Intermolecular Interaction of Tetrabutylammonium and Tetrabutylphosphonium Salt Hydrates by Low-Frequency Raman Observation.

Semi-clathrate hydrates are attractive heat storage materials because the equilibrium temperatures, located above 0 °C in most cases, can be changed by selecting guest cations and anions. The equilibrium temperatures are influenced by the size and hydrophilicity of guest ions, hydration number, crystal structure, and so on. This indicates that intermolecular and/or interionic interaction in the semi-clathrate hydrates may be related to the variation of the equilibrium temperatures. Therefore, intermolecular and/or interionic interaction in semi-clathrate hydrates with quaternary onium salts was directly observed using low-frequency Raman spectroscopy, a type of terahertz spectroscopy. The results show that Raman peak positions were mostly correlated with the equilibrium temperatures: in the semi-clathrate hydrates with higher equilibrium temperatures, Raman peaks around 65 cm-1 appeared at a higher wavenumber and the other Raman peaks at around 200 cm-1 appeared at a lower wavenumber. Low-frequency Raman observation is a valuable tool with which to study the equilibrium temperatures in semi-clathrate hydrates.

KL-6: marker for pulmonary involvement in Langerhans cell histiocytosis in infants.

The purpose of this study was to investigate serum KL-6 levels in an infant with Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) and pulmonary involvement. The histologic diagnosis of LCH was established by skin biopsy. Imaging of the chest confirmed marked interstitial shadowing throughout both lung fields. Acutely, serum KL-6 was elevated to 9,400 U/mL. Following induction chemotherapy, clinical manifestations of LCH improved and the levels of serum KL-6 returned to within normal limits. During the maintenance therapy phase, there was a resurgence of the LCH, but without involvement of the lungs, and the levels of KL-6 remained normal. The authors conclude that KL-6 may be a useful marker for pulmonary involvement in infants with LCH.

Dopaminergic and cholinergic stimulation of the ventrolateral striatum elicit rat jaw movements that are funnelled via distinct efferents.

It has been reported that two distinct types of jaw movements can be elicited by bilateral injections of drugs into the ventrolateral striatum: (1) dopamine receptor-mediated jaw movements that are elicited by a mixture of (+/-)-6-chloro-7,8-dihydroxy-3-allyl-1-phenyl-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-1H-3-benzazepine-7,8-diol (SKF 82958; 5 microg) and quinpirole (10 microg), and (2) acetylcholine receptor-mediated jaw movements that are elicited by carbachol (2.5 microg). In the present study, electromyographic analysis was used to characterise these movements: the dopamine receptor-mediated jaw movements were marked by a dominant digastric activity during jaw opening and a dominant masseter activity during jaw closing (digastric/masseter type), whereas the acetylcholine receptor-mediated jaw movements were marked by a dominant digastric activity during jaw opening without any significant change in masseter activity during jaw closing (digastric type). The main goal was to (in)validate the hypothesis that these two types of jaw movements are funnelled via distinct gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic output channels. Bilateral injections of both muscimol (25 and 50 ng/0.2 microl per side) and bicuculline (50 and 150 ng/0.2 microl per side) into the ventral pallidum, entopeduncular nucleus or dorsolateral part of the substantia nigra pars reticulata essentially inhibited dopamine receptor-mediated jaw movements to various degrees. In contrast, acetylcholine receptor-mediated jaw movements were inhibited by muscimol given into the entopeduncular nucleus and dorsolateral part of the substantia nigra pars reticulata, whereas these movements were enhanced by bicuculline. The acetylcholine receptor-mediated jaw movements were not affected by muscimol injections into the ventral pallidum, but were inhibited by bicuculline injections. Studies on such injections into the ventral pallidum, entopeduncular nucleus or dorsolateral part of the substantia nigra pars reticulata of naive rats revealed that jaw movements of the digastric/masseter type were elicited either by muscimol injections into the dorsolateral part of the substantia nigra pars reticulata or by combined injections of muscimol and bicuculline into the entopeduncular nucleus, and that jaw movements of the digastric type were elicited only by combined injections of muscimol and bicuculline into the entopeduncular nucleus. Together, the data allow the conclusion that dopamine receptor-mediated and acetylcholine receptor-mediated jaw movements are two distinct types of jaw movements that are funnelled via separate GABAergic output channels. It is suggested that the three different profiles of responses to GABAergic drugs in animals showing either dopamine receptor-mediated or acetylcholine receptor-mediated jaw movements reflect the involvement of three distinct types of output neurons of the striatum, namely: type I neurons with collateralised axons to the ventral pallidum, entopeduncular nucleus and dorsolateral part of the substantia nigra pars reticulata, mediating the dopamine receptor-mediated jaw movements; type II neurons with collateralised axons to the globus pallidus that, in turn, project to the entopeduncular nucleus and the dorsolateral part of the substantia nigra pars reticulata, mediating directly the acetylcholine receptor-mediated jaw movements; and type III neurons with a single axon to the ventral pallidum, mediating indirectly the acetylcholine receptor-mediated movements. It is evident that future studies are required to provide direct evidence in favour of the latter hypothesis.