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Background and Purpose: We previously reported the usefulness of iodine-123 metaiodobenzylguanidine (123I-MIBG) myocardial scintigraphy for differentiation of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) from Alzheimer's disease (AD) in a cross-sectional multicentre study. The aim of this study was, by using reassessed diagnosis after 3-year follow-up, to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of 123I-MIBG scintigraphy in differentiation of probable DLB from probable AD.Methods: We undertook 3-year follow-up of 133 patients with probable or possible DLB or probable AD who had undergone 123I-MIBG myocardial scintigraphy at baseline. An independent consensus panel made final diagnosis at 3-year follow-up. Based on the final diagnosis, we re-evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of 123I-MIBG scintigraphy performed at baseline.Results: Sixty-five patients completed 3-year follow-up assessment. The final diagnoses were probable DLB (n=30), possible DLB (n=3) and probably AD (n=31), and depression (n=1). With a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of heart-to-mediastinum (H/M) ratios for differentiating probable DLB from probable AD, the sensitivity/specificity were 0.77/0.94 for early images using 2.51 as the threshold of early H/M ratio, and 0.77/0.97 for delayed images using 2.20 as the threshold of delayed H/M ratio. Five of six patients who were diagnosed with possible DLB at baseline and with probable DLB at follow-up had low H/M ratio at baseline.Conclusions: Our follow-up study confirmed high correlation between abnormal cardiac sympathetic activity evaluated with 123I-MIBG myocardial scintigraphy at baseline and the clinical diagnosis of probable DLB at 3-year follow-up. Its diagnostic usefulness in early stage of DLB was suggested.Trial Registration Number: UMIN00003419. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The efficacy of a cholinesterase inhibitor, donepezil, in patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) was investigated to confirm the superiority over placebo in the 12-week, double-blind phase of this phase III study. Methods: Patients with probable DLB (n = 142) were randomly assigned to placebo or to 5 mg or 10 mg of donepezil administered once daily for 12 weeks. The co-primary endpoints were changes in cognitive function assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and behavioral and neuropsychiatric symptoms using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI-2: hallucinations and fluctuations). The superiority of each active group over placebo was determined with simultaneous statistical significance in both endpoints. Safety evaluations included adverse events (AEs) and the unified Parkinson's disease rating scale (UPDRS) part III. Results: The predefined superiority of donepezil to the placebo was not confirmed in either active group in the primary analysis. MMSE score significantly improved compared to placebo in the 10 mg group (10 mg: 2.2 ± 0.4, placebo: 0.6 ± 0.5 (mean ± standard error); P = 0.016). The change in MMSE score in the 5 mg group was not significant (1.4 ± 0.5 (mean ± standard error); P = 0.232). Although NPI-2 improved compared to baseline in the active groups, the differences from placebo were not significant. Most AEs were mild or moderate. Although the incidence of parkinsonism was slightly higher in the 10 mg group, the change in the UPDRS score was minimal and without a significant difference from the placebo group. Conclusions: The co-primary endpoints were not achieved in this trial. However, significant improvement in MMSE score was demonstrated with 10 mg, but not 5 mg, of donepezil. The evaluation of psychiatric symptoms might be affected by advanced education and instructions given to caregivers. Overall, donepezil was well tolerated in patients with DLB. With careful attention on gastrointestinal or parkinsonian symptoms, patients with DLB can safely benefit from treatment with donepezil. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01278407 (trial registration date: 14 January 2011) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The long-term efficacy and safety of donepezil 10 mg in patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) were investigated in a 52-week Phase 3 trial. Methods: This 52-week study consisted of 16-week randomized placebo-controlled (RCT) and 36-week open-label extension phases. Of 142 DLB patients enrolled in the RCT phase (three arms: placebo, 5 mg, and 10 mg), 110 entered the extension phase. The placebo group of the RCT phase initiated active treatment at week 16, and the active groups maintained allocated treatment and dosages until week 24. After week 24, all patients received 10 mg. Dose reduction to 5 mg for safety concerns was allowed. Efficacy measures included Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) for cognitive function and Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) for behavioral symptoms. Safety evaluations included adverse events (AEs) and the unified Parkinson disease rating scale. Results: In total, 100 subjects completed the study. Cognitive function improvement was sustained for 52 weeks (MMSE at week 52 in 10 mg: 2.8 ± 3.5 (mean ± standard deviation); P <0.001, Student paired t test)). Those who received placebo in the RCT phase showed an improvement after starting active treatment. NPI improved in all the groups throughout the study, including the placebo period. In the subgroup of the 5 mg group without remarkable cognitive or behavioral improvement at week 24, further improvement was observed after a dose increase to 10 mg. After week 24, 21 patients experienced dose reduction. The incidence of any AEs did not increase over time. Conclusions: The long-term administration of donepezil at 10 mg/day improved cognitive function for up to 52 weeks in patients with DLB without increasing the risk of clinically significant safety events. Trial registration: NCT01278407. Trial registration date: January 14, 2011. