Rapid resolution of femoral head osteonecrosis after rotational acetabular osteotomy

The natural history of osteonecrosis of the femoral head is generally thought to be one of progressive deterioration if no intervention is undertaken. However, it is unknown whether surgical intervention is beneficial for patients with a small region of osteonecrosis. We observed rapid improvement of MRI findings after rotational acetabular osteotomy (RAO) was performed in a young patient with osteonecrosis of the femoral head. The band-like low signal area on T2-weighted images almost resolved by six months after surgery. He returned to work as an electrician by six months after surgery. Early surgical intervention such as RAO that alters the mechanical force acting on the necrotic region of the femoral head may accelerate the recovery of osteonecrosis and the improvement of symptoms

Decreased utilization of allocentric coordinates during reaching movement in individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

Despite numerous reports of abnormalities in limb motor controls in spatial orientation in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the underlying mechanisms have not been elucidated. We studied the influence of allocentric coordinates on ongoing reaching movements, which has been reported to strongly affect the reaching movements of typically developing (TD) individuals. ASD and TD participants observed a target presented randomly on one of the four corners of a frame on a screen. After it disappeared, another frame was presented slightly shifted leftward/rightward. The participants touched the memorized position of the target relatively congruent with a reference frame (allocentric condition) or ignoring it (egocentric condition). Results suggested that TD individuals were apt to touch the positions in allocentric manner rather than egocentric manner, while ASDs did not show this prioritization. Our findings demonstrate that decreased utilization of visual landmarks in ongoing movement may underlie motor disabilities in autism

ザイニチ ガイコクジン ニ ヨル サイガイ シエン カツドウ ト チイキ カツドウ ノ ゴシュウセイ ニ ツイテ ノ イチコウサツ ザイニチ ガイコクジン シエン ダンタイ シランダ ノ カイ ノ ジレイ ヨリ

研究ノー

Combined DECS Analysis and Next-Generation Sequencing Enable Efficient Detection of Novel Plant RNA Viruses

The presence of high molecular weight double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) within plant cells is an indicator of infection with RNA viruses as these possess genomic or replicative dsRNA. DECS (dsRNA isolation, exhaustive amplification, cloning, and sequencing) analysis has been shown to be capable of detecting unknown viruses. We postulated that a combination of DECS analysis and next-generation sequencing (NGS) would improve detection efficiency and usability of the technique. Here, we describe a model case in which we efficiently detected the presumed genome sequence of Blueberry shoestring virus (BSSV), a member of the genus Sobemovirus, which has not so far been reported. dsRNAs were isolated from BSSV-infected blueberry plants using the dsRNA-binding protein, reverse-transcribed, amplified, and sequenced using NGS. A contig of 4,020 nucleotides (nt) that shared similarities with sequences from other Sobemovirus species was obtained as a candidate of the BSSV genomic sequence. Reverse transcription (RT)-PCR primer sets based on sequences from this contig enabled the detection of BSSV in all BSSV-infected plants tested but not in healthy controls. A recombinant protein encoded by the putative coat protein gene was bound by the BSSV-antibody, indicating that the candidate sequence was that of BSSV itself. Our results suggest that a combination of DECS analysis and NGS, designated here as “DECS-C,” is a powerful method for detecting novel plant viruses