A Report on the Positive Response to an Outdoor Nature Challenge of a Snow Camp for Young Liver Transplant Patients.

OBJECTIVES: More than two decades have passed since the first living donor liver transplantation was performed in Japan in 1989. There are many reports about problems in adherence to taking medication and medical follow-ups in children who received liver transplants, because there is no transition strategy for those children and parents or guardians. The objective of this study is to measure the effect of nature and outdoor activity to improve children's medical adherence. METHODS: We recruited participants from 9-year-old children who are attending the outpatient liver transplant clinic in a stable condition (no event such as rejection or surgical procedure within 6 months). We took participants to a snow camp and measured its effect by using the IKIRU CHIKARA (IKR) tool, which contain 28 items divided into 3 categories: psychosocial ability, moral fitness, and physical ability. Children were tested on three occasions, before, just after, and 1 month after the camp. RESULTS: Eight patients participated in the snow camp and 7 patients were eligible for the study. The average age was 12.6 with a range 10 to 17 years. There were 3 girls and 4 boys. The average IKR scores before, just after, and 1 month after the camp were 127.9, 131.5, and 126.6, respectively. CONCLUSION: An outdoor activity such as a snow camp can be safely conducted, and it is an acceptable option to incorporate within a pediatric liver transplant program. There were no significant changes in IKR scores during this short observation. Longer observation is needed to measure the effect of nature and outdoor activities.

Cabergoline scavenges peroxynitrite enhanced by L-DOPA therapy in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Long-term or high-dose L-DOPA therapy in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) may accelerate degeneration of dopaminergic neurons, possibly by increasing oxidative stress. To investigate the effects of cabergoline on peroxynitrite-mediated oxidative damage caused by L-DOPA, the concentration of 3-nitrotyrosine in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 18 PD patients was compared with that in 20 normal controls. The concentration of 3-nitrotyrosine in patients following L-DOPA therapy was significantly higher than in untreated PD patients and controls. On the other hand, the concentration in PD patients after cabergoline therapy was significantly lower than in PD patients after L-DOPA therapy alone. These data suggest that cabergoline scavenges peroxynitrite induced by L-DOPA in patients with PD.

Genetic Constitution and Pathogenicity of Lolium Isolates of Magnaporthe oryzae in Comparison with Host Species-Specific Pathotypes of the Blast Fungus.

ABSTRACT Fungal isolates from gray leaf spot on perennial ryegrass (prg isolates) were characterized by DNA analyses, mating tests, and pathogenicity assays. All of the prg isolates were interfertile with Triticum isolates and clustered into the crop isolate group (CC group) on a dendrogram constructed from rDNA-internal transcribed spacer 2 sequences. Since the CC group corresponded to a newly proposed species, Magnaporthe oryzae, all of the prg isolates were designated M. oryzae. However, DNA fingerprinting with MGR586, MGR583, and Pot2 showed that the prg isolates are divided into two distinct populations, i.e., TALF isolates and WK isolates. The TALF isolates were virulent only on Lolium species, whereas the WK isolates were less specific, suggesting that gray leaf spot can be caused not only by Lolium-specific isolates but also by less specific isolates. We designated the TALF isolates as Lolium pathotype. The TALF isolates showed diverse karyotypes in spite of being uniform in DNA fingerprints, suggesting that theyare unstable in genome organization.

Reduction in asymmetrical dimethylarginine, an endogenous nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, in the cerebrospinal fluid during aging and in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

To investigate the significance of nitric oxide (NO) -mediated neuron death in aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD), the concentration of asymmetrical dimethylarginine (ADMA), an endogenous NO synthase inhibitor, in the cerebrospinal fluid was determined in neurologically normal controls and patients with AD. The ADMA concentration significantly decreased with age, whereas the arginine concentration was unaltered. In patients with AD, the ADMA concentration was significantly decreased, compared with controls of a similar age (-48%, P=0.0001), and it significantly decreased with decreasing cognitive functions (r(s)=0.58, P<0.05), whereas the arginine concentration did not change. These findings suggest that ADMA may play an important role in regulating NO synthesis in brain aging and AD.

