Do different dialytic techniques have different atherosclerotic and antioxidant activities?

To compare the chronic effect of several dialytic techniques (bicarbonate dialysis, BHD; acetate free biofiltration, AFB; hemodiafiltration, HDF; paired filtration dialysis, PFD) on atherosclerosis and antioxidant activity, three different indices were created. The first (atherosclerotic index = AI) is formed using the sum of three plasma substances: MDA, Hcy, and Cys (malondialdehyde, homocysteine, cysteine). The second (antioxidant activity index = AOAI) is the sum of five erythrocyte (E) parameters: E-GSH, GPx, CAT, SOD, GR (E-glutathione, E-glutathione peroxidase, E-catalase, E-superoxide dismutase, E-glutathione reductase). The third (defense index = DI) is derived from the previous two: (AOAI - AI). The indices were so expressed as AI in mmol/L, AOAI in U/g hemoglobin (Hb), and DI in arbitrary units. These indices were calculated in 20 controls and 51 chronic HD patients (26 female, 25 male) before, during, and after the first session of the week. HD patients were divided according to their dialytic technique: BHD, n = 35; AFB, n = 5 patients; HDF, n = 7 patients; or PFD = 4 patients. All patients had been treated with a given technique for at least 12 months, before entering the study. As expected, HD patients had AI values higher than controls, both before and after the session, with a mean value of 541 (before) and 331 (after), whereas controls had a mean value of 205. The AOAI was lower than controls, both before and after the session, the mean value being 1,122 (before) and 1,582 (after), that of controls being 2,424. In all cases, PFD gave the best "acute" results; at the end of a PFD session, near normal values of AI, AOAI, and DI (defensive index = AOAI - AI) were obtained.     

Lipid-mediated muscle insulin resistance: different fat,different pathways?

Increased dietary fat intake and lipolysis result in excessive lipid availability, which relates to impaired insulin sensitivity. Over the last years, several mechanisms possibly underlying lipid-mediated insulin resistance evolved. Lipid intermediates such as diacylglycerols (DAG) associate with changes in insulin sensitivity in many models. DAG activate novel protein kinase C (PKC) isoforms followed by inhibitory serine phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS1). Activation of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) raises another lipid class, ceramides (CER), which induce pro-inflammatory pathways and lead to inhibition of Akt phosphorylation. Inhibition of glucosylceramide and ganglioside synthesis results in improved insulin sensitivity and increased activatory tyrosine phosphorylation of IRS1 in the muscle. Incomplete fat oxidation can increase acylcarnitines (ACC), which in turn stimulate pro-inflammatory pathways. This review analyzed the effects of lipid metabolites on insulin action in skeletal muscle of humans and rodents. Despite the evidence for the association of both DAG and CER with insulin resistance, its causal relevance may differ depending on the subcellular localization and the tested cohorts, e.g., athletes. Nevertheless, recent data indicate that individual lipid species and their degree of fatty acid saturation, particularly membrane and cytosolic C18:2 DAG, specifically activate PKCθ and induce both acute lipid-induced and chronic insulin resistance in humans.     

Do parents respond in different ways when children feel different emotions? The emotional context of parenting

When children experience emotions, do they view their primary caregiver as reacting in a different manner depending on the children's different emotions? Parental socialization of negative emotions and child psychopathology were examined among 161 inner city youth ages 11-14 years. These early adolescents were more likely to perceive their parents as responding in a different manner to different emotions than responding in the same way to different emotions. In addition, we asked if emotion-specific socialization strategies tell us more about child psychopathology than global socialization strategies do. Exploratory analyses suggest that a mixture of both emotion-specific and global socialization strategies may best predict child psychopathology. It remains important to clarify the emotional context of socialization strategies.     

Assessing subgroup effects with binary data: can the use of different effect measures lead to different conclusions?

Background  

In order to use the results of a randomised trial, it is necessary to understand whether the overall observed benefit or harm applies to all individuals, or whether some subgroups receive more benefit or harm than others. This decision is commonly guided by a statistical test for interaction. However, with binary outcomes, different effect measures yield different interaction tests. For example, the UK Hip trial explored the impact of ultrasound of infants with suspected hip dysplasia on the occurrence of subsequent hip treatment. Risk ratios were similar between subgroups defined by level of clinical suspicion (P = 0.14), but odds ratios and risk differences differed strongly between subgroups (P < 0.001).     

Is bereavement-related depression different than non-bereavement-related depression?

