総義歯補綴の前臨床訓練における実際の訓練要素間の関連性(The correlation among practical training components in preclinical training of complete denture prosthodontics)

歯学生用の総義歯補綴の前臨床訓練プログラムでは、短時間で臨床手法も含む限られたテーマしか扱えないため、各テーマと訓練要素を詳細に分析して計画する必要がある。総義歯補綴の前臨床訓練を終えた歯学生79名を対象に質問票調査を行い、学生の達成度評価を行った。仮印象採得(1)、精密印象採得(2)、上下顎記録(3)、ゴシックアーチ描写(4)、蝋義歯試行(5)、義歯挿入(6)の6項目について自分で実施することができると思うかどうか尋ねた。回答は視覚的アナログ尺度での評価とした。その結果、(1)と(2)、(3)と(4)、(5)と(6)の間と(3)と(6)の間に相関係数0.7以上の正の相関が得られた。相関が見られた各組は方法または理論の上で類似性を示す項目である。本研究の結果は訓練プログラムを効果的に改良する上で有用と考えられた。歯学生用の総義歯補綴の前臨床訓練プログラムでは、短時間で臨床手法も含む限られたテーマしか扱えないため、各テーマと訓練要素を詳細に分析して計画する必要がある。総義歯補綴の前臨床訓練を終えた歯学生79名を対象に質問票調査を行い、学生の達成度評価を行った。仮印象採得(1)、精密印象採得(2)、上下顎記録(3)、ゴシックアーチ描写(4)、蝋義歯試行(5)、義歯挿入(6)の6項目について自分で実施することができると思うかどうか尋ねた。回答は視覚的アナログ尺度での評価とした。その結果、(1)と(2)、(3)と(4)、(5)と(6)の間と(3)と(6)の間に相関係数0.7以上の正の相関が得られた。相関が見られた各組は方法または理論の上で類似性を示す項目である。本研究の結果は訓練プログラムを効果的に改良する上で有用と考えられた

The relationship between auditory ERP and neuropsychological assessments in schizophrenia

金沢大学附属病院To clarify the cognitive significance of event-related potential (ERP) abnormalities in schizophrenia, we examined the relationships of amplitudes and latencies of ERP components with performance on neuropsychological tests in schizophrenic patients. Twenty patients underwent the Trail Making B Test (TM-B), which is sensitive to frontal lobe dysfunction, and the logical memory, verbal paired-association, and visual reproduction subtests of the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS), which are sensitive to temporal lobe dysfunctions, and ERP recordings during performance of an oddball auditory discrimination task. Pearson product–moment correlations indicated that an increased P200 amplitude was correlated with poor performance on the TM-B, whereas a decreased P300 amplitude was correlated with poor performance on the verbal paired-association subtest of the WMS. These findings suggest that a P200 abnormality represents the frontal lobe dysfunction, and a P300 abnormality represents the left temporal lobe dysfunction in schizophrenia

Association of phosphorylation site of tau protein with neuronal apoptosis in Alzheimer\u27s disease

金沢大学大学院医学系研究科In addition to neuritic changes and amyloid deposits, neuronal and glial cell apoptosis is an important pathological feature of Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD). Several factors have been postulated as causes or triggers of cellular apoptotic change. This study focused on a quantifiable relationship between phosphorylation sites of tau protein in the neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) and neuronal apoptosis. Five monoclonal anti-tau antibodies (AT180, AT8, HT7, Tau2 and Tau5) for NFT labeling and TdT-mediated UTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) for localizing apoptotic change were employed. TUNEL-stained neuronal nuclei showed significantly high density in the entorhinal cortex, cornu ammonis (CA) and the parietal cortex. In all regions, density of TUNEL-stained neuronal nuclei showed significantly direct correlation with that of AT8-, AT180- and Tau2-positive neurons. Correlation of TUNEL-stained neuronal nuclei with tau-positive neurons differed depending on the cerebral regions. Density of TUNEL-stained neuronal nuclei showed inverse correlation with that of both AT8-positive and Gallyas-stained NFT in the CA and showed significantly direct correlation with AT8- and HT7-positive neurons in the frontal cortex. Density of tau-positive and Gallyas-stained NFT was higher than that of TUNEL-stained nuclei. We conclude that phosphorylation sites of tau, 159-163 and 202-205, are probably associated with neuronal apoptosis and apoptotic change follows abnormal phosphorylation of tau

EEG Microstate Analysis in Drug-Naive Patients with Panic Disorder

Patients with panic disorder (PD) have a bias to respond to normal stimuli in a fearful way. This may be due to the preactivation of fear-associated networks prior to stimulus perception. Based on EEG, we investigated the difference between patients with PD and normal controls in resting state activity using features of transiently stable brain states (microstates). EEGs from 18 drug-naive patients and 18 healthy controls were analyzed. Microstate analysis showed that one class of microstates (with a right-anterior to left-posterior orientation of the mapped field) displayed longer durations and covered more of the total time in the patients than controls. Another microstate class (with a symmetric, anterior-posterior orientation) was observed less frequently in the patients compared to controls. The observation that selected microstate classes differ between patients with PD and controls suggests that specific brain functions are altered already during resting condition. The altered resting state may be the starting point of the observed dysfunctional processing of phobic stimuli

Cytoprotective effects of lysophospholipids from sea cucumber Holothuria atra

Lysophospholipids are important signaling molecules in animals and metazoan cells. They are widely distributed among marine invertebrates, where their physiological roles are unknown. Sea cucumbers produce unique lysophospholipids. In this study, two lysophospholipids were detected in Holothuria atra for the first time, lyso-platelet activating factor and lysophosphatidylcholine, with nuclear magnetic resonance and liquid chromatography- time-of-flight mass spectrometric analyses. The lipid fraction of H. atra contained lyso-platelet activating factor and lysophosphatidylcholine, and inhibited H2O2-induced apoptosis in the macrophage cell line J774A.1. The antioxidant activity of the lysophospholipid-containing lipid fraction of H. atra was confirmed with the oxygen radical absorbance capacity method. Our results suggest that the lysophospholipids from H. atra are potential therapeutic agents for the inflammation induced by oxidative stress

Occlusal-masticatory function and learning and memory: Immunohistochemical, biochemical, behavioral and electrophysiological studies in rats

This review paper discusses the relationship between the mastication and learning and memory in rats. Immunohistochemistry of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) showed that the numbers of ChAT-positive neurons in the nucleus of the diagonal band/medial septal nucleus (NDB/MS) of a powder diet group (PDG) and a molar crown-less powder diet group (MCPDG) were smaller than those of solid diet group (SDG). Subsequently, the concentrations of acetylcholine (ACh) in the hippocampus and in the cerebral cortex in MCPDG were significantly lower than that of SDG. The response latency of the MCPDG group was significantly shorter in passive avoidance tests. The impact of mastication on recovery of learning and memory function rats receiving permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) was also evaluated. In a Morris water maze task, rats fed a solid diet after MCAO surgery had greater functional recovery than rats fed a liquid. Finally, a whole-cell patch-clamp study revealed crucial roles of nitric oxide (NO) in the physiological control of cholinergic neurons in NDB/MS and in the pathogenic mechanism for cell death. Collectively, these results suggest key roles for NO both in the learning and memory function, and potentially in dementia. Mastication may have a significant impact on the maintenance and recovery of learning and memory, presumably through pathogenic and physiological mechanisms of NO action

Native EEG and treatment effects in neuroleptic-naïve schizophrenic patients: time and frequency domain approaches

Time domain analysis of electroencephalography (EEG) can identify subsecond periods of quasi-stable brain states. These so-called microstates assumingly correspond to basic units of cognition and emotion. On the other hand, Global Field Synchronization (GFS) is a frequency domain measure to estimate functional synchronization of brain processes on a global level for each EEG frequency band [Koenig, T., Lehmann, D., Saito, N., Kuginuki, T., Kinoshita, T., Koukkou, M., 2001. Decreased functional connectivity of EEG theta-frequency activity in first-episode, neuroleptic-naive patients with schizophrenia: preliminary results. Schizophr Res. 50, 55-60.]. Using these time and frequency domain analyzes, several previous studies reported shortened microstate duration in specific microstate classes and decreased GFS in theta band in drug naïve schizophrenia compared to controls. The purpose of this study was to investigate changes of these EEG parameters after drug treatment in drug naïve schizophrenia. EEG analysis was performed in 21 drug-naive patients and 21 healthy controls. 14 patients were reevaluated 2-8 weeks (mean 4.3) after the initiation of drug administration. The results extended findings of treatment effect on brain functions in schizophrenia, and imply that shortened duration of specific microstate classes seems a state marker especially in patients with later neuroleptic responsive, while lower theta GFS seems a state-related phenomenon and that higher gamma GFS is a trait like phenomenon