Castleman's disease is a syndrome consisting of giant lymph node hyperplasia with plasma cell infiltration, fever, anemia, hypergammaglobulinemia, and an increase in the plasma level of acute phase proteins. It has been reported that clinical abnormalities disappear after the resection of the affected lymph nodes, suggesting that products of lymph nodes may cause such clinical abnormalities. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a cytokine inducing B-cell differentiation to immunoglobulin-producing cells and regulating biosynthesis of acute phase proteins. This report demonstrates that the germinal centers of hyperplastic lymph nodes of patients with Castleman's disease produce large quantities of IL-6 without any significant production of other cytokines. In a patient with a solitary hyperplastic lymph node, clinical improvement and decrease in serum IL-6 were observed following surgical removal of the involved lymph node. There was a correlation between serum IL-6 level, lymph node hyperplasia, hypergammaglobulinemia, increased level of acute phase proteins, and clinical abnormalities. The findings in this report indicate that the generation of IL-6 by B cells in germinal centers of hyperplastic lymph nodes of Castleman's disease may be the key element responsible for the variety of clinical symptoms in this disease.

No abstract

No abstract

The reliability and validity of a screening test called the D-CAT (Digit Cancellation Test) were evaluated across two studies. The D-CAT was developed to provide a highly practical and user-friendly assessment of various aspects of prefrontal cortex functioning, including information processing speed, the ability to focus attention, and executive functioning. Participants perform the D-CAT by deleting given target numbers on a sheet of randomly arranged possibilities. In Study 1, the reliability of the D-CAT was evaluated using a test-retest paradigm. Reasonably high correlations between scores on the two test sessions were obtained. In Study 2, construct validity was examined using a sample of participants with traumatic brain injury. TBI participants showed significantly lower D-CAT performance than age and education level matched healthy controls. On the basis of these findings, the D-CAT can be regarded as a reliable and valid screening test for attentional functioning.Key words: screening test for attention, digit cancellation test, traumatic brain injury, test-reliability, test-validity "Higher-order cognitive functioning" consists of several different facets, including attention, memory, language, and problem solving. Each of the facets interrelates with the others in complex ways, although attention is regarded as a basic aspect of executive function in so-called higher-order cognitive functioning. The assessment of attention can be regarded as one of the most important basic aspects of any neuropsychological evaluation. Various assessments of human attentional abilities have been developed, including the Paced Serial Addition Test (PASAT), Brief Test of Attention (BTA),

Cognitive motivational processes mediated by achievement goal tendencies were examined based on Dweck's model. To conduct this study, three instruments were constructed in order to measure achievement goal tendencies, conceptions of ability and effort, and learning behavior. These were administered to 182 junior high school students. As the first step of data analysis, factor analyses for three measures were conducted for each of the respective measurement. Concerning achievement goal tendencies, two kinds of performance goal tendencies were found in addition to learning goal tendency. Also, three conceptions of ability and effort were detected: effort centered, ability centered and ability-effort relativity conception. As for learning behavior, two factors were extracted: noncompetition-competition oriented learning and comprehension-rote oriented learning. Second, by using path analysis, a new motivational acteristics of three achievement goal tendencies were revealed.