Some Observations on EEG Response to Photic Flicker Stimulation

By applying a combined method of crosscorrelation and frequency analysis to EEG tracings, the average response patterns to photic flicker stimulation with a frequency in the alpha wave range were sorted out, even when the application of the frequency analysis only could not separate the response from the irrelevant oscillations to the stimulation. During the stimulation, low volage fast pattern (alpha blocking state), in which the response was hard to recognize by visual inspection of the tracing, occurred in the EEG tracings from time to time. In the frequency spectra of them, however, not only a peak at the stimulating frequency, but the other ones at slightly higher frequency and sometimes with subharmonic frequency were appeared to suggest they are the response to the stimulation, though they are far lower than the peak of the dominant alpha wave before the initiation of the stimulation, rised up at the stimulating frequency in the power spectra of the crosscorrelogram between the stimulation and the tracing to indicate the other peaks were not related response, at least directly, to the stimulation, but by others

Spectral evolution of GRB 060904A observed with Swift and Suzaku -- Possibility of Inefficient Electron Acceleration

We observed an X-ray afterglow of GRB 060904A with the Swift and Suzaku satellites. We found rapid spectral softening during both the prompt tail phase and the decline phase of an X-ray flare in the BAT and XRT data. The observed spectra were fit by power-law photon indices which rapidly changed from $\Gamma = 1.51^{+0.04}_{-0.03}$ to $\Gamma = 5.30^{+0.69}_{-0.59}$ within a few hundred seconds in the prompt tail. This is one of the steepest X-ray spectra ever observed, making it quite difficult to explain by simple electron acceleration and synchrotron radiation. Then, we applied an alternative spectral fitting using a broken power-law with exponential cutoff (BPEC) model. It is valid to consider the situation that the cutoff energy is equivalent to the synchrotron frequency of the maximum energy electrons in their energy distribution. Since the spectral cutoff appears in the soft X-ray band, we conclude the electron acceleration has been inefficient in the internal shocks of GRB 060904A. These cutoff spectra suddenly disappeared at the transition time from the prompt tail phase to the shallow decay one. After that, typical afterglow spectra with the photon indices of 2.0 are continuously and preciously monitored by both XRT and Suzaku/XIS up to 1 day since the burst trigger time. We could successfully trace the temporal history of two characteristic break energies (peak energy and cutoff energy) and they show the time dependence of $\propto t^{-3} \sim t^{-4}$ while the following afterglow spectra are quite stable. This fact indicates that the emitting material of prompt tail is due to completely different dynamics from the shallow decay component. Therefore we conclude the emission sites of two distinct phenomena obviously differ from each other.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ (Suzaku 2nd Special Issue

CD146 is a potential immunotarget for neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma, the most common extracranial solid tumor of childhood, is thought to arise from neural crest-derived immature cells. The prognosis of patients with high-risk or recurrent/refractory neuroblastoma remains quite poor despite intensive multimodality therapy; therefore, novel therapeutic interventions are required. We examined the expression of a cell adhesion molecule CD146 (melanoma cell adhesion molecule [MCAM]) by neuroblastoma cell lines and in clinical samples and investigated the anti-tumor effects of CD146-targeting treatment for neuroblastoma cells both in vitro and in vivo. CD146 is expressed by 4 cell lines and by most of primary tumors at any stage. Short hairpin RNA-mediated knockdown of CD146, or treatment with an anti-CD146 polyclonal antibody, effectively inhibited growth of neuroblastoma cells both in vitro and in vivo, principally due to increased apoptosis via the focal adhesion kinase and/or nuclear factor-kappa B signaling pathway. Furthermore, the anti-CD146 polyclonal antibody markedly inhibited tumor growth in immunodeficient mice inoculated with primary neuroblastoma cells. In conclusion, CD146 represents a promising therapeutic target for neuroblastoma

A nationwide, multi-center, retrospective study of symptomatic small bowel stricture in patients with Crohn\u27s disease.

BACKGROUND:Small bowel stricture is one of the most common complications in patients with Crohn\u27s disease (CD). Endoscopic balloon dilatation (EBD) is a minimally invasive treatment intended to avoid surgery; however, whether EBD prevents subsequent surgery remains unclear. We aimed to reveal the factors contributing to surgery in patients with small bowel stricture and the factors associated with subsequent surgery after initial EBD.METHODS:Data were retrospectively collected from surgically untreated CD patients who developed symptomatic small bowel stricture after 2008 when the use of balloon-assisted enteroscopy and maintenance therapy with anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) became available.RESULTS:A total of 305 cases from 32 tertiary referral centers were enrolled. Cumulative surgery-free survival was 74.0% at 1 year, 54.4% at 5 years, and 44.3% at 10 years. The factors associated with avoiding surgery were non-stricturing, non-penetrating disease at onset, mild severity of symptoms, successful EBD, stricture length < 2 cm, and immunomodulator or anti-TNF added after onset of obstructive symptoms. In 95 cases with successful initial EBD, longer EBD interval was associated with lower risk of surgery. Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed that an EBD interval of ≤ 446 days predicted subsequent surgery, and the proportion of smokers was significantly high in patients who required frequent dilatation.CONCLUSIONS:In CD patients with symptomatic small bowel stricture, addition of immunomodulator or anti-TNF and smoking cessation may improve the outcome of symptomatic small bowel stricture, by avoiding frequent EBD and subsequent surgery after initial EBD

