Brain and nerve = Shinkei kenkyū no shinpo
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The complement was named after "a complement", a protein molecule that supports an antibody. It was considered previously that the complement mainly participates in protecting against microbial infections. But later, as research on biological functions in complement activation advanced drastically, it was elucidated that the complement could be involved in the onset of various diseases. ⋯ In Japan, ECZ was approved for PNH and atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) in 2010 and 2013, respectively. The success of ECZ created an opportunity for drug companies to develop new therapeutics targeting the complement system; development of complement therapeutics is now a major venture of pharmaceutical companies worldwide. Here, I will provide an outline of the approved complement therapeutics and those that are in development and clinical trial phase currently.
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Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is clinically characterized by severe optic neuritis and long myelitis; and is associated with aquaporin-4 immunoglobulin-G (AQP4-IgG), an autoantibody directed against aquaporin-4 (AQP4), which is an astrocytic water channel protein. Until recent years, the treatment of NMO has mainly focused on the suppression of lymphocytes and depletion of autoantibodies. ⋯ In this article, we review the relevance of the complement system in the pathogenesis of NMO. Additionally, we review the current status and prospects of the complement-targeting therapy for NMO, including the clinical trials of eculizumab and C1 inhibitor for NMO, and the experimental studies on C1 inhibition by monoclonal antibodies.
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The field of natural language processing (NLP) has seen rapid advances in the past several years since the introduction of deep learning techniques. A variety of NLP tasks including syntactic parsing, machine translation, and summarization can now be performed by relatively simple combinations of general neural network models such as recurrent neural networks and attention mechanisms. This manuscript gives a brief introduction to deep learning and an overview of the current deep learning-based NLP technology.
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Stiff-person syndrome (SPS) is a disorder characterized by fluctuating muscle rigidity and painful spasms that occur spontaneously or are triggered by diverse stimuli. Partial or segmental forms of the disorder, such as stiff-limb syndrome (SLS) and a more severe disease called progressive encephalomyelitis with rigidity and myoclonus (PERM), are usually considered within the spectrum of SPS. ⋯ Most patients with SPS have a high-titer of antibodies against glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD), the rate-limiting enzyme for the synthesis of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and up to 15% have antibodies to the glycine receptor α-subunit. This review explains milestones in defining SPS including autoantibodies.
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The treatment of Guillain-Barre syndromé (GBS) was mainly symptomatic until the 1950s, followed by corticosteroid treatment in the 1950s through 1960s. Plasma exchange (PE) was then performed during 1970s through the 1980s, after which intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) was performed in 1990s through the 2000s. ⋯ Recently, new treatments using biological products have been explored. In this paper, we summarize the development of the treatment of GBS.