Using a written questionnaire we surveyed a sample population of 155 female students, and investigated the associations between mobile phone dependence and perceived parental rearing attitudes. Participants completed the Mobile Phone Dependence Questionnaire (MPDQ; Toda, Monden, Kubo, & Morimoto, 2004) and the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI; Parker, Tupling, & Brown, 1979). In relation to maternal rearing attitudes, analysis of responses revealed a statistically significant difference in MPDQ scores between respondents who fell in the categories for high care/high protection and low care/low protection. In relation to paternal rearing attitudes, no such difference was apparent. These findings suggest that the childhood relationship with the mother may be associated with mobile phone dependence. Furthermore, loneliness may contribute to this association.

Objectives:The aim of the present study was to investigate the analgesic effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation over the primary motor cortex (M1-rTMS) using different stimulation parameters to explore the optimal stimulus condition for treating neuropathic pain. Materials and Methods:We conducted a randomized, blinded, crossover exploratory study. Four single sessions of M1-rTMS at different parameters were administered in random order. The tested stimulation conditions were as follows: 5-Hz with 500 pulses per session, 10-Hz with 500 pulses per session, 10-Hz with 2000 pulses per session, and sham stimulation. Analgesic effects were assessed by determining the visual analog scale (VAS) pain intensity score and Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire 2 (SF-MPQ2) score immediately before and immediately after intervention. Results:We enrolled 22 adults (age: 59.8 ± 12.1 years) with intractable neuropathic pain. Linear-effects models showed significant effects of the stimulation condition on changes in VAS pain intensity (p = 0.03) and SF-MPQ2 (p = 0.01). Tukey multiple comparison tests revealed that 10-Hz rTMS with 2000 pulses provided better pain relief than sham stimulation, with greater decreases in VAS pain intensity (p = 0.03) and SF-MPQ2 (p = 0.02). Conclusions:The results of this study suggest that high-dose stimulation (specifically, 10-Hz rTMS at 2000 pulses) is more effective than lower-dose stimulation for treating neuropathic pain.

Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation to the foot or hand's primary motor cortex at intensities below the resting motor threshold may be optimal for leg pain.

High-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the primary motor cortex for neuropathic pain has been shown to be effective, according to systematic reviews and therapeutic guidelines. However, our large, rigorous, investigator-initiated, registration-directed clinical trial failed to show a positive primary outcome, and its subgroup analysis suggested that the analgesic effect varied according to the site of pain. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences in analgesic effects of rTMS for neuropathic pain between different pain sites by reviewing our previous clinical trials. We included three clinical trials in this mini meta-analysis: a multicenter randomized controlled trial at seven hospitals (N = 64), an investigator-initiated registration-directed clinical trial at three hospitals (N = 142), and an exploratory clinical trial examining different stimulation parameters (N = 22). The primary efficacy endpoint (change in pain scale) was extracted for each patient group with pain in the face, upper limb, or lower limb, and a meta-analysis of the efficacy of active rTMS against sham stimulation was performed. Standardized mean difference (SMD) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated for pain change using a random-effects model. The analgesic effect of rTMS for upper limb pain was favorable (SMD = −0.45, 95% CI: −0.77 to −0.13). In contrast, rTMS did not produce significant pain relief on lower limb pain (SMD = 0.04, 95% CI: −0.33 to 0.41) or face (SMD = −0.24, 95% CI: −1.59 to 1.12). In conclusion, these findings suggest that rTMS provides analgesic effects in patients with neuropathic pain in the upper limb, but not in the lower limb or face, under the conditions of previous clinical trials. Owing to the main limitation of small number of studies included, many aspects should be clarified by further research and high-quality studies in these patients.

Basilar artery occlusion (BAO) accounts for only 1% of all strokes, and cerebral infarction resulting from tumor emboli has been infrequently demonstrated; therefore, few reports described BAO due to tumor embolus and its treatment experience. We report here an 83-year-old man with an acute BAO caused by embolized lung tumor invading right pulmonary vein that was revealed as metastasis of prostate adenocarcinoma. The patient underwent rapid recanalization through acute thrombectomy with a direct aspiration first pass technique (ADAPT) with Penumbra catheter. Successful recanalization was achieved in reperfusion grade of thrombolysis in cerebral infarction (TICI) 2b, and the embolus revealed a highly elastic hard tumorous mass of which texture was too tough to be caught by stent retriever. Immunohistopathologic examination of the embolus revealed adenocaricinoma of the prostate. In spite of that the recanalization was obtained, the patient died of the brain stem infarction after 7 days from the onset. We experienced a rare case of acute BAO caused by embolized prostate cancer metastasizing lung and invading pulmonary vein. When we face to patients with lung tumor invading pulmonary vein, tumor embolus should have been strongly considered and aspiration thrombectomy may be safer and more effective for the condition because of the difficulty of predicting an embolus’s texture before treatment.