Chronic administration of citalopram inhibited El mouse convulsions and decreased monoamine oxidase-A activity.

Serotonin (5-HT) is thought to play an important role in the seizures of El mice because the seizure threshold of El mice correlates with the 5-HT concentration in the central nervous system. In this study, the anticonvulsant effect of a 5-HT reuptake blocker, citalopram, was evaluated behaviorally and biochemically. El mouse convulsions were inhibited by chronic administration of citalopram (80 mg/kg/day, p.o. for 2 weeks), but were not inhibited by acute administration of citalopram (80 mg/kg, i.p., 2 h after single injection). Both chronic and acute administration of citalopram decreased the concentration of 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid in the brain, whereas the concentration of 5-HT was not changed by treatment with citalopram. Tryptophan hydroxylase activity was not different between the citalopram and control groups, although the monoamine oxydase-A activity was lowered by chronic administration of citalopram. These findings suggest that both acute and chronic administration of citalopram depresses the 5-HT turnover rate, however chronic administration is necessary to inhibit El mouse convulsions.</p

Development and Performance of Kyoto's X-ray Astronomical SOI pixel (SOIPIX) sensor

We have been developing monolithic active pixel sensors, known as Kyoto's X-ray SOIPIXs, based on the CMOS SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology for next-generation X-ray astronomy satellites. The event trigger output function implemented in each pixel offers microsecond time resolution and enables reduction of the non-X-ray background that dominates the high X-ray energy band above 5--10 keV. A fully depleted SOI with a thick depletion layer and back illumination offers wide band coverage of 0.3--40 keV. Here, we report recent progress in the X-ray SOIPIX development. In this study, we achieved an energy resolution of 300~eV (FWHM) at 6~keV and a read-out noise of 33~e- (rms) in the frame readout mode, which allows us to clearly resolve Mn-K$\alpha$ and K$\beta$. Moreover, we produced a fully depleted layer with a thickness of $500~{\rm \mu m}$. The event-driven readout mode has already been successfully demonstrated.Comment: 7pages, 12figures, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. appears as Proc. SPIE 9147, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ra

Utility of Combined Use of Transabdominal Ultrasonography and Fecal Immunochemical Test Examinations in Ulcerative Colitis

This study examined the utility of the combined use of transabdominal ultrasonography (TUS) and fecal immunochemical testing (FIT) to detect mucosal inflammation, vis-a-vis the Mayo endoscopic subscore (MES), in ulcerative colitis (UC). Sixty-three UC patients who underwent TUS and FIT were retrospectively enrolled. For TUS, the colon was divided into five segments, and the bowel wall thickness was measured and evaluated. The accuracy of FIT (> 100 ng/ml) in detecting mucosal inflammation (MES>0) was 0.93, whereas that of TUS (BWT>2 mm) in each segment was 0.84-0.97. The combined use of TUS and FIT may be helpful in noninvasive treatment strategies

Leucine-rich alpha-2 glycoprotein as a marker of mucosal healing in inflammatory bowel disease

Leucine-rich alpha-2 glycoprotein (LRG) may be a novel serum biomarker for patients with inflammatory bowel disease. The association of LRG with the endoscopic activity and predictability of mucosal healing (MH) was determined and compared with those of C-reactive protein (CRP) and fecal markers (fecal immunochemical test [FIT] and fecal calprotectin [Fcal]) in 166 ulcerative colitis (UC) and 56 Crohn's disease (CD) patients. In UC, LRG was correlated with the endoscopic activity and could predict MH, but the performance was not superior to that of fecal markers (areas under the curve [AUCs] for predicting MH: LRG: 0.61, CRP: 0.59, FIT: 0.75, and Fcal: 0.72). In CD, the performance of LRG was equivalent to that of CRP and Fcal (AUCs for predicting MH: LRG: 0.82, CRP: 0.82, FIT: 0.70, and Fcal: 0.88). LRG was able to discriminate patients with MH from those with endoscopic activity among UC and CD patients with normal CRP levels. LRG was associated with endoscopic activity and could predict MH in both UC and CD patients. It may be particularly useful in CD