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Abstract Forward head posture (FHP) is a serious problem causing head and neck disability, but the characteristics of muscle activity during long-term postural maintenance are unclear. This study aimed to investigate a comparison of electromyography (EMG) activation properties and subjective fatigue between young adults with and without habitual FHP. In this study, we examined the changes in the spatial and temporal distribution patterns of muscle activity using high-density surface EMG (HD-SEMG) in addition to mean frequency, a conventional measure of muscle fatigue. Nineteen male participants were included in the study (FHP group (n = 9; age = 22.3 ± 1.5 years) and normal group (n = 10; age = 22.5 ± 1.4 years)). Participants held three head positions (e.g., forward, backward, and neutral positions) for a total of 30 min each, and the EMG activity of the trapezius pars descendens muscle during posture maintenance was measured by HD-SEMG. The root mean square (RMS), the modified entropy, and the correlation coefficient were calculated. Additionally, the visual analogue scale (VAS) was evaluated to assess subjective fatigue. The RMS, VAS, modified entropy, and correlation coefficients were significantly higher in the FHP group than in the normal group (p

Abstract The recent increase in reliable, simultaneous high channel count extracellular recordings is exciting for physiologists and theoreticians because it offers the possibility of reconstructing the underlying neuronal circuits. We recently presented a method of inferring this circuit connectivity from neuronal spike trains by applying the generalized linear model to cross-correlograms. Although the algorithm can do a good job of circuit reconstruction, the parameters need to be carefully tuned for each individual dataset. Here we present another method using a Convolutional Neural Network for Estimating synaptic Connectivity from spike trains. After adaptation to huge amounts of simulated data, this method robustly captures the specific feature of monosynaptic impact in a noisy cross-correlogram. There are no user-adjustable parameters. With this new method, we have constructed diagrams of neuronal circuits recorded in several cortical areas of monkeys.

Once fully automated driving has been implemented, passengers will be able to take advantage of not only the sitting posture but also standing and perching postures. Physical workload of these postures should be investigated in order to design car seats that provide passengers appropriate physical workload. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of simulation-based physical workload evaluation of these postures by a musculoskeletal model. Twelve male students participated, and four electromyograms (EMGs) of the rectus femoris, tibialis anterior, gastrocnemius, and erector spinae were recorded with varying seat angle against the horizontal surface: 0° (i.e., sitting), 30°, 45°, 60° (i.e., perching), and 90° (i.e., standing). Results showed that the effect of the seat angle condition was significant for the EMGs of rectus femoris and erector spinae. In particular, the EMG of rectus femoris was relatively higher than the other three EMGs. The EMG of rectus femoris increased with the increase in seat angle in the range from 0° to 60°and decreased in the range of 60° to 90°. The musculoskeletal analysis was carried out with the same condition as the EMG measurement. The average height and weight of the participants were applied to the analysis model, and the muscle activities of the four muscles were estimated. As expected, the trend of muscle activity in the rectus femoris estimated by the musculoskeletal analysis agreed with the experimental result. The average absolute error of muscle activity in the rectus femoris between the experiment and the analysis was approximately 2.5%. From these results, it is suggested that musculoskeletal analysis can be utilized to estimate muscle activity of a spectrum of static posture from sitting to standing through perching.

