Facial memory ability and self-awareness in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy after anterior temporal lobectomy.

Anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) is the most common surgical treatment for drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Right ATL has been reported to reduce facial memory ability in patients with TLE, as indicated by poor performance on the Warrington Recognition Memory Test for Faces (RMF), which is commonly used to evaluate visual memory in these patients. However, little is known about whether patients with TLE exhibit difficulties in identifying faces in daily life after ATL.

Risk Factor for Additional Intravenous Medication during Transforaminal Full-endoscopic Lumbar Discectomy under Local Anesthesia.

Transforaminal full-endoscopic lumbar discectomy (TELD) can be performed under local anesthesia. However, there have been no reports on risk factors for a change in vital signs or the need for additional medications to maintain adequate analgesia during this procedure. The purpose of this study was to identify risk factors for additional intravenous medication during TELD under local anesthesia.

Low-energy extracorporeal shock wave therapy promotes BDNF expression and improves functional recovery after spinal cord injury in rats.

Low-energy extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) has been used to treat various human diseases. Previous studies have shown that low-energy ESWT promotes the release of various cell growth factors and trophic factors from the cells surrounding the target lesion. The aim of the current study was to determine whether the application of low-energy ESWT upregulates the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and reduces neural tissue damage and functional impairment using a rat model of thoracic spinal cord contusion injury.

[Inpatients with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy in specialized institutions in Japan from 1999 to 2013-Clinical condition changes and causes of death].

We analyzed the registration data of inpatients with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) receiving care at 27 specialized institutions for muscular dystrophy in Japan from 1999 to 2013 using data from October 1 of each year. The number of inpatients of each year ranged from 63 to 72 (67.1 ± 3.

The updated retrospective questionnaire study of sporadic inclusion body myositis in Japan.

Background: Sporadic inclusion body myositis (sIBM) is the most prevalent muscle disease in elderly people, affecting the daily activities. sIBM is progressive with unknown cause and without effective treatment. In 2015, sIBM was classified as an intractable disease by the Japanese government, and the treatment cost was partly covered by the government.

Characteristics of ventricular tachycardia and long-term treatment outcome in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy complicated by lamin A/C gene mutations.

Background: Dilated cardiomyopathy caused by lamin A/C gene (LMNA) mutation is complicated with atrioventricular (AV) conduction disturbances, malignant ventricular arrhythmias, and progressive severe heart failure. Radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) of ventricular tachycardia (VT) has been reported to be challenging due to the high recurrence rate in patients with LMNA-related cardiomyopathy. However, electrophysiological and histopathological characteristics of VT substrate remain to be fully elucidated.

Defining visual illusions in Parkinson's disease: Kinetopsia and object misidentification illusions.

Objective: To identify the phenomenological features and neural correlates of visual illusions in Parkinson's disease (PD).

Methods: Ninety-three patients with PD were assessed via questionnaires regarding visual illusions and behavioral symptoms, and neuropsychological tests, motor assessments and 18-F fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) were performed. The relationship between visual illusions or hallucinations and regional cerebral glucose metabolism was investigated using partial least squares (PLS) correlation and conventional mass-univariate analyses.

Do Patients With Parkinson's Disease Exhibit Reduced Cheating Behavior? A Neuropsychological Study.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder characterized by loss of dopamine neurons. Since a seminal report was published in the early twentieth century, a growing body of literature has suggested that patients with PD display characteristic personality traits, such as cautiousness and inflexibility. Notably, PD patients have also been described as "honest," indicating that they have a remarkable tendency to avoid behaving dishonestly.

Negative mood invites psychotic false perception in dementia.

Background: There is increasing evidence for predictive coding theories of psychosis, which state that hallucinations arise from abnormal perceptual priors or biases. However, psychological processes that foster abnormal priors/biases in patients suffering hallucinations have been largely unexplored. The widely recognized relationship between affective disorders and psychosis suggests a role for mood and emotion.

Rate of spinal surgery in a rapidly aging society: the 27-year changes in Miyagi prefecture, Japan.

Background: Japan has had a rapidly aging population during the past 30 years. This study aimed to investigate longitudinal changes in the surgical rate for spinal disorders in Miyagi Prefecture (2.35 million inhabitants) with a similar population composition to Japan.

An increase in the degree of olisthesis during axial loading reduces the dural sac size and worsens clinical symptoms in patients with degenerative spondylolisthesis.

Background Context: Previous studies have shown that axial loading during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) significantly reduces the size of the dural sac compared with conventional MRI in patients with degenerative lumbar disease. In our previous study, axial-loaded MRI showed a significantly larger degree of olisthesis than conventional MRI in patients with degenerative spondylolisthesis (DS). Furthermore, the degree of olisthesis on axial-loaded MRI correlated more strongly with that observed on X-ray in the upright position.

Deconstructing psychosis and misperception symptoms in Parkinson's disease.

Objective: Patients with Lewy body disease develop a variety of psychotic and misperception symptoms, including visual hallucinations and delusions, as well as 'minor hallucinations', that is, a sense of presence, passage hallucinations and visual illusions. Although these symptoms have been suggested to have common underlying mechanisms, the commonalities and differences among them have not been systematically investigated at the neural level.

Methods: Sixty-seven patients with Parkinson's disease underwent neuropsychological and behavioural assessments, volumetric MRI and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET).