[A case of flutter-like oscillation with anti-GD1a antibody after acute infection].

We report a 31-year-old woman presenting flutter-like oscillation after acute infection. Ten days after low fever and diarrhea, she presented transient, horizontal and pendular ocular oscillation. This abnormal eye movement was diagnosed as flutter-like oscillation (FLO). Other neurological findings were normal. Cerebrospinal fluid was normal. Brain MRI revealed no particular abnormalities. Serum titers for anti-GD1a antibody were elevated. After treatment with steroid (1,000 mg/day methylprednisolone DIV), the FLO disappeared.

Remarkable increase in cerebrospinal fluid 3-nitrotyrosine in patients with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

To investigate the significance of peroxynitrite-mediated oxidative damage in the pathogenesis of sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (SALS), the concentrations of 3-nitrotyrosine and tyrosine in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with SALS were determined. The concentration of 3-nitrotyrosine and the 3-nitrotyrosine/ tyrosine ratio in patients with SALS were approximately seven times those of controls. Thus, the present findings in living patients provide in vivo evidence for a possible role of peroxynitrite, a mediator of oxidative stress, and increased nitration of tyrosine residues in the pathogenesis of SALS.

Increase in oxidized NO products and reduction in oxidized glutathione in cerebrospinal fluid from patients with sporadic form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

To determine the role of free radical mechanisms in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of oxidized nitric oxide (NO) products (nitrite and nitrate) and reduced and oxidized forms of glutathione (GSH and GSSG, respectively) were compared between patients with the sporadic form of ALS (SALS) and controls. In the SALS patients, the nitrate levels were significantly higher (by 73%) in contrast to remarkably lower GSSG/GSH ratio, approximately 3-fold, compared to controls. These results suggest that NO production or oxidation is activated in SALS patients, leading to a decrease in superoxide radicals to oxidize GSH. The subsequent generation of a highly reactive anion, peroxynitrite, may play a causal role in the pathogenesis of SALS.

Alterations of 3-nitrotyrosine concentration in the cerebrospinal fluid during aging and in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

To investigate the significance of nitric oxide (NO)-mediated neuron death in aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD), the 3-nitrotyrosine concentration in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was investigated in neurologically normal controls and patients with AD. The 3-nitrotyrosine concentration and the 3-nitrotyrosine/tyrosine ratio significantly increased with advancing age, whereas the tyrosine concentration was unaltered. In patients with AD, the 3-nitrotyrosine concentration and the 3-nitrotyrosine/tyrosine ratio increased significantly (>six-fold) compared with controls of similar age, and increased significantly with decreasing cognitive functions, whereas the tyrosine concentration did not change. These findings suggest that an activation of tyrosine nitration, increase in nitrated tyrosine-containing proteins, and/or its degradation may be involved in brain aging and play an important role in the pathogenesis of AD.

The cerebrospinal fluid oxidized NO metabolites, nitrite and nitrate, in Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia of Binswanger type and multiple small infarct type.

The concentration of the nitric oxide (NO) metabolites nitrite (NO2-) and nitrate (NO3-) in the cerebrospinal fluid from patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), vascular dementia of the Binswanger type (VDBT) or multiple small infarct type (MSID), and controls were determined using high performance liquid chromatography. The nitrite concentration was significantly higher in VDBT/MSID patients than in controls (p < 0.005). The nitrate concentration and the combined nitrite and nitrate concentration was significantly higher in both AD (p < 0.05) and VDBT/MSID (p < 0.001) patients than in controls, with these concentrations being significantly greater in VDBT/MSID than AD patients (p < 0.005). The combined nitrite and nitrate concentration significantly decreased as the severity of dementia progressed in AD (rs=0.70, p < 0.01), but remained elevated in all stages of VDBT/MSID. These results suggest that NO production or oxidation in the brain increases in the early stage of AD and then decreases as neuronal cell loss progresses, but increases throughout the course of disease in VDBT/MSID, which may in part contribute to neuronal degeneration in both conditions.