Plasma NfL is associated with mild cognitive decline in patients with diabetes.

BACKGROUND: Patients with diabetes are at a higher risk for cognitive decline. Thus, biomarkers that can provide early and simple detection of cognitive decline are required. Neurofilament light chain (NfL) is a cytoskeletal protein that constitutes neural axons. Plasma NfL levels are elevated when neurodegeneration occurs. Here, we investigated whether plasma NfL levels were associated with cognitive decline in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHOD: This study included 183 patients with type 2 diabetes who visited Osaka University Hospital. All participants were tested for cognitive function using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test (RBMT). NfL levels were analysed in the plasma and the relationship between NfL and cognitive function was examined. RESULTS: Lower RBMT-standardized profile scores (SPS) or MMSE scores correlated with higher plasma NfL levels (one-way analysis of variance: MMSE, P = 0.0237; RBMT-SPS, P = 0.0001). Furthermore, plasma NfL levels (ß = -0.34, P = 0.0005) and age (ß = -0.19, P = 0.016) were significantly associated with the RBMT score after multivariable regression adjustment. CONCLUSIONS: Plasma NfL levels were correlated with mild cognitive decline which is detected by the RBMT but not the MMSE in patients with type 2 diabetes. This suggests that plasma NfL levels may provide a valuable clinical tool for identifying mild cognitive decline in patients with diabetes.

[Evaluation of a "stop smoking" contest in Japan].

BACKGROUND: In 1988, the Osaka Cancer Prevention and Detection Center developed a self-help smoking cessation program, the "stop smoking" contest, based on the Quit and Win strategy developed in the United States in the early 1980's. It consisted of a two-week preparation period, followed by a four-week complete abstinence period. Participants were asked to try to achieve their goals on their own, using self-help materials, mailed to all applicants. Successful participants--"contest winners"--were awarded prizes by lot. The purpose of the present study is to examine the applicability of the Quit and Win strategy in Japan, through evaluating the effectiveness of the program in general and identifying predictors of successful quitting. METHOD: We analyzed the results of three consecutive programs conducted in 1998, 1999, and 2000. The programs defined as "participants" all those who demonstrated that their intentions were sincere by signing on for the contest. Of the participants, those who reported complete abstinence for four weeks were defined as "winners." Finally, of the winners, those who reported successful abstinence during the following six- and twelve-month periods were defined as continuing winners. "Abstinent" status was confirmed through self-reporting letters signed by the subject and two witnesses. We hypothesized that successful quitting would be predicted by demographic and smoking-related variables. Predictors of successful quitting were analyzed statistically using logistic regression. RESULTS: Of 4,221 applicants, 2,550 (60%) smokers eventually joined the program as "participants." Forty-six percent of the participants reported complete tobacco abstinence during the four-week contest period. Twenty percent of the participants maintained abstinence during the following six months. Fifteen percent maintained abstinence for a full year. Significant predictors of tobacco abstinent for the four-week contest period were as follows; male, more advanced age, being married, lower nicotine dependence, greater readiness for quitting, higher confidence in quitting, and better health. Of these, sex and psychological characteristics for quitting such as readiness and confidence were the only factors significantly correlated with successful abstinence throughout the follow-up periods. Previous longer abstinence experiences and chronic disease did not predict four-week abstinence, though it was significantly correlated with abstinence maintenance during the follow-up periods. CONCLUSION: The present "stop smoking" contest, a "Quit and Win" type population-based, self-help smoking cessation program combined with incentives, could be successfully implemented in Japan. The success rate was essentially comparable to those of similar programs previously conducted in other countries, and other types of professional-assisted programs in Japan.

Post-movement beta rebound abnormality as indicator of mirror neuron system dysfunction in autistic spectrum disorder: an MEG study.

The mu rhythm is regarded as a physiological indicator of the human mirror neuron system (MNS). The dysfunctional MNS hypothesis in patients with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) has often been tested using EEG and MEG, targeting mu rhythm suppression during action observation/execution, although with controversial results. We explored neural activity related to the MNS in patients with ASD, focusing on power increase in the beta frequency band after observation and execution of movements, known as post-movement beta rebound (PMBR). Multiple source beamformer (MSBF) and BrainVoyager QX were used for MEG source imaging and statistical group analysis, respectively. Seven patients with ASD and ten normal subjects participated in this study. During the MEG recordings, the subjects were asked to observe and later execute object-related hand actions performed by an experimenter. We found that both groups exhibited pronounced PMBR exceeding 20% when observing and executing actions with a similar topographic distribution of maximal activity. However, significantly reduced PMBR was found only during the observation condition in the patients relative to controls in cortical regions within the MNS, namely the sensorimotor area, premotor cortex and superior temporal gyrus. Reduced PMBR during the observation condition was also found in the medial prefrontal cortex. These results support the notion of a dysfunctional execution/observation matching system related to MNS impairment in patients with ASD, and the feasibility of using MEG to detect neural activity, in particular PMBR abnormalities, as an index of MNS dysfunction during performance of motor or cognitive tasks.

