Synthesis of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) polymer crosslinked with an AIE-active azonaphthol for thermoreversible fluorescence.

A fluorescent polymer was synthesized using N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) crosslinked with a divinylazonaphthol monomer via radical emulsion polymerization. Because the crosslinked polymer contained an aggregation-induced emissive (AIE) azonaphthol-based crosslinker, a thermoreversible sol-gel transformation and gelation-induced reversible fluorescence alteration were successfully attained in an aqueous medium. Like typical PNIPAM, the size and transmittance of the polymer dramatically decreased near the lower critical solution temperature (LCST, 36 °C). Such gelation facilitated aggregation of the polymer chains, resulting in the close contact between azonaphthol groups producing fluorescence. The crosslinked polymer exhibited changes in dual properties: one is related to PNIPAM structural alteration, which corresponds to conventional swelling/shrinkage behavior; and the other is involved in the reversible fluorescence change in response to the swelling/shrinkage. Because the major backbone of the polymer was composed of NIPAM with an LCST at 36 °C, the resultant polymer is expected to have potential applications in biologically related fields.

Unusual fluorescence of o-phenylazonaphthol derivatives with aggregation-induced emission and their use in two-photon cell imaging.

o-Phenylazonaphthol (o-PAN) derivatives including 6-bromo-1-((4-bromophenyl)diazenyl)naphthalen-2-ol (AN-Br-OH) and 1-phenylazo-2-naphthol (AN-OH, known as Sudan I (Color Index 12055)) were synthesized to investigate their fluorogenic behaviors, in which their aggregated-induced emission (AIE) is reported. The o-PANs showed a two-photon absorption. The protection of hydroxyl groups in o-PANs was used for fluorescence imaging of esterase-expressed HepG2 cells, which is potentially suitable for sensing and two-photon cell imaging applications.

Clinical staging of semantic dementia in an FDG-PET study using FTLD-CDR.

BACKGROUND: The frontotemporal lobar degeneration-specific clinical dementia rating (FTLD-CDR), which was recently developed to measure frontotemporal dementia (FTD) severity, includes 2 items that assess language and behavior in addition to the 6 items of the conventional CDR. METHODS: To investigate which of the 3 ratings, i.e. the global score of the CDR (GCDR), the behavioral domain score of the FTLD-CDR (BCDR), or the language domain score of the FTLD-CDR (LCDR), is most suitable for monitoring the progression of semantic dementia (SD), the number of hypometabolic voxels was calculated by comparing 28 SD patients in each stage of the 3 ratings with 63 age/sex-matched controls using voxel-based statistical parametric mapping. RESULTS: The hypometabolic areas increased as a function of the LCDR score in SD patients. However, hypometabolic areas associated with the GCDR did not increase gradually as the stage increased. Furthermore, those associated with the BCDR showed the reverse pattern. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that the severity and patterning of glucose hypometabolism measured by the LCDR correspond well with the natural course of SD reported in previous clinical and neuroimaging studies, whereas the BCDR and GCDR did not reflect disease progression in SD.

Obsessive-compulsive behavior disappearing after left capsular genu infarction.

This case report describes a 74-year-old woman with obsessive-compulsive behaviors that disappeared following a left capsular genu infarction. The patient's capsular genu infarction likely resulted in thalamocortical disconnection in the cortico-basal ganglia-thalamocortical loop, which may have caused the disappearance of her obsessive-compulsive symptoms. The fact that anterior capsulotomy has been demonstrated to be effective for treating refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder further supports this hypothesis.