Writing Kanji without semantics in a case with probable Alzheimer's disease]

We examined a patient (NM) with probable Alzheimer's disease who showed phonologically plausible errors in kanji (logogram) writing. In semantic tasks, she showed no deficits in pointing or naming but had difficulty in more complex tasks such as proverb comprehension. In reading aloud of kanji words, she could read most kanji words correctly and showed little phonologically plausible reading errors. She performed poorly in lexical decision and on-reading of one-letter kanji (Sino-Japanese pronunciation derived from the Chinese language at the time of borrowing). Writing to dictation demonstrated no mistakes in kana letters and words, but many errors in kanji, which were phonologically equivalent but semantically inappropriate. To explore the relationship between the writing errors in kanji words and comprehension of the word meanings, we selected 33 words that she made phonologically plausible writing errors. We gave her the following five tasks using these words; 1) to ask meanings of the words, 2) to dictate the words, 3) to dictate sentences including these words, 4) to discriminate appropriate target words from distracters including her own erroneous responses, and 5) to write these words again. She showed no consistent errors in these tasks. In some occasions, she could write correct kanji words without understanding word meanings. She also showed phonologically plausible writing errors in spite of describing correct word meanings. In Japanese, word meaning deficits like Gogi aphasia were thought to cause phonologically plausible writing errors. As the impairments of word meanings in NM are comparatively mild, the underpinning of her kanji agraphias might be different from that of phonologically plausible errors in Gogi aphasia. It would be suggested that she frequently wrote phonologically equivalent errors because of her lexical deficits in spite that her phonological processing was preserved. Furthermore, she would not necessarily use the semantics (word meanings) of kanji words during dictation.     

Reproducibility of pitch-matching test for tinnitus. Using a heptatonic scale

We evaluated the reproducibility of measured values obtained using a heptachord pitch-matching test (PMT). Investigation of the measured values by considering the minimum unit width limits of the testing scale revealed that the coincidence ratios of the measured values of intra-daily variations, intra-weekly variations and eight values measured consecutively in one test were as high as 100%, 94.8% and 83.3%, respectively. We therefore concluded that the reproducibility of this method is satisfactory. The measured values obtained by both ordinary one-octave-interval and heptachord PMT are compared in this article.     

ELECTRON PARAMAGNETIC RESONANCE STUDIES ON SPIN-LABELLING OF PEPSIN: EFFECTS OF TEMPERATURE,pH AND UREA ON ITS CONFORMATION

Pepsin was spin-labelled with N-(1-oxyl-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-piperidyl)bromo-acetamide, possibly at the active site, at a β-carboxyl group of a reactive aspartic acid. The spectrum of the spin-labelled pepsin showed that the spin probe was strongly immobilized (correlation time ≥10^-a sec). Spin-labelled pepsin was thermally denatured at various temperatures and electron paramagnetic resonance (e.p.r.) spectra were taken at various times. Rates of denaturation estimated from the e.p.r. spectra at various temperatures showed that the enthalpy and entropy of thermal denaturation of spin-labelled pepsin at pH3.5 were 48.0 ± 4.9 kcal/mole and 214.7 ± 14.5 e.u. respectively. Addition of conc. NaOH or 1 M acetate buffer at pH 6.0 sharpened e.p.r. spectra of the spin-labelled pepsin, indicating that the spin probe became mobilized by alkaline denaturation. Addition of urea caused unfolding of the protein which increased with the urea concentration, although only slight transition of conformational changes was observed in the e.p.r. spectra.     

Phosphatidylcholine content and fatty acid composition of tracheal and gastric liquids from premature and fullterm newborn infants

The phosphatidylcholine content and fatty acid composition of tracheal and gastric liquids from newborn full-term and premature (30–36 weeks) infants were studied. Phosphatidylcholine accounted for about 70% of the total phospholipids in both liquids from the full-term infants but only 55–57% of those from the prematures. There was a significant correlation between tracheal and gastric liquids in the fatty acid composition of phosphatidylcholine. There were significant differences in fatty acid composition between the full-term and premature liquids. These differences were most apparent in the gastric liquid. It is suggested that phospholipid or fatty acid analysis of tracheal or gastric liquids from newborn infants can be used in the assessment of pulmonary maturity.     

DISTRIBUTION OF GLYCOSAMINOGLYCANS IN DERMAL CONNECTIVE TISSUE FROM SCLERODERMA PATIENTS

Lesional skin specimens from scleroderma patients were sliced horizontally into three layers. The ratio of hyaluronic acid to dermatan sulfate in each layer was analyzed. The ratios in each layer of scleroderma skin were lower than those in the corresponding layers of normal skin and the lowest value was found in the bottom layer of scleroderma skin. The possible involvement of glycosaminoglycan metabolism in the pathophysiology of scleroderma is discussed.