[Transverse myelitis and cauda equina syndrome followed by varicella in a patient with varicella-zoster virus infection].

A 74-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with complaints of weakness in the lower extremities, urinary retention for 10 days, and generalized vesicular rash for 7 days. Spinal magnetic resonance imaging showed contrast enhancement at the Th12-L1 level of the spinal cord and cauda equina. Serum and cerebrospinal fluid varicella-zoster virus (VZV)-immunoglobulin (Ig) G antibody titers were markedly elevated, and VZV-IgM was detected in cerebrospinal fluid.

Clinical features and varieties of non-motor fluctuations in Parkinson's disease: a Japanese multicenter study.

Objective: This multicenter cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the clinical features and varieties of non-motor fluctuation in Parkinson's disease (PD).

Methods: To identify motor and non-motor fluctuation, we employed the wearing-off questionnaire of 19 symptoms (WOQ-19) in 464 PD patients. We compared the frequency of levodopa-related fluctuation as identified by the WOQ-19 with recognition by neurologists.

Moyamoya-disease-related ischemic stroke in the postpartum period.

Stroke during pregnancy or the puerperium is an extremely rare yet serious cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality. Moyamoya disease, a cerebrovascular occlusive pathology with a female predominance, may become symptomatic for the first time in association with pregnancy. A 36-year-old woman with postpartum pre-eclampsia suddenly developed hemiparesis in the left arm with dysarthria after the initiation of antihypertensive measures.

Neurogenic potential of progenitors derived from human circulating CD14+ monocytes.

We previously reported a primitive cell fraction derived from human circulating CD14+ monocytes, named monocyte-derived multipotential cells (MOMC), that can differentiate along mesenchymal lineages, including bone, cartilage, fat, skeletal muscle and cardiac muscle. In this study, we investigated whether MOMC can differentiate into the neuronal lineage. MOMC were fluorescently labelled and cocultivated with a primary culture of rat neurons for up to 4 weeks.

Mouse-Musashi-1, a neural RNA-binding protein highly enriched in the mammalian CNS stem cell.

There is increasing interest in the role of RNA-binding proteins during neural development. Drosophila Musashi is one of the neural RNA-binding proteins essential for neural development and required for asymmetric cell divisions in the Drosophila adult sensory organ development. Here, a novel mammalian neural RNA-binding protein, mouse-Musashi-1, was identified based on the homology to Drosophila Musashi and Xenopus NRP-1.

Voltage-gated Ca2+ channel blockers, omega-AgaIVA and Ni2+, suppress the induction of theta-burst induced long-term potentiation in guinea-pig hippocampal CA1 neurons.

It is widely believed that a rise in post-synaptic calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) is a necessary step in the induction of long-term potentiation (LTP) (Bliss and Collingridge, Nature, 361 (1993) 31-39). In this experiment, we examine the involvement of voltage-gated Ca2+ channels (VGCC) in the induction of AP5-sensitive LTP induced by theta-burst stimulation in guinea-pig hippocampal CA1 neurons. The VGCC blockers, Ni2+ (25 microM, T-channel blocker) or omega-AgaIVA (60 nM, P-channel blocker), which have no effect on synaptic transmission, suppress 60% or 78% of the theta-burst induced LTP, respectively.

Inhibition of programmed cell death by cyclosporin A; preferential blocking of cell death induced by signals via TCR/CD3 complex and its mode of action.

Cyclosporin A (CsA) is reported to inhibit programmed cell death. We confirmed this by using T-cell hybridomas which are inducible to programmed cell death by activation with immobilized anti-CD3 antibody or with anti-Thy 1.2 antibody.