Biomedical subjects

N Odajima

Publications and source records attributed to N Odajima.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1990

Improvement of unilateral spatial neglect with numbering.

We examined 8 patients with moderate to severe left unilateral spatial neglect by means of a series of line cancellation tasks. We asked the patients to cross out lines in the 1st trial, to number lines in the 2nd trial, and again to cross out lines in the 3rd trial. In the 2nd trial with numbering, all the patients showed improvement of left unilateral spatial neglect. Numbering involved the successive use of increasing numbers. This process seemed to motivate the patients to continue searching for another line, even at the point when they would be satisfied that they had completed the task if they used simple crossing-out. Insufficient motivation for visuospatial searching may play an important role in unilateral spatial neglect observed in cancellation tasks.

Aged↗

PubMed1990

[Distribution of skeletal muscle involvement in myotonic dystrophy--a computed tomographic study].

The computed tomography (CT) scan was performed on 8 myotonic dystrophy (MD) and 3 congenital myotonic dystrophy (CMD) patients on the following seven levels; the jaw, the neck, the shoulder girdle, the abdomen, the pelvic girdle, the thigh and the lower leg. Muscle atrophy was shown as low density areas or a reduction in the cross-sectional area of the muscles. The earliest finding in the disease was severe atrophy of the sternocleidomastoid and mild atrophy of the masseter and the pterygoid medialis. In addition, spinal, abdominal wall and lower leg muscles were involved. The distal muscles were more markedly affected than the proximal in the lower limbs. These changes were characteristically observed in cases without apparent muscle symptoms. Levator scapulae, psoas major, rectus femoris, peroneal longus et brevis and tibialis posterior were relatively well preserved and were even hypertrophic in some cases. The shoulder girdle muscles were more markedly affected than the pelvic girdle muscles. There was no substantial difference in the CT findings between MD and CMD.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1989

[An Alzheimer's disease case showing recurrent subcortical hemorrhage: an autopsy findings with immunohistochemical studies of cerebral amyloid deposits].

Alzheimer's disease is a degenerative brain disorder with a progressive dementia which develops in middle or late life. The pathological findings of this disease are characterized by neurofibrillary tangles, senile plaques and cerebrovascular amyloidosis. However, cerebral hemorrhage caused by amyloid angiopathy rarely occurs. A 71-year-old woman, who had been suffering from an impairment of her cognitive ability for the past several months, suddenly developed a severe headache with vomiting and gait disturbance. Brain CT disclosed a hemorrhagic lesion in the right parieto-occipital region. In the following two years she had experienced two episodes of the similar subcortical hemorrhage which occurred in the right parietal lobe and bilateral parieto-occipital regions. She died at the age of 73. Histopathological examinations of the brain revealed a decreased number of neurons with diffuse distribution of senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the neocortex and hippocampus. Severe cerebrovascular amyloid deposits were also seen. Immunostaining for amyloid was carried out using a monoclonal antibody to amyloid beta protein. The senile plaque and cerebrovascular amyloid was strongly immunoreactive to anti-beta protein antibody. Cerebral amyloid angiopathy is commonly seen in the brains with Alzheimer's disease and severe cerebrovascular degeneration secondary to heavy amyloid deposits may cause recurrent subcortical hemorrhages in the patients with this disorder.

Aged↗

PubMed1988