Factors affecting psychosocial development of very low birth weight infants at 18 and 36 months of age.

AIM: To identify relationships between neonatal factors including conditions and treatments, nurturing environment, and psychosocial development of children born at very low birth weight (VLBW). METHODS: In this longitudinal study, the medical records of 113 VLBW infants were examined, and the children were then followed up at 18 and 36 months of age. Their developmental quotient (DQ) was assessed using the Kyoto Scale of Psychological Development (KSPD), and their parents were asked about their own health, financial situation, education, and family support. Pearson's correlation and stepwise multiple regression analyses were used to explore relationships between DQ, potentially significant predictors on the KSPD, and nurturing environment. RESULTS: DQ at 18 months was associated with the following neonatal factors: mechanical ventilation days (ß = -.241, p = .020), Apgar score at 5 min (ß = .278, p = .005), periventricular leukomalacia (ß = -.218, p = .006), and treatment for retinopathy of prematurity (ß = -.171, p = .048) (adjusted R2 = .32). DQ at 36 months was associated with the following neonatal and parenting factors: mechanical ventilation days (ß = -.354, p < .001), periventricular leukomalacia (ß = -.207, p = .009), sex (ß = -.199, p = .011), mother's educational background (ß = -.304, p < .001), mother's health status (ß = -.159, p = .042) (adjusted R2 = .35). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that in addition to neonatal clinical parameters including conditions and treatments, the nurturing environment after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit influences the psychosocial development of VLBW infants.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms and suicidal behavior in adult psychiatric outpatients.

AIM: We aimed to examine the association between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and suicidal behavior in psychiatric outpatients and whether this association differs among patients with different psychiatric disorders. METHODS: Cross-sectional data came from the Japan Prevalence Study of Adult ADHD at Psychiatric Outpatient Care, which included psychiatric outpatients aged 18-65 years recruited from one university hospital and three general psychiatric outpatient clinics in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka, Japan from April 2014 to January 2015 (N = 864). The Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS) Screener was used to collect information on ADHD symptoms. Reports of current and lifetime suicidal behavior were also obtained. A multivariable Poisson regression analysis was used to examine the association between ADHD symptoms and suicidal behavior. RESULTS: After adjusting for covariates there was a strong association between possible ADHD (ASRS ≥14) and suicidal behavior with prevalence ratios ranging from 1.17 (lifetime suicidal ideation) to 1.59 (lifetime suicide attempt) and 2.36 (current suicidal ideation). When ASRS strata were used, there was a dose-response association between increasing ADHD symptoms and suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. Analyses of individual ICD-10 psychiatric disorders showed that associations varied across disorders and that for anxiety disorder, ADHD symptoms were significantly linked to all forms of suicidal behavior. CONCLUSION: ADHD symptom severity is associated with an increased risk for suicidal behavior in general psychiatric outpatients. As ADHD symptoms are common among adult psychiatric outpatients, detecting and treating ADHD in this population may be important for preventing suicidal behavior.

Signature-tagged mutagenesis of Vibrio vulnificus.

Vibrio vulnificus is the causative agent of primary septicemia, wound infection and gastroenteritis in immunocompromised people. In this study, signature-tagged mutagenesis (STM) was applied to identify the virulence genes of V. vulnificus. Using STM, 6,480 mutants in total were constructed and divided into 81 sets (INPUT pools); each mutant in a set was assigned a different tag. Each INPUT pool was intraperitoneally injected into iron-overloaded mice, and in vivo surviving mutants were collected from blood samples from the heart (OUTPUT pools). From the genomic DNA of mixed INPUT or OUTPUT pools, digoxigenin-labeled DNA probes against the tagged region were prepared and used for dot hybridization. Thirty tentatively attenuated mutants, which were hybridized clearly with INPUT probes but barely with OUTPUT probes, were negatively selected. Lethal doses of 11 of the 30 mutants were reduced to more than 1/100; of these, the lethal doses of 2 were reduced to as low as 1/100,000. Transposon-inserted genes in the 11 attenuated mutants were those for IMP dehydrogenase, UDP-N-acetylglucosamine-2-epimerase, aspartokinase, phosphoribosylformylglycinamidine cyclo-ligase, malate Na (+) symporter and hypothetical protein. When mice were immunized with an attenuated mutant strain into which IMP dehydrogenase had been inserted with a transposon, they were protected against V. vulnificus infection. In this study, we demonstrated that the STM method can be used to search for the virulence genes of V. vulnificus.

Longitudinal epidemiology of Chlamydia trachomatis serovars in female patients in Japan.

The objective of this study was to clarify the longitudinal epidemiology of Chlamydia trachomatis serovars in Japan. A total of 339 endocervical swab specimens obtained from female patients who attended the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Saitama Medical School, were used. Positive specimens of either transport medium of IDEIA Chlamydia (1st group, from 1999 to 2001), or DNA extract of Cobas Amplicor STD-1 Chlamydia trachomatis (2nd group, from 2003 to 2005) were used for serotyping. Typing of C. trachomatis serovars in DNA extracts was performed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. Ten serovars, A, B, D, E, F, G, H, I, J and K, were identified in the 1st group, and serovar E was most frequently identified (27.6%). In the 2nd group, nine serovars, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I and K, were identified, and serovar D was most frequently identified (24.7%). Serovars B and Ba were significantly more common around 2000 and the mid-1990s (from 1993 to 1996), respectively. Numbers of serovar I increased significantly during the research period. In addition, serovar I was more frequent in the 2nd group than in the 1st group in women aged 20-29 years. There were no significant differences of serovar distribution between pregnant and non-pregnant women.

