A case of atypical meningioma with Lhermitte-Duclos disease

Lhermitte-Duclos disease is known as an uncommon disease that characterized by a slowly progressive tumor of the cerebellar hemisphere. We present a case of atypical meningioma with Lhermitte-Duclos disease. A 57-year-old female was admitted to our hospital after presenting with general convulsion. CT scan on arrival showed a large mass of the left frontal region and slightly high-density linear lesion in the right cerebellar hemisphere. MRI also revealed well-enhanced mass in the left frontal region and parallel linear striation in the right cerebellar hemisphere. But, the patient had neither cerebellar dysfunction nor signs of increased intracranial pressure. The patient had angioma of the left breast and bilateral benign struma, no typical manifestation of Cowden syndrome. Removal of the frontal tumor caused the convulsion was subsequently performed. The pathological examination was atypical meningioma. After the operation, radiation therapy was not done because of the total removal of tumor and intension on patient side. Fortunately, the patient had no further adverse neurological events postoperatively. However, we should continuously take account to not only the recurrence of meningioma but also the enlargement of the cerebellar lesion and the complication of malignant tumors in whole body.     

Nucleotide sequence of a mitochondrial RNA virus from the plant pathogenic fungus, Helicobasidium mompa Tanaka

A double-stranded (ds) RNA (2411 bp) from a strain V18 of the violet root rot basidiomycetous fungus, Helicobasidium mompa was sequenced. Using the fungal mitochondrial genetic code in which UGA codes for tryptophan, the positive strand of V18 dsRNA was found to contain a long open-reading frame with the potential to encode a protein of 700 amino acids (molecular mass 79,805 Da), including conserved motifs characteristic of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RDRP). This putative RDRP was shown to be related to putative RDRPs of several fungal mitochondrial viruses. It is proposed that V18 dsRNA is assigned to the genus Mitovirus in the family Narnaviridae and designated as H. mompa mitovirus 1-18 (HmMV1-18). Like other mitoviruses, HmMV1-18 RNA can be folded into potentially stable stem-loop structures at both the 5'- and 3'-termini, and both terminal sequences have inverted complementarity with the potential to form panhandle structure. BLAST analysis indicates that the RDRP encoded by HmMV1-18 is more closely related to those encoded by mitochondrial viruses of some ascomycetes than to that of the unassigned RsM2-1A1 dsRNA in the basidiomycetous Rhizoctonia solani. HmMV1-18 is the first member of the genus Mitovirus from basidiomycete fungi.     

Comparison between various strategies for the disease-gene mapping using linkage disequilibrium analyses: studies on adenine phosphoribosyltransferase deficiency used as an example

Recently, linkage disequilibrium analyses have been used to detect disease-causing loci based on the common disease-common variant hypothesis. To see what methods can effectively identify the genes, we have to apply them to the practical data obtained from the human population. We extensively performed linkage disequilibrium and haplotype analyses on adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (APRT) genes in both control and deficient subjects. To examine the power to detect disease-causing loci, we analyzed SNPs, STRPs, and VNTR within and around the APRT gene. When only SNPs were used, P values did not necessarily show significant difference, even at loci close to the mutation site for APRT*J that is exclusively observed among Japanese. However, the examination of the same samples with haplotypes based on the haplotype block data gave sufficient significance. In the case of STRP and VNTR, some single-marker loci showed significant difference. Our study suggested that the use of haplotype analysis based on the haplotype-block structure is more powerful than single-marker locus analysis for the detection of disease-related loci.     

Electronic videoendoscopic laryngostroboscopy

Color images obtained using electronic videoendoscopic laryngostroboscopy (EVLS) were presented and the utility of this technique for the diagnosis of dysphonia was discussed in this paper. Stroboscopic evaluations of laryngeal lesions were performed using a rhinolaryngeal electronic videoendoscope system employing a single-plate simultaneous color charge-coupled device (CCD) chip method. Twenty patients underwent electronic videoendoscopic laryngostroboscopy. A Karl Storz laryngostroboscope Pulsar was connected to this system and laryngeal lesions were assessed. The potentialities of laryngostroboscopy using this system were evaluated. Clear stroboscopic images were obtained in all patients. Multiple still images during vocal fold vibration were acquired using an optional function. The laryngostroboscope is not compatible with conventional systems employing a single-plate red, green, and blue (RGB) surface scanning method. However, the system used was successfully connected to a laryngostroboscope. EVLS appears to be a powerful new tool for the diagnosis of dysphonia.     

Nuclear dynamics of parthenogenesis of human oocytes: effect of oocyte aging in vitro

We investigated in detail the nuclear kinetics of oocyte activation of aged human oocytes following combined activation treatment with calcium ionophore and puromycin. Two types of oocytes were used: (a) 1-day-old oocytes after 20-24 h retrieval, and (b) 2-day-old oocytes after 44-50 h retrieval. A total of 185 unfertilized aged oocytes, 91 1-day-old and 94 2-day-old oocytes, were fixed at 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8 h after activation treatment and then metaphase II (MII), anaphase or telophase II (A/T II) or pronuclear stage were recorded. We demonstrated that a combined calcium ionophore and puromycin treatment induced a high activation rate in both 1-day-old (95.6%) and 2-day-old oocytes (95.2%). Our results also demonstrated that the nuclear progression was faster in 2-day-old oocytes than in 1-day-old oocytes, although nuclear progression in parthenogenetically activated human oocytes requires the longer time periods compared with ICSI fertilization. It is concluded that combined treatment of the calcium ionophore and puromycin allows a high rate of parthenogenetic activation and the nuclear kinetics of parthenogenetically activated human oocytes appears to be more rapid in in vitro aging oocytes.     

A word expressing affective pain activates the anterior cingulate cortex in the human brain: an fMRI study

We present an fMRI study demonstrating that an onomatopoeia word highly suggestive of subjective pain, heard by the ear, significantly activates the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) while hearing non-sense words that did not imply affective pain under the same task does not activate this area in humans. We concluded that the ACC would be a pivotal locus for perceiving affective pain evoked by an onomatopoeia word that implied affective pain closely associated with the unpleasantness of pain. We suggest that the pain affect sustained by pain unpleasantness may depend on ACC-prefrontal cortical interactions that modify cognitive evaluation of emotions associated with word-induced pain.