Localized Right Cerebral Hemisphere Dysfunction, Bereavement and Secondary Mania.

The authors report on a fully right-handed man without prior psychiatric history who developed mania secondary to vascular lesion in the right hemisphere immediately after bereavement of his wife. From literature consideration, it is suggested that bereavement is an effective trigger of mania and that right hemisphere dysfunction provides vulnerability for this effect. This case raises important question for both organic and psychological theories of causation of bipolar affective illness

SNP- and haplotype-based genome-wide association studies for growth, carcass, and meat quality traits in a Duroc multigenerational population

Average linkage disequilibrium coefficient (r2) values plotted against intermarker distance for all autosomal chromosomes. (PDF 407 kb

Inter-rater reliability of streetscape audits using online observations: Microscale Audit of Pedestrian Streetscapes (MAPS) global in Japan

This study aimed to evaluate the inter-rater reliability of streetscape audits among online observations using the Microscale Audit of Pedestrian Streetscapes-Global version (MAPS-Global) in Japan. MAPS-Global observations were conducted on routes with distances ranging from 400 to 725 m from a residence toward a non-residential destination. Google Street View audits were independently conducted by two trained raters on each route. A tiered scoring system was applied to summarize the items at multiple levels of aggregation. Positive and negative valence scores were created based on the expected association with physical activity. Inter-rater reliability analyses were performed using kappa statistics or intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). Of the 32 older adults participating in an intervention study in the community-wide physical activity promotion project in Fujisawa City, 19 addresses were used, excluding those with nearby addresses. Results demonstrated “excellent” agreement for most of the summary scores analyzed (kappa or ICC values of 0.75 or higher [80.4 %]), while 6.5 % of items exhibited “good” agreement (ICC = 0.60–0.74). By contrast, only 13.0 % of the scales had ICC values lower than 0.60 (“fair” or “poor” reliability). The results illustrated high reliability for the grand summary scores and composite subscale measures. However, caution should be exercised when interpreting subscale scores for less frequently observed negative attributes and aesthetic/social characteristics. The results presented in this study support the application of online observations using MAPS-Global in urban areas of Japan, which could be implemented to inform decisions related not only to physical activity but also to traffic safety

A Study on the Regional Characteristic of Taiwan by the Movement of Population, Housing and Constrruction

The purpose of this study is to find out the regional characteristic of Taiwan by the movement of population, housing, and construction. In this paper, it used that the statistics of goernment in Taiwan，and drawn these indexes into the map. The main conclusions are summarized as follows. ① Northem Area especially Taipei city is the most urbanized area on population and housing.② There is the highest increasing rate on population in Taichung city， but the housing supply seems over than demand. ③ There is a high density on population but not on housing in Kaohsiung urban area. ④ Eastern Area is sparsely populated

The Transition of Housing Politics and the Outline of Multi-Story Apartment Supply in Taipei City

Thep町poseof this paper is to clariかthetransition of housing policy and the secular change of housing supply in Taipei City. And it is focused that the amount supplied of the Public Housing and the Private Condominium in Taipei City企om1971 to 2000. The main conclusions are as follows. 1. The仕組sitionprocess of the public housing policy is classified into three phases as 1950・1975，1967・2000and 2001 and over. 2. The large amount of the multi-story apa此menthad been supplied仕om1960s to 1970s， while the middle-high-rise had appe釘edin the middle of 1970s. 3. Recently， a lot of large-scale development is carried out in the supply of the public housing. The amounts of apartment block that of 3，000m2 or more for lot area have been increased in both of public housing and private condominium. 4. In the late 1990s， the rates of mixed-use of housing of both the public housing and the private condominium have raised

EFFICACY OF INTERFERON THERAPY FOR CHRONIC HEPATITIS C ： A COOPERATIVE STUDY IN ELEVEN HOSPITALS

We investigated the influences of liver histology，serum levels of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HCV genotypes on responsiveness to interferon (IFN) therapy in 342 patients with chronic hepatitis C. Either 9 million units (MU) of lymphoblastoid alpha IFN or 3 MU of recombinant IFN-alpha was administered daily for 2 weeks and then three times a week for 22 weeks. IFN responses were divided into three groups on the basis of the results of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay detecting HCV-RNA in serum. Complete response (CR) was defined as sustained elimination of HCV for at least 6 months after treatment，partial response (PR) as HCV elimination for a limited period，non-response (NR) as continuously positive for HCV-RNA in serum. Quantitation of pre-treament HCV-RNA amount in serum was determined by competitive PCR assay in 47 patients. HCV genotyping was performed in 114 patients by PCR with genotype-specific primers. CR was obtained in 97 patients (28.4%)，PR in 104 (30.4%) and NR in 141 (41.2%). IFN responses，represented by CR/PR/NR，were 15/18/11 in 44 patients with chronic persistent hepatitis (CPH)，72/65/73 in 210 patients with chronic aggressive hepatitis (CAH) 2a，and 10/21/57 in 88 patients with CAH2b. CR rate was lower in patients with CAH2b (11.4%) compared to those with CPH (34.1%) or CAH2a (34.3%). Averages of pre-treatment serum HCV-RNA amount (copies/50μl) were 10³·⁵⁵ in 13 CRs，10⁴·⁵⁶ in 17 PRs，and 10⁵·⁹⁵ in 17 NRs. There was a positive correlation between pre-treatment HCV-RNA levels and IFN unresponsiveness. HCV genotyping in 114 patients revealed that HCV type Ⅰ infection was observed in one，type Ⅱ in 94，type Ⅲ in 11，type Ⅳ in 6 and mixed (types Ⅱ and Ⅳ) in 2 patients，and their IFN responses (CR/PR/NR) were 0/0/1，28/26/40，3/5/3，1/3/2 and 0/1/1，respectively

Quantitative analysis of β1,6GlcNAc-branched N-glycans on β4 integrin in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma

α6β4 integrin plays pivotal roles in cancer progression in several types of cancers. Our previous study using N-glycan-manipulated cell lines demonstrated that defects in N-glycans or decreased β1,6GlcNAc-branched N-glycans on β4 integrin suppress β4 integrin-mediated cancer cell adhesion, migration, invasion, and tumorigenesis. Furthermore, immunohistochemical analysis has shown that colocalization of β1,6GlcNAc-branched N-glycans with β4 integrin was observed in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) tissue. However, until now there has been no direct evidence that β1,6GlcNAc-branched N-glycans are upregulated on β4 integrin in cutaneous SCC. In the present study, we performed an ELISA analysis of β1,6GlcNAc-branched N-glycans on β4 integrins as well as β4 integrins in cell lysates from human normal skin and cutaneous SCC tissues. The SCC samples showed a 4.9- to 7.4-fold increase in the ratio of β1,6GlcNAc-branched N-glycans to β4 integrin compared with normal skin samples. These findings suggest that the addition of β1,6GlcNAc-branched N-glycans onto β4 integrin was markedly elevated in cutaneous SCC tissue compared to normal skin tissue. The value of β1,6GlcNAc-branched N-glycans on β4 integrin may be useful as a diagnostic marker associated with cutaneous SCC tumor progression