Aims
Glutamate neurotoxicity plays an important role in the pathogenesis of various neurodegenerative disorders. Many studies have demonstrated that glutamate transporter‐1 (GLT‐1), the dominant ...astrocytic glutamate transporter, is significantly reduced in the cerebral cortex of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), suggesting that glutamate‐mediated excitotoxicity might contribute to the pathogenesis of AD. In a previous study, we have demonstrated marked alterations in the expression of the astrocytic water channel protein aquaporin‐4 (AQP4) in relation to amyloid β deposition in human AD brains. As a functional complex, GLT‐1 and AQP4 in astrocytes may play a neuroprotective role in the progression of AD pathology. However, few studies have examined the correlation between the expression of GLT‐1 and that of AQP4 in human AD brain.
Methods
Here, using immunohistochemistry with antibodies against GLT‐1 and AQP4, we studied the expression levels and distribution patterns of GLT‐1 in areas showing various patterns of AQP4 expression in autopsied temporal lobes from eight patients with AD and five controls without neurological disorders.
Results
GLT‐1 staining in the control group was present throughout the neocortex as uniform neuropil staining with co‐localized AQP4. The AD group showed a significant reduction in GLT‐1 expression, whereas cortical AQP4 immunoreactivity was more intense in the AD group than in the control group. There were two different patterns of GLT‐1 and AQP4 expression in the AD group: (i) uneven GLT‐1 expression in the neuropil where diffuse but intense AQP4 expression was evident, and (ii) senile plaque‐like co‐expression of GLT‐1 and AQP4.
Conclusions
These findings suggest disruption of glutamate/water homoeostasis in the AD brain.
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DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Background and purpose
The clinical characteristics of colony stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R) related adult‐onset leukoencephalopathy with axonal spheroids and pigmented glia (ALSP) have been ...only partially elucidated.
Methods
Clinical data from CSF1R mutation carriers who had been seen at our institutions or reported elsewhere were collected and analysed using a specific investigation sheet to standardize the data.
Results
In all, 122 cases from 90 families with CSF1R mutations were identified. The mean age of onset was 43 years (range 18–78 years), the mean age at death was 53 years (range 23–84 years) and the mean disease duration was 6.8 years (range 1–29 years). Women had a significantly younger age of onset than men (40 vs. 47 years, P = 0.0006, 95% confidence interval 3.158–11.177). There was an age‐dependent penetrance that was significantly different between the sexes (P = 0.0013). Motor dysfunctions were the most frequent initial symptom in women whose diseases began in their 20s. Thinning of the corpus callosum, abnormal signalling in pyramidal tracts, diffusion‐restricted lesions and calcifications in the white matter were characteristic imaging findings of ALSP. The calcifications were more frequently reported in our case series than in the literature (54% vs. 3%). Seventy‐nine per cent of the mutations were located in the distal part of the tyrosine kinase domain of CSF1R (102 cases). There were no apparent phenotype−genotype correlations.
Conclusions
The characteristics of ALSP were clarified. The phenotype of ALSP caused by CSF1R mutations is affected by sex.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Moisture meters are widely used in various industries and environmental-related fields, and thus the methods have been standardized. This paper describes an instantaneous and absolute moisture ...measurement method for sand. The conventional absolute moisture meter heats a target material and measures the weight difference before and after heating and determines the moisture content. This method requires a heating process; therefore, it is time-consuming. Sand pulverized from the rock with an average density of 2.58 g/cm 3 and an average relative dielectric constant of 5.50 were used to constitute the sand. Utilizing these known values, we propose an absolute moisture measurement method for sand from weight and capacitance. We constricted a measurement principle and a calibration method based on static electricity theory and verified the principle through experiments. From the dry state of sand, water is dispersed on the sand in increments of 5 cm 3 to 40 cm 3 and measured them. The measured values are evaluated through the ASTM evaluation for instruments. The repeatability was 1.21%. The limit of detection, limit of quantitation, linearity, and bias value were 0.22 cm 3 , 0.66 cm 3 , 0.28 %, and 0.51 cm 3 , respectively, which are satisfactory.
Background and purpose
To establish and validate diagnostic criteria for adult‐onset leukoencephalopathy with axonal spheroids and pigmented glia (ALSP) due to colony‐stimulating factor 1 receptor ...(CSF1R) mutation.
Methods
We developed diagnostic criteria for ALSP based on a recent analysis of the clinical characteristics of ALSP. These criteria provide ‘probable’ and ‘possible’ designations for patients who do not have a genetic diagnosis. To verify its sensitivity and specificity, we retrospectively applied our criteria to 83 ALSP cases who had CSF1R mutations (24 of these were analyzed at our institutions and the others were identified from the literature), 53 cases who had CSF1R mutation‐negative leukoencephalopathies and 32 cases who had cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) with NOTCH3 mutations.
