Alteration of default mode network in children with autism spectrum disorder

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in the functional connectivity of the default mode network (DMN) in normal aging and in children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) by using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) and independent component analysis. Methods : Thirty-one healthy controls (HC) in four age groups (1-3, 4-8, 20-29, and 50-59 years) and 14 childhood ASD cases (1-8 years of age) were examined by rsfMRI echo-planar imaging on a clinical 3-T MRI scanner. Imaging of all children (1-8 years) was conducted under sedation, while adults were scanned in the awake state with eyes closed. Results : The regions of DMN functional connectivity in the bilateral inferior parietal lobule and posterior cingulate cortex were smaller in HC children than in HC adults, and smaller in the ASD group than in the HC children. Conclusion : It is possible to observe developmental and pathological changes in the DMN by rsfMRI. Reduced DMN functional connectivity in children may be a useful biomarker for ASD diagnosis

High-resolution CT Findings of Diffuse Lung Disease : Review Article

Introduction Computed tomography (CT), particularly high-resolution CT (HRCT), defines detailed lung morphology, and is useful in evaluating diffuse lung disease1,2 It allows assessment of the anatomic changes as well as physiologic responses in patients with diffuse lung disease. We herein review the HRCT findings of diffuse lung disease according to classification based on their predominant appearances

Proposal of Reasonable Fill Construction Management Index in Fill Loading with Vacuum Consolidation Method Based on FEM Analyses

Vacuum consolidation method (VCM) is one of the recent methods for the improvement of soft ground. This method can forcibly drain pore water, and increase ground strength by loading of the vacuum pressure. A fill loading with vacuum consolidation method (FLVCM) is considered to be able to control lateral flow and upheaval of surrounding area during the rapid fill construction. However, the behavior of this combination on the ground deformation is not fully clarified on FLVCM, fill design and site management is depending on the experienced technique. In this study, numerical simulation has been carried out by finite element method (FEM) for the quantitative evaluation of the deformation suppression effect of FLVCM on the soft grounds of ariake clay, Japan. The utility of FLVCM was confirmed from comparison with the observed and the analytical ground deformation. In addition, the numerical simulation have been carried out under the various conditions of vacuum preand post-loading pressures and fill speeds, and it is suggested that the reasonable construction management index can be easily obtained by the site measurement of deformation

Toll-Like Receptor 4 Agonistic Antibody Promotes Innate Immunity against Severe Pneumonia Induced by Coinfection with Influenza Virus and Streptococcus pneumoniae

Coinfection with bacteria is a major cause of mortality during influenza epidemics. Recently, Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists were shown to have immunomodulatory functions. In the present study, we investigated the effectiveness and mechanisms of the new TLR4 agonistic monoclonal antibody UT12 against secondary pneumococcal pneumonia induced by coinfection with influenza virus in a mouse model. Mice were intranasally inoculated with Streptococcus pneumoniae 2 days after influenza virus inoculation. UT12 was intraperitoneally administered 2 h before each inoculation. Survival rates were significantly increased and body weight loss was significantly decreased by UT12 administration. Additionally, the production of inflammatory mediators was significantly suppressed by the administration of UT12. In a histopathological study, pneumonia in UT12-treated mice was very mild compared to that in control mice. UT12 increased antimicrobial defense through the acceleration of macrophage recruitment into the lower respiratory tract induced by c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and nuclear factor kappaB (NF-κB) pathway- dependent monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) production. Collectively, these findings indicate that UT12 promoted pulmonary innate immunity and may reduce the severity of severe pneumonia induced by coinfection with influenza virus and S. pneumoniae. This immunomodulatory effect of UT12 improves the prognosis of secondary pneumococcal pneumonia and makes UT12 an attractive candidate for treating severe infectious diseases

Additive effect of pneumococcal vaccine and influenza vaccine on acute exacerbation in patients with chronic lung disease

To determine the clinical efficacy of combined vaccination with 23-valent pneumococcal vaccine (PV) and influenza vaccine (IV) against pneumonia and acute exacerbation of chronic lung diseases (CLD), we conducted an open-label, randomized, controlled study among 167 adults with CLD over a 2-year period. Subjects were randomly assigned to a PV + IV group (n = 87) or an IV group (n = 80). The number of patients with CLD experiencing infectious acute exacerbation (P = 0.022), but not pneumonia (P = 0.284), was significantly lower in the PV + IV group compared with the IV group. When these subjects were divided into subgroups, an additive effect of PV with IV in preventing infectious acute exacerbation was significant only in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (P = 0.037). In patients with CLD, the Kaplan-Meier survival curves demonstrated a significant difference for infectious acute exacerbation (P = 0.016) between the two groups. An additive effect of PV with IV on infectious acute exacerbation was found during the first year after vaccination (P = 0.019), but not during the second year (P = 0.342), and was associated with serotype-specific immune response in sera of these patients who used PV during the same period

Memory Facilitation effect in Interaction between Video Clips and Music

Previous studies examined memories of video clips under the condition of affects combination of pictures and music. Video clips, which were combined with music in same impressions, were easy to remember their contents. The present study aimed to examine the memory facilitation about pictures in two perspectives, the strength of affects and the distribution of the processing recourses. Participants were 39 undergraduate volunteers, who were divided into three experimental conditions randomly. Experimental condition was combinations of video clips and music eliciting refreshing and sad moods; Congruent condition that an impression to a video clip was congruent to that of a music piece, Incongruent condition that an impression to a video clip was incongruent to that of a music piece, and Control condition that only a video clip was presented. All participants conducted disturbance condition and no-disturbance condition for each emotional stimulus. In the disturbance condition, they responded to dot-probe presented on video clips by button-pressing in order to disturb the processing for video clips. For refreshing mood stimulus, recall rates for the congruent condition and the control condition were a nearly same level, and then the memory facilitation in the congruent condition was not observed. This is why refreshing moods were strongly elicited in both the congruent and the control condition. On the other hand, recall rates were not different among conditions for sad mood stimulus. Sad clips were easy to remember as episode memory because of their rich contents. These results suggested that the strength of affect and the distribution of the processing resources influenced on memory facilitation in a complementary style