Etiology of mirror writing in Japanese.
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Biomedical subjects
Fumio Moriwaka
Publications and source records attributed to Fumio Moriwaka.
[Effects of low-dose pergolide therapy on cardiac valves in patients with Parkinson's disease].
BACKGROUND: Pergolide mesilate is widely used to treat Parkinson's disease in both the USA and Japan, but the maintenance dose is distinctly different between the USA (usually more than 1.5 mg/day) and Japan (usually less than 1.5 mg/day). Although several reports from the USA have suggested that mitral, aortic, and tricuspid valvular lesions were caused by pergolide, it is unclear whether low-dose pergolide therapy causes such valvular lesions. OBJECTIVES: The effects of low-dose pergolide therapy on cardiac valves were studied in Japanese patients with Parkinson's disease. METHODS: One hundred and five consecutive patients with Parkinson's disease approved for our protocol were enrolled in this study. Forty patients were treated with low-dose pergolide (0.05-1.5 mg/day for 2-115 months), and were included in the pergolide group (mean age 71 +/- 6 years). The other 44 patients received no ergot-derived dopamine receptor agonists, and 32 patients acted as age-matched controls (mean age 71 +/- 7 years). Both groups of patients underwent echocardiographic examination to detect organic lesions in cardiac valves such as thickening of the leaflet, annular calcification, restriction of valve motion and valvular tenting, and valvular regurgitation greater than 2 + on the 4-point scale. RESULTS: No significant difference was observed in the incidence of aortic, mitral and pulmonic valve lesions between the pergolide group and the control group. Although no organic lesions were detected in the tricuspid valve, the incidence of tricuspid regurgitation was significantly higher in the pergolide group than in the control group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Although low-dose pergolide of less than 1.5 mg/day does not cause serious damage in the left-sided valves, it may induce tricuspid regurgitation.
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[Validity and clinical applicability of the Japanese version of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis--assessment questionnaire 40 (ALSAQ-40)].
We studied validity and clinical applicability of the Japanese version of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) assessment questionnaire 40 (ALSAQ-40). The original version contains forty questions measuring five areas (domains) of health status: Physical Mobility, ADL/Independence, Eating and Drinking, Communication and Emotional Functioning. Data were obtained from 39 ALS patients and from their physicians at 15 centers in Japan. Patients completed the ALSAQ-40 and the SF-36, and provided information on their age and their status of ventilator use. Their physicians provided information on the date of diagnosis, type of disease and clinical characteristics, and ALSFRS-R. The patients' average age was 58.5 years, and 64% were men. The mean duration since diagnosis was 39.1 months. Forty four percent were classical ALS patients and 46% were receiving a respiratory intervention. Although there was much heterogeneity, the scores for Physical Mobility and ADL/Independence were higher(indicating worse health status)than the scores for the other domains. Item-scale correlations were strong, except for the item "felt embarrassed in social situations" in the Emotional Functioning domain. All the domains had very high internal consistency: Cronbach's alphas ranged 0.95 to 0.97. With regard to the cluster structure of the forty items, the Eating and Drinking domain and the Communication clustered together. The reason might be that the former consisted of only three items and both domains measure bulbar symptoms. Domain scores correlated significantly with scores of related dimensions in the SF-36 and ALSFRS-R, and did not correlate strongly with unrelated domains. The five items of the ALSAQ-5 correlated with all five domain scores on the ALSAQ-40. These results should be interpreted with caution because we analyzed together data from ALS patients with various characteristics. In conclusion, although we may need to add and remove some items and modify the wording of others, the Japanese version of the ALSAQ-40 had high validity and is likely to be useful in evaluating of QOL in ALS patients. Whether the ALSAQ-5 can be used in place of the ALSAQ-40 is a matter for further study.
Activities of Daily Living↗
[Current status and future of motor neuron diseases].
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Humans↗
Late onset ataxia phenotype in dentatorubro-pallidoluysian atrophy (DRPLA).
ABSTRACT We clinically and genetically studied three patients in a family with dentatorubro-pallidoluysian atrophy (DRPLA). The proband patient had 58/24 CAG repeat alleles of the DRPLA gene (normal < or = 34 repeats). Cerebellar ataxia first developed in the 6-7th decades and was the predominant feature for more than 10 years in all three, after which two of them manifested dementia and choreiform movements in the advanced stage. Atrophy of the cerebellum and brain stem an CT or MRI had suggested dominant spinocerebellar ataxia as a diagnosis in their ataxia-predominant stage, with a diagnosis of DRPLA being impossible based on the clinical findings alone. Our experience implies that DRPLA must be taken into account in the differential diagnosis of late onset ataxic disorders, since it can easily be overlooked.
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