Longitudinal study of cognitive and cerebral metabolic changes in Parkinson's disease.

Objective: To investigate the cortical metabolic alterations that precedes longitudinal cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease (PD).

Methods: We analyzed the data of 46 PD patients who did not have dementia at baseline and completed 3-year follow-up. Based on the results of general cognitive, memory and visuospatial tests, patients were classified into cognitively normal PD (PD-CogNL), PD with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI), and PD dementia (PDD).

Study of Duchenne muscular dystrophy long-term survivors aged 40 years and older living in specialized institutions in Japan.

The national muscular dystrophy wards database of Japan lists 118 long-term Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients who were at least 40 years old as of October 1, 2013. To elucidate the clinical features of DMD patients aged 40 years and older, we obtained gene analysis and muscle biopsy findings, as well as medical condition information. Ninety-four of the registered patients consented to participate, of whom 55 meeting genetic or biochemical criteria confirming DMD were analyzed.

Multicenter questionnaire survey for sporadic inclusion body myositis in Japan.

Background: Sporadic inclusion body myositis (sIBM) is the most prevalent acquired muscle disease in the elderly. sIBM is an intractable and progressive disease of unknown cause and without effective treatment. The etiology of sIBM is still unknown; however, genetic factors, aging, lifestyles, and environmental factors may be involved.

New diagnostic support tool for patients with leg symptoms caused by lumbar spinal stenosis and lumbar intervertebral disc herniation: A self-administered, self-reported history questionnaire.

Background: There are no diagnostic support tools composed of a simple, single-sheet, self-administered, self-reported history questionnaire (SSHQ) for patients with leg symptoms caused by either lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) or lumbar disc herniation (LDH), at the same time, can discriminate the two diseases.

Methods: We conducted retrospective and prospective derivation studies and a prospective validation study. Based on data from 137 patients with LSS and 206 with LDH, we identified key prediction factors to establish the diagnosis of LSS and LDH, which became the basis of a temporary SSHQ.

Isolated inclusion body myopathy caused by a multisystem proteinopathy-linked hnRNPA1 mutation.

Objective: To identify the genetic cause of isolated inclusion body myopathy (IBM) with autosomal dominant inheritance in 2 families.

Methods: Genetic investigations were performed using whole-exome and Sanger sequencing of the heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A1 gene (hnRNPA1). The clinical and pathologic features of patients in the 2 families were evaluated with neurologic examinations, muscle imaging, and muscle biopsy.

On the Utility of MIBG SPECT/CT in Evaluating Cardiac Sympathetic Dysfunction in Lewy Body Diseases.

Background: Abnormal cardiac uptake of 123I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (123I-MIBG) is a diagnostic marker of Lewy body diseases (LBDs), e.g., Parkinson's disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB).

Subgroup differences in 'brain-type' transferrin and α-synuclein in Parkinson's disease and multiple system atrophy.

Two transferrin (Tf) glycan-isoforms were previously found in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF); one appears to be derived from serum (Tf-2) and the other from choroid plexus, a CSF-producing tissue (Tf-1). To analyse metabolic differences associated with the two isoforms, their ratio (Tf-2/Tf-1) was defined as the Tf index. Here we report that Tf indices of patients with tauopathies including Alzheimer's disease (2.

Increased Facet Fluid Predicts Dynamic Changes in the Dural Sac Size on Axial-Loaded MRI in Patients with Lumbar Spinal Canal Stenosis.

Background And Purpose: Axial-loaded MR imaging, which simulates the spinal canal in a standing position, demonstrates reductions of the dural sac cross-sectional area in patients with lumbar spinal canal stenosis. However, there has been no useful conventional MR imaging finding for predicting a reduction in the dural sac cross-sectional area on axial-loaded MR imaging. Previous studies have shown that increased facet fluid is associated with the spinal instability detected during positional changes.

The characteristics of camptocormia in patients with Parkinson's disease: A large cross-sectional multicenter study in Japan.

Purpose: The goal of the present study was to clarify the clinical characteristics and laboratory results of parkinsonian symptoms among patients with and without camptocormia.

Methods: Seventy-eight Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with camptocormia and 78 PD patients without camptocormia underwent a neurological examination, a blood test, and spinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). PD with camptocormia group and PD with non-camptocormia group were matched on age, age at PD onset, and sex.

Respiratory and cardiac function in japanese patients with dysferlinopathy.

Introduction: We retrospectively reviewed respiratory and cardiac function in patients with dysferlinopathy, including 2 autopsy cases with respiratory dysfunction.

Methods: Subjects included 48 patients who underwent respiratory evaluation (n = 47), electrocardiography (n = 46), and echocardiography (n = 23).

Results: Of the 47 patients, 10 had reduced percent forced vital capacity (%FVC), and 4 required non-invasive positive pressure ventilation.

Pareidolia in Parkinson's disease without dementia: A positron emission tomography study.

Background: Pareidolia, which is a particular type of complex visual illusion, has been reported to be a phenomenon analogous to visual hallucinations in patients with dementia with Lewy bodies. However, whether pareidolia is observed in Parkinson's disease (PD) or whether there are common underlying mechanisms of these two types of visual misperceptions remains to be elucidated.

Methods: A test to evoke pareidolia, the Pareidolia test, was administered to 53 patients with PD without dementia and 24 healthy controls.