回避的不適応行動(症状)の臨床的研究 -機能分析と介入法を考える-

This study revealed that most maladjustment behaviors had avoidance mechanism. These behaviors included anxiety disorders, somatoform disorders, dissociative disorders, alcohol dependence, social withdrawal, school refusal and the like. In the functional analysis of this article, we argued that the forms of psychopathology were viewed as unhealthy methods of avoidance. The treatments of avoidance-based maladjustment behaviors (symptoms) expose clients to previously avoided private experiences

THERAPEUTIC TREATMENTS IN EQUINE INFECTIOUS ANEMIA IV. : THE USE OF NITROMIN AND CHLOROMYCETIN FOR ARTIFICIALLY INOCULATED INFECTIOUS ANEMIA

Therapeutic experiments in artificial equine infectious anemia with nitromin and chloromycetin were conducted. Comparisons were made with the findings of previous experiments performed in cases of natural chronic infectious anemia. The results thus obtained may be summarized as follows. 1. Nitromin has a serious toxity and aggravates the diseases. Especially, aggravation of cardiac disturbances are remarkable. 2. Blood cells, especially leucocytes, were decreased in numbers in accordance with repetition of the nitromin injection. 3. One or 3 days after treatments, in experimental horses Nos. 2 and 3,typical fever attacks of infectious anemia were found definitely. In autopsy findings, they were diagnosed as chronic infectious anemia cases. 4. In animal No. 1,siderocytes disappeared from the 3rd day of nitromin injection, but in the other 2 cases they were found usually. 5. While No. 2 showed gradual decrease in γ-globulin and glucose, other 2 cases presented no marked variations in biochemical findings. 6. Characteristic facts found in the present experiment were the disappearances of siderocytes in No. 1 and no indications of infectious anemia in its autopsy findings. However, it is impossible to believe that it could recover even had it not died suddenly. 7. In comparison with artificial and natural infectious anemia, except for No. 1,no differences were found in the therapeutic observations. As far as shown by above described data, it was indicated that these are no effective agents against the equine infectious anemia

Pamidronate decreases bilirubin-impaired cell death and improves dentinogenic dysfunction of stem cells from human deciduous teeth

Abstract Background Hyperbilirubinemia that occurs in pediatric liver diseases such as biliary atresia can result in the development of not only jaundice in the brain, eyes, and skin, but also tooth abnormalities including green pigmentation and dentin hypoplasia in the developing teeth. However, hyperbilirubinemia-induced tooth impairments remain after liver transplantation. No effective dental management to prevent hyperbilirubinemia-induced tooth impairments has been established. Methods In this study, we focused on pamidronate, which is used to treat pediatric osteopenia, and investigated its effects on hyperbilirubinemia-induced tooth impairments. We cultured stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHED) under high and low concentrations of unconjugated bilirubin in the presence or absence of pamidronate. We then analyzed the effects of pamidronate on the cell death, associated signal pathways, and dentinogenic function in SHED. Results We demonstrated that a high concentration of unconjugated bilirubin induced cell death in SHED via the mitochondrial pathway, and this was associated with the suppression of AKT and extracellular signal-related kinase 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) signal pathways and activation of the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) signal pathway. The high concentration of unconjugated bilirubin impaired the in vitro and in vivo dentinogenic capacity of SHED, but not the low concentration. We then demonstrated that pamidronate decreased the bilirubin-induced cell death in SHED via the altered AKT, ERK1/2, and NF-κB signal pathways and recovered the bilirubin-impaired dentinogenic function of SHED. Conclusions Our findings suggest that pamidronate may prevent tooth abnormalities in pediatric patients with hyperbilirubinemia

Case Report Five-Year Survival after Surgery for Invasive Micropapillary Carcinoma of the Stomach

Invasive micropapillary carcinoma (IMPC) of the breast, urinary bladder, ovary, and colon has been reported. However, few reports have described IMPC of the stomach. In addition, IMPC has been described as a histological indicator for lymphatic invasion and nodal metastasis, resulting in poor prognosis. We report a case of 5-year survival after surgery for IPMC of the stomach. A 69-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with symptoms of upper abdominal pain. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed a tumor at the antrum of the stomach. Histological examination of the biopsy specimen indicated poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. The patient underwent distal gastrectomy with lymph node dissection. Microscopic examination of the specimen revealed that the tumor consisted of an invasive micropapillary component. Carcinoma cell clusters were floating in the clear spaces. The patient recovered uneventfully and remains alive without recurrence 5 years after surgery