Altered autonomic nervous system activity as a potential etiological factor of premenstrual syndrome and premenstrual dysphoric disorder

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) encompasses a wide variety of cyclic and recurrent physical, emotional, and behavioral symptoms occurring during the late luteal phase of the menstrual cycle and abating shortly following the beginning of menses. Although PMS is widely recognized, its etiopathogenesis is not yet understood. The present study investigates whether the activity of the autonomic nervous system, which plays a vital role in orchestrating physiological homeostasis within the human body, is altered during the menstrual cycle of women with different degrees of premenstrual symptomatology.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Sixty-two women in their 20s to 40s with regular menstrual cycles participated in this study. All subjects were examined during the follicular and late luteal phases. Cycle phase was determined by the onset of menstruation and oral temperature and was verified by concentrations of ovarian hormones, estrone, and pregnanediol in a urine sample taken early in the morning. Autonomic nervous system activity was assessed by means of heart-rate variability (HRV) power spectral analysis during supine rest. The Menstrual Distress Questionnaire was used to evaluate physical, emotional, and behavioral symptoms accompanying the menstrual cycle of the subjects. The subjects were categorized in three groups, Control, PMS, and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) groups, depending on the severity of premenstrual symptomatology.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>No intramenstrual cycle difference in any of the parameters of HRV was found in the Control group, which had no or a small increase in premenstrual symptoms. In contrast, Total power and high frequency power, which reflect overall autonomic and parasympathetic nerve activity, respectively, significantly decreased in the late luteal phase from the follicular phase in the PMS group. As for the PMDD group, which had more severe symptoms premenstrually, heart-rate fluctuation as well as all components of the power spectrum of HRV were markedly decreased regardless of the menstrual cycle compared to those of the other two groups.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Several theories have been proposed to explain the underlying mechanisms of PMS with its complex web of bio-psycho-social factors. Although causes and consequences continue to elude, the present study provides intriguing and novel findings that the altered functioning of the autonomic nervous system in the late luteal phase could be associated with diverse psychosomatic and behavioral symptoms appearing premenstrually. In addition, when symptoms become more severe (as seen in women with PMDD), the sympathovagal function might be more depressed regardless of the menstrual cycle.</p

Attitudes of Japanese Medical Students towards Disclosure of a Diagnosis of Life-threatening Illness

In this study we investigated the attitudes of Japanese medical students toward being informed of a diagnosis of life-threatening illness. Fourth-year medical students from 20 randomly sampled universities were administered questionnaires that examined their opinion about whether they would welcome disclosure of medical information if they were diagnosed as having an ultimately fatal disease. Data from 1,619 students (male 1,074, female 545, effective collection rate 90.6%) were analyzed. With regard to attitudes about disclosure of a diagnosis of life-threatening illness, 87.7% of the students stated that they would wish to be informed even if there was little chance of recovery, and 11.6% expressed a wish to be informed of their condition only if there was a chance of recovery. Students who did not wish to be informed even if there was a chance of recovery accounted for 0.7% of those surveyed. Our study reveals that medical students are more positive than are members of the general population with regard to being informed of the truth. The proportion of those who wished to be informed even if there was little chance of recovery was higher among students from national and public universities than among those from private universities, and the inter-group difference was statistically significant. Among male students, answers to the survey were significantly correlated with 12-item General Health Questionnaire scores and mental health status, suggesting that mental health status may have affected how this study population viewed being informed of their diagnosis.</p

A nationwide randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled physicians’ trial of loxoprofen for the treatment of fatigue, headache, and nausea after hangovers

