Dietary Fiber Pectin Ameliorates Experimental Colitis in a Neutral Sugar Side Chain-Dependent Manner.

Dietary fiber, with intake of soluble fibers in particular, has been reported to lower the risk for developing inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). This is at least partly attributable to the fermentation of dietary fiber by the colonic microbiota to produce short chain fatty acids. Pectin, a widely consumed soluble fiber, is known to exert a protective effect in murine models of IBD, but the underlying mechanism remains elusive.

The First Nationwide Survey and Genetic Analyses of Bardet-Biedl Syndrome in Japan.

Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by central obesity, mental impairment, rod-cone dystrophy, polydactyly, hypogonadism in males, and renal abnormalities. The causative genes have been identified as BBS1-19. In Western countries, this disease is often reported, but remains undiagnosed in many patients until later in life, while only a few patients with no mutations identified have been reported in Japan.

Predictive value of EEG findings at control of epileptic spasms for seizure relapse in patients with West syndrome.

Purpose: To evaluate the prognostic importance of electroencephalography (EEG) findings at cessation of epileptic spasms for seizure outcome.

Methods: We reviewed 71 children with West syndrome (cryptogenic 14) who had obtained control of epileptic spasms with initial treatment (adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) 37, high-dose vitamin B6 2, and antiepileptic drugs 32). According to the EEG findings at control of epileptic spasms, the subjects were divided into three groups: normal group (no epileptic activity, n=12), abnormal group (residual epileptic activity without hypsarrhythmia, n=53), and hypsarrhythmic group (persisting hypsarrhythmia, n=6).

Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease caused by a duplication-inverted triplication-duplication in chromosomal segments including the PLP1 region.

Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (PMD; MIM#312080) is a rare X-linked leukodystrophy presenting with motor developmental delay associated with spasticity and nystagmus. PMD is mainly caused by abnormalities in the proteolipid protein 1 gene (PLP1), most frequently due to duplications of chromosomal segments including PLP1. In this study, a 9-year-old male patient manifesting severe developmental delay and spasticity was analyzed for PLP1 alteration, and triplication of PLP1 was identified.

Prolonged elevation of serum neuron-specific enolase in children after clinical diagnosis of brain death.

To elucidate the time course of neuronal cell death after the clinical criteria for brain death are met, the authors reviewed serial changes of serum neuron-specific enolase levels in 3 children (age range, 3-15 years) clinically diagnosed as brain dead due to cardiopulmonary arrest. All patients survived for more than 2 months after brain death. Children with brain death had higher peak neuron-specific enolase values (1069-2849 ng/mL) than did 3 control children (256-1800 ng/mL) who did not become brain dead but had poor neurological outcome (1 death, 2 vegetative state) after cardiopulmonary arrest.

Diagnostic accuracy of blood and CSF lactate in identifying children with mitochondrial diseases affecting the central nervous system.

Objective: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) lactate and pyruvate concentrations in identifying children with mitochondrial diseases (MD) affecting the central nervous system (CNS).

Methods: We studied lactate and pyruvate concentrations in paired samples of blood and CSF collected concurrently from 17 patients with MD (Leigh encephalomyelopathy 10, MELAS 5, Pearson disease 1, PDH deficiency 1) and those from control patients (n=49).

Results: Although blood and CSF variables (lactate, pyruvate concentrations and lactate/pyruvate ratio) were significantly higher in the mitochondrial group than in the control group, there was considerable overlap of individual values between these two groups.

Abnormal cystatin C levels in two patients with bardet-biedl syndrome.

Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by central obesity, mental impairment, rod-cone dystrophy, polydactyly, hypogonadism in males, and renal abnormalities. The causative genes have been identified as BBS1-14. In the Western countries, the prevalence of this disease ranges from 1/13,500 to 1/160,000, while only a few Japanese patients have been reported in the English-language literature.

[Successful treatment with additional plasmapheresis for the exacerbation of acute neurological symptoms in a girl with multiple sclerosis].

Few studies have indicated the efficacy of plasmapheresis in children with multiple sclerosis (MS). We report a 10-year-old girl with MS who was successfully treated with plasmapheresis. She experienced the first episode (vomiting and unconsciousness) at the age of eight years.

[Changes of brain edema after initiation of mild hypothermia therapy in children].

To determine the effects of mild hypothermia therapy (34 degrees C) for brain edema caused by hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) or acute encephalitis/encephalopathy, we reviewed the charts and serial brain CT images in six children (males 3, average age 1.6 years) treated with mild hypothermia therapy between November 2006 and April 2009. Both of the two children with HIE after cardiopulmonary arrest did not show any deterioration of brain edema after the initiation of hypothermia therapy.

Electroreductive intramolecular coupling of 1-indolealkanones.

The electroreduction of 1-indolealkanones in isopropanol gave five-, six-, and seven-membered trans-cyclized products stereospecifically. On the other hand, the electroreduction of 3-methoxycarbonyl-1-indolealkanones afforded mixtures of two diastereomers of the corresponding trans- and cis-cyclized products. The DFT calculations for the radical anions support that the reductive couplings of 1-indolealkanones and 3-methoxycarbonyl-1-indolealkanones proceed through different reaction mechanisms.

[Clinical efficacy of shortened ACTH therapy --an individualized method for minimization of adverse effects--Part 1. The short-term outcome].

To minimize adverse effects and to get good efficacy of ACTH therapy against West syndrome, we tried a new 2-steps therapeutic protocol consisting of the shortened ACTH therapy and the additional ACTH therapy. In a prospective multi-institutional study, 20 patients with newly diagnosed West syndrome who had failed to respond to high-dose vitamin B6 and zonisamide were treated by this shortened ACTH therapy. Synthetic corticotropin (ACTH-Z 0.