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We investigated the relationship between pain and hesitation during movement initiation among 11 adult female patients who had undergone surgery for a distal radius fracture. Data on the patients’ pain at rest, pain during movement and score on the Pain Catastrophizing Scale were analyzed. Movement characteristics were assessed by the administration of a finger tapping (FT) task using the thumb and index finger, with the movement repeated 10 times, recorded and analyzed to determine the patient's hesitation when opening or closing her thumb/forefinger during the task. Hesitation of movement initiation was significantly correlated with subjective factors such as pain at rest, pain during movement, and rumination. Pain was not significantly correlated with the physical range of motion. Our findings suggest that hesitation during movement initiation for the FT task may be a type of behavior that is affected by subjective pain. Movement hesitation is a novel clinical sign indicating the possible progression of acute pain into chronic pain. The kinematic evaluation described herein is a convenient clinical measurement that captures a subjective factor.

For many producers, introduction of improved animal welfare systems is a turning point in their future production strategies as it increases production costs. The increase in egg retail prices is of growing concern not only for producers, but also for retailers and consumers. However, no report has calculated the estimated production costs or retail prices associated with introducing practices that support improved animal welfare in poultry farms in Japan. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate the production costs and table egg prices of 6 types of laying hen systems: conventional cage (CC): 8- and 12-tiers (CC8, CC12), enriched cage (EC): 8- and 12-tiers (EC8, EC12), aviary (AV), and barn systems (BR). Production costs include land purchases, construction costs of facilities, equipment and machinery, quantity of feed provided, farming materials invested, and wages.

The main form of treatment of a chordoma of the mobile spine is total en blocspondylectomy (TES), but the clinical results are not satisfactory. Stand-alone carbon ion radiotherapy (CIRT) for bone and soft-tissue sarcomas has recently been reported to have a high rate of local control with a low rate of local recurrence. We report two patients who underwent TES after CIRT for treating a chordoma in the lumbar spine with good medium-term outcomes. At operation, there remained histological evidence of viable tumour cells in both cases. After the combination use of TES following CIRT, neither patient showed signs of recurrence at the follow-up examination. These two cases suggest that CIRT should be combined with total spondylectomy in the treatment of chordoma of the mobile spine.Cite this article: Bone Joint J2013;95-B:1392–5.

We are pursuing a positional cloning strategy to isolate the fertility restoration gene Rfk1 from radish. Random polymorphic DNA-sequence-tagged site (RAPD-STS) markers tightly linked to the gene in radish were isolated, and a RAPD map surrounding the Rfk1 locus was constructed. We surveyed 948 F 2 plants with adjacent RAPD-STS markers to isolate recombinants for bulk segregant analysis. This analysis was effective in isolating tightly linked amplification fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers surrounding the gene of interest. Ten tightly linked AFLP markers were obtained and used to construct a high-resolution map of the region. The closest AFLP-STS markers flanking Rfk1 were 0.1 cM and 0.2 cM away. Using the four adjacent AFLP markers, we screened ? and cosmid libraries. The ? and cosmid clones were aligned by examination of end sequences and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) patterns for each clone, and by hybridization to the DNA isolated from recombinants. Finally, we constructed a 198-kb contig encompassing the Rfk1 gene and comprising 20 ? and two cosmid clones. By analysis of the breakpoints in recombinants with the rfk1/rfk1 or Rfk1/- genotype, the Rfk1 locus could be assigned to a 43-kb region comprising four ? clones and one cosmid clone. This pinpoint localization in the radish genome has made it possible for us to identify the gene by sequence analysis and genetic transformation of cytoplasmic male-sterile Brassica napusplants.

Depression is common after stroke. While several reports have been published on the use of antidepressants such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and tricyclics for the treatment of post-stroke depression (PSD), no previous study has examined the use of a selective serotonin and noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) for this condition. The present study investigated the efficacy and safety of milnacipran, a SNRI, for the treatment of PSD. A 6-week open study was conducted in 12 patients (two males and 10 females) aged 53–88 years. All patients were diagnosed with major or minor depressive disorder according to DSM-IV, where onset was subsequent to a cerebral infarction or haemorrhage (stroke). Severity of depression was assessed using the 21-item Hamilton rating scale for depression (HAM-D). The maximum total daily dose of milnacipran was in the range of 30–75 mg b.i.d. Three patients experienced side-effects, but none of the side-effects were serious. Two patients dropped out of the study. At the end of the study, 58.3 (712) of the total patient population and 70 (710) of the patients completing the study were in remission (a final HAM-D score of less than 7 and no longer meeting criteria for major or minor depression). These results suggest that milnacipran may be an effective treatment for PSD.

