Unconstrained estimation method of delta-wave percentage included in EEG of sleeping subjects.

This paper describes an unconstrained pneumatic method of estimating the δ-wave activity of the brain from the heartbeat signal. Based on experiments showing that transinformation of the heartbeat signal corrupted by body movement was correlated with the δ-wave activity, we developed a method of estimating the percentage of the δ-wave included in the EEG from the transinformation. The comb filtering technique was used to obtain accurate transinformation.

Novel humanized anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies with unique germline VH and VL gene recruitment and potent effector functions.

The anti-CD20 chimeric monoclonal antibody (mAb) rituximab is the most widely used therapeutic antibody for B-cell malignancies. However, approximately 50% of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (B-NHL) patients respond to treatment with this antibody. Novel humanized antibodies target membrane CD20 with enhanced effector properties should improve treatment for a broader patient population with relapsed and refractory disease.

Successful guidance by automatic output of music and verbal messages for daily behavioural disturbances of three individuals with dementia.

There have been no previous reports of daily home activities of individuals with dementia being guided by the combination of music and verbal messages. This study evaluated the effectiveness for three individuals of music and messages which were automatically output by an IC recorder. After music was presented, messages instructed the participants to go to a day care centre, behave more peacefully and eat more at meals, respectively.

Cytokine profile in colonic mucosa of ulcerative colitis correlates with disease activity and response to granulocytapheresis.

Objective: The aim of this study was to clarify the correlation between cytokine profile in colonic mucosa with disease activity and response to granulocytapheresis (GCAP) in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), using a reliable, reproducible quantitative method.

Methods: Colonoscopic biopsies of inflamed colonic mucosa (16 patients, 21 cases) and uninflamed colonic mucosa (25 patients, 33 cases) were obtained from UC patients. Messenger (m)RNA was extracted and subjected to realtime polymerase chain reaction for quantitative measurement of interleukin (IL)-12, interferon-gamma, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, IL-4, IL-8, and IL-18 mRNAs.