Estimation of Gait Independence Using a Tri-Axial Accelerometer in Stroke Patients.

The purpose of this study was to clarify whether a gait analysis using an accelerometer could estimate gait independence. Eighty-six stroke patients and 21 healthy control subjects participated in this study. Stroke patients were identified as dependent or independent based on their gait ability.

The effects of olanzapine treatment on brain regional glucose metabolism in neuroleptic-naive first-episode schizophrenic patients.

Objective: The current study examined metabolic alterations associated with a positive response to olanzapine and identified brain regions associated with treatment-related improvement of symptoms in neuroleptic-naive first-episode schizophrenic patients using [ F]fluoro-deoxy-glucose positron emission tomography analysis.

Methods: Neuroleptic-naive first-episode schizophrenic patients who showed good or poor clinical responses to olanzapine were assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Data were analyzed using statistical nonparametric mapping.

Sex Differences in Gamma Band Functional Connectivity Between the Frontal Lobe and Cortical Areas During an Auditory Oddball Task, as Revealed by Imaginary Coherence Assessment.

We studied sex-related differences in gamma oscillation during an auditory oddball task, using magnetoencephalography and electroencephalography assessment of imaginary coherence (IC). We obtained a statistical source map of event-related desynchronization (ERD) / event-related synchronization (ERS), and compared females and males regarding ERD / ERS. Based on the results, we chose respectively seed regions for IC determinations in low (30-50 Hz), mid (50-100 Hz) and high gamma (100-150 Hz) bands.

Determination of hemispheric language dominance using functional magnetic resonance imaging and the Shiritori (Japanese word chain) task in patients with epilepsy: Comparison with the Wada test.

Purpose: The Wada test has been the gold standard for determining hemispheric language dominance (HLD) in the presurgical evaluation of patients scheduled for neurosurgical procedures. As it poses inherent risks associated with intra-arterial catheter techniques and as it occasionally fails to indicate language dominance, an alternative reliable test is needed. We quantitatively assessed the results of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) using the Shiritori task, a Japanese word chain, to identify the threshold for correctly predicting HLD.

A gait abnormality measure based on root mean square of trunk acceleration.

Background: Root mean square (RMS) of trunk acceleration is seen frequently in gait analysis research. However, many studies have reported that the RMS value was related to walking speed. Therefore, the relationship between the RMS value and walking speed should be considered when the RMS value is used to assess gait abnormality.

Development of a network system combined with ambulatory and non-conscious physiological measurements for supporting challenged kids - a new proposal of a gait monitoring system for use in rehabilitation.

Various physiological measurement techniques have been developed to support healthcare and daily living of adult including elderly. However, in light of the rapid growth of the declining birth rate, promotion in care and life support for children are not enough. Especially in rehabilitation for disabled children, i.

Dysfunctional cortical connectivity during the auditory oddball task in patients with schizophrenia.

Background: We studied the imaginary coherence (IC) of gamma frequency oscillations between brain regions of male schizophrenia patients during an auditory oddball task using magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG).

Methods: Subjects were 10 right-handed male schizophrenia patients, evaluated by the positive and negative symptom scale (PANSS), and 10 healthy controls. Functional connectivity during the auditory oddball task was reconstructed in low (30-50 Hz) and high (50-100 Hz) gamma bands, and represented by imaginary coherence (IC) based on significant oscillatory power changes.

Changes in Event-Related Desynchronization and Synchronization during the Auditory Oddball Task in Schizophrenia Patients.

Objective: We studied differences in the spatiotemporal dynamics of cortical oscillation across brain regions of patients with schizophrenia and normal subjects during the auditory oddball task using magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG).

Methods: Ten right-handed male schizophrenia patients were studied. We used a newly developed adaptive spatial filtering algorithm optimized for robust source time-frequency reconstruction of MEG and EEG data, and obtained consecutive images in functional maps of event-related desynchronization (ERD) and synchronization (ERS) in theta, lower alpha (8-10 Hz), upper alpha (10-13 Hz), and beta bands.

Different clinical phenotypes in siblings with a presenilin-1 P264L mutation.

