Premedication with midazolam in intellectually disabled dental patients: intramuscular or oral administration? A retrospective study

Background: The use of midazolam for dental care in patients with intellectual disability is poorly documented. The purpose of this study was to determine which method of premedication is more effective for these patients, 0.15 mg/kg of intramuscular midazolam or 0.3 mg/kg of oral midazolam. Material and Methods: This study was designed and implemented as a non-randomized retrospective study. The study population was composed of patients with intellectual disability who required dental treatment under ambulatory general anesthesia from August 2009 through April 2013. Patients were administered 0.15 mg/kg of midazolam intramuscularly (Group IM) or 0.3 mg/kg orally (Group PO). The predictor variable was the method of midazolam administration. The outcome variables measured were Observer’s Assessment of Alertness/ Sedation (OAA/S) Scale scores, the level of cooperation when entering the operation room and for venous cannulation, post-anesthetic agitation and recovery time. Results: Midazolam was administered intramuscularly in 23 patients and orally in 21 patients. More patients were successfully sedated with no resistance behavior during venous cannulation in Group PO than in Group IM ( p =0.034). There were no differences in demographic data and other variables between the groups. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that oral premedication with 0.3 mg/kg of midazolam is more effective than 0.15 mg/kg of midazolam administered intramuscularly, in terms of patient resistance to venous cannulation. If both oral and intramuscular routes of midazolam are acceptable in intellectually disabled patients, the oral route is recommended

Fasting Differentially Modulates the Immunological System: Its Mechanism and Sex Difference

The immunological properties and hormonal metabolism in rodents are affected by physical and psychological stress more strongly in males than in females. To elucidate the mechanism and physiological significance of the sex difference in the susceptibility of animal to stresses, changes in the immunological system in plasma and intestine and hormonal status in plasma were compared among 8-week-old male and female ICR mice before and after fasting. During the fasting of animals, the expression of immunoglobulin A in intestinal mucosa, and cortisol, interleukin-10 and interferon-γ in plasma increased. These changes occurred more apparently in males than in females. Under identical conditions, the plasma levels of testosterone decreased markedly with concomitant occurrence of apoptosis in the testis, while the plasma levels of estradiol decreased calmly, and no appreciable apoptosis occurred in the ovary. These results indicate that testosterone enhances the stress-induced modulation of the immune system by some mechanism that was antagonized by estradiol

Simple derivation of skeletal muscle from human pluripotent stem cells using temperature‐sensitive Sendai virus vector

温度感受性センダイウイルスベクターを用いて ヒトES細胞／iPS細胞から骨格筋細胞を簡便に作製する技術開発 --神経筋疾患病態モデル構築と創薬研究への利用--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2021-09-13.Human pluripotent stem cells have the potential to differentiate into various cell types including skeletal muscles (SkM), and they are applied to regenerative medicine or in vitro modelling for intractable diseases. A simple differentiation method is required for SkM cells to accelerate neuromuscular disease studies. Here, we established a simple method to convert human pluripotent stem cells into SkM cells by using temperature-sensitive Sendai virus (SeV) vector encoding myoblast determination protein 1 (SeV-Myod1), a myogenic master transcription factor. SeV-Myod1 treatment converted human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) into SkM cells, which expressed SkM markers including myosin heavy chain (MHC). We then removed the SeV vector by temporal treatment at a high temperature of 38℃, which also accelerated mesodermal differentiation, and found that SkM cells exhibited fibre-like morphology. Finally, after removal of the residual human ESCs by pluripotent stem cell-targeting delivery of cytotoxic compound, we generated SkM cells with 80% MHC positivity and responsiveness to electrical stimulation. This simple method for myogenic differentiation was applicable to human-induced pluripotent stem cells and will be beneficial for investigations of disease mechanisms and drug discovery in the future

Plausible phosphoenolpyruvate binding site revealed by 2.6 Å structure of Mn2+-bound phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase from Escherichia coli11The coordinates and structure factors have been deposited in the Protein Data Bank (accession number 1QB4).

AbstractWe have determined the crystal structure of Mn2+-bound Escherichia coli phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) using X-ray diffraction at 2.6 Å resolution, and specified the location of enzyme-bound Mn2+, which is essential for catalytic activity. The electron density map reveals that Mn2+ is bound to the side chain oxygens of Glu-506 and Asp-543, and located at the top of the α/β barrel in PEPC. The coordination sphere of Mn2+ observed in E. coli PEPC is similar to that of Mn2+ found in the pyruvate kinase structure. The model study of Mn2+-bound PEPC complexed with phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) reveals that the side chains of Arg-396, Arg-581 and Arg-713 could interact with PEP

Survey of Uterine Cervix Cancer Screening by Examination Car in Niigata Prefecture from 1995 to 2009

Based on the results obtained from 1995 to 2009, we explored the current activity statuses of the uterine cervix cancer screening by examination car conducted in Niigata Prefecture. A total of 318,580 women between age 20 and 85 (60,215 initial examinees including examinees who received cancer screening at interval of more than 3 or 5 years, and 258,365 re-examinees who received the screening more than twice within the past 3 or 5 years) were screened during this 15-year period. The mean consultation rate (proportion of examinees to the target population) was 4.10%, showing the highest rate 5.50% in 1996 and the lowest rate 1.98% in 2007. By the cancer screening, 255 cancer patients were detected in the 15 years (mean detection rate: 0.08%, range: 0.04% -1.30%). The mean cancer detection rate in the initial examinees (0.28%, 167 cases) was 8.1 times higher than that in the re-examinees (0.03%, 88 cases). Furthermore, the frequency of examinees diagnosed with dysplasia in the initial examinees was 5.7 times higher than that in the re-examinees (0.51% vs. 0.09%). Examinees requiring detailed examination (3.27%), or examinees diagnosed with dysplasia (0.18%), were detected at the highest rate in their twenties. However, the overall cancer detection rate in their twenties (0.17%) was the secondhighest during the study period, after that in their thirties (0.24%). The cancer detection rate leveled off at about 0.08% during the 15 years, and higher detection rates were found in the initial examinees, especially in their twenties and thirties. We believe the increase in cancer screening examinees of these generations is related to the increase in detection rates of dysplasia or cancer, and may be implicated in the future decrease in the cervical cancer death rate

Human induced pluripotent stem cells generated from a patient with idiopathic basal ganglia calcification

Idiopathic basal ganglia calcification (IBGC) is a rare neurodegenerative disease, characterized by abnormal calcium deposits in basal ganglia of the brain. The affected individuals exhibit movement disorders, and progressive deterioration of cognitive and psychiatric ability. The genetic cause of the disease is mutation in one of several different genes, SLC20A2, PDGFB, PDGFRB, XPR1 or MYORG, which inheritably or sporadically occurs. Here we generated an induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) line from an IBGC patient, which is likely be a powerful tool for revealing the pathomechanisms and exploring potential therapeutic candidates of IBGC

Approach for growth of high-quality and large protein crystals

Three crystallization methods, including crystallization in the presence of a semi-solid agarose gel, top-seeded solution growth (TSSG) and a large-scale hanging-drop method, have previously been presented. In this study, crystallization has been further evaluated in the presence of a semi-solid agarose gel by crystallizing additional proteins. A novel crystallization method combining TSSG and the large-scale hanging-drop method has also been developed