Custom shaping of distal access catheter for navigation of microcatheter into inferolateral and meningohypophyseal trunk feeders.

Objective: Navigating a microcatheter to tiny feeding arteries such as the inferolateral trunk (ILT) and meningohypophyseal trunk (MHT) of the internal carotid artery (ICA) is technically challenging because of the anatomical features of steep angulation, small diameter, and significant caliber difference from the ICA. To guide the microcatheter to these ICA side branch feeders, the authors thought that a custom shaping of the intermediate catheter would be helpful to determine the direction of the microcatheter and strongly back it up. The aim of this study was to report the detailed methodology and clinical outcomes of patients who had undergone the embolization of ILT and MHT feeders using this method.

Efficacy of a Novel Augmented Reality Navigation System Using 3D Computer Graphic Modeling in Endoscopic Transsphenoidal Surgery for Sellar and Parasellar Tumors.

In endoscopic transsphenoidal skull base surgery, knowledge of tumor location on imaging and the anatomic structures is required simultaneously. However, it is often difficult to accurately reconstruct the endoscopic vision of the surgical field from the pre-surgical radiographic images because the lesion remarkably displaces the geography of normal anatomic structures. We created a precise three-dimensional computer graphic model from preoperative radiographic data that was then superimposed on a visual image of the actual surgical field and displayed on a video monitor during endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery.

Retrograde endovascular revascularization for chronic total occlusion of the internal carotid artery: a case report.

Endovascular revascularization of a chronically occluded internal carotid artery (ICA) is challenging because the occlusive segment can be long and tortuous. A case is presented of a successful recanalization of a chronically occluded ICA by retrograde passing of a guidewire from the intracranial ICA to the cervical ICA via the posterior communicating artery. This case suggests that a retrograde approach for reopening an occluded artery may be useful during neurovascular interventions, similar to percutaneous coronary interventions.

A Case of Nervus Intermedius Neuralgia.

Background: Nervus intermedius neuralgia is an extremely rare craniofacial neuralgia characterized by paroxysmal episodes of pain located deep in the ear, typically triggered by sensory or mechanical stimuli at the wall of the auditory canal without underlying pathology. Pain is sometimes associated with disorders of lacrimation, salivation, and taste.

Case Description: We present a case of a surgically treated 68-year-old man with left paroxysmal deep ear pain for 20 years before presentation.

A Case of Intravascular Treatment for Acute Ischemic Stroke with Internal Carotid Artery Stenosis That Developed While Driving.

Objective: We report a case of acute cerebral infarction that may have been associated with high-energy trauma due to onset while driving.

Case Presentation: A 67-year-old man had a traffic accident. His neurological symptoms were left hemiplegia and contrast CT revealed right middle cerebral artery occlusion.

Spontaneous Temporal Pole Encephalocele Presenting with Epilepsy: Report of Two Cases.

Background: Refractory temporal lobe epilepsy due to spontaneous temporal pole encephalocele is a rare but increasingly recognized condition. Optimal surgical management is complicated by the lack of knowledge regarding both the extent of the epileptogenic area and the need for repair of the encephalocele.

Case Description: We report two cases that add significant information to these issues.

Dissociated roles of the inferior frontal gyrus and superior temporal sulcus in audiovisual processing: top-down and bottom-up mismatch detection.

Visual inputs can distort auditory perception, and accurate auditory processing requires the ability to detect and ignore visual input that is simultaneous and incongruent with auditory information. However, the neural basis of this auditory selection from audiovisual information is unknown, whereas integration process of audiovisual inputs is intensively researched. Here, we tested the hypothesis that the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and superior temporal sulcus (STS) are involved in top-down and bottom-up processing, respectively, of target auditory information from audiovisual inputs.

Simultaneous recording of single-neuron activities and broad-area intracranial electroencephalography: electrode design and implantation procedure.

Background: There has been growing interest in clinical single-neuron recording to better understand epileptogenicity and brain function. It is crucial to compare this new information, single-neuronal activity, with that obtained from conventional intracranial electroencephalography during simultaneous recording. However, it is difficult to implant microwires and subdural electrodes during a single surgical operation because the stereotactic frame hampers flexible craniotomy.

[A case of a penetrating brain injury due to an explosion of a construction machine].

Penetrating brain injury caused by a high speed projectile is rather rare in Japan, known for its strict gun-control laws. We report a case of a 55-year-old male, who was transferred to our hospital with a foreign body in the brain due to penetrating head injury, which was caused by an explosion of a construction machine. Neurological examination demonstrated severe motor aphagia with no apparent motor paresis.