Background: Mutations in the presenilin-1 gene (PSEN1) have been identified in autosomal dominant early-onset cases of Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Aims: To investigate different clinical phenotypes of siblings possessing the same heterozygous P264L mutation in the PSEN1 gene.

Methods: We evaluated clinical features, neuroimaging results, and neuropsychological examinations.

Development of a ubiquitous healthcare monitoring system combined with non-conscious and ambulatory physiological measurements and its application to medical care.

The demand for ubiquitous healthcare monitoring has been increasingly raised for prevention of lifestyle-related diseases, acute life support or chronic therapies for inpatients and/or outpatients having chronic disorder and home medical care. From these view points, we developed a non-conscious healthcare monitoring system without any attachment of biological sensors and operations of devices, and an ambulatory postural changes and activities monitoring system. Furthermore in this study, in order to investigate those applicability to the ubiquitous healthcare monitoring, we have developed a new healthcare monitoring system combined with the non-conscious and the ambulatory measurements developed by us.

Effectiveness of interval training compared with endurance training in cardiac rehabilitation.

Anaerobic endurance training (AET) can improve sympathomimetic hyperactivity, and anaerobic interval training (AIT) is recommended for patients who cannot exercise due to exertional breathlessness and leg fatigue. However, the difference in sympathetic nerve activation (SNA) and parasympathetic nerve activation (PNA) during AIT and AET is unclear. The aim of this study is to investigate the differences between endurance and interval trainings.

Associations between liver (18)F fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose accumulation and various clinical parameters in a Japanese population: influence of the metabolic syndrome.

Purpose: Liver demonstrates a heterogeneous (18)F fluoro-2-deoxy-D: -glucose ((18)F-FDG) uptake pattern and sometimes shows an abnormally increased uptake even when there is no malignant tissue. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationships of liver (18)F-FDG uptake as related to physical factors, fatty liver, blood glucose (BG), and other biochemical data.

Methods: (18)F-FDG positron emission tomography (PET) imaging was performed in 101 consecutive subjects for cancer screening.

A fully automated health-care monitoring at home without attachment of any biological sensors and its clinical evaluation.

Daily monitoring of health condition is important for an effective scheme for early diagnosis, treatment and prevention of lifestyle-related diseases such as adiposis, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and other diseases. Commercially available devices for health care monitoring at home are cumbersome in terms of self-attachment of biological sensors and self-operation of the devices. From this viewpoint, we have been developing a non-conscious physiological monitor installed in a bath, a lavatory, and a bed for home health care and evaluated its measurement accuracy by simultaneous recordings of a biological sensors directly attached to the body surface.

Role of gastric distention with additional water in differentiating locally advanced gastric carcinomas from physiological uptake in the stomach on 18F-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose PET.

Purpose: In this study, we investigated the role of gastric distention with additional water to determine whether it is beneficial for the differentiation of locally advanced gastric carcinomas from physiological 18F-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) uptake in the stomach and to characterize the FDG uptake of gastric carcinomas by relating it to the histopathological properties of the tumours.

Methods: Sixteen patients with locally advanced gastric carcinomas and 20 control patients were studied by FDG-PET. After whole-body PET imaging, the patients drank 400 ml of water and then spot imaging with additional water of the stomach was performed.

Changes in glucose metabolism due to aging and gender-related differences in the healthy human brain.

Using [(18)F]fluoro-deoxy-glucose-PET, we studied relative metabolic changes due to age- and gender-related differences in the brain of 126 healthy subjects from their twenties to seventies. We used a data-extraction technique, the three-dimensional stereotactic surface projections (3D-SSP) method, to measure metabolic changes with fewer effects of regional anatomic variances. Simple regression analysis revealed significant age-related increases in relative metabolic values in the parahippocampal and amygdala regions in both sexes in their twenties to forties, and significant age-related decreases in both sexes in their fifties to seventies.

Metabolic changes in the brain of patients with late-onset major depression.

