Free Amino Acids and Related Compounds in the Fluid from Surgical Ciliated Cysts of the Maxilla

Fluids from 6 surgical ciliated cysts of the maxilla and autologous sera were analyzed for total free amino acids and related compounds concentrations. All of the amino acids present in the serum were observed in the cyst fluids, but the concentrations and profile of their constituents were markedly different from that of the serum. The concentrations of non-essential amino acids such as Ala, Glx, and Gly were extremely low in the cyst fluids. The composition and concentration of the amino acids and related compounds in the fluids of these cysts may reflect the balance between proteolytic and catabolic metabolism and also in the permeability effect of the lining cells of the cyst wall

Effects of revisions to the health insurance system on the recovery-phase rehabilitation ward

In the present study, we investigated the effects of revisions to the medical fee system made in April 2006 on the recovery-phase rehabilitation ward of our hospital. Subjects were patients admitted to the recovery-phase rehabilitation ward of our hospital between April 1, 2005 and September 30, 2006, and were discharged. Patients admitted between April 1, 2005 and March 31, 2006 were allocated to the pre-revision group and those admitted between April 1, 2006 and September 30, 2006 to the post-revision group. Their medical charts were investigated for comparison of the mean age, duration of hospitalization, and outcome.A total of 126 patients were allocated to the pre-revision group, and 72 to the post-revision group. The number of days from onset to admission to the recovery-phase rehabilitation ward was 41.3 days in the pre-revision group and 26.1 days in the post-revision group, while the duration of hospitalization was 71.4 days in the former group and 41.9 days in the latter. The outcomes were transfer to homecare/discharge to home in 84 patients (67%) and transfer to another department in our hospital in six patients (5%) in the pre-revision group, and 43 patients (60%) and 14 patients (19%), respectively, in the post-revision group. No significant differences in FIM were found between the two groups.The effects of the medical fee system revisions made in April 2006 on the recovery-phase rehabilitation ward of our hospital included shortening of the number of days between onset and admission, duration of hospitalization, increased transfer to other departments, and decreased rates of transfer to homecare/discharge to home. These findings indicate the importance of systemic management and team-based approaches for enabling more efficient rehabilitation

Investigation into the safety of driving by individuals with higher brain dysfunction

Dangerous driving by drivers with diseases or disabilities such as dementia, epilepsy, or higher brain dysfunction is viewed as a problem In Worldwide. Given that the majority of such cases of dangerous driving are caused by impairments to cognitive function resulting from these conditions, there is an urgent need to create systems to detect drivers with cognitive functional disability and develop criteria for safe resumption of driving. Because driving would understandably be extremely dangerous for people with higher brain dysfunction, particularly in cases of attention dysfunction, we first examined the correlation between the Clinical Assessment of Attention (CAT), a theoretical task offering an index of attention function, and the cathode ray tube (CRT) driving aptitude test. We then examined correlations between CRT total score and CRT sub-scores. Only the time required for the position Stroop test had a moderate correlation (r=-0.43, p<0.01) with CRT total score. Correlations between CRT total score and sub-scores relating to reaction speed showed a strong correlation. Other than reaction speed, items with significant moderate to strong correlations were also seen in the maintenance of moderate mental tension, attention distribution and situation processing skill. The present results show a correlation between CAT score and CRT total score, indicating that CRT total score places relative weights on speed of information processing and suppression of stereotypes, representing a very meaningful result

Deep sequencing reveals as-yet-undiscovered small RNAs in Escherichia coli

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In <it>Escherichia coli</it>, approximately 100 regulatory small RNAs (sRNAs) have been identified experimentally and many more have been predicted by various methods. To provide a comprehensive overview of sRNAs, we analysed the low-molecular-weight RNAs (< 200 nt) of <it>E. coli </it>with deep sequencing, because the regulatory RNAs in bacteria are usually 50-200 nt in length.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We discovered 229 novel candidate sRNAs (≥ 50 nt) with computational or experimental evidence of transcription initiation. Among them, the expression of seven intergenic sRNAs and three <it>cis</it>-antisense sRNAs was detected by northern blot analysis. Interestingly, five novel sRNAs are expressed from prophage regions and we note that these sRNAs have several specific characteristics. Furthermore, we conducted an evolutionary conservation analysis of the candidate sRNAs and summarised the data among closely related bacterial strains.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This comprehensive screen for <it>E. coli </it>sRNAs using a deep sequencing approach has shown that many as-yet-undiscovered sRNAs are potentially encoded in the <it>E. coli </it>genome. We constructed the <it>Escherichia coli </it>Small RNA Browser (ECSBrowser; <url>http://rna.iab.keio.ac.jp/</url>), which integrates the data for previously identified sRNAs and the novel sRNAs found in this study.</p