli of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the left primary motor cortex with PNS on the right ulnar nerve at the wrist.

Transferrin Biosynthesized in the Brain Is a Novel Biomarker for Alzheimer's Disease.

Glycosylation is a cell type-specific post-translational modification that can be used for biomarker identification in various diseases. Aim of this study is to explore glycan-biomarkers on transferrin (Tf) for Alzheimer's disease (AD) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Glycan structures of CSF Tf were analyzed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography followed by mass spectrometry.

Bilateral asterixis in a patient with bilateral anterior cerebral artery infarction.

A 83-year-old woman complained of muscular weakness in the left leg and trembling in all extremities. She was apathetic and had left leg paresis and asterixis in all extremities. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed acute cerebral infarctions in the bilateral frontal lobes perfused by the anterior cerebral artery (ACA).

[Hemichorea in a patient with acute cerebral infarction of the somatosensory cortex].

A 86-year-old woman with left hemiparesis was admitted to our hospital. When visiting to our hospital, hemichorea appeared on her left extremities in an ambulance. She also had mild disturbance of consciousness, spatial disorientation, and sensory disturbance.

Direct comparison of efficacy of the motor cortical plasticity induction and the interindividual variability between TBS and QPS.

Background: Theta burst stimulation (TBS) and quadripulse stimulation (QPS) are known to induce synaptic plasticity in humans. There have been no head-to-head comparisons of the efficacy and variability between TBS and QPS.

Objective: To compare the efficacy and interindividual variability between the original TBS and QPS protocols.

Inter-individual variations in electric fields induced in the brain by exposure to uniform magnetic fields at 50 Hz.

The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard establish safety limits for human exposure to electromagnetic fields. At low frequencies, only a limited number of computational body models or simplified geometrical shapes are used to relate the internal induced electric fields and the external magnetic fields. As a consequence, both standard/guidelines derive the exposure reference levels for the external magnetic field without considering the variability between individuals.

Central motor conduction time reveals upper motor neuron involvement masked by lower motor neuron impairment in a significant portion of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Objective: We retrospectively investigated the utility of the central motor conduction time (CMCT) in detecting upper motor neuron (UMN) involvements in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Methods: Fifty-two ALS patients and 12 disease control patients participated in this study. Surface electromyograms were recorded from the first dorsal interosseous (FDI) and tibialis anterior (TA) muscles.

[Successful early treatment with acyclovir and corticosteroids for acute myelitis associated with zoster sine herpete: a case report].

A 79-year-old man presented with chest and back pain on the right side but with no cutaneous lesions. He had received oral corticosteroids and immunosuppressants for systemic lupus erythematosus. He had spastic paraplegia, sensory disturbance in the lower limbs, and dysfunction of the bladder and bowel.

TMS activation site estimation using multiscale realistic head models.

Objective: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) activates brain structures non-invasively. Computational models can be used to elucidate the activation site; however, the exact activation site is controversial. The aim is to present an imaging technique of the TMS activation cortical site estimation using individualized multi-scale realistic head models based on experimentally-derived TMS fields.

A patient with McLeod syndrome showing involvement of the central sensorimotor tracts for the legs.

Background: McLeod syndrome is a rare X-linked recessive acanthocytosis associated with neurological manifestations including progressive chorea, cognitive impairment, psychiatric disturbances, seizures, and sensorimotor axonal polyneuropathy. However, no studies have investigated the functioning of central sensorimotor tracts in patients with McLeod syndrome.

Case Presentation: A 66-year-old man had experienced slowly progressive chorea and gait disturbance due to lower limb muscle weakness since his early fifties.

Real-time estimation of electric fields induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation with deep neural networks.

Background: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) plays an important role in treatment of mental and neurological illnesses, and neurosurgery. However, it is difficult to target specific brain regions accurately because the complex anatomy of the brain substantially affects the shape and strength of the electric fields induced by the TMS coil. A volume conductor model can be used for determining the accurate electric fields; however, the construction of subject-specific anatomical head structures is time-consuming.