Hangovers are associated with negative economic consequences due to decreased job performance or frequent visits to physicians. Thus, a new strategy for the alleviation of hangover-related symptoms is needed to avoid this detriment to society. The purpose of this nationwide randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled physicians’ trial was to evaluate the efficacy of loxoprofen sodium for the alleviation of fatigue, headache, and nausea after hangover. A total of 229 participants were randomized to receive loxoprofen sodium (60 mg once orally) or placebo. The study was closed when the first 150 participants (n = 74 in the loxoprofen vs. n = 76 in the placebo groups) experienced hangovers. The primary endpoint was set as the difference in severity of general fatigue before and 3 h after taking the test drugs and was evaluated using a visual analogue scale. Secondary endpoints included difference in severity of headache, nausea, and incidence of adverse events. The study participants were 34 (interquartile range; 30-39) years old, 92.0% were men, and both groups were comparable for baseline characteristics. The alleviation of general fatigue did not differ statistically between the loxoprofen and placebo groups (24 [14-49] vs. 19 [9-35], p = 0.07). However, the alleviation of headache was statistically greater in the loxoprofen group (25 [10-50] vs. 10 [2-30], adjusted difference 14, 95% confidence interval 8-21, p < 0.001), whereas, there was no difference in nausea (7 [0-27] vs. 10 [0-24], p = 0.68). The incidence of adverse symptoms such as epigastric discomfort was also comparable between groups (2.7% vs. 3.9%, p = 0.25). Loxoprofen sodium was effective for relieving headaches after hangovers but did not alleviate general fatigue or nausea.Masahiko Hara, Kenichi Hayashi, Tetsuhisa Kitamura, Michitaka Honda, Masatake Tamaki, A nationwide randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled physicians’ trial of loxoprofen for the treatment of fatigue, headache, and nausea after hangovers, Alcohol, Volume 84, 2020, Pages 21-25, ISSN 0741-8329, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alcohol.2019.10.006

Attitude toward Daytime Nap in the Aged

This study investigated attitudes toward daytime nap on the 470 aged people (M=73.7 years old) by two measures. One measure was 13 items-scale on an attitude toward positive effects of daytime nap (AE). Another measure was 15 items-scale on an attitude toward napping person (AP). A factor analysis confirmed that AE consists of 3 dimensions of effects of daytime nap : effects on work, physical effects, and psychological effects, and that AP consists of 2 dimensions of beliefs about napping person : belief about taboo and belief about rest. The survey results clearly show that most of the aged people have positive attitudes toward daytime nap. So far, it has been proposed that there are social pressures which inhibit daytime nap in Japanese country and that daytime nap in the aged people is harmful to their health. The results of present study were, however, inconsistency with these previous issues

The Digital Museum Project for the documentation of Ikema Ryukyuan

The object of this presentation is to introduce a prototype of the Digital Museum Project in our attempt at the documentation of Ikema, one of the endangered dialects of Southern Ryukyuan, spoken on Miyakojima Island, Okinawa, Japan. The language is no longer acquired by younger people, and is spoken fluently only by people in their 60's or older. We have been studying one of the dialects of the language spoken in Nishihara since January 2006, and have made recordings of natural discourse and elicitation sessions totaling over 400 hours. The local people, especially the senior generations, are deeply concerned about the imminent disappearance of their language and culture, and have been making every effort to pass them on to younger generations. Their enthusiasm culminated in the creation of a vernacular musical titled Nishihara Muradate (The making of the Nishihara village), which depicts their migration to Nishihara from the Ikema Island, their ancestral island, some 130 years ago. It was performed in July 2007, at the 40th anniversary of the Meeting of the Ikema people, with more than a hundred people participating in the performance, was filmed and made into a DVD. Attempts at documenting the language are also being made by a nursery school principal, who has written fairy stories for children, scored traditional songs, and collected proverbs for raising children, all prepared bilingually in Ikema and the standard Japanese. In order to store the recordings we have made and to make the works created by local people accessible to the public, we are constructing a digital museum, a web-based four layered digital storage space. The first two layers are the exhibit space, open to the public and store the general introduction to the language and culture of Ikema, Nisihara Muradate, fairy tales for children, old songs, all subtitled in three languages: Ikema, the standard Japanese, and English. The exhibit space will serve as a forum for the local people in Nishihara, as well as for the people who have migrated to other parts of the world. The second two layers, the access to which is password protected, is for researchers specializing in Ryukyuans. The third layer stores transcribed recordings with translations, papers on Ikema and the related dialects. The fourth layer contains all the raw data, which are accessible only to our research group. We will make a demonstration of the prototype of the museum in this presentation

Relationship of daytime activity and nocturnal sleep in the elderly

This study investigated the relationship between the level of daytime activities and nocturnal sleep in the elderly using the wrist actigraph and ambulatory polysomnograph (PSG) system. Ten male and ten female subjects (mean age ± SE=73.2 ± 1.62 years; range 65-81 years) participated in this study. The level of daytime activity was positively correlated with the sleep efficiency of the subsequent night. Based on the amount of daytime activity level on the PSG recording night, 6 participants were selected as the high activity group, and other 6 participants selected as the low activity group. The duration of slow wave sleep (SWS) was significantly longer for high activity group than those for low activity group. Moreover, the duration of wake after sleep onset was longer for low activity group than those for high activity group. The results imply that increment the time of physical activities may improve the quality of nocturnal sleep for the elderly subjects

