Antiparkinsonian drugs as potent contributors to nocturnal sleep in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Objective: To clarify whether antiparkinsonian drugs contribute to nocturnal sleep disturbances in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD).

Background: Although the major antiparkinsonian drugs L-dopa and dopamine agonists (DAs) have been found to affect sleep, little is known about the effects of specific drugs on sleep in PD patients.

Methods: The study participants consisted of 112 PD patients (median age 72.

Light and electron microscopic observations of the reproductive swarmer cells of nassellarian and spumellarian polycystines (Radiolaria).

We observed reproductive swarmer cells of the nassellarian and spumellarian polycystine radiolarians Didymocyrtis ceratospyris, Pterocanium praetextum, Tetrapyle sp., and Triastrum aurivillii using light, scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The swarmer cells had subspherical to ovoid or spindle shapes with two unequal flagella tapered to whip-like ends.

Gymnoxanthella radiolariae gen. et sp. nov. (Dinophyceae), a dinoflagellate symbiont from solitary polycystine radiolarians.

The symbiotic dinoflagellate Gymnoxanthella radiolariae T. Yuasa et T. Horiguchi gen.

Ultrastructural morphology of the reproductive swarmers of Sphaerozoum punctatum (Huxley) from the East China Sea.

Reproductive swarmers of the polycystine radiolarian Sphaerozoum punctatum (Huxley) collected from the East China Sea were examined using light, scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The swarmer cells were about 8-10 μm in length with a pear-like shape and a conical end with two flagella. A nucleus, mitochondria, Golgi body, lipid droplets and, characteristically, a single, large, vacuole-bound SrSO₄ crystal were present in the cytoplasm.

Molecular identification of reproductive cells released from Cypassis irregularis Nigrini (Radiolaria).

The mechanisms of the extensive distribution of radiolarian-affiliated sequences from clone libraries of marine picoeukaryotes from deeper water remain poorly understood. Here, we describe an event that could explain this phenomenon. A polycystine radiolarian species, Cypassis irregularis Nigrini, released a large number of pico-size cells under culture conditions.

Genome-wide identification and characterization of transcripts translationally regulated by bacterial lipopolysaccharide in macrophage-like J774.1 cells.

Although Escherichia coli LPS is known to elicit various proinflammatory responses in macrophages, its effect on the translational states of transcripts has not yet been explored on a genome-wide scale. To address this, we investigated the mRNA profiles in polysomal and free messenger ribonucleoprotein particle (mRNP) fractions of mouse macrophage-like J774.1 cells, using Affymetrix Mouse Genome 430 2.

Molecular diversity of alveolates associated with neritic north atlantic radiolarians.

Seven species of polycystine radiolarians and one phaeodarian species were investigated in order to determine the diversity of their associate organisms and their species specificity. Twelve partial 18S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences were obtained showing a high diversity of associates, both within spumellarian and nassellarian radiolarians and among species. Two of the sequences obtained are highly similar to Scrippsiella, a dinoflagellate genus already reported as a symbiont of polycystine radiolarians.