The effects of low and moderate intensity exercise on subjective experiences in a naturalistic health and fitness club setting

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of participation in low and moderate intensity exercise on subjective exercise experiences in a naturalistic health club setting. Thirty physically active members of a community health and fitness club participated in low and moderate intensity cycle ergometry for 20 minutes. Subjective exercise experiences were measured before, during and after exercise. Participants reported significant increases in Positive Well-being and Fatigue scores across time in the moderate but no change in the low exercise intensity condition. The results suggest that exercising for 20 minutes at moderate intensity in a health club environment provides some measure of psychological benefit for a general population, although exercise at the higher intensity could have negative implications by increasing feelings of fatigue during and after exercise.     

Assessing match and mismatch between practitioner-generated and standardized interview-generated diagnoses for clinic-referred children and adolescents

Although the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is widely used in both clinical and research settings, little is known about agreement between clinician and standardized research diagnoses. Diagnoses generated by the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC-P-2.3) were compared with clinician-generated diagnoses for 245 referred youths. Agreement was poor for all individual disorders and broader diagnostic clusters. Agreement was higher for externalizing categories than for internalizing, but no association was found between agreement and child, family, or clinician characteristics. Clinicians were more likely than the DISC to assign 1 diagnosis and less likely to assign 0 diagnoses, suggesting that clinic policies may play a role. Implications for the use of the DSM across different settings are discussed.     

Y4 receptor knockout rescues fertility in ob/ob mice

Hypothalamic neuropeptide Y (NPY) has been implicated in the regulation of energy balance and reproduction, and chronically elevated NPY levels in the hypothalamus are associated with obesity and reduced reproductive function. However, it is not known which one of the five cloned Y receptors mediates these effects. Here we show that crossing the Y4 receptor knockout mouse (Y4(-/-)) onto the ob/ob background restores the reduced plasma testosterone levels of ob/ob mice as well as the reduced testis and seminal vesicle size and morphology to control values. Fertility in the sterile ob/ob mice was greatly improved by Y4 receptor deletion, with 100% of male and 50% of female Y4(-/-),ob/ob double knockout mice producing live offspring. Development of the mammary ducts and lobuloalveoli was significantly enhanced in pregnant Y4(-/-) and Y4(-/-),ob/ob females. Consistent with the improved fertility and enhanced mammary gland development, gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) expression was significantly increased in Y4(-/-) and Y4(-/-),ob/ob animals. Y4(-/-) mice displayed lower body weight and reduced white adipose tissue mass accompanied by increased plasma levels of pancreatic polypeptide (PP). However, Y4 deficiency had no beneficial effects to reduce body weight or excessive adiposity of ob/ob mice. These data suggest that central Y4 receptor signaling specifically inhibits reproductive function under conditions of elevated central NPY-ergic tonus.     

Vitamin E and depressive symptoms are not related. The Rotterdam Study

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the reported association between low vitamin E levels and depressive symptoms in a population-based study. METHODS: The study is based on a cohort of 3884 adults aged 60 years and over who participated in the third survey of the Rotterdam Study, were screened for depressive symptoms with the Center of Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale and from whom blood was drawn. All screen-positive subjects had a psychiatric work-up. Blood levels of vitamin E were compared between 262 cases with depressive symptoms and 459 randomly selected reference subjects. All analyses were stratified by sex, and adjusted for age, cholesterol, cognitive score, smoking, dietary supplement use, marital status, living alone, and functional disability score. RESULTS: Vitamin E levels in men with depressive symptoms were lower than in non-depressed men after adjusting for age, whereas no such difference was found in women. This association in men was substantially weakened after controlling for biological factors, and disappeared with additional adjustment for nutritional behaviour and social factors. No differences were observed when the analyses were restricted to cases with depression as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV. CONCLUSIONS: After control for several biological and behavioural factors relating to health we found no association between low vitamin E levels and depressive symptoms or depression in the elderly.     

Structural analysis of the chicken BRCA2 gene facilitates identification of functional domains and disease causing mutations

Carriers of mutations in the BRCA2 gene have a high risk of developing breast and other cancers. The BRCA2 gene, which is located on human chromosome 13, encodes a very large protein of only poorly understood function. To define regions of sequence conservation and highlight potentially functionally important domains, we have cloned and characterized the chicken BRCA2 gene, the first non-mammalian BRCA2 gene to be described. The gene is organized similarly to the human BRCA2 gene, but is more compact and is localized to the subtelomeric region of chicken chromosome 1q, within a region that contains other genes from human chromosome 13. The chicken BRCA2 gene encodes a protein of 3399 amino acids, which is poorly conserved with mammalian BRCA2 proteins, having only 37% amino acid identity overall with human BRCA2. However, certain domains are much more highly conserved, indicating functional significance. We describe genes with some of these conserved domains in organisms as diverse as intracellular parasites, mosquitoes and plants. The evolutionarily divergent chicken BRCA2 sequence may also be useful in assigning the large number of sequence variants that have been described in the human BRCA2 gene which are of unknown significance in disease causation.     

Malignant melanoma of the lip spreading in a pagetoid manner into the minor salivary glands

We describe a malignant melanoma of the lower lip that upon recurrence extended in a pagetoid manner into the ducts of the oral minor salivary glands. Immunohistochemistry with antibodies to MART-1 and HMB-45 confirmed that the atypical cells in the ducts of the salivary glands were indeed melanoma cells. Pathologists involved in staging of oral melanoma are urged to look out for this previously unreported mode of spread of labial malignant melanoma.     

Development and progression of nephropathy in type 2 diabetes: the United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS 64)

BACKGROUND: The progression of nephropathy from diagnosis of type 2 diabetes has not been well described from a single population. This study sought to describe the development and progression through the stages of microalbuminuria, macroalbuminuria, persistently elevated plasma creatinine or renal replacement therapy (RRT), and death. METHODS: Using observed and modeled data from 5097 subjects in the UK Prospective Diabetes Study, we measured the annual probability of transition from stage to stage (incidence), prevalence, cumulative incidence, ten-year survival, median duration per stage, and risk of death from all-causes or cardiovascular disease. RESULTS: From diagnosis of diabetes, progression to microalbuminuria occurred at 2.0% per year, from microalbuminuria to macroalbuminuria at 2.8% per year, and from macroalbuminuria to elevated plasma creatinine (>or=175 micromol/L) or renal replacement therapy at 2.3% per year. Ten years following diagnosis of diabetes, the prevalence of microalbuminuria was 24.9%, of macroalbuminuria was 5.3%, and of elevated plasma creatinine or RRT was 0.8%. Patients with elevated plasma creatinine or RRT had an annual death rate of 19.2% (95% confidence interval, CI, 14.0 to 24.4%). There was a trend for increasing risk of cardiovascular death with increasing nephropathy (P < 0.0001), with an annual rate of 0.7% for subjects in the stage of no nephropathy, 2.0% for those with microalbuminuria, 3.5% for those with macroalbuminuria, and 12.1% with elevated plasma creatinine or RRT. Individuals with macroalbuminuria were more likely to die in any year than to develop renal failure. CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of patients with type 2 diabetes who develop microalbuminuria is substantial with one quarter affected by 10 years from diagnosis. Relatively fewer patients develop macroalbuminuria, but in those who do, the death rate exceeds the rate of progression to worse nephropathy.