Intelligence or years of education: which is better correlated with memory function in normal elderly Japanese subjects?

Background: We compared differences in intelligence and memory function between normal elderly Japanese subjects with more years of education and those with fewer years of education. We also investigated clinical and neuropsychological factors that are strongly correlated with memory function. Methods: There were 118 normal elderly subjects who underwent the Mini‐Mental State Examination, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, 3rd edition (WAIS‐III), and Wechsler Memory Scale Revised. Subjects with at least 13 years of education were categorized as the H group, and those with 12 years of education or less were categorized as the L group. Results: Age and Mini‐Mental State Examination scores were not significantly different between the two groups. On the WAIS‐III, there were significant differences between the two groups in Verbal IQ and Full Scale IQ. On the Wechsler Memory Scale Revised, there were significant differences between the two groups in Visual Memory, General Memory, and Delayed Recall. Correlation coefficients between memory function and the other factors demonstrated significant but weak correlations between years of education and General Memory (R = 0.22) and between years of education and Delayed Recall (R = 0.20). Strong correlations were found between Verbal IQ and Verbal Memory (R = 0.45), between Verbal IQ and General Memory (R = 0.49), between Full Scale IQ and General Memory (R = 0.50) and between Full Scale IQ and Delayed Recall (R = 0.48). Conclusions: In normal elderly Japanese subjects, years of education weakly correlated with memory function while Verbal IQ, Full Scale IQ and Verbal Comprehension on WAIS‐III had stronger correlations with memory function. Verbal IQ and Verbal Comprehension on WAIS‐III were found to be insusceptible to the cognitive decline characteristic of Alzheimer's disease or amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Therefore, verbal intelligence, as measured by Verbal IQ and Verbal Comprehension, may be the most useful factor for inferring premorbid memory function in Alzheimer's disease or amnestic mild cognitive impairment patients.     

Safety and Validity of Anterior Cervical Disc Replacement for Single-level Cervical Disc Disease: Initial Two-year Follow-up of the Prospective Observational Post-marketing Surveillance Study for Japanese Patients

Anterior cervical disc replacement (ACDR) using cervical artificial disc (CAD) has the advantage of maintaining the range of motion (ROM) at the surgical level, subsequently reducing the postoperative risk of adjacent disc disease. Following the approval for the clinical use in Japan, a post-marketing surveillance (PMS) study was conducted for two different types of CAD, namely, Mobi-C (metal-on-plastic design) and Prestige LP (metal-on-metal design). The objective of this prospective observational multicenter study was to analyze the first 2-year surgical results of the PMS study of 1-level ACDR in Japan. A total of 54 patients were registered (Mobi-C, n = 24, MC group; Prestige LP, n = 30, PLP group). Preoperative neurological assessment revealed radiculopathy in 31 patients (57.4%) and myelopathy in 15 patients (27.8%). Preoperative radiological assessment classified the disease category as disc herniation in 15 patients (27.8%), osteophyte in 6 patients (11.1%), and both in 33 patients (61.1%). The postoperative follow-up rates at 6 weeks, 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years after ACDR were 92.6%, 87.0%, 83.3%, and 79.6%, respectively. In both groups, patients'' neurological condition improved significantly after surgery. Radiographic assessment revealed loss of mobility at the surgical level in 9.5% of patients in the MC group and in 9.1% of patients in the PLP group. No secondary surgeries at the initial surgical level and no serious adverse events were observed in either group. The present results suggest that 1-level ACDR is safe, although medium- to long-term follow-up is mandatory to further verify the validity of ACDR for Japanese patients.     

Bone marrow transplantation for late infantile metachromatic leukodystrophy: Pathogenic investigation for graft rejection

A Japanese boy aged 2 years 11 months with late infantile metachromatic leukodystrophy underwent bone marrow transplantation (BMT) from his human leukocyte antigen (HLA) identical but mixed lymphocyte culture reactive father. Chimerism and increased arylsulfatase A activities of leukocytes had been observed with retarded progression of neurological deterioration during the first 3 months post-BMT. Graft rejection gradually occurred and donor cells were almost completely eliminated from the patient at 1 year after BMT. The process of neurodegeneration progressed clinically and neuroradiologically. Three possible reasons for the pathogenesis of graft rejection are: (i) T cell depletion of donor marrow cells as graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis; (ii) a slightly weak conditioning regimen; and (iii) a small number of marrow cells transplanted. It is stressed that as BMT is still a preliminary therapy for metachromatic leukodystrophy indications, conditioning, and GVHD prophylaxis for BMT should be considered individually.     

Assessment of autonomic nervous activity during gastrointestinal endoscopy: Analysis of blood pressure variability by tonometry

We continuously measured blood pressure by tonometry in 30 patients during endoscopy to determine the influence of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy on cardiac events. Patients were divided into two groups: one group treated with scopolamine butylbromide as premedication (SB group) and another group without premedication (C group). Time- and frequency domain analyses of beat-to-beat systolic blood pressure variability were performed for 128 consecutive beats. For time-domain analysis, we calculated the coefficient of variation of systolic blood pressure (CV_BP). For the frequency domain analysis, we determined the low-frequency (LF_BP; 0.04–0.15 Hz) and high-frequency (HF_BP; 0.15–0.40 Hz) powers of the variation in systolic blood pressure and the ratio of LF_BP to HF_BP (LF_BP/HF_BP) during endoscopy. The CV_BP and HF_BP, indicators of parasympathetic tone, increased in the early phase of endoscopy but decreased significantly in the middle and late phases compared with the pre-endoscopy value. The ratio of LF_BP/HF_BP, an indicator of indirect sympathetic tone, increased throughout the endoscopic procedure. Moreover, premedication with scopolamine butylbromide prevents the excessive parasympathetic nervous reflex when an endoscope passes through the upper digestive tract and also brings both decreased parasympathetic tone and increased sympathetic tone at the late phase of endoscopic procedure. Our results indicate that gastrointestinal endoscopy induced an autonomic nervous abnormality, which may contribute to the occurrence of cardiac events during endoscopic procedures.     