高非抱合型ビリルビン血症に対する光療法における青色と緑色光を混合した光療法は青色光単色と治療効果は同等であり、かつ光酸化ストレス反応を軽減する : Gunn ratモデルにおける検討

OBJECTIVE:Phototherapy using blue light-emitting diodes (LED) is effective against neonatal jaundice. However, green light phototherapy also reduces unconjugated jaundice. We aimed to determine whether mixed blue and green light can relieve jaundice with minimal oxidative stress as effectively as either blue or green light alone in a rat model. METHODS:Gunn rats were exposed to phototherapy with blue (420-520 nm), filtered blue (FB; 440-520 nm without<440-nm wavelengths, FB50 (half the irradiance of filtered blue), mixed (filtered 50% blue and 50% green), and green (490-590 nm) LED irradiation for 24h. The effects of phototherapy are expressed as ratios of serum total (TB) and unbound (UB) bilirubin before and after exposure to each LED. Urinary 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) was measured by HPLC before and after exposure to each LED to determine photo-oxidative stress. RESULTS:Values 1.00), respectively. CONCLUSIONS:Blue plus green phototherapy is as effective as blue phototherapy and it attenuates irradiation-induced oxidative stress. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS:Combined blue and green spectra might be effective against neonatal hyperbilirubinemia.博士（医学）・乙第1371号・平成27年11月27日Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

Prompt improvement of a pressure ulcer by the administration of high viscosity semi-solid nutrition via a nasogastric tube in a man with tuberculosis: a case report

INTRODUCTION: Semi-solid nutrition with high viscosity has the advantage of reducing gastroesophageal reflux and diarrhea and shortens the duration of administration compared with liquid nutrition. This is the first report describing the administration of semi-solid nutrition with high viscosity via a nasogastric tube, which achieved a remarkable improvement in the patient's nutritional state. CASE PRESENTATION: A 67-year-old man (mongoloid race, Japanese) with tuberculosis, a pressure ulcer and malnutrition was admitted to our hospital. He also had right hemiplegia, dysphagia and aphasia as sequelae of a cerebral hemorrhage. Before his admission, he had been treated at another hospital with 600 kcal/day of liquid nutrition via a nasogastric tube, which was insufficient and induced severe malnutrition. After he was admitted to our hospital, we increased the quantity of his liquid nutrition without success because of complications, specifically diarrhea and gastroesophageal reflux. As it was difficult to confirm whether or not he would accept gastrostomy feeding, we administered semi-solid nutrition with high viscosity (20,000 mPa x s) via a large-bore nasogastric tube (18 French). Soon after he was started on semi-solid nutrition, his pressure ulcer and malnutrition improved without diarrhea or complications accompanying the large-bore nasogastric tube. CONCLUSION: When patients have problems with liquid nutrition, such as diarrhea or gastroesophageal reflux, semi-solid nutrition via a nasogastric tube is a useful method of achieving improvements in nutritional state in a short period of time

NO2 sensing properties of macroporous In2O3-based powders fabricated by utilizing ultrasonic spray pyrolysis employing polymethylmethacrylate microspheres as a template

Macroporous (mp-) In2O3-based microspheres as a NO2 sensing material were prepared by the pyrolysis of atomized In(NO3)3 aqueous solutions containing polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) microspheres (150 nm in diameter) as a template. Well-developed spherical macropores (less than 100 nm in diameter) reflecting the morphology of the PMMA microsphere templates could be formed in the In2O3-based microspheres. The introduction of macropores into In2O3-based microspheres was very effective in improving the NO2 response of their thick films fabricated on an alumina substrate equipped with interdigitated Pt electrodes (gap size: ca. 200 μm) by screen-printing. In addition, the addition of a little amount of SnO2 to the mp-In2O3 microspheres not only lowered the resistance in air but also improved the NO2 response. NO2 sensing properties of non-stacked microspheres of the mp-In2O3 mixed with SnO2 were also investigated by utilizing nano-gap Au electrodes (gap size: ca. 200 nm). The non-stacked microspheres showed fast response and recovery speeds to NO2, because of better diffusion capability of NO2