Motor tics are sudden, rapid, recurrent, non-rhythmic movements. There is a lack of quantitative assessment methods for the motor tics despite severe neck complications. We aimed to provide an ...improved quantitative method for neck tic assessment in motor tic disorders. We recorded neck motor tics in patients with motor tic disorders and voluntary neck movements in healthy controls. The maximum peak angular velocities and angular accelerations were calculated. Motor tics were assessed in three orthogonal planes (yaw, pitch, and roll) separately, and compared between the patients with motor tic disorders and controls. Correlations between the maximum angular velocities/accelerations and tic counts were also assessed. In the pitch plane, motor tics of the patients showed higher angular velocities/accelerations than voluntary movements of the controls. Angular acceleration in the yaw, and roll planes showed positive correlations with tic count. Some of the observed tics were comparable to the movements experienced in contact sports. Our findings may aid in the identification of populations at a high risk for severe neck complications among motor tic disorder patients.
•Neck tics of Tourette's and voluntary movements of healthy controls were compared•Neck tics in the pitch plane had higher angular velocities/accelerations•Some neck motor tics were comparable to movements in contact sports•Gyroscopes may be used to identify populations at high risk for neck complications
Neck motor tics in Tourette's syndrome can cause severe neck complications. Although addressed in a few longitudinal studies, the clinical course of Tourette's syndrome has not been quantitatively ...assessed. We had previously developed a method for quantifying the angular movements of neck tics using a compact gyroscope. Here, we present a follow-up study aimed at elucidating the clinical course of neck tics at both the group and individual levels.
Eleven patients with Tourette's syndrome from our previous study participated in the present study, and their neck tics were recorded during a 5-min observation period. The severity of neck symptoms was assessed using the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale. The peak angular velocities and accelerations, tic counts, and severity scores in our previous study (baseline) and the present study (2-year follow-up) were compared at the group and individual levels. The individual level consistency between baseline and follow-up were calculated using intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs, one-way random, single measure).
At the group level, no significant change was observed between baseline and follow-up. At the individual level, angular velocity (ICC 0.73) and YGTSS scores (ICC 0.75) had substantial consistency over the two time points, and angular acceleration (ICC 0.59) and tic counts (ICC 0.69) had moderate consistency.
The intensity and frequency of neck tics did not change over time. Therefore, quantification of angular neck motor tics will aid in identifying patients with neck tics at high risk for severe neck complications.
Experimental and comparative studies suggest that the striped coats of zebras can prevent biting fly attacks. Biting flies are serious pests of livestock that cause economic losses in animal ...production. We hypothesized that cows painted with black and white stripes on their body could avoid biting fly attacks and show fewer fly-repelling behaviors. Six Japanese Black cows were assigned to treatments using a 3 × 3 Latin-square design. The treatments were black-and-white painted stripes, black painted stripes, and no stripes (all-black body surface). Recorded fly-repelling behaviors were head throw, ear beat, leg stamp, skin twitch, and tail flick. Photo images of the right side of each cow were taken using a commercial digital camera after every observation and biting flies on the body and each leg were counted from the photo images. Here we show that the numbers of biting flies on Japanese Black cows painted with black-and-white stripes were significantly lower than those on non-painted cows and cows painted only with black stripes. The frequencies of fly-repelling behaviors in cows painted with black-and-white stripes were also lower than those in the non-painted and black-striped cows. These results thus suggest that painting black-and-white stripes on livestock such as cattle can prevent biting fly attacks and provide an alternative method of defending livestock against biting flies without using pesticides in animal production, thereby proposing a solution for the problem of pesticide resistance in the environment.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of supplementing a yeast culture (YC; Saccharomyces cerevisiae) on rumen fermentation, nutrient utilization, and milk production in dairy cows. ...Six Holstein cows were subjected to two dietary treatments in a crossover design. The treatments were control (no yeast culture) and yeast culture (fed at 30 g/head per day). Rumen pH and protozoal counts were similar between both treatments, although the concentration of rumen ammonia-N tended to be lower with YC treatment. Moreover, YC treatment did not affect the concentration of total short-chain fatty acids in the rumen, but tended to reduce the molar proportion of acetic acid (A), while significantly increasing that of propionic acid (P). Therefore, the A/P ratio decreased significantly after 5 hr of YC feeding as compared with the control. The treatments had no effect on the blood plasma concentrations of glucose, urea-N, and non-esterified fatty acids. However, YC treatment resulted in a significantly higher concentration of plasma free lysine, along with higher concentrations of isoleucine, arginine, and total free amino acids. Dry matter intake and milk yield were similar between both treatments, though the percentage of milk protein tended to be higher with YC treatment. In addition, YC treatment did not affect the milk fatty acid composition and somatic cell counts. Overall, the yeast culture had a subtle effect on ruminal fermentation. The higher plasma concentrations of some essential amino acids indicated the positive effect of YC supplementation on the availability of amino acids for milk protein synthesis in the mammary gland of dairy cows.
