Depressed Neuronal Growth Associated Protein (GAP)-43 Expression in the Small Intestines of Mice Experimentally Infected with Neodiplostomum seoulense

Neodiplostomum seoulense (Digenea: Neodiplostomidae) is an intestinal trematode that can cause severe mucosal pathology in the small intestines of mice and even mortality of the infected mice within 28 days after infection. We observed neuronal growth associated protein-43 (GAP-43) expression in the myenteric plexus of the small intestinal wall of N. seoulense-infected mice until day 35 post-infection (PI). BALB/c mice were infected with 200 or 500 N. seoulense metacercariae isolated from naturally infected snakes and were killed every 7 days for immunohistochemical demonstration of GAP-43 in the small intestines. N. seoulense-infected mice showed remarkable dilatation of intestinal loops compared with control mice through days 7-28 PI. Conversely, GAP-43 expression in the mucosal myenteric plexus was markedly (P<0.05) reduced in the small intestines of N. seoulense-infected mice during days 7-28 PI and was slightly normalized at day 35 PI. From this study, it is evident that neuronal damage occurs in the intestinal mucosa of N. seoulense-infected mice. However, the correlation between intestinal pathology, including the loop dilatation, and depressed GAP-43 expression remains to be elucidated

Effects of Maxillary Sinus Graft on the Survival of Endosseous Implants: A 10-Year Retrospective Study

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the survival rates of implants placed in grafted maxillary sinuses and compare the results obtained with graft materials, implant surfaces and timing of implant placement. Materials and Methods: Between January 1996 and December 2005, 391 implants are placed in 161 patients who underwent sinus grafting treatment simultaneously or separately at Ewha Womans University Hospital. According to inclusion critieria, 272 impants were placed in 102 patients with 112 sinus grafts (30 females, 72 males), aged 26 to 88 years (mean age 49.0±9.7). The follow-up period ranged from 12 to 134 months (mean F/U 47±32). Survival rates were evaluated according to graft material, implant surface and timing of implant placement, The Kaplan-Meier procedure and the log rank (Mantel-Cox) test were used to estimate survival rates and test for equality of survival rates between different groups of patients. Results: Ten-year cumultative survival rate for implants placed in the grafted sinuses was 90.1%. The survival rates for autogenous bone, combination and bone substitutes were 94.6%, 85.9% and 100% respectively (p\u3e0.05). According to implant surface, survival rates were 84.8% in machined group and 97.5% in rough group (p0.05). Conclusion: Ten-year cumultative survival rate for implants placed in the grafter sinuses was 90.1% Rough-shaped implants have a higher survival rate than machined-surface implants when placed in grafted sinuses. (p\u3c0.05)

Adenoviral Pneumonia During Etanercept Treatment in a Patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Inhibitors of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) have been approved for treating rheumatoid arthritis. As one of the biological response modifiers, etanercept has also been used in the treatment of psoriatic arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. While etanercept is effective, certain infectious complications, such as tuberculosis, fungus, and cytomegalovirus, have been reported. We report the first Korean case of adenoviral pneumonia in a 55-year-old female who developed disseminated adenoviral infection following etanercept treatment, which resolved after anti-TNF-α discontinuation

Non-invasive cortical stimulation improves post-stroke attention decline

Purpose: Attention decline after stroke is common and hampers the rehabilitation process, and non-invasive transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has the potential to elicit behavioral changes by modulating cortical excitability. The authors tested the hypothesis that a single session of non-invasive cortical stimulation with excitatory anodal tDCS applied to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) can improve attention in stroke patients. Methods: Ten patients with post-stroke cognitive decline (MMSE 0.05). Changes in reaction times were comparable for the two stimulations (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Non invasive anodal tDCS applied to the left DLPFC was found to improve attention versus sham stimulation in stroke patients, which suggests that non-invasive cortical intervention could potentially be used during rehabilitative training to improve attention.This research was supported by a grant from Seoul National University College of Medicine (Grant No. 800-20060236) to N.J. Paik, and by a grant from the Korean Geriatric Society to E.K. Kang.Monti A, 2008, J NEUROL NEUROSUR PS, V79, P451, DOI 10.1136/jnnp.2007.135277Priori A, 2008, CEREB CORTEX, V18, P451, DOI 10.1093/cercor/bhm088Kuo MF, 2008, NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA, V46, P2122, DOI 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.02.023Coulthard E, 2006, CURR OPIN NEUROL, V19, P613Boggio PS, 2006, J NEUROL SCI, V249, P31, DOI 10.1016/j.jns.2006.05.062Gandiga PC, 2006, CLIN NEUROPHYSIOL, V117, P845, DOI 10.1016/j.clinph.2005.12.003Fregni F, 2005, EXP BRAIN RES, V166, P23, DOI 10.1007/s00221-005-2334-6Hummel F, 2005, BRAIN, V128, P490, DOI 10.1093/brain/awh369DEVINSKY O, 2004, NEUROLOGY COGNITIVENitsche MA, 2003, J COGNITIVE NEUROSCI, V15, P619, DOI 10.1162/089892903321662994McDowd JM, 2003, J GERONTOL B-PSYCHOL, V58, pP45Hikosaka O, 2002, CURR OPIN NEUROBIOL, V12, P217Aranda D, 2001, REV NEUROLOGIA, V32, P10Nitsche MA, 2000, J PHYSIOL-LONDON, V527, P633McNevin NH, 2000, PHYS THER, V80, P373DESPOSITO M, 1998, BRAIN RES COGN BRAIN, V7, P1TATEMICHI TK, 1994, J NEUROL NEUROSUR PS, V57, P202

Assessment of salivary alpha-amylase and cortisol as a pain related stress biomarker in dogs pre-and post-operation