BACKGROUND: This review tackles the question: 'Is bereavement related depression (BRD) the same or different from standard (non-bereavement-related) major depression (SMD)?' To answer this question, we examined published data on key characteristics that define and characterize SMD to assess whether they also characterize BRD. METHOD: We searched all English-language reports in Medline up to November 2006 to identify relevant studies. Bibliographies of located articles were searched for additional studies. RESULTS: Consistent with the position that BRD is distinct from SMD, some, but not all, studies report that men are as likely as women to have BRD and that past or family histories of SMD do not predict BRD. With greater consistency, studies suggest that, like SMD, BRD is: more common in younger than in older adults, predicated by poor health or low social support, followed by recurrent episodes of major depressive episode (MDE), and associated with impaired immunological responses, altered sleep architecture, and responsivity to antidepressant treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the prevailing evidence more strongly supports similarities than differences between BRD and SMD. Because so few studies focus on BRD occurring within the first 2 months of bereavement, the period identified by the DSM to exclude the diagnosis of MDE, more research is needed specifically on this group to help us evaluate the validity of this important diagnostic convention.     

Differences between the β-feto-protein of different individuals

Summary With the aid of electrophoresis in agar gel with subsequent diffusion immuno-manifestation a study was made of the degree of immunological similarity between the fetoproteins in the serum of individual human fetuses. Alphafeto-protein was identical in all of the fetuses investigated, whereas beta-feto-protein differed in one case; a cross with a common precipitation line. This serum belonged to one of the two premature 33-week-old twins. (a boy and a girl). In the serum of the second twin beta-feto-protein was identical to that of the first and also gave a cross phenomenon with all the rest. The mentioned protein was absent from the sera of adults.(Presented by Active Member AMN SSSR M. S. Malinovskii) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 57, No. 4, pp. 52–54, April, 1964     

Do we talk to different people in different ways?: types and sources of social support and support-gaining strategies

The present paper examined whether people employ different support-gaining strategies toward various sources of support. In Study 1, 231 Taiwanese undergraduates were asked the frequency of each strategy they used for three support types: tangible, psychological, and informational, from four support sources: parents, professors, same-sex close friends, and same-sex acquaintances. In Study 2, 363 undergraduates were asked to think of an opposite-sex friend: an acquaintance, a close friend, or romantic partner, and write the frequency of each strategy they used. Results of ANOVA indicated that main effects of source and strategy and a three-way interaction of source by strategy by gender were significant. In Study 1, the students used various strategies most frequently toward parents and same-sex close friends, and least frequently to professors, and in Study 2, more frequently to close friends and romantic partners than to acquaintances. The strategy most often used was reasoning, followed by entreaty, roundabout request, exploitation, promise of reward, exhortation, and threat, in the descending order. No effect was found for the support type factor.     

Are obsessional thoughts and worry different cognitive phenomena?

Worry and obsessional thoughts are cognitive activities that can be found in the general population as well as among various psychopathological states. In addition, these two types of cognitive phenomena are among the defining characteristics of two distinct anxiety disorders: generalized anxiety disorder (worry) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (obsessions). Through a review of the literature, the core features of these cognitive phenomena were compared and contrasted in an effort to determine areas of similarities and differences. The conclusion indicates that although there are areas of overlap, obsessions can be differentiated from worry along several important dimensions. Also, adverse mood state appears to play a critical role when both worry and obsessional thoughts are pathological.     

Ovarian carcinoma. Do the subtypes reflect different diseases?

Lack of therapeutic options and poor reproducibility of histopathological subtypes have been the reasons that ovarian carcinomas are currently treated as monolithic entity. Histopathological grading is used to identify those patients who can be spared adjuvant therapy. With slight modifications of the WHO based subtype classification we have shown that subtypes (i.e. serous, endometrioid, clear cell, mucinous) can be reproducibly used to stratify patients according to disease-specific survival. As these pathologically identifiable subtypes have different epidemiologic and genetic risk factors, precursor lesions, molecular abnormalities and clinical behaviour, screening and management strategies have to be subtype-specific.     

Preventive effects of Escherichia coli strain Nissle 1917 with different courses and different doses on intestinal inflammation in murine model of colitis

Objective

To analyze the in vivo effect of Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) with different courses and different doses to Sprague–Dawley rats with trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced colitis.

Methods

The probiotic was orally administered with different courses of treatment (with or without pre-administration) and different doses (10⁷–10⁹ CFU/day) to Sprague–Dawley rats with TNBS-induced colitis. Therapeutic effects, levels of cytokine in serum, mRNA and protein expression were analyzed.

Results

Oral EcN administration after TNBS-induced improved colitis dose dependently. In parallel, a reduction of disease activity index and colonic MPO activity together with a decreased level of TNF-α and a trend of increased IL-10 expression was detected. Pre-administration of 10⁷ CFU/day EcN to TNBS-treated rats resulted in a significant protection against inflammatory response and colons isolated from these rats exhibited a more pronounced expression of ZO-1 than the other groups. In the group of pre-administration of 10⁹ CFU/day, the condition was not improved but deteriorated.