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Isolated from the Jamaican cyanobacterium Lyngbya majuscula, the jamaicamides are unique, mixed polyketide-peptides reported to be sodium channel blockers. The polyketide moiety ...contains an (E)-chloroolefin, an undetermined methyl stereocenter (C9), and an (E)-olefin (C10–C11). Herein we report the stereo- and regioselective synthesis of the polyketide moiety of the jamaicamides via a Julia–Kocienski coupling as the key step.
Tourette Syndrome (TS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by chronic motor and vocal tics. Although there is a large genetic contribution, the genetic architecture of TS remains unclear. ...Exome sequencing has successfully revealed the contribution of de novo mutations in sporadic cases with neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism and schizophrenia. Here, using exome sequencing, we investigated de novo mutations in individuals with sporadic TS to identify novel risk loci and elucidate the genetic background of TS. Exome analysis was conducted for sporadic TS cases: nine trio families and one quartet family with concordant twins were investigated. Missense mutations were evaluated using functional prediction algorithms, and their population frequencies were calculated based on three public databases. Gene expression patterns in the brain were analyzed using the BrainSpan Developmental Transcriptome. Thirty de novo mutations, including four synonymous and four missense mutations, were identified. Among the missense mutations, one in the rapamycin‐insensitive companion of mammalian target of rapamycin (RICTOR)‐coding gene (rs140964083: G > A, found in one proband) was predicted to be hazardous. In the three public databases analyzed, variants in the same SNP locus were absent, and variants in the same gene were either absent or present at an extremely low frequency (3/5,008), indicating the rarity of hazardous RICTOR mutations in the general population. The de novo variant of RICTOR may be implicated in the development of sporadic TS, and RICTOR is a novel candidate factor for TS etiology.
Two polyomaviruses, BK virus (BKV) and JC virus (JCV), are ubiquitous in the human population, generally infecting children asymptomatically and then persisting in renal tissue. It is generally ...thought that reactivation leads to productive infection for both viruses, with progeny shed in the urine. Several studies have shown that the rate of JC viruria increases with the age of the host, but a systematic approach to examine the shedding of BKV has not been developed. To elucidate the relationship between BK viruria and host age, we obtained urine from donors (healthy volunteers or nonimmunocompromised patients) who were divided into nine age groups, each containing 50 members. A high-sensitivity PCR was used to detect BKV and JCV DNA from urinary samples, and the specificity of amplification was confirmed by sequencing or restriction analysis of the amplified fragments. The rate of BK viruria was relatively low in subjects aged <30 years but gradually increased with age in subjects aged >=30 years. However, BK viruria was less frequent than JC viruria in adults. The detected BKV isolates were classified into subtypes, and detection rates for individual subtypes were compared among age groups; this analysis showed that viruria of subtypes I (the most prevalent subtype) and IV (the second most prevalent subtype) occurred more frequently in older subjects. Therefore, our results reveal new aspects of BK viruria in nonimmunocompromised individuals.
Background Inflammation is an important feature of atherosclerotic lesions, and the vulnerability of coronary lesions in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) at the time of onset may be related to blood ...levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) on admission, before CRP levels are affected by myocardial damage. Methods A total of 234 patients with AMI in whom plasma CRP was measured within 6 hours after onset were studied. They were divided into 2 groups: group 1 (n = 49) with elevated CRP (≥0.3 mg/dL) on admission within 6 hours after onset and group 2 (n = 185) with normal CRP (<0.3 mg/dL) within 6 hours after onset. All were treated by primary percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty with provisional stenting. Results There were no significant differences in baseline characteristics between the 2 groups. In-hospital adverse coronary events, including coronary reocclusion, reinfarction, target vessel revascularization, and death, were significantly more frequent in group 1 (22.4%) than in group 2 (4.3%, P <.005), and bailout stenting was performed significantly more frequently in group 1 (61.2%) than in group 2 (37.8%, P <.005). In contrast, there were no significant differences between the 2 groups in parameters that represent myocardial damage, including peak creatine kinase and left ventricular ejection fraction. Conclusion CRP levels within 6 hours after the onset of AMI reflect the vulnerability of culprit coronary lesions and predict adverse coronary events after primary PTCA/stenting. (Am Heart J 2000;140:324-8.)
The jamaicamides, isolated in Jamaica from the cyanobacterium Lyngbya majuscula, are new mixed polyketide-peptides that are known to be sodium channel blockers. The polyketide moiety contains an ...(E)-vinyl chloride, an undetermined methyl stereocenter (C9), and an (E)-olefin. Herein, we report the synthesis of the (E)-olefin moiety of the polyketide of the jamaicamides utilizing a Kocienski-Julia coupling.
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