Are we there yet?

Statistical approaches to Artificial Intelligence are behind most success stories of the field in the past decade. The idea of generating non-trivial behaviour by analysing vast amounts of data has enabled recommendation systems, search engines, spam filters, optical character recognition, machine translation and speech recognition, among other things. As we celebrate the spectacular achievements of this line of research, we need to assess its full potential and its limitations. What are the next steps to take towards machine intelligence?     

Neuromodulating mice and men: Are there functional species differences in neurotransmitter concentration?

I examine evidence that the concentration of certain modulatory neurotransmitters varies across species, including differences between rodents and primates. Microdialysis studies indicate that the baseline concentration of serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, and acetylcholine, as measured in the prefrontal cortex of awake animals, may differ between rats and macaque monkeys. These differences may extend to mice and humans, as well. If there are differences in the tonic concentration of these neurotransmitters, this may affect the functioning of these transmitter systems in multiple ways, including potential effects on neuropsychiatric conditions such as the various mental illnesses and modeling of them in animals. Species differences in transmitter concentration may also have neuropharmacological implications, and may be relevant to the phenomenon of differences in speed of drug response between humans and rodents. This paper is divided into three sections that address related questions about the potential concentration differences: (1) Are there species differences in baseline neurotransmitter concentration? (2) Are the putative differences functional? (3) What might the functional differences be? Consideration of the existing evidence indicates that there may indeed be functional species differences in the modulatory transmitter systems.     

Is there any predictive factors for hospital admission of elder subjects from nursing home?

Background and aim: Hospitalizations of elderly people are responsible for psychological and physical unbalance and must be limited. The aim of the study is to determinate if there are predictive factors of hospitalizations in emergency for institutionalized patients. Patients and method: It is a controlled study of 12 months about hospitalizations in emergency from nursing homes. A resident hospitalized in emergency has been matched with a non-hospitalized one. The residents have been matched on age, sex, GIR and nursing-home. Results: During the study, 51 subjects have been recruited and matched with 51 other non hospitalized. Residents are mainly females (88%), old (86,9 ± 6,7 years), and disabled (GIR: 2,6 ± 1,3). The patients who have already been hospitalized in the last six months have more risks to be hospitalized again. Pre-intercurrent events, somatic or psychological, and co-morbidities are not predictive factors of emergency admission. About 30% of patients are return to its institution after a 24-hours hospitalization. Conclusion: No medical or environmental factor predicts the hospitalization of geriatric resident. Build a process of decision should be an important factor to decreasing emergency admission.     

Prolonged stress-related cardiovascular activation: Is there any?

Background: Prolonged physiological activation before or after stressors has gained recognition as a decisive element in theories that explain the link between stress and disease, specifically cardiovascular (CV) disease. This view is opposed to the conventional reactivity hypothesis that emphasizes responses during stressors.Purpose: Prolonged activity has not often been an explicit research goal of real-life stress studies. Nevertheless, a growing number of these studies have provided evidence for prolonged activity, often as a secondary research goal.Methods: An overview of this evidence is lacking and is provided in this article.Results: The combined data from the reviewed studies suggest that discrete and chronic stress sources, as well as negative emotional episodes and dispositions, are related to prolonged CV activity of various durations, including sleep periods. On the other hand, evidence supporting the assumption that prolonged stress-related activation predicts disease is still very modest.Conclusions: In this article we suggest that future research of prolonged activation should give priority to (a) the establishment of clear beginnings and endings of stressful events, (b) the prediction of disease by prolonged activation, and (c) potential psychological mediators of stress-related prolonged activation. These mediators may include, for example, worry and rumination, or other processes characterized by perseverative cognition, including unconscious processes. This study was financially supported by a grant of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO).     

Are there genetic factors in suicide?

There are generally considered to be five lines of evidence about the possibility that there may be genetic factors in suicide. This paper will review the clinical, Iowa-500, Amish, twin and adoption studies which provide evidence about this possibility.     

Antithrombin replacement in neonates: is there any indication?

INTRODUCTION: Activation of the coagulation system and severe acquired antithrombin (AT) deficiency are common and prognostically important findings in sick and preterm neonates. It has been hypothesised that treatment of the acquired AT deficiency with AT concentrate may improve the outcome of conditions such as the neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) and sepsis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a systematic review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of AT replacement therapy in newborn infants. RESULTS: Two full-length trial reports were found. Both were placebo-controlled. The first RCT examined the effects of AT therapy in 122 preterm infants with RDS. Administration of AT prolonged rather than shortened the duration of mechanical ventilation and oxygen therapy. The second RCT determined whether AT replacement decreased the incidence of ICH in 60 preterm infants who were born before 30 weeks of gestation. No beneficial effect on ICH was found. CONCLUSIONS: Preterm infants with RDS do not benefit from therapy with AT concentrate and may be harmed. There is also little evidence that the administration of AT reduces the risk of ICH. The role of AT replacement during neonatal sepsis remains uncertain.     

Is there any change of stroke incidence during Ramadan?

Ramadan is a special month for Muslims, as fasting during Ramadan is a religious duty. In this study we investigated whether stroke incidence differs during Ramadan compared to other months. All patients with stroke admitted to any hospital in the Isparta Province between 1991-1995 were included in this study. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to the month of onset of stroke. The first group included patients with strokes that occurred in Ramadan and the second group strokes with onset in other months. The stroke incidence of Isparta has been found to be 137 per 100,000 for people older than 25 years. There were no statistically significant differences between the age and sex distribution of patients and the incidences of strokes in both groups. We concluded that fasting during Ramadan has no affect on stroke occurrence in the Isparta Province.     

Generalized anxiety disorder: is there any specific symptom?

Objective

The main aim of the present research was to evaluate the coherence of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) psychopathological pattern, the robustness of its diagnostic criteria, and the clinical utility of considering this disorder as a discrete condition rather than assigning it a dimensional value.

Method

The study was designed in a purely naturalistic setting and carried out using a community sample; data from the Sesto Fiorentino Study were reanalyzed.

Results

Of the 105 subjects who satisfied the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) criteria for the diagnosis of GAD, only 18 (17.1%) had no other comorbid DSM-IV disorder. The most frequent comorbid condition was major depressive disorder (70.4 %). Only 2 of the GAD diagnostic symptoms (excessive worry and muscle tension) showed a specific association with the diagnosis itself, whereas the others, such as feeling wound up, tense, or restless, concentration problems, and fatigue, were found to be more prevalent in major depressive disorder than in GAD.

Conclusion

Our study demonstrates that GAD, as defined by DSM-IV criteria, shows a substantial overlap with other DSM-IV diagnoses (especially with mood disorders) in the general population. Furthermore, GAD symptoms are frequent in all other disorders included in the mood/anxiety spectrum. Finally, none of the GAD symptoms, apart from muscle tension, distinguished GAD from patients without GAD.