Abstract Background The use of salivary biomarkers has garnered attention because the composition of saliva reflects the bodys physiological state. Saliva contains a wide range of components, including peptides, nucleic acids, electrolytes, enzymes, and hormones. It has been reported that salivary alpha-amylase and cortisol are biomarkers of stress related biomarker in diseased dogs; however, evaluation of salivary alpha-amylase and cortisol pre- and post- operation has not been studied yet. The aim of this study was to evaluate salivary alpha-amylase and cortisol levels in dogs before and after they underwent surgery and investigate the association between the salivary alpha-amylase and cortisol activity and pain intensity. For this purpose, a total of 35 dogs with disease-related pain undergoing orthopedic and soft tissue surgeries were recruited. Alpha-amylase and cortisol levels in the dogs saliva and serum were measured for each using a commercially available canine-specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit, and physical examinations (measurement of heart rate and blood pressure) were performed. In addition, the dogs pre- and post-operative pain scores determined using the short form of the Glasgow Composite Measure Pain Scale (CMPS-SF) were evaluated. Results After surgery, there was a significant decrease in the dogs pain scores (0.4-fold for the CMPS-SF, p < 0.001) and serum cortisol levels (0.73-fold, p < 0.01). Based on their pre-operative CMPS-SF scores, the dogs were included in either a high-pain-score group or a low-pain-score group. After the dogs in the high-pain-score group underwent surgical intervention, there was a significant decrease in their CMPS-SF scores and levels of salivary alpha-amylase, serum alpha-amylase, and serum cortisol. Additionally, there was a positive correlation between salivary alpha-amylase levels and CMPS-SF scores in both the high- and low-pain-score groups. Conclusions The measurement of salivary alpha amylase can be considered an important non-invasive tool for the evaluation of pain-related stress in dogs

TRAO Survey of Nearby Filamentary Molecular clouds, the Universal Nursery of Stars (TRAO FUNS) I. Dynamics and Chemistry of L1478 in the California Molecular Cloud

"TRAO FUNS" is a project to survey Gould Belt's clouds in molecular lines. This paper presents its first results on the central region of the California molecular cloud, L1478. We performed On-The-Fly mapping observations using the Taedeok Radio Astronomy Observatory (TRAO) 14m single dish telescope equipped with a 16 multi-beam array covering $\sim$1.0 square degree area of this region using C$^{18}$O (1-0) mainly tracing low density cloud and about 460 square arcminute area using N$_{2}$H$^{+}$ (1-0) mainly tracing dense cores. CS (2-1) and SO $(3_{2}-2_{1})$ were also used simultaneously to map $\sim$440 square arcminute area of this region. We identified 10 filaments by applying the dendrogram technique to the C$^{18}$O data-cube and 8 dense N$_{2}$H$^{+}$ cores by using {\sc FellWalker}. Basic physical properties of filaments such as mass, length, width, velocity field, and velocity dispersion are derived. It is found that L1478 consists of several filaments with slightly different velocities. Especially the filaments which are supercritical are found to contain dense cores detected in N$_{2}$H$^{+}$. Comparison of non-thermal velocity dispersions derived from C$^{18}$O and N$_{2}$H$^{+}$ for the filaments and dense cores indicates that some of dense cores share similar kinematics with those of the surrounding filaments while several dense cores have different kinematics with those of their filaments. This suggests that the formation mechanism of dense cores and filaments can be different in individual filaments depending on their morphologies and environments.Comment: 25 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Adenylyl cyclase-5 in the dorsal striatum function as a molecular switch for the generation of behavioral preferences for cue-directed food choices

BACKGROUND: Behavioral choices in habits and innate behaviors occur automatically in the absence of conscious selection. These behaviors are not easily modified by learning. Similar types of behaviors also occur in various mental illnesses including drug addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, and autism. However, underlying mechanisms are not clearly understood. In the present study, we investigated the molecular mechanisms regulating unconditioned preferred behaviors in food-choices. RESULTS: Mice lacking adenylyl cyclase-5 (AC5 KO mice), which is preferentially expressed in the dorsal striatum, consumed food pellets nearly one after another in cages. AC5 KO mice showed aversive behaviors to bitter tasting quinine, but they compulsively chose quinine-containing AC5 KO-pellets over fresh pellets. The unusual food-choice behaviors in AC5 KO mice were due to the gain of behavioral preferences for food pellets containing an olfactory cue, which wild-type mice normally ignored. Such food-choice behaviors in AC5 KO mice disappeared when whiskers were trimmed. Conversely, whisker trimming in wildtype mice induced behavioral preferences for AC5 KO food pellets, indicating that preferred food-choices were not learned through prior experience. Both AC5 KO mice and wildtype mice with trimmed whiskers had increased glutamatergic input from the barrel cortex into the dorsal striatum, resulting in an increase in the mGluR1-dependent signaling cascade. The siRNA-mediated inhibition of mGluR1 in the dorsal striatum in AC5 KO mice and wildtype mice with trimmed whiskers abolished preferred choices for AC5 KO food pellets, whereas siRNA-mediated inhibition of mGluR3 glutamate receptors in the dorsal striatum in wildtype mice induced behavioral preferences for AC5 KO food pellets, thus mimicking AC5 KO phenotypes. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that the gain and loss of behavioral preferences for a specific cue-directed option were regulated by specific cellular factors in the dorsal striatum, such that the preferred food choices were switched on when either the mGluR3-AC5 pathway was inactive or the mGluR1 pathway was active, whereas the preferred food-choices were switched off when mGluR1 or its downstream pathway was suppressed. These results identify the AC5 and mGluR system in the dorsal striatum as molecular on/off switches to direct decisions on behavioral preferences for cue-oriented options