Conclusions

This study convincingly demonstrates that pre-administration of probiotic EcN with low dose is able to protect colitis of rats and mediate up-regulation of ZO-1 expression, but long-term of high-dose EcN may do harm to colitis.     

Obesity and depression: same disease, different names?

Obesity is a major public health problem, which occurs in epidemic proportions. Our understanding of the systems of the brain related to energy balance has increased over the last decade. As a result, drugs most commonly used today in the management of obesity have their primary effect in modulating the balance between monoaminergic neurotransmitters, among other serotonin. Serotonin is believed to be involved in the complex process of integrating physiological and behavioral systems geared towards energy balance. However, gradual weight gain seen in most people suggests that the regulatory system may not be sufficient under all circumstances. An insufficient serotoninergic neuronal function in the central nervous system has been shown in many studies to occur in patents with depression. In such serotonin-deficient patients, treatment with drugs increasing the concentration of serotonin at serotoninergic synapses gives a favorable clinical response. Taken together, this suggests to a certain extent a common pathophysiology between obesity and depression. Literature spanning several decades has addressed the relationship among obesity and depression. However, obesity and depression research have evolved as two independent disciplines, which rarely or never overlap. In this paper, we propose the notion that obesity and depression may represent different manifestations of the same disease process - Janus faces of the modern society.     

Effects of different amyloid β-protein analogues on synaptic function

Perisynaptic accumulations of amyloid β-protein (Aβ) play a critical role in the synaptic dysfunction underlying the cognitive impairment observed in Alzheimer’s disease. The methionine residue at position 35 (Met35) in Aβ is highly subject to oxidation in Alzheimer’s disease brains. In hippocampal brain slices we found that long-term potentiation at CA3–CA1 synapses was significantly inhibited by wild type Aβ42 in which Met35 is reduced, but not by Aβ42 harboring Met35 sulfoxide. Similar differences were observed when basal synaptic transmission was investigated in autaptic hippocampal neurons. The significant decreases in excitatory postsynaptic current amplitude, vesicle release probability and miniature excitatory postsynaptic current frequency caused by 20-minute exposure to wild type Aβ42 were not observed after exposure to Aβ42 harboring Met35 sulfoxide. With longer (24-hour) Aβ treatments, this early impairment of the presynaptic terminal function extended to involve the postsynaptic side as well. The Met35 oxidation also affected Aβ42 negative impact on dendritic spine density and expression of pre- and postsynaptic proteins (synaptophysin and postsynaptic density protein-95). Our findings suggest that oxidation of Met35 is critical for molecular, structural, and functional determinants of Aβ42 synaptotoxicity.     

Human papillomavirus-positive tonsillar carcinomas: a different tumor entity?

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections are thought to be one of the causal factors in the development of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC), particularly in tumors arising from the Waldeyer's tonsillar ring. We screened 98 carefully stratified HNSCC and different control tissues for the presence of HPV DNA by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) specific for genital- and Epidermodysplasia verruciformis (EV)-associated HPVs and by HPV16-specific single step PCR. Typing was performed by direct sequencing and/or sequencing of cloned amplimers. On average HNSCC showed rather low HPV DNA prevalences; 18% of the oral cavity cancers, 8% of nasopharyngeal cancers, 25% of hypopharyngeal cancers and 7% of laryngeal cancers were HPV DNA positive. In contrast, HPV sequences could be detected in 45% of the oropharyngeal cancers, particularly tonsillar carcinomas (58%). Tonsillar carcinomas were significantly more likely to be HPV positive than tumors from any other site ( P<0.001). All tonsillar cancers contained oncogenic HPV types, predominantly HPV16 (13 of 14; 93%). Unaffected tonsils were available from two of these patients, but both tested negative for HPV DNA. Furthermore, no HPV DNA could be found in tonsillar biopsy specimens from control groups. Localization and load of HPV DNA was determined in HPV16-positive tonsillar carcinomas, their metastases and in unaffected mucosa using laser-assisted microdissection and subsequent real time fluorescence PCR. We demonstrated that the HPV genome is located in the cancer cells, whereas the infection of normal mucosa is a rare event. Quantification of HPV16 DNA in samples of seven patients yielded viral loads from 6 to 153 HPV DNA copies per beta-globin gene copy and the load values in both locations were roughly comparable. These loads are comparable with data shown for other HPV-associated lesions. Statistical evaluation of data related to clinicopathological parameters showed a significant correlation of the HPV positivity of tonsillar carcinomas with tumor grading ( P=0.008) and alcohol consumption ( P=0.029). Taken together our findings show a preferential association of HPV DNA with tonsillar carcinomas. Furthermore our results argue for HPV-positive tonsillar carcinomas representing a separate tumor entity, which is less dependent on conventional HNSCC risk factors.     

Expression and phosphorylation of neurofilament protein in different neuronal tissues

Expression and phosphorylation of neurofilament protein in different neuronal tissues