The inhibitory effect of disodium cromoglycate on the growth of Chlamydophila (Chlamydia) pneumoniae in vitro.

Chlamydophila (Chlamydia) pneumoniae is associated with asthma and several other respiratory illnesses. Disodium cromoglycate (DSCG) is known to inhibit both immediate and late asthmatic responses. In this study, the inhibitory effect of DSCG on the growth of C. pneumoniae was examined by minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and pre-inoculation minimal cidal concentration (MCC) assays using HL cells and C. pneumoniae AR-39. DSCG below the clinically relevant concentration inhibited the growth of C. pneumoniae in a dose-dependent manner in both the MCC and MIC assays. The inhibitory effect was also time-dependent in the MCC assay at 20 mg/ml of DSCG. These results warrant further clinical study on the connection between C. pneumoniae infections and use of DSCG.

Biosynthesized tea polyphenols inactivate Chlamydia trachomatis in vitro.

Biosynthesized tea polyphenols showed antichlamydial activity against Chlamydia trachomatis D/UW-3/Cx and L2/434/Bu using cell culture. The most active compounds were (-)-epigallocatechin gallate and (-)-epicatechin gallate, followed by (-)-epicatechin (EC). (+)-Epicatechin and (-)-epigallocatechin were intermediate. EC was the least toxic. These results warrant evaluation of tea polyphenols as topical antichlamydial agents.

Prevalence of antibodies against Simkania negevensis in a healthy Japanese population determined by the microimmunofluorescence test.

Simkania negevensis has been associated with bronchiolitis in infants and community-acquired pneumonia in adults. Reports of exposure to this microorganism are only available from Israel, North America and Western Europe. Currently, no standard method for diagnosis of S. negevensis infection has been established nor have prevalence rates been shown in Japan. For the first time we demonstrated the ability of the microimmunofluorescence (MIF) test to detect S. negevensis-specific immunoglobulin G and exposure to S. negevensis in Japan. The positive rate in healthy volunteers was 4.3% (25/588), with rates increasing with age. Results indicate the usefulness of the MIF test as a serological method for detecting S. negevensis-specific antibodies. A standard serological test for infection with S. negevensis is needed.

Clinical usefulness of culturing H. pylori from gastric juice in patients with severe neurological impairment.

OBJECTIVES: To clarify the diagnostic usefulness of culturing Helicobacter pylori from gastric juice for the diagnosis of H. pylori infection in patients with neurologic impairment. METHODS: Seventy-five patients (44 males, 31 females) with severe neurologic impairment admitted to Tokyo Children's Rehabilitation Hospital were included in this study. Samples of gastric juice obtained from these patients were put into Helicoporter, a transport medium for H. pylori. Samples were then centrifuged and sediment was inoculated onto a culture medium. Polymerase chain reaction assays were performed on 41 gastric juice samples for comparison with results of culture. Tests for occult blood in gastric juice and serum anti-H. pylori immunoglobulin G were tested for all patients. RESULTS: H. pylori was isolated from 33 of 75 gastric juice samples by culture (positive rate, 44%). There was agreement between results of culture and polymerase chain reaction assays in 38 samples (93%). Twenty-two samples were positive and 16 were negative by both methods. In H. pylori immunoglobulin G-positive patients, occult blood was more frequently found in the culture-positive group (92%) than in the culture-negative group (59%) (P <0.025). The rate of detection of occult blood in immunoglobulin G-negative patients was similar in the culture-positive group (44%) and culture-negative group (50%). CONCLUSIONS: The combination of a culture method using gastric juice and a serum H. pylori immunoglobulin G assay was not invasive and clinically useful for evaluating H. pylori infections among handicapped patients.

Factors improving the propagation of Simkania negevensis strain Z in cell culture.

The purpose of the present study was to develop an optimal method for culturing Simkania negevensis. Centrifugation was effective for the propagation of S. negevensis, but sonication was not effective. The addition of cycloheximide to the culture medium significantly decreased the number of inclusions. Pretreatment of host monolayers with diethylaminoethyl-dextran or polyethylene glycol was detrimental. The most optimal conditions were centrifugation of the inocula onto untreated Vero cells, and culture in RPMI 1640 medium containing 10% fetal calf serum without cycloheximide or antimicrobial agents.

In vitro inhibitory effects of tea polyphenols on the proliferation of Chlamydia trachomatis and Chlamydia pneumoniae.

In vitro inhibitory effects of tea polyphenols on Chlamydia trachomatis and C. pneumoniae were investigated. A product of tea polyphenols, Polyphenon 70S was used. Chlamydial strains used were C. trachomatis D/UW-3/Cx and L(2)/434/Bu, and C. pneumoniae AR-39 and AC-43 strains. HeLa229 cells and HL cells were used for cultivation of C. trachomatis and C. pneumoniae, respectively. In the post-inoculation method, no inclusions of C. trachomatis were observed at 0.5 mg/ml of Polyphenon 70S. However, the toxicity of Polyphenon 70S was noted in HeLa229 cells and HL cells at a concentration of 0.25 mg/ml. In the pre-inoculation method, no toxic effects of Polyphenon 70S on the cells were noted. Complete inhibition of C. trachomatis D and L(2) was noted at concentrations of 1.6 and 0.4 mg/ml, respectively. With C. pneumoniae strains, the end points were 0.8 and 1.6 mg/ml for AR-39 and AC-43, respectively. Our findings encouraged the application of tea polyphenols for topical usage.