Soluble interleukin-2 (IL-2) receptor (sIL-2R) is reported to be up-regulated in inflammatory disorders. Although sIL-2R may modulate perioperative inflammatory responses, it remains unclear whether upper abdominal surgery affects plasma sIL-2R levels. We evaluated the influence of major abdominal surgery on plasma sIL-2R levels. Ten patients scheduled for upper abdominal surgery received anaesthesia with isoflurane, nitrous oxide, and epidural block. Plasma sIL-2R and IL-6 levels were determined at pre-anaesthesia, 0, 2, and 4 hours during surgery, and on postoperative days 1 (POD1) and 3 (POD3). The plasma levels of sIL-2R decreased significantly and achieved their minimum value at 4 hours (677.0±125.3 pg/ml, P<0.01 compared to pre-anaesthesia value; 924.5±178.8 pg/ml, 95% confidence interval=122.2–550.4). The plasma sIL-2R levels increased on POD1 (1336.5±174.0 pg/ml) and POD3 (1629.0±262.8 pg/ml), and reached a level significantly higher than the baseline (P<0.05 and P<0.001, 95% confidence interval=93.4–730.6 and 402.8–1006.2, respectively). The plasma sIL-2R levels on POD3 significantly correlated with the peak IL-6 levels (r=0.67, P<0.05). The plasma sIL-2R levels on POD3 correlated with the amount of intraoperative bleeding (r=0.66, P<0.05). In conclusion, we found that major abdominal surgery induces characteristic changes in plasma soluble IL-2 receptor levels.

Since 1970, an external skeletal fixation method using methyl methacrylate is developed.

Human hair follicles were cultured in serum-free media at 31‡C in an atmosphere containing 95% O2 and 5% CO2. Results showed that the length of the cultured hair increased time dependently for 96 h. Histological findings revealed that the hair germinative cells maintained their normal morphology throughout the 96 h culture period. DNA synthesis in the hair bulb also increased time dependently for 96 h. Autoradiographs of 3H-thymidinelabelled follicles indicated that they were localized in the germinative cells below Auber's critical line. The effects of minoxidil sulphate on DNA synthesis in this culture system were concentration dependent. Minoxidil sulphate at concentrations of 10-10,10-9 and 10-8M significantly increased DNA synthesis compared with DNA synthesis in the control medium. Autoradiographs of the follicles cultured in 10-10M minoxidil sulphate showed that 3H-thymidine localized primarily in the germinative cells below Auber's critical line. These results suggest that this organ culture system may be useful for studying DNA synthesis by hair germinative cells in serum-free media.

ent-Kaurene is the first cyclic diterpene intermediate of gibberellin biosynthesis in both plants and fungi. In plants, ent-kaurene is synthesized from geranylgeranyl diphosphate via copalyl diphosphate in a two-step cyclization catalyzed by copalyl diphosphate synthase and ent-kaurene synthase. A cell-free system of the fungus Phaeosphaeria sp. L487 converted labeled geranylgeranyl diphosphate to ent-kaurene. A cDNA fragment, which possibly encodes copalyl diphosphate synthase, was isolated by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction using degenerate primers based on the consensus motifs of plant enzymes. Translation of a full-length cDNA sequence isolated from the fungal cDNA library revealed an open reading frame for a 106-kDa polypeptide. The deduced amino acid sequence shared 24 and 21% identity with maize copalyl diphosphate synthase and pumpkin ent-kaurene synthase, respectively. A fusion protein produced by expression of the cDNA in Escherichia coli catalyzed the two-step cyclization of geranylgeranyl diphosphate to ent-kaurene. Amo-1618 completely inhibited the copalyl diphosphate synthase activity of the enzyme at 10(-6) M, whereas it did not inhibit the ent-kaurene synthase activity even at 10(-4) M. These results indicate that the fungus has a bifunctional diterpene cyclase that can convert geranylgeranyl diphosphate into ent-kaurene. They may be separate catalytic sites for the two cyclization reactions.

Pseudomonas paucimobilis UT26 is capable of growing on gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane (gamma-HCH). A genomic library of P. paucimobilis UT26 was constructed in Pseudomonas putida by using the broad-host-range cosmid vector pKS13. After 2,300 clones were screened by gas chromatography, 3 clones showing gamma-HCH degradation were detected. A 5-kb fragment from one of the cosmid clones was subcloned into pUC118, and subsequent deletion and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses revealed that a fragment of ca. 500 bp was responsible for the conversion of gamma-HCH to 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene via gamma-pentachlorocyclohexene. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed an open reading frame (linA) of 465 bp within the fragment. The nucleotide sequence of the linA gene and the deduced amino acid sequence showed no similarity to any known sequences. The product of the linA gene was 16.5 kDa according to sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.

The performance of the multilevel code based high data rate (HDR) codec (see reference 1) is evaluated with multiple-symbol differential detection over satellite channels. It is shown that multiple-symbol observation effectively fills the gap between conventional differentially coherent detection and ideal coherent detection with differential encoding. Being especially suitable for HDR application where carrier acquisition and tracking is extremely difficult, the codec reliably supports broadband ISDN transmission over a 72 MHz satellite transponder.

The performance of a high data rate (HDR) codec based on a multidimensional modulation code derived from multilevel codes is evaluated for a satellite channel. The codec reliably supports HDR transmission for broadband ISDN over a 72 MHz satellite transponder and is designed to be used with an 8PSK modem. Results show that significant coding gain with higher spectral efficiency can be achieved compared to uncoded QPSK.

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