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At appropriate concentrations, blueberry juice has the potential to be an effective oral contrast agent for MR imaging.

Objectives: Insomnia is associated with physical and mental disorders. We examined the effect of insomnia on immune functions, focusing on the T helper 1 (Th1)/ T helper 2 (Th2) balance, by a cross-sectional design. Methods: We provided a self-administered questionnaire to evaluate sleep habits, smoking and medical disorders to 578 men without any toxic exposure (20–64 years old), and measured natural killer (NK) cell activity in 324 men and production of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) after stimulation with phytohemagglutinin in 254 men. According to the criteria of DSM-IV, in which insomnia is classified into primary and secondary insomnia, we assessed the effect of insomnia on immune functions, controlling for age and smoking in groups with and without medical disorders. Results: The prevalence of insomnia in the present study was 9.2%. In the absence of medical disorders, insomniac men had a significantly lower IFN-γ and ratio of IFN-γ to IL-4 than noninsomniac men. Men with insufficient sleep or difficulty initiating sleep (DIS) had a significantly lower IFN-γ to IL-4 ratio than those not suffering from insufficient sleep or DIS. In the presence of medical disorders, insomniac men had significantly higher IL-4 than noninsomniac men. Men with difficulty maintaining sleep (DMS) had a significantly lower IFN-γ to IL-4 ratio than men without DMS. NK cell activity was independent of insomnia. Conclusions: The present results showed a link between insomnia unrelated to medical disorders and a shift in the Th1/Th2 balance toward Th2 dominance, indicating that the relationship between sleep quality and the etiology of immune-related diseases should be reconsidered.

Background: Extracorporeal magnetic innervation (ExMI) is a new technology used for pelvic muscle strengthening for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence. We explored whether this new technology is effective for patients with urge incontinence, as well as those with stress urinary incontinence. Methods:We studied 20 patients with urge incontinence and 17 patients with stress urinary incontinence. The Neocontrol system (Neotonus Inc., Marietta, GA) was used. Treatment sessions were for 20 min, twice a week for 8 weeks. Evaluations were performed by bladder diaries, one-hour pad weight testing, quality-of-life surveys and urodynamic studies.Results: Of the urge incontinence cases, five patients were cured (25.0%), 12 patients improved (60.0%) and three patients did not show any improvement (15.0%). Leak episodes per day reduced from 5.6 times to 1.9 times at 8 weeks (P < 0.05). Eight patients with urge incontinence recurred within 24 weeks after the last treatment (47.1%). Of the stress incontinence cases, nine patients were cured (52.9%), seven patients improved (41.1%) and one patient did not show any improvement (6%). In one-hour pad weight testing, the mean pad weight reduced from 7.9 g to 1.9 g at 8 weeks (P < 0.05). Three patients returned to the baseline values within 24 weeks after the last treatment (17.6%). No side-effects were experienced by any of the patients. Conclusion:Although the results for urge incontinence were less effective than for stress urinary incontinence, ExMI therapy offers a new option for urge incontinence as well as stress urinary incontinence.

Intravesical RTX improved bladder capacity and leak episodes in patients with idiopathic detrusor overactivity. Intravesical RTX is a promising treatment for this condition.

Transitions between the ground singlet state to the excited triplet state has been observed in CuGeO3 by means of submillimeter wave electron spin resonance. The strong absorption intensity shows the break down of the selection rule. The energy gap at zero field is evaluated to be 570 GHz(2.36 meV) and this value is nearly identical to the gap at the zone center observed by inelastic neutron scattering. The absorption intensity shows strong field orientation dependence but shows no significant dependence on magnetic field intensity. These features have been explained by considering the existence of Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya (DM) antisymmetric exchange interaction. The doping effect on this singlet-triplet excitation has been also studied. A drastic broadening of the absorption line is observed by the doping of only 0.5 % of Si.Comment: 6 pages, 8figures submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jp

The magnetic field dependence of the spin-Peierls gap in CuGe03 has been studied by means of neutron inelastic scattering. The splitting of the single gap state into three distinct excitation branches under a magnetic field can be regarded as direct evidence for the singlet-triplet transition in a spin-Peierls system. PACS numbers: 7S.40.Gb, 75.30.Ds, 75.30.Kz As one of the interesting phenomena in low-dimensional magnetic systems, the spin-Peierls (SP) transition has been attracting much attention both theoretically and experimen-