International multi-site survey on the use of online support groups in bipolar disorder.

Background: Peer support is an established component of recovery from bipolar disorder, and online support groups may offer opportunities to expand the use of peer support at the patient's convenience. Prior research in bipolar disorder has reported value from online support groups.

Aims: To understand the use of online support groups by patients with bipolar disorder as part of a larger project about information seeking.

Brain structure differences among male schizophrenic patients with history of serious violent acts: an MRI voxel-based morphometric study.

Background: The biological underpinnings of serious violent behaviors in patients with schizophrenia remain unclear. The aim of this study was to identify the characteristics of brain morphometry in patients with schizophrenia and a history of serious violent acts, who were being treated under relatively new legislation for offenders with mental illness in Japan where their relevant action should be strongly associated with their mental illness. We also investigated whether morphometric changes would depend on types of serious violent actions or not.

Music-evoked emotions in schizophrenia.

Background/objectives: Previous studies have reported that people with schizophrenia have impaired musical abilities. Here we developed a simple music-based assay to assess patient's ability to associate a minor chord with sadness. We further characterize correlations between impaired musical responses and psychiatric symptoms.

Evaluation of polygenic risks for narcolepsy and essential hypersomnia.

In humans, narcolepsy is a sleep disorder that is characterized by sleepiness, cataplexy and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep abnormalities. Essential hypersomnia (EHS) is another type of sleep disorder that is characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness without cataplexy. A human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II allele, HLA-DQB1*06:02, is a major genetic factor for narcolepsy.

The regulation of soluble receptor for AGEs contributes to carbonyl stress in schizophrenia.

Our previous study showed that enhanced carbonyl stress is closely related to schizophrenia. The endogenous secretory receptor for advanced glycation end-products (esRAGE) is a splice variant of the AGER gene and is one of the soluble forms of RAGE. esRAGE is considered to be a key molecule for alleviating the burden of carbonyl stress by entrapping advanced glycation end-products (AGEs).

Association between polypharmacy and cognitive impairment in an elderly Japanese population residing in an urban community.

Aim: Polypharmacy is a serious medical problem among older adults. Polypharmacy can cause adverse drug reactions and is associated with frailty. Several drugs, particularly psychotropic medications, can cause cognitive impairment.

Online information seeking by patients with bipolar disorder: results from an international multisite survey.

Background: Information seeking is an important coping mechanism for dealing with chronic illness. Despite a growing number of mental health websites, there is little understanding of how patients with bipolar disorder use the Internet to seek information.

Methods: A 39 question, paper-based, anonymous survey, translated into 12 languages, was completed by 1222 patients in 17 countries as a convenience sample between March 2014 and January 2016.

Delirium prior to dementia as a clinical phenotype of Lewy body disease: an autopsied case report.

Although delirium shares clinical characteristics with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), there is limited information regarding the relationship between delirium and Lewy body pathology. Here, we report an 89-year-old Japanese woman with an episode of delirium who was pathologically confirmed to have limbic-type Lewy body disease (LBD). Although she exhibited transient visual hallucinations during the delirium, she had no overt dementia.

The First Case Report of Robotic Multivisceral Resection for Synchronous Liver Metastasis from Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor: A Case Report and Literature Review.

Introduction: Surgery for liver metastases in pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor (PNET) improves overall survival rate. We present the first case report for robotic multivisceral resection of distal pancreas, spleen, and left liver for metastatic PNET.

Materials And Methods: We present a case of 52-year-old female diagnosed with PNET in the pancreatic neck metastatic to the liver, responding to somatostatin and bland embolization, who underwent surgical debulking using da Vinci robotic platform.

A discussion of various aspects of panic disorder depending on presence or absence of agoraphobia.

Objective: The quality of life of individuals with panic disorder and agoraphobia can be improved by the alleviation of agoraphobia. In other words, examining panic disorder in terms of whether agoraphobia is present is crucial. The current study examined panic disorder from this perspective.

Internet use by patients with bipolar disorder: Results from an international multisite survey.

There is considerable international interest in online education of patients with bipolar disorder, yet little understanding of how patients use the Internet and other sources to seek information. 1171 patients with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder in 17 countries completed a paper-based, anonymous survey. 81% of the patients used the Internet, a percentage similar to the general public.

A case report of successful removal of multiples sewing needles in the gastrointestinal tract and pancreas using intraoperative C-arm fluoroscopy.

Background: Most ingested foreign bodies pass uneventfully through the digestive tract without any major disturbances.

Objectives: We reports a rare case of successful localization and surgical removal of needles in the gastrointestinal tract using C-arm fluoroscopy intraoperatively.

Case Report: A 46year old female, a non-hospitalized psychiatric patient, presented with acute abdominal pain.

Polymorphisms in the TMEM132D region are associated with panic disorder in HLA-DRB1*13:02-negative individuals of a Japanese population.

We herein report an association between TMEM132D and panic disorder (PD) in a Japanese population, evaluating the effects of HLA-DRB1*13:02, which we previously reported as a susceptibility genetic factor for PD. SNPs in TMEM132D showed significant associations with PD in subjects without HLA-DRB1*13:02 (rs4759997; P=5.02×10(-6), odds ratio=1.

Chorea as a clinical feature of the basophilic inclusion body disease subtype of fused-in-sarcoma-associated frontotemporal lobar degeneration.

Choreoathetoid involuntary movements are rarely reported in patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), suggesting their exclusion as a supportive feature in clinical diagnostic criteria for FTLD. Here, we identified three cases of the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) that display chorea with fused in sarcoma (FUS)-positive inclusions (FTLD-FUS) and the basophilic inclusion body disease (BIBD) subtype. We determined the behavioral and cognitive features in this group that were distinct from other FTLD-FUS cases.

The Recognition of Mental Illness, Schizophrenia Identification, and Help-Seeking from Friends in Late Adolescence.

Objective: The recognition of mental illness without anticipating stigma might encourage adolescents' help-seeking behavior. We aimed to identify the relationship between mental illness identification and adolescents' intention to seek help if faced with mental illness.

Method: We examined the relationships between help-seeking intentions and recognition of mental illness (RMI) without correctly identifying the disease name, as well as correct labelling of schizophrenia (LSC) using a vignette about a person with schizophrenia in a cross-sectional survey of 9,484 Japanese high-school students aged 15-18 years.