Location-Specific Cortical Activation Changes during Sleep after Training for Perceptual Learning

Visual perceptual learning is defined as performance enhancement on a sensory task and is distinguished from other types of learning and memory in that it is highly specific for location of the trained stimulus. The location specificity has been shown to be paralleled by enhancement in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signal in the trained region of V1 after visual training. Although recently the role of sleep in strengthening visual perceptual learning has attracted much attention, its underlying neural mechanism has yet to be clarified. Here, for the first time, fMRI measurement of human V1 activation was conducted concurrently with a polysomnogram during sleep with and without preceding training for visual perceptual learning. As a result of predetermined region-of-interest analysis of V1, activation enhancement during non-rapid-eye-movement sleep after training was observed specifically in the trained region of V1. Furthermore, improvement of task performance measured subsequently to the post-training sleep session was significantly correlated with the amount of the trained-region-specific fMRI activation in V1 during sleep. These results suggest that as far as V1 is concerned, only the trained region is involved in improving task performance after sleep

Orthodontic management of a patient who underwent anti-cancer therapy for acute myelogenous leukemia : A case report

Survivors of childhood cancer are at risk for disturbance of craniofacial growth and dental development as a result of the side-effects of their therapeutic protocols. For this reason, special considerations are required when oral management is planned for these children. We herein report the successful 2-stage orthodontic treatment of a girl who was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia（AML） and who underwent multiple therapeutic protocols, including total body irradiation（TBI）, bone marrow transplantation（BMT）, and chemotherapy during adolescence. She showed skeletal Class III malocclusion with a low mandibular plane angle, anterior crossbite, crowding, and severely disturbed dental development, including tooth agenesis, and arrested root development, and enamel hypoplasia at 12 years of age, when she first visited our clinic. Growth modification in adolescence period with functional appliances followed by treatment with a fixed appliance was performed to correct her malocclusion. The aim of this case report is to show the long-term outcome of orthodontic treatment in a patient who underwent multiple anticancer therapies that influenced craniofacial growth and dental development.症例報

Endosonography-Guided Pancreatic Duct Drainage for Chronic Pancreatitis: A Case Report and Review

A 50-year-old man was admitted to our department, complaining of epigastric pain and high fever. CT revealed a pseudocyst at the pancreatic head with upstream dilatation of the pancreatic duct (PD) and fluid collection surrounding the pancreas. Endosonography-guided PD drainage (ESPD) was performed because of unsuccessful ERCP. With a curved linear array echoendoscope, a 7.2 F catheter was placed in the PD. Laboratory data showed improvement in a few days and revealed disappearance of the fluid collection. Ten days after ESPD, a 7 F stent was placed in the PD via the puncture tract across the papilla of Vater followed by transpapillary replacement with a 10 F stent. CT showed a reduction in diameter of the PD and disappearance of the pseudocyst. ESPD is a feasible and useful procedure in selected patients with chronic pancreatitis showing stenosis of the main PD when transpapillary approach is impossible