A patient with anti-aquaporin 4 antibody who presented with recurrent hypersomnia, reduced orexin (hypocretin) level, and symmetrical hypothalamic lesions.

Recent studies have demonstrated that hypothalamic lesions associated with brain tumor, head trauma, and encephalopathy can cause symptomatic hypersomnia with a reduced orexin (hypocretin) level in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Aquaporin 4 (AQP4), a member of the AQP superfamily, is strongly expressed in the hypothalamus in which orexin (hypocretin)-containing neurons are primarily concentrated. We report the case of a patient with a serum anti-AQP4 antibody who presented with recurrent hypersomnia, symmetrical hypothalamic lesions with long spinal cord lesions on MRI, and a reduced CSF orexin (hypocretin) level, all of which were improved simultaneously by steroid therapy. Further studies should be performed to determine the roles of anti-AQP4 antibody positivity in patients with hypersomnia associated with orexin (hypocretin) deficiency and hypothalamic lesions.

Early diagnosis of hepatic intravascular lymphoma: a case report and literature review.

Hepatic intravascular large B-cell lymphoma (IVL) is a rare disease entity that involves invasion into various organs. Due to the aggressive behavior and poor prognosis of the disease and the difficulty in making an early diagnosis, some cases are diagnosed at autopsy. Early suspicion and the use of imaging studies and liver biopsies are key for diagnosing IVL; however, no reports have described the results of imaging studies due to the limited number of cases. We herein report the results of imaging studies of hepatic IVL, including the findings PET-CT, dynamic-CT, EOB-MRI and CEUS. These results may help physicians to make an early diagnosis and improve the prognosis.

Optimum condition of Fourier transform infrared multiple-angle incidence resolution spectrometry for surface analysis.

A novel measurement technique of pure out-of-plane vibrational modes of thin films on a nonmetallic substrate has recently been proposed, which is named multiple-angle incidence resolution spectrometry (MAIRS). Since this technique could not be replaced by other conventional techniques, MAIRS was expected to be a promising tool for analysis of thin soft materials and surface adsorbates. Nevertheless, some experimental conditions have been found to be inappropriate for MAIRS, which yields incorrect results. In the present study, therefore, the problems in the technique have been investigated in terms of optics to improve the accomplishments of MAIRS. The problems have been found to have a strong relationship with optics in FT-IR, which is influenced by refractive index of the sample material and angle of incidence. In particular, optimization of the size matching of the detector surface and the infrared spot at the detector was a key to having MAIRS perform properly. It has been concluded that reliable MAIRS measurements require overfilling of the detector and a substrate with a high-refractive index.