慢性乙型肝炎患者及其配偶心理状况

目的:认识慢性乙型肝炎患者及其配偶心理健康、生活质量及心理治疗的相关研究现状。资料来源:检索维普期刊全文数据库和中国医院知识仓库(CHKD期刊全文库)1985-01/2006-01有关乙型肝炎与心理方面的文献,检索词为"生活质量,乙型肝炎,心理健康,心理干预,配偶",并限定语言种类为中文;检索Pubmed数据库同期相关文献检索词为"CHB,quality of life,psychology health",并限定语言种类为英语。其他文章查找具体书籍或杂志获得原文。资料选择:对资料进行初审,选择与乙型肝炎患者及配偶心理健康、生活质量及心理治疗等相关的文章。纳入标准:阐述详细,文章内容较新,有助于说明问题的文章。排除标准:去除重复性研究和一般了解性的文章。资料提炼:共收集到204篇文章及2本相关书籍,符合纳入标准的文章48篇,排除158篇。资料综合:慢性乙型肝炎是一种身心疾病,其发病机制复杂,除与病原和免疫因素有关外,心理社会因素起重要作用。同时,与之共同生活的慢性乙型肝炎患者配偶承受了巨大的心理压力,存在许多心理障碍,即夫妇的心理症状可交互影响。心理治疗对于乙型肝炎患者是必要的。结论:慢性乙型肝炎患者及其配偶存在严重的心理问题,心理治疗能取得一定的疗效。     

China’s great wall,Israel’s Bar Lev Line,and passive infectious disease surveillance

Emerging infectious diseases are some of modern society’s greatest threats. Like some great construction efforts designed to protect mankind, current public health measures against these emerging pathogens have not always been successful. This paper highlights the importance of embracing new interdisciplinary approaches towards emerging pathogen threats. One such approach, termed One Health, is quickly being embraced by professional organizations and public health institutions across the world as a way forward. This paper briefly discusses the above problems and preliminary steps taken by Chinese academic institutions to embrace the One Health approach.     

Can mupirocin prevent methicillin-resistant <Emphasis Type="Italic">Staphylococcus aureus</Emphasis> infections?

In a retrospective study, Dr Muller and colleagues have assessed the efficacy of mupirocin nasal ointment alongside hygienic measures in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)-positive patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). Their findings, which suggest that intranasal mupirocin can prevent ICU-related MRSA infections, need confirmation in a well-designed clinical trial. In general: early identification, isolation and treatment of all MRSA carriers, including health care workers, and disinfection of contaminated environments, are the main 'ingredients' of an effective MRSA 'search and destroy' program.     

Relation between aerobic fitness and brain structures in amnestic mild cognitive impairment elderly

Mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) is a clinical condition, with high risk to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Physical exercise may have positive effect on cognition and brain structure in older adults. However, it is still under research whether these influences are true on aMCI subjects with low Ab_42 and high total tau in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which is considered a biomarker for AD. Therefore, we aimed to investigate a possible relation between aerobic fitness (AF) and gray matter (GM) volume and AF and white matter (WM) integrity in aMCI with a CSF biomarker. Twenty-two participants with aMCI acquired the images on a 3.0-T MRI. AF was assessed by a graded exercise test on a treadmill. Voxel-based morphometry and tract-based spatial statistic methods were used to analyze the GM volume and WM microstructural integrity, respectively. We correlated AF and GM volume and WM integrity in aMCI (p < 0.05, FWE corrected, cluster with at least five voxels). There was a positive relation between AF and GM volume mostly in frontal superior cortex. In WM integrity, AF was positively correlated with fractional anisotropy and negatively correlated with mean diffusivity and radial diffusivity, all in the same tracts that interconnect frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital areas (longitudinal fasciculus, fronto-occipital fasciculus, and corpus callosum). These results suggest that aerobic fitness may have a positive influence on protection of brain even in aMCI CSF biomarker, a high-risk population to convert to AD.     

Involvement of PKCα and G-protein-coupled receptor kinase 2 in agonist-selective desensitization of μ-opioid receptors in mature brain neurons

Background and purpose:

The ability of an agonist to induce desensitization of the µ-opioid receptor (MOR) depends upon the agonist used. Furthermore, previous data suggest that the intracellular mechanisms underlying desensitization may be agonist-specific. We investigated the mechanisms underlying MOR desensitization, in adult mammalian neurons, caused by morphine (a partial agonist in this system) and DAMGO (a high-efficacy agonist).

Experimental approach:

MOR function was measured in locus coeruleus neurons, by using whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiology, in rat and mouse brain slices (both wild-type and protein kinase C (PKC)α knockout mice). Specific isoforms of PKC were inhibited by using inhibitors of the receptors for activated C-kinase (RACK), and in vivo viral-mediated gene-transfer was used to transfect neurons with dominant negative mutants (DNMs) of specific G-protein-coupled receptor kinases (GRKs).

Key results:

Morphine-induced desensitization was attenuated by using RACK inhibitors that inhibit PKCα, but not by other isoform-specific inhibitors. Further, the PKC component of morphine-induced desensitization was absent in locus coeruleus neurons from PKCα knockout mice. The PKC-enhanced morphine-induced desensitization was not affected by over-expression of a GRK2 dominant negative mutant (GRK2 DNM). In contrast, DAMGO-induced MOR desensitization was independent of PKC activity but was reduced by over-expression of the GRK2 DNM but not by that of a GRK6 DNM.

Conclusions and implications:

In mature mammalian neurons, different MOR agonists can induce MOR desensitization by different mechanisms, morphine by a PKCα-mediated, heterologous mechanism and DAMGO by a GRK-mediated, homologous mechanism. These data represent functional selectivity at the level of receptor desensitization.     

Differences in gut microbial metabolism are responsible for reduced hippurate synthesis in Crohn's disease

Background  

Certain urinary metabolites are the product of gut microbial or mammalian metabolism; others, such as hippurate, are mammalian-microbial 'co-metabolites'. It has previously been observed that Crohn's disease (CD) patients excrete significantly less hippurate than controls. There are two stages in the biosynthesis of this metabolite: 1) gut microbial metabolism of dietary aromatic compounds to benzoate, and 2) subsequent hepatorenal conjugation of benzoate with glycine, forming hippurate. Differences in such urinary co-metabolites may therefore reflect systemic consequences of altered gut microbial metabolism, though altered host metabolic pathways may also be involved.