Characteristics of facial nerve palsy during childhood in Japan: frequency of varicella–zoster virus association

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to clarify the clinical characteristics of facial nerve palsy and the frequency of varicella-zoster virus association in Japanese children, retrospectively. METHODS: The subjects were 30 facial nerve palsy patients less than 15 years old, treated in the Department of Pediatrics, Kawasaki Medical School Hospital, Okayama, Japan, during the last 10 years. RESULTS: The male/female and right/left ratios were 16/14 and 16/13, respectively. The patients included 21 cases (70%) of Bell's palsy, four cases (13%) due to otitis media, three cases (10%) of Ramsay Hunt syndrome and two cases (7%) due to birth trauma. There were six cases of zoster sine herpete among the Bell's palsy cases. CONCLUSION: Varicella-zoster virus-associated facial palsy was found in nine (36%) of the 25 patients examined. Zoster sine herpete was more frequently encountered in children than adults. Ramsay Hunt syndrome was found in school-age children and zoster sine herpete was often found in preschool children. The period of recovery was fast for facial nerve palsy due to acute otitis media, which occurred within 23 months of age, after myringotomy and administration of antibiotics.     

Conformation of tetragastrin in DMSO

A conformation analysis of tetrapeptide in DMSO was carried out by the Monte Carlo simulation including the solvent effect in the energy function. The lowest energy conformations in the zwitterionic and cationic states are a similar compact form, in which the two aromatic rings are close to each other. The distance distributions between the specified atoms in the molecule show that most conformations in the local energy minima are similar to this folded conformation, although there is another type of conformation of interest, which has an extended form with the two separate aromatic rings. Such results are consistent with the NMR and CD experiments, and suggest that the compact form of tetragastrin is essential as a biological active conformation. The folded structure is stabilized by the solute-solvent interaction. In particular, the non-bonding interactions between the solute and solvent molecules cause a folding effect on the molecular conformation in total. This study is a first case taking account of the solvent effect into the conformation analysis of tetragastrin.     

Clinical profiles of autopsy-confirmed dementia with Lewy bodies at institutionalization: Comparison with Alzheimer's disease

Background: It has been reported that Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients with Lewy pathology have a shorter time from a given baseline to institutionalization than those with AD alone. Taking the clinical distinction between dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and AD into consideration, the previous findings may indicate the possibility that the clinical characteristics of DLB patients have an influence on early institutionalization. This study was carried out to clarify whether there are any differences in the symptoms that required institutionalization between patients with DLB and those with AD. Methods: Hospital records and standardized data forms completed at admission to a residential care facility were reviewed to assess the profiles in all cases with autopsy‐confirmed diagnoses for correct differential diagnosis. We examined functional, cognitive and symptomatic conditions at admission to a residential care facility of 18 DLB and 35 AD patients whose diagnoses were confirmed by autopsy. The examinations were conducted using the Gottfries‐Bråne‐Steen (GBS) scale and cognitive tests, and the results were compared between the two groups of patients. Results: Hallucinations, impaired wakefulness, disturbance of ADL and emotional disturbance, common clinical features compatible with DLB, were more frequently observed in DLB patients than in AD patients (P < 0.05). Moreover, DLB patients had higher scores on cognitive tests than did AD patients at admission to a residential care facility (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The distinctive clinical features at admission to a residential care facility may indicate that the reasons for the necessity of institutionalization are different between DLB and AD, and that the interventions specific to DLB patients and their families would be necessary to prevent or postpone institutionalization.     

Changes in work performances in obstructive sleep apnea patients after dental appliance therapy

Abstract The effects of dental appliances on work performances of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is not well examined. This study evaluated the polysomnographic and psychological findings before and after therapy. Nine patients were diagnosed OSAS by nocturnal polysomnography. The psychological battery was performed from 13:00 to 14:00, which consisted of Uchida-Kraepelin psychodiagnostic test (U-K's test) and Bourdon's cancellation test (Bourdon's test). Approximately 3 months after the treatment, the examinations were performed. Apnea and desaturation index decreased significantly after the therapy. In addition, sleep architecture improved after the therapy compared with that before the therapy. Dysfunction of task performances, such as mean level of work amounts in U-K's test, mean error, mean performance time and mean deviation in Bourdon's test improved after therapy. We conclude that dental appliances therapy is effective not only to apnea but also to work performance in OSAS.     

双膦酸盐对骨形成蛋白诱导骨的作用

目的：研究双膦酸盐对骨形成蛋白（BMP）诱导骨的作用。方法：42只大白鼠背部植入BMP,诱导出异位骨后,将大白鼠分成实验组和对照组。实验组在BMP植入后第3～7周,每周腹腔注射双膦酸盐（YM175）3次, 剂量1 μg·kg^-1·d ^-1。对照组按同样的方式给予等量的生理盐水。在BMP植入第3、4、7和10周,将BMP诱导骨取出,采用显微放射照片（CMR）和HE染色方法观察双膦酸盐对骨形成蛋白诱导骨的作用。结果：BMP诱导骨3周时（即双膦酸盐未投药前）,在BMP植入体周边形成编织骨,大量破骨细胞出现在新生骨组织表面。在4周时,实验组和对照组新生骨组织均向BMP植入体内生长。在10周时,对照组骨细胞变小,实验组可观察到有规律地排列的板层状骨的特征。结论：双膦酸盐对骨形成蛋白诱导骨破骨骨吸收有明显的抑制作用。     

Skeletal muscle regeneration induced by chorio-allantoic grafting

To examine whether the expression pattern of fast-muscle type troponin-T (TnT) isoforms was fixed in cell lineage, breast muscle pieces (pectoralis major) from chick embryos and young and adult chickens were grafted on to chorio-allantoic membrane of 9-day-old chick embryos and cultured until the host embryos hatched out. Muscle fibre formation of the grafts was investigated by histological and immunohistochemical methods with anti-fast-muscle type and anti-slow-muscle type TnT sera, and the expression of fast-muscle type TnT in the grafts from chick embryos and young chickens was studied by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), two-dimensional SDS-PAGE, and immunoblotting. In the chorio-allantoic grafting, the breast muscle initially degenerated forming pyknotic nuclei and hyaline cytoplasm. The surviving cells, which were supposed to be satellite cells, regenerated new muscle fibres of the same type as those of the grafted muscle in respect of TnT isoform expression. Therefore, we considered that the ability to express specific isoforms of TnT was fixed in the satellite cells, and that chorio-allantoic grafting was a useful technique for studying muscle differentiation. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.