Positron emission tomography (PET) with fluorodeoxyglucose-F18 was used to examine glucose metabolism in patients with late-onset major depression, all hospitalized non-responders to antidepressant medication. The three-dimensional stereotactic surface projection (3D-SSP) method provided 3D-SSP images and relative metabolic values with minimal partial volume effects. The 3D-SSP score map showed decreased relative metabolism in the prefontal, cingulate and parietal regions in both hemispheres, and in the temporal region on the right, and increased relative metabolism in the occipital pole, vermis, cerebellum, dorsal-frontal, central convexity areas and basal ganglia in both hemispheres in patients compared with controls.

PC-based rehabilitation tool for the elderly.

The elderly can sometimes find rehabilitation training to be very boring, but if the participants are motivated or having fun, they will continue to exercise. Prevention is the most important issue for health care insurance in Japan, and since suitable training will improve the quality of life, we developed personal computer (PC)-based rehabilitation tools to help the elderly maintain balance and muscle strength. After using the balance-training device, the subjects were able to keep better balance, and the muscle-training device resulted in an energy expenditure of around 2 METs fewer than walking.

An analysis of the physiological FDG uptake in the stomach with the water gastric distention method.

Purpose: Physiological FDG uptake in the stomach is a common phenomenon, especially noted at the cardia. Water intake just before scanning will result in gastric distention and thinning of the gastric wall, which in turn may lead to a reduction in the physiological uptake in the gastric wall. In the current study, we investigated whether gastric distention by water intake just before PET imaging reduces physiological FDG uptake in the stomach.

The influence of floor material on standing and walking by hemiplegic patients.

In this study, we evaluated the influence of floor materials on standing and walking in hemiplegic patients. To monitor body motion during standing and walking without any constraint, we used a measurement system that consisted of an accelerometer device, a telemeter system, and a personal computer. The posture angles in the antero-posterior and lateral directions were calculated from the low frequency component of the acceleration signal to evaluate body motion.

Spatiotemporal characteristics of MEG and EEG entrainment with photic stimulation in schizophrenia.

We examined the periodic synchronous characteristic response to photic stimulation in schizophrenia using electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG). We tested whether neural synchronization deficits were present in subjects with schizophrenia using photic stimulation to evaluate the frequency entrainment in 18 normal subjects and 19 schizophrenia patients. A conventional vertical-type 160-channel MEG (PQ1160C, Yokogawa Electric Corporation) was used.

Examining the influence of the cerebral cortex in range of motion exercise using MEG.

In rehabilitating stroke patients, many therapists use range of motion exercise (ROM-ex) at early post onset. There are three general types of ROM-ex: passive, active, and active-assistive ROM-ex is used to prevent joint contracture in paralyzed limbs and to assist in recovery of the central nervous system (CNS). However, its effect on CNS recovery is unclear.

Abnormal glucose metabolism in the anterior cingulate cortex in patients with schizophrenia.

Changes in glucose metabolism were studied in the brains of schizophrenic patients treated with neuroleptics, using [(18)F]fluoro-deoxy-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET). Fourteen male and eight female patients in their thirties and forties were studied in a resting state. Data from FDG-PET were processed with an anatomic standardization method, three-dimensional stereotactic surface projections (3D-SSP), which provided relative glucose metabolic values that mitigated the contamination of brain atrophy.

Improving the accuracy of pedometer used by the elderly with the FFT algorithm.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate and improve the accuracy of accelerometer-type pedometers used by the elderly with slow walking speeds, with or without gait disorders, who do or do not use a cane.

Methods: Eighteen subjects walked with a cane (5 males, 13 females; age, 80.9 +/- 7.

Fractal dynamics of body motion in patients with Parkinson's disease.

In this paper, we assess the complexity (fractal measure) of body motion during walking in patients with Parkinson's disease. The body motion of 11 patients with Parkinson's disease and 10 healthy elderly subjects was recorded using a triaxial accelerometry technique. A triaxial accelerometer was attached to the lumbar region.

Discrimination of walking patterns using wavelet-based fractal analysis.

In this paper, we attempted to classify the acceleration signals for walking along a corridor and on stairs by using the wavelet-based fractal analysis method. In addition, the wavelet-based fractal analysis method was used to evaluate the gait of elderly subjects and patients with Parkinson's disease. The triaxial acceleration signals were measured close to the center of gravity of the body while the subject walked along a corridor and up and down stairs continuously.