Electron Micro­scopic Studies on Retinochoroidal Atrophy in the Human Eye

Nine eyeballs were enucleated from nine patients with excessive myopia, secondary retinochoroidal atrophy, absolute glaucoma, uveal malignant melanoma, Behcet's disease and sympathetic ophthalmia. The retina and choroid were studied with light and electron microscopes. The results were: In excessive myopia, marked blockade of choriocapillaries was accompanied by progressive retinal degeneration. In secondary retinochoroidal atrophy induced by retrobulbar fibrosis, the choriocapillaries were partially blocked and the retina had markedly degenerated. In Behcet's disease, exudative inflammation was recognized in the choroid extending to the retina and causing retinal detachment, though the choriocapillaries remained morphologically normal. In sympathetic ophthalmia, both the choriocapillaries and the retina remained normal, though marked inflammation was recognized in the outer layer of the choroid. In absolute glaucoma, the fine structures of the choriocapillary were well preserved in spite of bulbar hypertonia. In uveal malignant melanoma, the ultra structure of the choriocapillary near the tumor was well preserved. The choriocapillaries were normal even when the retina had degenerated. Retinal degeneration was recognized when changes such as blockage, disappearance, dilatation and increased permeability were found in the choriocapillaries. Damage to the choriocapillaries might play an important role in inducing and developing retinochoroidal atrophy.</p

Astrocytic endfeet re-cover blood vessels after removal by laser ablation

Abstract The astrocyte, one of the glial cells, plays many functional roles. These include provision of nutrients from blood vessels to neurons, supply of neurotransmitters and support of blood–brain barrier (BBB) integrity. Astrocytes are known to support the integrity of BBB through maintenance of the tight junction between endothelial cells of blood vessels. However, evidence of its direct contribution to BBB is lacking owing to technical limitations. In this study, astrocytic endfeet covering blood vessels were removed by the laser ablation method with two photon laser scanning microscopy in in vivo mouse brain, and the re-covering of blood vessels with the astrocytic endfeet was observed in about half of the cases. Blood vessels kept their integrity without astrocytic endfoot covers: leakage of plasma marker dyes, Evans Blue or dextran-conjugated fluorescein, was not observed from stripped blood vessels, while ablation of vascular walls induced extravasation of Evans Blue. These results suggest that the astrocytic endfeet covering blood vessels do not contribute to the immediate BBB barrier

Detection of the reaction intermediates catalyzed by a copper amine oxidase

Consecutive temporal analyses of enzyme structure have been performed during reactions in order to clarify the structure-based reaction mechanism. Four intermediate structures have been determined

精神科看護の魅力

本研究の目的は，長期入院の精神障害者の退院支援のための精神科看護の魅力について文献検討により明らかにすることである．日本においては長期入院の精神障害者に対する積極的な退院支援が行われている．しかし，退院後の継続的な支援環境が整わないために，退院できない状況もあり，看護師は仕事への無力感を感じる場合も多い．それでもなお，精神障害者の退院支援に魅力を抱いている看護師がいる．したがって看護師らが退院支援に対して抱く魅力は何かを明らかにすることが長期入院の解決に対して重要である．文献検討の結果，長期入院の精神障害者の退院支援の魅力として（１）患者との相互作用のなかでの自己洞察と自らの人間的成長，（２）患者と看護師の関係発展過程から得られる患者の本質的な理解，（３）看護師が主体性を持って患者と関わることができるという特徴が示唆された．The purpose of this literature study is to clarify the fascination of positive programmed discharge support （PPDS）and psychiatric nursing for long-term inpatient with mental disorders. Long-term psychiatric hospitalization remains as a major problem in Japan. PPDS is performed to such inpatient with social hospitalization. Despite nurses’ efforts with the best intentions, some nurse feel powerless to work because patient cannot discharge from a hospital by reason that living environment after patient leaves hospital was not ready. Therefore, it is important to clarify nurses’ fascination for PPDS and their achievement motive to work to solve prolonged hospitalization. The result of literature review, it was suggested that fascination of psychiatric nursing have the following features : （１）nurse’s self-insight and personal growth in the interaction between patient and nurse, （２）intrinsically understanding of patient obtain from developmental process in the interaction between patient and nurse, and （３）psychiatric nurse is able to intervene to the patient independently

Compound auroral micromorphology: ground-based high-speed imaging

Auroral microphysics still remains partly unexplored. Cutting-edge ground-based optical observations using scientific complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (sCMOS) cameras recently enabled us to observe the fine-scale morphology of bright aurora at magnetic zenith for a variety of rapidly varying features for long uninterrupted periods. We report two interesting examples of combinations of fine-scale rapidly varying auroral features as observed by the sCMOS cameras installed at Poker Flat Research Range (PFRR), Alaska, in February 2014. The first example shows that flickering rays and pulsating modulation simultaneously appeared at the middle of a surge in the pre-midnight sector. The second example shows localized flickering aurora associated with growing eddies at the poleward edge of an arc in the midnight secto

Clinical Relevance of Blood Glucose and Gastroesophageal Reflux Symptoms to Depressive Status in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

A relationship between diabetes and depression is apparent. To clarify the clinical relevance of diabetic patients’ gastroesophageal symptoms to their psychological status, we retrospectively analyzed the data from a Selfrating Depression Scale (SDS) and a Frequency Scale for Symptoms of Gastroesophageal reflux disease (FSSG) among 143 type 2 diabetic patients who visited a general medicine department. Among the 45 Japanese patients enrolled, the group with relatively high SDS scores (≥ 36) showed higher (FSSG) dysmotility symptom scores versus the low-SDS (< 36) group, although the 2 groups’ characteristics and laboratory data were not significantly different. Positive correlations of postprandial plasma glucose (PPG) levels with FSSG scores (R=0.321, p<0.05), particularly with reflux scores (R=0.455, p<0.01) were revealed. PPG and HbA1c levels were not correlated with SDS scores. The patients’ SDS scores were significantly correlated with their FSSG scores (R=0.41, p<0.01), suggesting that depressive status is linked to GERD-related manifestations. Considering that the patients’ PPG levels were correlated with GERD-related symptoms, diabetic patients’ blood glucose levels are associated with depressive status. Collectively, key symptoms related to GERD and glucose level values would be helpfu