Objective : Causes of nontraumatic posterior interosseous nerve (PIN) palsy include space-occupying lesions, constrictions of the PIN, and supinator syndrome. The purpose of this study was to identify these causes using Ultrasonography (US). Methods : We performed US in seven cases (seven elbows) with palsy and examined the PIN and surrounding structures. Results : We identified the three causes by the following US findings : 1) A space-occupying lesion in two elbows. Both were low-echoic and diagnosed as ganglion. In these two cases, the PIN was elevated by the lesion and compressed against the arcade of Frohse. 2) A diffusely swollen PIN with constrictions was found in three cases. 3) A PIN showing a reduction in caliber beneath and a swelling (pseudoneuroma) proximal to the arcade of Frohse, compatible with supinator syndrome was also identified. Conclusion : US is useful for the diagnosis of nontraumatic PIN palsy.

Objective: Environmental deprivation, a type of childhood maltreatment, has been reported to constrain the cognitive developmental processes such as associative learning and implicit learning, which may lead to functional and morphological changes in the ventral pallidum (VP) and pessimism, a well-known cognitive feature of major depression. We examined whether neonatal isolation (NI) could influence the incidence of learned helplessness (LH) in a rat model mimicking the pessimism, and the number of vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (VGLUT2)-expressing VP cells and Penk-expressing VP cells. Methods: The number of escape failures from foot-shocks in the LH test was measured to examine stress-induced depression-like behavior in rats. The number of VGLUT2-expressing VP cells and Penk-expressing VP cells was measured by immunohistochemistry. Results: In NI rats compared with Sham rats, the incidence of LH in adulthood was increased and VGLUT2-expressing VP cells but not Penk-expressing VP cells in adulthood were decreased. VGLUT2-expressing VP cells were decreased only in the LH group of NI rats and significantly correlated with the escape latency in the LH test. Conclusion These findings suggest that the aberrant VP neuronal activity due to environmental deprivation early in life leads to pessimistic associative and implicit learning. Modulating VP neuronal activity could be a novel therapeutic and preventive strategy for the patients with this specific pathophysiology.