Insights into motor learning from a viewpoint of transcranial magnetic stimulation

Several protocols of non-invasive transcranial magnetic stimulation have been developed in the past decades. Single-and paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation are painless, and noninvasive tools to evaluate cortical and corticospinal excitability in cerebral cortex compared with transcranial electric stimulation. Motor evoked potential induced by paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation can particularly assess changes of the cortical excitability after motor learning, such as motor skill and motor practice in sports and functional recovery in rehabilitation. However, the effect of electric current in transcranial magnetic stimulation on pyramidal neuron and interneuron in gray and white matters is not actually understood well yet in the field of sports and rehabilitation sciences. Here, we show the important basic knowledge of neurophysiology and transcranial magnetic stimulation and introduce some studies of cortical plasticity and motor learning by using transcranial magnetic stimulation

Efficacy of Metrifonate in a Highly Endemic Area of Urinary Schistosomiasis in Kenya

In a community in Kwale district, Kenya, selective mass chemotherapy with metrifonate caused a marked reduction in the intensity of Schistosoma haematobium infection from 46.5 to 9.4 eggs/hr and a sharp fall in prevalence of gross hematuria from 18.3% to 5.1%, although overall prevalence was reduced only slightly from 67.4% to 54%. The effect of metrifonate on cure rate and reduction of infection intensity was limited by both age and pretreatment infection intensity. Rate of improvement from gross hematuria was similar in all ages and in all classes of intensity of infection. Two doses of metrifonate reduced the prevalence of gross hematuria as much as 3 doses did, while the effect of a single dose on morbidity remains to be clarified

Tau functions in combinatorial Bethe ansatz

We introduce ultradiscrete tau functions associated with rigged configurations for A^{(1)}_n. They satisfy an ultradiscrete version of the Hirota bilinear equation and play a role analogous to a corner transfer matrix for the box-ball system. As an application, we establish a piecewise linear formula for the Kerov-Kirillov-Reshetikhin bijection in the combinatorial Bethe ansatz. They also lead to general N-soliton solutions of the box-ball system.Comment: 52 page

Effect of mass chemotherapy and piped water on numbers of Schistosoma haematobium and prevalence in Bulinus globosus in Kwale, Kenya.

From June 1982 to May 1986 in a small village in Kwale, Kenya, we studied seasonal fluctuations in populations of Bulinus globosus, prevalence of Schistosoma haematobium infection in this snail, and effects of chemotherapy and piped water supply on infection rate of snails. In the perennially-flowing Pemba River, relatively small numbers of snails were collected; they were found only during the hot dry season (December to March). In a tributary stream, the Kadingo River, whose flow ceased at the end of both the cool and hot dry seasons, snail numbers peaked at the end of the cool dry season (October to November) and at the beginning of the hot dry season (January). Large numbers of infected snails were found in the Kadingo River from November to January (short rainy season and beginning of dry season). Selective mass chemotherapy with metrifonate and provision of piped water were begun in February and March 1984. These control measures achieved a significant reduction in the infection rate of snails (P < 0.001); the annual infection rate for the 2 years before treatment was 9.3% and 13.1%, and for the 2 years after treatment was 3.5% and 3.4%

One-step generation of multiple transgenic mouse lines using an improved Pronuclear Injection-based Targeted Transgenesis (i-PITT)

Ohtsuka, M., Miura, H., Mochida, K. et al. One-step generation of multiple transgenic mouse lines using an improved Pronuclear Injection-based Targeted Transgenesis (i-PITT). BMC Genomics 16, 274 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-015-1432-

胃部分切除一症例でのイトラコナゾール固形製剤と内用液剤投与後の血中濃度比較

In this paper, we report that in pulmonary aspergillosis patient who had history of resection of the stomach, the blood concentrations of itraconazole（ITCZ）and its active metabolite, hydroxy-ITCZ（OHITCZ） after taking oral solid formulation of ITCZ were remarkably low, whereas their blood concentrations significantly increased after switching from the solid formulation to the solution formulation.During administration of the ITCZ tablets（200 mg/day）, trough blood concentration of ITCZ and OH-ITCZ were 15 ng/mL and 18 ng/mL, respectively. On the other hand, when it was switched from the tablet to the oral solution（200 mg/day as ITCZ）, blood concentrations of ITCZ and OH-ITCZ increased to 1056 ng/mL and 1492 ng/mL, respectively. It was considered that the absorption of ITCZ tablets declined because the gastric acid secretion ability of the patients was decreased by gastrectomy.研究ノー

