Cystathionine is a novel substrate of cystine/glutamate transporter: implications for immune function.

The cystine/glutamate transporter, designated as system xc(-), is important for maintaining intracellular glutathione levels and extracellular redox balance. The substrate-specific component of system xc(-), xCT, is strongly induced by various stimuli, including oxidative stress, whereas it is constitutively expressed only in specific brain regions and immune tissues, such as the thymus and spleen. Although cystine and glutamate are the well established substrates of system xc(-) and the knockout of xCT leads to alterations of extracellular redox balance, nothing is known about other potential substrates.

Distinctiveness of prolonged grief disorder symptoms among survivors of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.

Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) has been proposed for diagnostic classification as an independent psychiatric disorder. Previous research has investigated it in relation to other axis I disorders in order to determine whether it could be considered an independent nosological entity. The distinctiveness of this condition was apparent in cases of ordinary bereavement and in those following human-made disasters.

[Efficacy of propofol in controlling myoclonus during rewarming in a brain hypothermia patient].

Propofol is an intravenous anaesthetic agent having anticonvulsant property. We report here a case in which propofol was effective in controlling myoclonus during rewarming in brain hypothermia patient. A 35-year-old male patient was admitted in a comatose state with right-sided hemiparesis, anisocoria and absence of bilateral light reflex.