Abstract Background Basal cell adenoma (BCA) and basal cell adenocarcinoma (BCAC) are benign and malignant, basaloid salivary gland neoplasms, respectively. These tumors show a dual-cell proliferation of inner luminal/ductal cells and outer abluminal/myoepithelial or basal cells. The only difference between them is defined as a malignant morphology such as invasion. Recently, the nuclear expression of β-catenin and a catenin beta-1 (CTNNB1) mutation were found in BCA. Transducin-like enhancer of split 1 (TLE1) belongs to the Groucho/TLE family, and it functions in the “off” state in the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. We hypothesized that if the dysregulation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway could be attributed to the tumorigenesis of BCA/BCAC, there might be differences in TLE1 expression between BCA and BCAC. Method The study included 35 BCA and 4 BCAC cases. We performed immunohistochemistry to detect TLE1 and β-catenin and investigated the catenin beta-1 (CTNNB1) mutational profile among BCA and BCAC cases. Results In BCA, the expression of TLE1 was confined to luminal cells of glandular structures, in contrast to the expression of β-catenin in abluminal cells. The BCA cases harbored CTNNB1 gene mutations (12/35). In BCAC, luminal cell staining of TLE1 was identical to BCA in non-invasive areas (4/4) but indistinct in invasive areas (3/4). The BCAC cases were β-catenin positive for abluminal cells in both areas. The BCAC cases had CTNNB1 mutation (2/4) and the laser-captured microdissection allowed the separate collection of infiltrative and non-infiltrative areas to detect the same mutation. Conclusions Immunohistochemical analysis for TLE1 can identify BCA and BCAC by luminal cell staining difference, especially indistinct luminal cell expression for TLE1 in invasive areas of BCAC. Moreover, TLE1 can be luminal/ductal cell markers.

Macroglossia is a common feature in patients with Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS). The underlying cause of macroglossia in BWS remains unknown, and further histological studies are required to uncover its etiology. We present the case of a 5-year-old girl who was diagnosed with BWS and underwent partial tongue resection for difficulties in articulation and aesthetics. The keyhole-shaped partial resection revealed a harder posterior side than the anterior. Microscopically, the posterior side consisted of dense subepithelial eosinophilic areas composed of an abundance of tightly packed skeletal muscle fibers that were arranged in a fascicular or storiform pattern. BWS-associated macroglossia results from skeletal muscle hyperplasia, consistent with true macroglossia. Therefore, tongue resection may be beneficial for such patients. Further studies are required to develop personalized surgical interventions for each patient with BWS.

Background: Not only monotherapy with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) but also the concurrent use of other antiasthmatic agents, including leukotriene receptor antagonists (LTRA), play an important role in the management of asthma. However, few studies have focused on compliance with these drugs and on the relation between drug compliance and drug usage. Methods: Data were derived from a survey of pharmacists dispensing antiasthmatic drugs to adults with asthma who visited participating pharmacies from October through November 2002. The patients were limited to regular users of ICS whose medication had not been changed for at least 6 months before the survey. Drug compliance and the daily administration frequency of antiasthmatic agents were evaluated on the basis of pharmaceutical records. Results: Completed data were received for 322 patients. ICS compliance was lower than compliance with oral sustained-released theophylline (OSRT) and compliance with LTRA. ICS compliance significantly correlated with OSRT compliance and with LTRA compliance. There were no significant differences of ICS compliance among ICS alone, ICS + LTRA, ICS + OSRT and ICS + LTRA + OSRT group, while the daily inhalation frequency in ICS + OSRT or ICS + OSRT + LTRA group were higher than those in ICS alone group. Although there was a significant negative correlation between ICS compliance and daily inhalation frequency, neither OSRT compliance nor LTRA compliance significantly correlated with the tablet or capsule numbers per day. These findings indicate that OSRT may increase the compliance of concomitant ICS, and that the compliance of OSRT or LTRA is independent of the numbers of tablets taken per day. Conclusions: These unique characteristics should be considered in the treatment and guidance of patients with bronchial asthma.

The ribbon synapse is a specialized synaptic structure in the retinal outer plexiform layer where visual signals are transmitted from photoreceptors to the bipolar and horizontal cells. This structure is considered important in high-efficiency signal transmission; however, its role in visual signal processing is unclear. In order to understand its role in visual processing, the present study utilized Pikachurin-null mutant mice that show improper formation of the photoreceptor ribbon synapse. We examined the initial and late phases of the optokinetic responses (OKRs). The initial phase was examined by measuring the open-loop eye velocity of the OKRs to sinusoidal grating patterns of various spatial frequencies moving at various temporal frequencies for 0.5 s. The mutant mice showed significant initial OKRs with a spatiotemporal frequency tuning (spatial frequency, 0.09 ± 0.01 cycles/°; temporal frequency, 1.87 ± 0.12 Hz) that was slightly different from the wild-type mice (spatial frequency, 0.11 ± 0.01 cycles/°; temporal frequency, 1.66 ± 0.12 Hz). The late phase of the OKRs was examined by measuring the slow phase eye velocity of the optokinetic nystagmus induced by the sinusoidal gratings of various spatiotemporal frequencies moving for 30 s. We found that the optimal spatial and temporal frequencies of the mutant mice (spatial frequency, 0.11 ± 0.02 cycles/°; temporal frequency, 0.81 ± 0.24 Hz) were both lower than those in the wild-type mice (spatial frequency, 0.15 ± 0.02 cycles/°; temporal frequency, 1.93 ± 0.62 Hz). These results suggest that the ribbon synapse modulates the spatiotemporal frequency tuning of visual processing along the ON pathway by which the late phase of OKRs is mediated.

