Biometric parameters of the hand as an index of schizophrenia—A preliminary study

Since abnormalities in distal upper limb development are among the minor physical anomalies associated with schizophrenia we attempted to determine whether patients with schizophrenia can be identified on the basis of specific morphologic and dermatoglyphic features of the hand. Photographs and prints of the hands of 38 patients with schizophrenia and those of 42 control subjects were evaluated and graded on 13 biometric parameters. Results were statistically evaluated. A combination of three of the parameters was found to have good predicting abilities to distinguish between schizophrenics and controls. Subjects having high values in these three parameters were found to have a higher propensity to be defined as schizophrenics. In order to define a simple rule for classifying subjects we chose a criterion of having a value of 3 (in a scale from 1 to 3) in at least one of these three discriminating variables. This rule yielded an overall accuracy of 81.2%. Among controls, 85.7% of subjects did not fulfill such criteria, while 14.3% were defined as false positives. Among schizophrenics 76.3% achieved this condition while 23.7% were false negatives. The technique's objectivity and ease of application could facilitate the diagnosis of this disease.     

A new heparin fragment decreases liver ischemia-reperfusion injury

<正>To the Editor:Ischemia-reperfusion injury following surgery and transplantation can lead to irreversible multiorgan failure.Intracellular calcium overload is associated to cellular death during ischemiareperfusion.A recently discovered heparin fragment (HF),trisulfated disaccharide (TD),that acts on sodium-calcium exchanger(NCX) decreasing intracellular Ca²⁺,showed effectiveness on protecting hepatocytes from ischemia-reperfusion injury [1],     

Life expectancy in British Marfan syndrome populations

A total of 206 patients with Marfan syndrome were ascertained throughout genetic clinics in Wales and Scotland during the period 1970–1990. There were 45 deaths representing 22% of the cohort. Mean age at death was 45.3 ± 16.5 years. 50% median cumulative survival in the total cohort (n = 206) was 53 years for males and 72 years for females. Multivariate analysis confirmed severity as the best independent indicator of survival. These findings and survival curves will assist in the counselling of British families and individuals with Marfan syndrome.     

IL-10 has a protective role in experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis

The role of IL-10 in the regulation of ocular autoimmune disease was studied in experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis (EAU) elicited in mice by immunization with the retinal antigen interphotoreceptor retinoid binding protein. IL-10-deficient mice were susceptible to EAU, indicating that pathogenesis can occur without presence of IL-10. Treatment of normal mice with IL-10 for 5 days after uveitogenic immunization ameliorated subsequent EAU scores, and down-regulated antigen-specific production of tumor necrosis factor-alpha and IFN- gamma. A concomitant treatment with IL-4 further reduced disease, and resulted in emergence of antigen-specific IL-4 and IL-10 production, as well as in enhancement of the IgG1 antibody isotype. IL-4 by itself was not protective. Only IL-10, but not IL-4, was able to inhibit the function of differentiated uveitogenic T cells in culture. Expression of mRNA for Th1 and Th2 cytokines in the eye during the course of EAU showed that while a Th1 pattern predominated early, IL-10 mRNA expression coincided with down-regulation of the Th1 response and resolution of EAU. Systemic neutralization of IL-10 during the expression phase of EAU resulted in elevated disease scores. Our results suggest that endogenous IL-10 limits expression of EAU and may play a role in the natural resolution of disease. The data further suggest that exogenous IL-10 may be useful in therapeutic control of autoimmune uveitis. While IL-10 by itself is sufficient to suppress Th1 effector development and function, a concomitant administration of IL-4 is required to shift the autoimmune response towards a non-pathogenic Th2 pathway.      

Aging and categorization: could relevant pieces of information reduce older persons' inhibitory deficit?

The goal of this study was to reduce the inhibitory deficit on the elderly by creating "optimizing conditions" in a categorization task. It was hypothesized that increasing the number of relevant pieces of information would reduce the difficulty associated with processing irrelevant information on a categorization task, since the number of relevant solutions to solve the problem would increase, while the total number of pieces of information to be processed would remain the same. This hypothesis was tested on 27 young adults and 30 elderly people using a task requiring the matching of a stimulus figure to one of the two response figures having one or more attributes in common with the stimulus. In line with previous findings, the results indicated an age-related inhibitory decline. However, consistent with the hypothesis, as the number of relevant attributes increased, the performance of elderly people improved and response times decreased, supporting the notion of latent cognitive resources.     

Randomised trial comparing three different schedules of infusional 5FU and raltitrexed alone as first-line therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer. Final results of the Fédération Francophone de Cancérologie Digestive (FFCD) 9601 trial

LV5FU2 with high-dose leucovorin (LV), weekly infusional 5-fluorouracil (5FU) (AIO schedule) and raltitrexed have been demonstrated to be active agents in first-line treatment of colorectal cancer. We performed a 4-arm randomised trial to compare (1) a low-dose intravenous bolus of LV (20 mg/m2), followed by an intravenous bolus of 5FU (400 mg/m2), followed by a 22-hour continuous infusion of 5FU (600 mg/m2) on day 1 and day 2/2 weeks (ldLV5FU2 arm), (2) a weekly continuous infusion of high-dose 5FU (2.6 g/m2/week) for 6 weeks followed by a rest week (HD-FU arm) and (3) raltitrexed (Tomudex arm; 3 mg/m2/3 weeks) to standard LV5FU2. From 1997 to 2001, 294 patients were included. The 4 arms were well balanced for sex ratio, age, WHO performance status, the primary tumour site and prior adjuvant chemotherapy. Treatment was stopped due to low accrual. Two toxicity-related deaths were observed in the Tomudex arm. The treatments gave rise to different rates of grade 3-4 neutropenia (3, 4, 11 and 14% of the patients in the LV5FU2, ldLV5FU2, HD-FU and Tomudex arms, respectively, p = 0.028), leucopenia and vomiting. At least one episode of grade 3-4 toxicity was observed in 27, 25, 38 and 47% of the patients in the LV5FU2, ldLV5FU2, HD-FU and Tomudex arms, respectively (p = 0.016). An objective response was observed in 28, 21, 22 and 10% of the patients in the LV5FU2, ldLV5FU2, HD-FU and Tomudex arms, respectively (p = 0.04). Progression-free survival (PFS) of the patients in the Tomudex arm was statistically lower compared to that of patients treated with LV5FU2 or ldLV5FU2 (combined group; p = 0.013, log rank test). In conclusion, Tomudex is more toxic and yields shorter PFS than infusional 5FU. Despite the early closure of the study and the lack of power of the comparison, it seems that ldLV5FU2 could be considered as an active, easier and less expensive option for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer compared to classic LV5FU2 or weekly HD-FU.