The prevalence of traumatic events in young Japanese women.

In an effort to address important cross-cultural considerations in the study of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the present study is the first to assess the prevalence of a variety of potentially traumatic events among young Japanese women across life phases. Overall, our results proved similar to those reported in previous Western studies: Traumatic events were quite common among our participants (80.3%; n = 883). This finding is not surprising given that many of them lived through the 1995 Kobe earthquake. Yet our study found that even when "natural disaster" was excluded, the rate remained 53.1%. Comparing four life phases, we found the most consistent differences between preschool and other life phases. The prevalence of potentially traumatic events and the percentage of most distressing events that participants reported were significantly lower in the preschool phase.

Self in context: autonomy and relatedness in Japanese and U.S. mother-preschooler dyads.

Cultural differences and similarities in socialization during two contrasting laboratory tasks were examined in 30 Japanese mothers and their preschoolers, both temporarily residing in the United States, and 30 U.S. mothers and their preschoolers (age: M = 55.8 months, SD = 4.9). Mother and child actions, speech, emotion, and attention were coded from videotaped observations during a free play task and waiting task. Cross-cultural comparisons showed that U.S. mothers had more conversations that emphasized individual experiences, more often acted as playmates and used joint attention, maintained more physical distance, showed more positive emotions, and made more positive responses to child accomplishment. In contrast, Japanese mothers had more conversations that emphasized shared experiences, showed more divided attention, and maintained social role distinctions. Similar, but fewer cultural differences emerged for children. However, maternal and child characteristics also varied by task context. The results suggested an emphasis on autonomy in U.S. dyads and an emphasis on relatedness in Japanese dyads, but the interactions with task context revealed the coexistence of autonomy and relatedness.

Psychological characteristics of eating disorders as evidenced by the combined administration of questionnaires and two projective methods: the Tree Drawing Test (Baum Test) and the Sentence Completion Test.

The objective of this study is to examine psychological/psychopathological characteristics of eating disorders and their subtypes through a combined administration of questionnaires and projective tests. Three questionnaires (Eating Disorder Inventory - 2, Social Adaptation Scale, Southern California University Eating Disorder Inventory - Revised) and two projective tests (the Tree Drawing Test [TDT, Baum Test], and the Sentence Completion Test [SCT]) were administered to 126 female patients between the ages of 15 and 30 years, with eating disorders according to DSM-IV criteria at our outpatient clinic, and to 54 sex- and age-matched control subjects. The purging subtypes of eating disorders (anorexia nervosa - binge-eating/purging type [ANBP] and bulimia nervosa - purging type [BNP]) were clearly differentiated from the controls, both by the questionnaires and the projective tests. Compared with the controls, ANBP/BNP showed more problematic profiles across the three questionnaires, drew smaller and poorer trees in TDT to a more left location on the drawing paper, and gave fewer positive, and more negative responses in SCT. In contrast, few significant differences were found between anorexia nervosa- restricting type (ANR) and the controls, and between ANBP and BNP. As a trend, however, ANR was consistently located between the controls and ANBP/BNP across the whole questionnaires and projective tests.

Electrogastrography abnormality in eating disorders.

Eating disorders are common psychiatric disorders in young women. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the gastric electrical activity of patients with eating disorders and its relation to their symptoms. The electrogastrography (EGG) was performed before and after a water load test for outpatients with eating disorders (n = 36; 14 anorexia nervosa, 14 bulimia nervosa, eight eating disorder not otherwise specified) and healthy women (n = 19). A structured interview (Eating Disorder Examination) was used to assess clinical symptoms. The percentage of normal gastric myoelectrical power was significantly smaller in the eating disorder patients (44.5% vs 74.2%; P < 0.05), while the percentage of bradygastric power was significantly greater, both before and after the water load test compared with the control subjects (30.4% vs 10.4%; P < 0.05). In addition, moderate correlation was found between the duration of illness and the percentage of bradygastria (P < 0.05). In conclusion, it is suggested that longstanding abnormal eating in patients with eating disorders may induce disturbances to gastric motor function, resulting in their abnormal, eating-related behavior, and form a symptomatic vicious circle. The EGG may be a promising method for determining the pathophysiology of eating disorders and for developing effective therapeutic approaches.