Pathway to psychiatric care in Japan: A multicenter observational study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This study examines pathways to psychiatric care in Japan using the same method as the collaborative study carried out in 1991 under the auspices of the World Health Organization.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Thirteen psychiatric facilities in Japan were involved. Of the 228 patients who contacted psychiatric facilities with any psychiatric illness, eighty four visiting psychiatric facilities for the first time were enrolled. Pathways to psychiatric care, delays from the onset of illness to treatment prior to reaching psychiatrists were surveyed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Thirty three patients (39.4%) directly accessed mental health professionals, 32 patients (38.1%) reached them via general hospital, and 13 patients (15.5%) via private practitioners. The patients who consulted mental health professionals as their first carers took a longer time before consulting psychiatrists than the patients who consulted non-mental health professionals as their first carers. The patients who presented somatic symptoms as their main problem experienced longer delay from the onset of illness to psychiatric care than the patients who complained about depressive or anxiety symptoms. Prior to the visit to mental health professionals, patients were rarely informed about their diagnosis and did not receive appropriate treatments from their physicians. Private practitioners were more likely to prescribe psychotropics than physicians in general hospitals, but were less likely to inform their patients of their diagnosis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This first pathway to psychiatric care study in Japan demonstrated that referral pathway in Japan heavily relies on medical resources. The study indicates possible fields and gives indications, underlining the importance of improving skills and knowledge that will facilitate the recognition of psychiatric disorders presenting with somatic and depressive symptoms in the general health care system and by private practitioners.</p

肺アスペルギルス症患者におけるイトラコナゾールおよび

A patient was given generic itraconazole (ITCZ) tablet, brand-name-ITCZ capsule, ITCZ oral solution and ITCZ injection to treat pulmonary aspergillosis. We monitored concentrations of ITCZ and its active metabolite hydroxy-ITCZ (OH-ITCZ) in plasma and lung tissues. During administration of the generic product (400 mg/day), trough plasma concentrations of ITCZ and OH-ITCZ were 76 ng/mL and 126 ng/mL, respectively. After administration of the brand-name product (200 mg/day), they increased to 229 ng/mL and 540 ng/mL, respectively. ITCZ and OH-ITCZ concentrations/dosage ratios were 6.1 and 8.4 times higher by switching to the brand-name product, respectively. It was suggested that there may be a difference in pharmacokinetics between the brand-name ITCZ and the generic. Also, we determined ITCZ and OH-ITCZ concentrations infected and uninfected tissues of resected lung simultaneously. The ITCZ concentration in the infected lesion of the lung was approximately 2.3 times higher than that in plasma and 1.6 times higher than in uninfected lung tissue. The OH-ITCZ concentration in the infected lesion was higher than ITCZ in the same region. It was considered that the high concentrations of ITCZ and its metabolite at infected lesion were due to their high affinities with ergosterol in fungal membrane.研究ノー

Evaluation of oral immunotherapy efficacy and safety by maintenance dose dependency: A multicenter randomized study

Background Generally, oral immunotherapy (OIT) aims for daily administration. Recently, the efficacy of treatment with OIT at a low dose has been reported. However, the optimal dose and the evaluation of dose-dependent OIT outcome have not been described. Methods A multicenter, parallel, open-labeled, prospective, non-placebo controlled, randomized study enrolled 101 Japanese patients for treatment with OIT. We hypothesized that target dose OIT would induce short-term unresponsiveness (StU) earlier than reduced dose OIT. StU was defined as no response to 6200 mg whole egg, 3400 mg milk, and 2600 mg wheat protein, as evaluated by oral food challenge after 2-week ingestion cessation. To compare the two doses of OIT efficacy, the maximum ingestion doses during the maintenance phase of OIT were divided into 100%-dose or 25%-dose groups against their target StU dose, respectively. A total of 51 patients were assigned to the 100%-dose group [hen's egg (HE) = 26, cow's milk (CM) = 13, wheat = 12] and 50 to the 25%-dose group (HE = 25, CM = 13, wheat = 12). Primary outcome was established by comparing StU at 1 year. Secondary outcome was StU at 2 years and established by comparing allergic symptoms and immunological changes. Results The year 1 StU rates (%) for the 100%- and 25%-dose groups were 26.9 vs. 20.0 (HE), 7.7 vs. 15.4 (CM), and 50.0 vs. 16.7 (wheat), respectively. The year 2 StU rates were 30.8 vs. 36.0 (HE), 7.7 vs. 23.1 (CM), and 58.3 vs. 58.3 (wheat), respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in StU between years 1 and 2. The total allergic symptom rate in the 25%-dose group was lower than that in the 100%-dose group for egg, milk, and wheat. Antigen-specific IgE levels for egg-white, milk, and wheat decreased at 12 months. Conclusions Reduced maintenance dose of egg OIT showed similar therapeutic efficacy to the target dose. However, we were not able to clearly demonstrate the efficacy, particularly for milk and wheat. Reducing the maintenance dose for eggs, milk, and wheat may effectively lower the symptoms associated with their consumption compared to the target OIT dose. Furthermore, aggressive reduction of the maintenance dose might be important for milk and wheat, compared to the 25%-dose OIT