Effects of Long-term Oral Administration of NZ-105, a Novel Calcium Antagonist,With or Without Propranolol in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

Abstract— A new calcium antagonist, NZ-105 ((±)-2-[benzyl(phenyl)amino]ethyl 1,4-dihydro-2,6-dimethyl-5- (5,5-dimethyl-2-oxo-1,3,2-dioxaphosphorinan-2-yl)-4-(3-nitrophenyl)-3-pyridinecarboxylate hydrochloride ethanol) (10 mg kg^?1, p.o.), showed slow-onset hypotensive effect in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). The tachycardia evoked by NZ-105 was completely prevented when combined with a β-adrenoceptor blocker, propranolol (20 mg kg^?1), which did not affect the hypotensive response to NZ-105. In long-term administration experiments for 12 weeks with SHRs, the systolic blood pressure in the control group increased with age and the heart rate was stable throughout the period. NZ-105 (10 mg kg^?1 day^?1) alone and its combined treatment with propranolol (20 mg kg^?1 day^?1) maintained the systolic blood pressure and heart rate at a low level compared with the control group. The hypotensive action of NZ-105 was reproducible after repeated dosing for 12 weeks. Long-term administration of propranolol affected neither the elevation of the systolic blood pressure nor the heart rate substantially. The heart weight per body weight was significantly reduced after the chronic combination of both drugs, suggesting that the cardiac hypertrophy accompanying hypertension was prevented.     

Smoking behaviour and personality: a population-based study in Japan

Abstract Aims . The aim of our study was to determine whether the previously reported findings also apply to a general population in Japan and whether, among current smokers, such personality characteristics can be correlated with the age they started to smoke and their present daily consumption of cigarettes . Design . Cross-sectional survey . Setting . Miyagi prefecture, in northern Japan . Participants . 20 538 residents in Miyagi, aged 40-64 years . Measurement . A self-administered questionnaire involving smoking status (current, ex- and non-smokers) and patterns and the Japanese version of the short-form Eysenck Personality QuestionnaireRevised (EPQ-R) . Findings . (1) Current and ex-smokers were higher on Extraversion and Psychoticism than non-smokers for both genders. (2) Heavy smokers were higher on Psychoticism than light smokers and those who started to smoke prior to the legally permitted age were higher on Psychoticism than those who did not . Conclusions . (1) Our study confirmed that the findings which had been previously reported in selected samples in western countries also apply to a general population in Japan; (2) current smokers were found to be heterogeneous in terms of Psychoticism when the age they started to smoke and their present daily consumption of cigarettes were taken into account.     

Tubulovillous adenoma developing after urinary reconstruction using ileal segments

A case of tubulovillous adenoma arising in an augmented bladder is described. Ureteroileal substitution and ileocystoplasty was performed when the patient was 18 years old. She noticed gross hematuria 44 years after the surgery. Cystoscopy revealed a non-papillary multiple tumor at the site of ileovesical anastomosis and transurethral resection biopsy was performed. Histopathological examination revealed a tubulovillous adenoma. A tubulovillous adenoma developing at the augmented bladder is rare. To our knowledge, this is the second case in which a tubulovillous adenoma developed in an augmented bladder.     

Influences of Immobilization and Footshock Stress on Pharmacokinetics of Theophylline and Caffeine in Rats

The influences of immobilization and footshock stress on pharmacokinetics of theophylline (20 mg kg^?1) and caffeine (30 mg kg^?1) administered orally were examined in rats. The immobilization stress for 30 min or 1 h immediately after oral administration caused marked immobilization period-related decreases in plasma theophylline concentrations during the absorption phase, but did not affect plasma caffeine concentrations. The k_a and C_max values for theophylline were significantly decreased, and the t_max was significantly increased. On the other hand, when the immobilization stress was loaded for 1 or 3 h before the oral administration, the plasma theophylline or caffeine concentrations were not affected. The footshock stress for 30 min immediately after oral administration did not significantly decrease plasma theophylline concentrations during the absorption phase. These results suggest that the pharmacokinetics of theophylline are influenced by strong stress, possibly due to the inhibition of its absorption from the gastrointestinal tract, but the pharmacokinetics of caffeine are not influenced by stress, probably due to its central action.     

Primary testicular leiomyosarcoma

We report a case of primary testicular leiomyosarcoma. A 76-year-old man, who complained of left scrotal swelling for 6 months, underwent radical orchiectomy. Microscopic examination revealed intratesticular leiomyosarcoma. The patient received no adjuvant therapy and at 12 months after surgery, there had been no recurrence. Primary leiomyosarcoma of the testis is extremely rare; this is the 9th case recorded worldwide.