Results
Among the CSF1R mutation‐positive cases, 50 cases (60%) were diagnosed as ‘probable’ and 32 (39%) were diagnosed as ‘possible,’ leading to a sensitivity of 99% if calculated as a ratio of the combined number of cases who fulfilled ‘probable’ or ‘possible’ to the total number of cases. With regard to specificity, 22 cases (42%) with mutation‐negative leukoencephalopathies and 28 (88%) with CADASIL were correctly excluded using these criteria.
Conclusions
These diagnostic criteria are very sensitive for diagnosing ALSP with sufficient specificity for differentiation from CADASIL and moderate specificity for other leukoencephalopathies. Our results suggest that these criteria are useful for the clinical diagnosis of ALSP.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
The recent advanced design of surface reaction spaces for heterogeneous selective catalysis in molecular-nano scales is reviewed, focusing on our recent challenges and also presenting new data. ...Supported metal complexes on oxide surfaces often exhibit tremendous catalytic properties based on their unique coordination structures created at the surfaces. Novel active reaction spaces can be designed by coordination regulation on central metals, chemical interaction at metal–surface interface, and three-dimensional architectures constructed at surfaces. Such molecularly organized surfaces possess advantageous properties of both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalyst systems and provide great opportunities for the tailor-made design of highly selective catalysis for various kinds of catalytic chemical syntheses.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
To comprehensively evaluate diagnostic algorithms for myocardial infarction using a high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI) assay.
We prospectively enrolled patients with suspected myocardial ...infarction without ST-segment elevation from nine emergency departments in Japan. The diagnostic algorithms evaluated: (i) based on hs-cTnI alone, such as the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) 0/1-h or 0/2-h and High-STEACS pathways; or (ii) used medical history and physical findings, such as the ADAPT, EDACS, HEART, and GRACE pathways. We evaluated the negative predictive value (NPV), sensitivity as safety measures, and proportion of patients classified as low or high-risk as an efficiency measure for a primary outcome of type 1 myocardial infarction or cardiac death within 30 days.
We included 437 patients, and the hs-cTnI was collected at 0 and 1 hours in 407 patients and at 0 and 2 hours in 394. The primary outcome occurred in 8.1% (33/407) and 6.9% (27/394) of patients, respectively. All the algorithms classified low-risk patients without missing those with the primary outcome, except for the GRACE pathway. The hs-cTnI-based algorithms classified more patients as low-risk: the ESC 0/1-h 45.7%; the ESC 0/2-h 50.5%; the High-STEACS pathway 68.5%, than those using history and physical findings (15-30%). The High-STEACS pathway ruled out more patients (20.5%) by hs-cTnI measurement at 0 hours than the ESC 0/1-h and 0/2-h algorithms (7.4%).
The hs-cTnI algorithms, especially the High-STEACS pathway, had excellent safety performance for the early diagnosis of myocardial infarction and offered the greatest improvement in efficiency.
This article describes a novel application of the microwave Doppler sensor as a remote vibrometer. The sensor is used to measure the speed of a moving object. Consider a situation where the Doppler ...sensor is fixed in place and the object is also fixed but vibrates, such as a factory motor. When the vibration amplitude is less than a quarter of the carrier wave of the sensor, it outputs the vibration amplitude under certain conditions. When the sensor attached to a mechanical oscillator with frequency <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{\mathrm {f}}_{{\mathrm {s}}} </tex-math></inline-formula> and known amplitude <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{\delta {\mathrm {s}}} </tex-math></inline-formula> faces a target vibrating with frequency <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{\mathrm {f}}_{{\mathrm {t}}} </tex-math></inline-formula> and amplitude <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{\delta {\mathrm {x}}} </tex-math></inline-formula>, its output shows mixed frequency voltages. Assuming <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">f_{{\mathrm {s}}}{\ne }f_{{\mathrm {t}}} </tex-math></inline-formula>, the mixed frequency voltage can be resolved into components by using either filters or the fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm. As the voltages <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">V_{{\mathrm {s}}} </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">V </tex-math></inline-formula> are proportional to the known amplitude <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{\delta {\mathrm {s}}} </tex-math></inline-formula> and the vibration amplitude <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{\delta {\mathrm {x}}} </tex-math></inline-formula>, respectively, the vibration amplitude can be calculated using <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{\delta {\mathrm {x}}}=(V/V_{{\mathrm {s}}}){\delta }{\mathrm {s}} </tex-math></inline-formula>, where <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">V_{{\mathrm {s}}} </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">V </tex-math></inline-formula> are the amplitudes of the voltages with frequencies <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{\mathrm {f}}_{{\mathrm {s}}} </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{\mathrm {f}}_{{\mathrm {t}}} </tex-math></inline-formula>, respectively. On conducting experiments by varying the distance between the sensor and an object vibrating at 18 Hz from 0.1 to 1 m, the average vibration amplitude was obtained to be <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">508 \mu {\mathrm {m}} </tex-math></inline-formula> with an error of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">9 \mu {\mathrm {m}} </tex-math></inline-formula>.
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