Brain volume analyses and somatosensory evoked potentials in multiple system atrophy.

We investigated a progression of brain atrophy and somatosensory system dysfunction in multiple system atrophy (MSA). Subjects were 21 MSA patients [12 MSA-C (cerebellar type) and 9 MSA-P (parkinsonism type)]. The relative volumes of cerebrum, brainstem and cerebellum to the intracranial volume were obtained from three-dimensional computed tomography (3D-CT) of the brain.

Heart rate variability and hypercapnia in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between heart rate variability and hypercapnia.

Patients And Methods: We measured the coefficient of variation of R-R interval (CVrr) and arterial blood gas pressures in 73 patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Results: CVrr was negatively correlated with arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO(2)).

Mental retardation and lifetime events of Duchenne muscular dystrophy in Japan.

Objective: This study investigated the relationship between mental retardation and lifetime events in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

Methods: The data on mental retardation and ages of lifetime events (first walking, loss of ambulation, introductions of ventilator support and tube nutrition and death) were collected retrospectively, and the relationships between the factors were analyzed.

Patients: Among 194 DMD patients admitted to our hospital between 1995 and 2007, 74 patients underwent evaluation of their intelligence quotient (IQ).

Methylmalonic acidemia: brain lesions in a case of vitamin B12 non-responsive (mut0) type.

Neuropathological findings were described in a 9-day-old female infant who died of the vitamin B12 non-responsive (mut0) type of methylmalonic acidemia (MMA). Widespread karyorhectic fragments of varying size and shape were noted throughout the brain, in particular densely accumulated in the cerebellar granular layers and the layer IV of the striate cortex. Bilateral or symmetrical necrotic foci were observed in various regions of the grey matter: Sommer's sector of the hippocampus, basal ganglia, thalamus, hypothalamus and brainstem.

Development of the human gigantocellular reticular nucleus: a morphometric study.

The cytoarchitectonic development of the human gigantocellular reticular nucleus (GRN) was studied quantitatively in 15 fetuses (16-39 weeks of gestation: WG) and in 2 adults (16 and 85 years old). With microscopic observation on serial celloidin sections of the brain, we measured them to obtain the following morphometric parameters: numerical density (ND), profile area (PA), and perimeter (PL) of the GRN neurons. GRN appeared as early as early as 16-18 WG, but most neurons were still immature and the cell nucleus was relatively large (nucleocytoplasmic ratio was high), although a few large neurons containing fine Nissl bodies were observed.

[An autopsy case of brain candidiasis in premature infant: morphology and intraparenchymal distribution of Candida foci].

An autopsy case of brain candidiasis occurring in a premature infant is presented, and the morphology and intraparenchymal distribution of Candida foci are described in detail with the aid of serial sections of the affected brain. The patient was a boy, who was born after 25 weeks of gestation and died on day 15. Candida foci were composed of two infectious forms of Candida (yeasts and pseudohyphae) and various inflammatory reactions of the host.

[Development of human cerebellar granular layer: a morphometric study].

Development of the cerebellar granular layer, the external granular layer (EGL) and the internal granular layer (IGL), was studied morphologically to make complete serial sections of the brain from human fetuses ranging 12 to 40 weeks' gestation (WG). To examine the chronological changes and the regional differences, we measured the thickness of the layer microscopically among five different parts of the cerebellum: anterior lobe/hemisphere (AH), anterior lobe/vermis (AV), posterior lobe/hemisphere (PH), posterior lobe/vermis (PV) and flocculus (FL). EGL was the most superficial layer composed of densely packed undifferentiated cells.