Micrographia is a common symptom in Parkinson’s disease, which manifests as either a consistent or progressive reduction in the size of handwriting or both. Neural correlates underlying micrographia remain unclear. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate micrographia-related neural activity and connectivity modulations. In addition, the effect of attention and dopaminergic ...

Ephrin-Eph signaling is involved in axon guidance during development, but it may also regulate synapse development after the axon has contacted the target cell. Here we report that the activation of ephrin-B reverse signaling in the developing Xenopus laevis optic tectum promotes morphological and functional maturation of retinotectal synapses. Elevation of ephrin-B signaling increased the numb...

Purpose: In the Noise Outcomes in Servicemembers Epidemiology Study, Veterans recently separated from the military undergo comprehensive assessments to initiate longterm monitoring of their auditory function. We developed the Tinnitus Screener, a four-item algorithmic instrument that determines whether tinnitus is present and, if so, whether it is constant or intermittent, or whether only tempo...

Swimming microalgae show various taxes, such as phototaxis and gravitaxis, which sometimes result in the formation of a cell-rich layer or a patch in a suspension. Despite intensive studies on the effects of shear flow and turbulence on the inhomogeneous distribution of microalgae, the effect of a bubble plume has remained unclear. In this study, we used Chlamydomonas as model microalgae, and i...

The intermediate and advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are frequently associated with weight loss (WL), but WL may even precede the onset of cognitive symptoms. This review focuses on the possible aetiologic and temporal relationships between AD and WL. When WL occurs some years before any signs of cognitive impairment, it may be a risk factor for dementia due to deficiency of several...

Using a biomedical sensor setup RIfS we have investigated the kinetic behavior of human albumin (Alb), human fibrinogen (Fib), and human immunoglobulin G (IgG) adsorbed onto surfaces of chitosan. Polystyrene (PS) was used as the control material in this study. The optical thickness of three kinds of proteins measured by RIfS was related to their molecular dimensions and potential orientations o...

Oligopeptidase B (OpdB, E.C. 3.4.21.83) is a proteolytic enzyme that belongs to the prolyl oligopeptidase family (POP) of serine proteases [10, 24]. Initially discovered in E. coli, this enzyme was found in several gram-negative bacteria, spirochetes, [6, 24], and protozoa [5, 14], but not in higher eukaryotes, with the exception of some plants [6]. Although the physiological role of OpdB has n...