Isolated recurrence of intracranial and temporal bone myeloid sarcoma--case report.

A 52-year-old man presented with a rare case of isolated recurrence of myeloid sarcoma (MS) manifesting as rapidly growing intracranial and temporal bone masses 5 years after complete remission (CR) of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) (M2 in the French-American-British classification). Magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography of the head revealed enhanced mass lesions on the superior aspect of the right petrous bone and within the right mastoid air cells, extending into the right middle ear cavity without bone destruction. Peripheral blood testing found no evidence of relapse.

A prospective, open-label, multicenter study to assess the efficacy of spinal cord stimulation and identify patients who would benefit.

Objective:   To identify patients likely to benefit from spinal cord stimulation (SCS).

Materials And Methods:   This multicenter, prospective, open-label study included medical centers experienced in SCS therapy, carried out in 13 physicians in seven centers. We recruited 55 patients with complex regional pain syndrome, failed back surgery syndrome, or peripheral vascular disease.

Osteomalacia caused by skull base tumors: report of 2 cases.

Background And Importance: Tumor-induced osteomalacia (TIO) is an uncommon paraneoplastic syndrome rarely encountered in neurosurgical practice. We report on 2 cases of TIO caused by skull base tumors. Although the diagnosis of TIO is difficult to make and often is delayed because of the insidious nature of the symptoms, mostly systemic pain and weakness, it is curable once it is diagnosed and properly treated.

The effect of pulsed radiofrequency current on mechanical allodynia induced with resiniferatoxin in rats.

Background: Pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) is a popular pain treatment modality. The effect of PRF current on neuropathic pain has not been examined in detail. We investigated the effect of PRF current on mechanical allodynia induced with resiniferatoxin (RTX) in rats, especially regarding the influence of the duration of allodynia before PRF procedures and that of exposure time to PRF.

Disappearance of gadolinium enhancement in a chemoresistant astrocytoma of the tectum after high-dose interferon beta.

Interferon beta 6 million units per week was administered to a patient with an aggressive astrocytoma in the tectum that was resistant to cisplatin, etoposide, vinblastine, and the oral alkylating agent temozolomide. The tumor was immunopositive for O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT). Interferon beta caused the disappearance of the gadolinium-enhanced lesion in the tectum.

Co-transfection of EYFP-GH and ECFP-rab3B in an experimental pituitary GH3 cell: a role of rab3B in secretion of GH through porosome.

Recently, in order to elucidate the role of rab3B in porosome, we have observed the incorporation of rab3B in the secretion of GH through porosome under confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Transfected cells with GH-EYFP fusion protein and rab3B-ECFP fusion protein were observed under CLSM, which showed the colocalization of EYFP-GH and ECFP-rab3B in the budding configuration of secretory process. These structural and functional images of rab3B imply the incorporation of rab3B in the secretion of GH through porosome.

Peptide-nucleic acid-modified ion-sensitive field-effect transistor-based biosensor for direct detection of DNA hybridization.

Here, we report the development of a peptide-nucleic acid (PNA)-modified ion-sensitive field-effect transistor (IS-FET)-based biosensor that takes advantage of the change in the surface potential upon hybridization of a negatively charged DNA. PNA was immobilized on a silicon nitride gate insulator by an addition reaction between a maleimide group introduced on the gate surface, the succinimide group of N-(6-maleimidocaproyloxy) succinimide, and the thiol group of the terminal cysteine in PNA. The surface was characterized after each step of the reaction by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis, and the kinetic analysis of the hybridization events was assessed by surface plasmon resonance.

Alteration of regional cerebral blood flow in patients with chronic pain--evaluation before and after epidural spinal cord stimulation.

Background: Chronic pain is defined as intractable pain caused by abnormal pain transmission or impairment of the pain control system per se. Alteration of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) is known to occur under the presence of pain stimulation. Epidural spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is occasionally effective in relieving the symptom.

Ultradian rhythm of trehalose levels coupled to heat resistance in continuous cultures of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Heat resistance appears to cycle in concert with energy metabolism in continuous culture of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. To study the mechanism of this oscillation, the authors first examined if heat shock proteins (Hsps) are involved. Neither the protein levels of major Hsps nor the expression of the beta-galactosidase gene as a reporter under the control of the promoter carrying heat-shock element oscillated during the metabolic oscillation.