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The long-term efficacy and safety of donepezil 10 mg in patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) were investigated in a 52-week Phase 3 trial. Methods: This 52-week study consisted of 16-week randomized placebo-controlled (RCT) and 36-week open-label extension phases. Of 142 DLB patients enrolled in the RCT phase (three arms: placebo, 5 mg, and 10 mg), 110 entered the extension phase. The placebo group of the RCT phase initiated active treatment at week 16, and the active groups maintained allocated treatment and dosages until week 24. After week 24, all patients received 10 mg. Dose reduction to 5 mg for safety concerns was allowed. Efficacy measures included Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) for cognitive function and Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) for behavioral symptoms. Safety evaluations included adverse events (AEs) and the unified Parkinson disease rating scale. Results: In total, 100 subjects completed the study. Cognitive function improvement was sustained for 52 weeks (MMSE at week 52 in 10 mg: 2.8 ± 3.5 (mean ± standard deviation); P <0.001, Student paired t test)). Those who received placebo in the RCT phase showed an improvement after starting active treatment. NPI improved in all the groups throughout the study, including the placebo period. In the subgroup of the 5 mg group without remarkable cognitive or behavioral improvement at week 24, further improvement was observed after a dose increase to 10 mg. After week 24, 21 patients experienced dose reduction. The incidence of any AEs did not increase over time. Conclusions: The long-term administration of donepezil at 10 mg/day improved cognitive function for up to 52 weeks in patients with DLB without increasing the risk of clinically significant safety events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper attempts to extend the comparative method of narratives by Peter Abell by incorporating Robert F. Bales idea of interaction process analysis. Thereby, descriptions and analysis of syntax of social life would be elaborated further by retaining the information on who interacts with whom and on the nature of interaction with respect to Bales categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the development of mathematical sociology in Japan and introduces the articles featured in the 1989 issue of the Journal of Mathematical Sociology. A burgeoning of interest in mathematical sociology may well be traced back even to prewar Japan. A study of the structure of Japanese families by Teizo Toda in 1937 is such an example. In that study, Toda showed by examining census data that the distribution of types of families was determined by the age of first marriage of those involved, although he did not use a model building method explicitly. However, it was not until the mid-1960's that mathematical sociology was pursued as such. Around 1970, the Tokyo University Press published a set of sociology textbooks of eighteen volumes including one volume titled Mathematical Sociology edited by Yasuda. This was the first book in Japan which had the title of mathematical sociology as such. In the 1970's, there emerged more than a few semi-formal societies scattered within the nation for the study of mathematical sociology, which were unified into a nationwide semi-formal society formed in 1980. A dozen of active core members and about two more dozens of scholars and students had regular meetings twice a year by coming together for a few nights. Mathematical sociology in Japan has plunged into a specialty stage in the sense that a formal society, the Japanese Association for Mathematical Sociology, was set up and an official journal was newly published.

The notion of "relative deprivation" as well as of "reference group" seems to be widely accepted among sociologists and social psychologists as one of significant concepts. However, there have been only few efforts to represent formally the mechanisms or processes where relative deprivation is generated. Sociologist R. Boudon has earlier attempted to formalize "the logic of frustration" within a game-theoretic framework as a case of what he calls perverse effects or unintended consequences of social action. Individuals behave more or less rationally trying to maximize their subjective expected utility; but as a consequence of aggregation of individual behavior, the end-result might be frustrating to them. Boudon constructs a simple model to capture such a situation, thereby to see implications of the phenomena generated by the model. The article aims firstly to follow Boudon's discussion and go a step further to see more precisely the implications of Boudon's model; secondly to see how well it captures various empirical episodes; and finally to modify a model from a non-stratified to a stratified society model, again according to Boudon's suggestion.

The article is a reply by the author to his critique Martin Everett on his article "Algebraic Reinterpretation of IKI No Kozo." The author's aim in his article was twofolded. First, he attempted to show that different types of IKI, might be identified by means of mathematical formulation and some derivations. Second, he also wanted to show that there could be a variety of paths from any entity to any other entity. Or any entity, when combined with another entity, transforms itself to some another entity. According to the author, step one is to construct the permutation group using his original transformation. The next is to examine the orbits of IKI, which corresponds to each of the possible subgroups. Successive steps within a single theoretical framework will attain his twofolded aims. Anthropologists might claim that actual social organizations are too complex for this kind of formal analysis to be employed at all. Group theory seems to have enormous potentialities in its application in sociology and related fields of study.