Basal ganglia correlates of fatigue in young adults

Although the prevalence of chronic fatigue is approximately 20% in healthy individuals, there are no studies of brain structure that elucidate the neural correlates of fatigue outside of clinical subjects. We hypothesized that fatigue without evidence of disease might be related to changes in the basal ganglia and prefrontal cortex and be implicated in fatigue with disease. We aimed to identify the white matter structures of fatigue in young subjects without disease using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Healthy young adults (n = 883; 489 males and 394 females) were recruited. As expected, the degrees of fatigue and motivation were associated with larger mean diffusivity (MD) in the right putamen, pallidus and caudate. Furthermore, the degree of physical activity was associated with a larger MD only in the right putamen. Accordingly, motivation was the best candidate for widespread basal ganglia, whereas physical activity might be the best candidate for the putamen. A plausible mechanism of fatigue may involve abnormal function of the motor system, as well as areas of the dopaminergic system in the basal ganglia that are associated with motivation and reward

Soft Coral Sarcophyton (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Octocorallia) Species Diversity and Chemotypes

Research on the soft coral genus Sarcophyton extends over a wide range of fields, including marine natural products and the isolation of a number of cembranoid diterpenes. However, it is still unknown how soft corals produce this diverse array of metabolites, and the relationship between soft coral diversity and cembranoid diterpene production is not clear. In order to understand this relationship, we examined Sarcophyton specimens from Okinawa, Japan, by utilizing three methods: morphological examination of sclerites, chemotype identification, and phylogenetic examination of both Sarcophyton (utilizing mitochondrial protein-coding genes MutS homolog: msh1) and their endosymbiotic Symbiodinium spp. (utilizing nuclear internal transcribed spacer of ribosomal DNA: ITS- rDNA). Chemotypes, molecular phylogenetic clades, and sclerites of Sarcophyton trocheliophorum specimens formed a clear and distinct group, but the relationships between chemotypes, molecular phylogenetic clade types and sclerites of the most common species, Sarcophyton glaucum, was not clear. S. glaucum was divided into four clades. A characteristic chemotype was observed within one phylogenetic clade of S. glaucum. Identities of symbiotic algae Symbiodinium spp. had no apparent relation to chemotypes of Sarcophyton spp. This study demonstrates that the complex results observed for S. glaucum are due to the incomplete and complex taxonomy of this species group. Our novel method of identification should help contribute to classification and taxonomic reassessment of this diverse soft coral genus

Large needle aspiration biopsy and galectin-3 determination in selected thyroid nodules with indeterminate FNA-cytology

Thyroid fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNA)-cytology is widely used for the preoperative characterisation of thyroid nodules but this task is difficult for follicular lesions, which often remain undefined. We propose a strategy for improving the preoperative characterisation of selected follicular thyroid proliferations, which is based on large needle aspiration biopsy (LNAB) and galectin-3 expression analysis. Eighty-five thyroid specimens were obtained by LNAB (20-gauge needles) from thyroid nodules with indeterminate follicular FNA-cytology. Aspirated material was processed as a tissue microbiopsy to obtain cell blocks for both cyto/histo-morphological evaluation and galectin-3 expression analysis, by using a purified monoclonal antibody to galectin-3 and a biotin-free immunoperoxidase staining method. Preoperative diagnosis was compared to the final histology. LNAB and cell-block technique allow a preliminary distinction between nodules with a homogeneous microfollicular/trabecular structure, as frequently observed in tumours, and lesions with mixed normo–micro–macrofollicular architecture, as observed in goitre. Furthermore, LNAB provides optimal substrates for galectin-3 expression analysis. Among 85 cases tested, 14 galectin-3-positive cases were discovered preoperatively (11 thyroid cancers and three adenomas confirmed at the final histology), whereas galectin-3-negative cases were 71 (one carcinoma and 70 benign proliferations at the final histology). Sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy of this integrated morphologic and phenotypic diagnostic approach were 91.6, 97.2 and 95.3%, respectively. In conclusion, LNAB plus galectin-3 expression analysis when applied preoperatively to selected thyroid nodules candidate to surgery can potentially reduce unnecessary thyroid resections

Spectral, tensor, and ab initio theoretical analysis of optical second harmonic generation from the rutile TiO_2(110) and (001) faces

We overview of our recent experimental study on the optical second harmonic (SH) response of the rutile TiO_2(110) and (001) faces, and the analysis of these results by phenomenological electromagnetic theory using nonlinear susceptibility tensors and by ab initio theory using the self-consistent full potential linearized augmented plane-wave (FLAPW) method within the local-density approximation. Since bulk rutile TiO_2 has a uniaxial crystal structure of symmetry D^_, nonlinear optical response of its surface and bulk showed remarkable anisotropy. The TiO_2(110) face exhibited stronger reflected SH response when the incident electric field was directed parallel than perpendicular to the [001] axis, while the TiO_2(001) face exhibited relatively isotropic SH response. The anisotropy of the SH intensity patterns depended remarkably on the incident photon energy and the polarization combination. By using a phenomenological electromagnetic theory, we performed a simultaneous analysis of the SH intensity patterns from the (110) and (001) faces as a function of the sample rotation angle around its surface normal. As a result we could separate the contributions from the surface second-order and bulk higher order nonlinear susceptibilities. We also found that the SH intensity spectra as a function of the SH photon energy depended strongly on the sample rotation angle and the polarization combination of the fundamental and SH light. The onset of the SH resonance of the TiO_2(110) face was located at 2ηω～3.4 eV when the induced nonlinear polarization was perpendicular to the surface. It was located at 2ηω～3.2 eV when the induced nonlinear polarization is parallel to the [001] direction in the surface plane. These onset energies were higher than the onset energy of the bulk linear absorption at 3.0 eV. On the other hand, the onset energy of the SH resonance of the (001) face was found at 2ηω～3.0 eV. Discussion was given on the physical meaning of the observed SH intensity spectra. Furthermore, ab initio calculation of the nonlinear optical response from the TiO_2(110) surface using the FLAPW method was performed. The calculated results agreed very well with the experimental SH intensity patterns and spectra. We found both from the phenomenological and ab initio calculation that the main SH response from the TiO_2(110) surface originated from the Ti-O-Ti-O- zigzag chains on the TiO_2(110) surface

RS3PE syndrome presenting as vascular endothelial growth factor associated disorder

Methods: Vascular endothelial growth factor(165) (VEGF(165)), tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα), and interleukin 1ß (IL1ß) were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in serum samples from three patients with RS3PE syndrome. As controls, serum samples from 26 healthy volunteers, 12 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, 10 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, 13 patients with polymyositis/dermatomyositis, 13 patients with vasculitis syndrome, and 6 patients with mixed connective tissue disease were also analysed. Synovial hypervascularity of patients with RS3PE syndrome was estimated by rate of enhancement (E-rate) in a dynamic MRI study. Results: Serum concentrations of VEGF(165) (mean (SD) 2223.3 (156.3) pg/ml) were significantly higher in patients with active RS3PE syndrome than in controls before corticosteroid treatment. TNFα and IL1ß levels were similar in patients and controls. Synovial hypervascularity in affected joints and subcutaneous oedema decreased during corticosteroid treatment, in parallel with the fall in serum VEGF(165). Conclusions: VEGF promotes synovial inflammation and vascular permeability in patients with RS3PE syndrome, suggesting that RS3PE can be classified as a VEGF associated disorder