We designed a study to investigate genetic relationships between primary tumors of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and their lymph node metastases, and to identify genomic copy number aberrations (CNAs) related to lymph node metastasis. For this purpose, we collected a total of 42 tumor samples from 25 patients and analyzed their genomic profiles by array-based comparative genomic hybridization. We then compared the genetic profiles of metastatic primary tumors (MPTs) with their paired lymph node metastases (LNMs), and also those of LNMs with non-metastatic primary tumors (NMPTs). Firstly, we found that although there were some distinctive differences in the patterns of genomic profiles between MPTs and their paired LNMs, the paired samples shared similar genomic aberration patterns in each case. Unsupervised hierarchical clustering analysis grouped together 12 of the 15 MPT-LNM pairs. Furthermore, similarity scores between paired samples were significantly higher than those between non-paired samples. These results suggested that MPTs and their paired LNMs are composed predominantly of genetically clonal tumor cells, while minor populations with different CNAs may also exist in metastatic OSCCs. Secondly, to identify CNAs related to lymph node metastasis, we compared CNAs between grouped samples of MPTs and LNMs, but were unable to find any CNAs that were more common in LNMs. Finally, we hypothesized that subpopulations carrying metastasis-related CNAs might be present in both the MPT and LNM. Accordingly, we compared CNAs between NMPTs and LNMs, and found that gains of 7p, 8q and 17q were more common in the latter than in the former, suggesting that these CNAs may be involved in lymph node metastasis of OSCC. In conclusion, our data suggest that in OSCCs showing metastasis, the primary and metastatic tumors share similar genomic profiles, and that cells in the primary tumor may tend to metastasize after acquiring metastasis-associated CNAs.

It has been empirically established that the cerebral cortical areas defined by Brodmann one hundred years ago solely on the basis of cellular organization are closely correlated to their function, such as sensation, association, and motion. Cytoarchitectonically distinct cortical areas have different densities and types of neurons. Thus, signaling patterns may also vary among cytoarchitectonically unique cortical areas. To examine how neuronal signaling patterns are related to innate cortical functions, we detected intrinsic features of cortical firing by devising a metric that efficiently isolates non-Poisson irregular characteristics, independent of spike rate fluctuations that are caused extrinsically by ever-changing behavioral conditions. Using the new metric, we analyzed spike trains from over 1,000 neurons in 15 cortical areas sampled by eight independent neurophysiological laboratories. Analysis of firing-pattern dissimilarities across cortical areas revealed a gradient of firing regularity that corresponded closely to the functional category of the cortical area; neuronal spiking patterns are regular in motor areas, random in the visual areas, and bursty in the prefrontal area. Thus, signaling patterns may play an important role in function-specific cerebral cortical computation.

Background: Peripheral ameloblastoma is an extraosseous variant of ameloblastoma. We report a rare case arising in an extragingival location. Case Presentation: The patient was a 79-year-old man with a firm nodule in the right-side buccal mucosa. Imaging examinations showed a well-demarcated mass in the right masticator space (infratemporal fossa). The diagnosis of ameloblastoma was made from the biopsy specimen. After conservative tumor excision, the patient had no recurrence during the follow-up period of eight and a half years. The Ki-67 labeling index indicated the nonaggressive nature of the tumor. Conclusion: Conservative surgery is applicable to extragingival peripheral ameloblastomas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]