The quality of medical education should be improved so that a physician's entire personality is nurtured. To this end, applying teaching methods from overseas educational institutions at Japanese medical schools would be beneficial. A discussion class taught at the University of Iowa is designed to increase the efficiency and consistency of interactive education. Numerous techniques for teaching discussion introduced at the University of Iowa might help improve the problembased learning methods now commonly used at Japanese medical schools. Moreover, the University of Iowa's method for teaching communication skills, which emphasizes interaction between instructors and students, can provide a model for medical students to acquire essential skills. Therefore, examining the comprehensive teaching system at the University of Iowa will help medical schools fulfill their expected social mission.

Objective : The aim of this study was to assess the effects of using a motor point block with 5% phenol on spasticity and gait in patients with chronic hemiparesis. Methods : Participants were 13 patients with chronic hemiparesis after stroke, brain injury or brain tumor. We performed motor point block (MPB) with 5% phenol to the spastic muscles of the lower extremity that caused talipes varus or talipes equinus (i.e. gastrocnemius, soleus, and tibialis posterior). Before and after the MPB, we assessed modified Ashworth scale (MAS), brace wear scale (BWS) and goal attainment scale (GAS). Walking ability was measured using a 30-m walking timed test and 6-minute duration walking test. The step length, foot area during walking and body weight bearing ratio of the paretic side were measured with force plates. Results : We found significant changes in MAS of the plantar flexors (p=0.007), ankle inverters (p=0.006), walking speed (30-m walking time (p=0.046), 6-minute walking test p=0.016), foot area during the stance phase (p=0.006), and body weight bearing ratio of the paretic side (p=0.007)) and BWS (p=0.002). GAS also showed favorable appraisal of MPB by the participants. Conclusion : MPB with 5% phenol can reduce the spasticity and improve gait speed and stability.

Patients with focal hand dystonia demonstrate abnormally increased corticospinal excitability, which has been reported to be ameliorated, at least for a short term, with low frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), which is less costly and easier to apply than rTMS, is also known to modulate cortical excitability. Especially with cathodal tDCS, cortical excitability can be reduced. On the other hand, upper extremity splinting is also known to reduce dystonic symptoms by inhibiting abnormal movement. We therefore combined cathodal tDCS with finger splinting to treat focal hand dystonia in a 34-year-old man with traumatic brain injury who showed involuntary movement of his right fingers during writing and chopsticks use. After 5 days of cathodal tDCS sessions (1mA, 10min), he was encouraged to use interphalangeal joint splints for his thumb and index finger during these activities. We assessed computer-rated handwriting, reciprocal inhibition and intracortical inhibition before, 24 hours and 3 months after the 5-day tDCS sessions. Before the treatment, his flexor pollicis longus (FPL) and first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscles showed 4Hz rhythmic hyperactivity during writing, and reciprocal inhibition at interstimulus intervals (ISI) of 20 and 100 ms were lost. Paired pulse TMS also revealed disinhibited short interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) at an ISI of 2 and 3 ms. The 5-day tDCS sessions reduced FPL and FDI EMG activities, and SICI and RI at 20 and 100 ms were also restored. Wearing the finger splints, these improvements were maintained at the 3-month follow-up. This case report is the first to demonstrate the possible long-term effects of tDCS combined with splinting for focal hand dystonia. It is supposed that splinting after tDCS plays an important role in making the tDCS aftereffects last longer.

[Objective] Physical exercises raise more or less body temperature. A body temperature is regulated constantly generally by homeostasis mechanism. Perspiration is only heat radiation mechanism under high temperature environments. And sudoriferous water is supplied from blood. Blood flow is determined by blood fluidity, blood volume and the cardiovascular system. It was reported that strong stress decreased blood fluidity.In this experiment, we investigated the relation between blood fluidity and water supply in rats loaded with forced exercise in high temperature environment.[Methods] SPF male Wistar rats weighing 150 g were used. All animals were put in high temperature environment (Wet Bulb Globe Temperature; WBGT: 28°C) through whole experimental period. In a group of water supply, distilled water was served before and later exercise by sonde forcibly. The rats were divided into five groups randomly; Rest-Non water intake (RN), Rest-Water intake (RW), Exercise-Non water intake (EN), Exercise-Water intake (EW) and Baseline (B). The blood was collected before or later of exercise and blood fluidity or platelet aggregation was measured.[Results] In the EN, platelet aggregation, lactic acid and corticosterone increased while blood fluidity were decreased significantly compared with the RN, RW and EW. In addition, the hematocrit did not increase even if water equivalent to 8 % of body weight lost it.[Conclusion] We speculate that exercise in high temperature environment decreases blood fluidity. However, the water supply that does not completely make up for quantity of depletion in exercise may improve blood fluidity.

Purpose : This study aims to measure the peak cough flow (PCF) in patients with subacute myelo-optic neuropathy (SMON) and study its relation with muscle strength, functional ability and vocal cord function. Methods : We performed a cross-sectional study in 7 patients with SMON (2 men and 5 women, mean age (SD) 81.6 (7.2) years) and in 7 age- and gender-matched patients with orthopedic problems as a control group. Their PCF, ability to walk, the Barthel Index, grip strength and maximum phonation time were assessed. Results : Mean PCF was 218.6± 66.2 L/min (110-300) for the SMON group and 267.1±76.3 L/min (170-360) for the control group (ns). The PCF was correlated with the maximum phonation time (r = 0.91 ; p<0.01), but not with grip strength, the Barthel Index or the ability to walk scale. Conclusion : The PCF in patients with SMON tended to be lower compared to the control group. Therefore, evaluating PCF is suggested to be necessary to assess the risk of pneumonia.

Results: In the early phase after surgery, 71% and 43% of the participants were nonindependent ambulators at 1W and 2W, respectively. Histopathology indicated that patients with solid tumors (ependymoma, astrocytoma, or lipoma) showed significantly lower indices at 1W and 2W than those with vascular tumors (hemangioblastoma or cavernous hemangioma). Regarding tumor location, thoracic cases exhibited poorer lower-limb function at 1W and 2W and poorer walking ability at 2W than cervical cases. According to the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, 2 WISCI II points at 2W had the highest sensitivity (100%) and specificity (92.2%) in predicting the level of walking independence at 1 year postoperatively (the area under the ROC curve was 0.99 (95% confidence interval, 0.93–1.00). Conclusions The higher the lower-limb function scores in the early phase, the better the improvement in walking ability is predicted 1 year after ISCT resection.

No abstract available.
Acanthosis Nigricans* ; Hyperandrogenism* ; Insulin Resistance* ; Insulin* ; Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen*