Effects of procyclidine on eye movements in schizophrenia.

Smooth pursuit eye movement (SPEM) and antisaccade deficits are observed in the schizophrenia spectrum and have been used to study the pathophysiology as well as the genetic basis of this condition. The neurotransmitter acetylcholine has been implicated in a number of cognitive processes thought to underlie SPEM and antisaccade performance. This study investigates effects on eye movements of procyclidine, an anticholinergic drug often administered to schizophrenic patients. A total of 13 patients completed a double-blind placebo-controlled crossover design, receiving 15 mg procyclidine and placebo. Seven participants received procyclidine first and placebo second, six participants were tested in the reverse order. SPEM and antisaccade (as well as fixation and prosaccade) eye movements were recorded using infrared oculography. Results showed that procyclidine overall, relative to placebo, mildly worsened SPEM performance, as indicated by nonsignificantly reduced gain (p=0.08) and increased frequency of intrusive anticipatory saccades during pursuit (p=0.06). A significant interaction of group and order of administration indicated that procyclidine increased the rate of antisaccade reflexive errors only when administered first; the opposite pattern was observed when placebo was administered first, likely due to the operation of practice effects at second assessment. These findings indicate that acute administration of a clinically relevant dose of procyclidine leads to mild impairments in eye movement performance in schizophrenic patients, suggesting the need to consider this compound in oculomotor studies in schizophrenia. The action of this anticholinergic drug on oculomotor performance is consistent with the hypothesized role of the cholinergic system in the cognitive mechanisms of attention and working memory, processes thought to underlie SPEM and antisaccade performance. Effects of order of administration and practice on the antisaccade task suggest that these factors need to be taken into consideration in future pharmacological studies.     

Histological and ultrastructural studies on the toxic effect of pan masala and its amelioration by Elettaria cardamomum

AIM： To investigate the histological and ultrastructural changes observed in pan masala intoxicated mammalian testes under the effect of cardamom. METHOD： Male Swiss mice were given pan masala orally at a dose of 2% of the feed and cardamom at a dose of 0.2% of the feed. They were divided into three groups, control （Group I）, pan masala-treated （Group II）, and a combination of pan masala and cardamom-treated group （Group III）. Histologically, the testes of Group II mice displayed degeneration of tubular epithelium, dis- ruption of spermatogenesis, and a marked reduction in germ cells. RESULTS： When cardamom was given, damage was less with fewer distorted cells and also improvement with normal tubules and spermatid differentiation in Group III. Ultrastructurally, pan masala-treated testes showed cytoplasmic vacuolation, shrinkage and pyknotic nuclei of spermatogonia, and abnormal acrosomal granules. CONCLUSION： When cardamom was given, the amelioration process was more evident showing a comparable morphology with control.     

A single bivulval female of Xiphinema diversicaudatum and two bivulval females of Xiphinema vuittenezi (Nematoda: Longidoridae)

A population of Xiphinema vuittenezi from an apple orchard and a population of X. diversicaudatum from a peach orchard yielded bivulval females. Morphometrics of these females are presented.     

Assessing Social-support Network Among the Socio-culturally Disadvantaged Children in India

Social support has a direct as well as an indirect effect in satisfying the children's need. Present study aims at assessing the social support network and the satisfaction of the children's needs belonging to high and low socio-cultural status families. A total of 300 children of grade 8, 9 & 10 belonging to different socio-cultural environment (advantaged & disadvantaged) were taken as samples. Present study revealed that the children from advantaged socio-cultural environment were found to have healthy and enriching family climate. Whereas, the children from socio-culturally disadvantaged environment were deprived of getting necessary interpersonal and intra-family support as compared to their counterparts. Yet, these disadvantaged children were found to be getting more outside family support. Inspite of getting negative support and responsibilities from their families, the need satisfaction rate was found to be more in case of disadvantaged children. The study also found out that girls were receiving more negative response from their family members than the boys. However, this paper confirms the continuous positive social support (both outside/inside family) in satisfying children's needs in the Indian social system.     

Oral polio vaccination in infants: Beneficial effect of additional dose at birth

This study was done to assess the response of new borns to trivalent oral polio vaccine and to study any efficacy of OPV if given to infants on third day of life. The study was conducted in two groups, A (87) and B (55) of infants in Delhi, India, In group A, the children received one birth dose or ‘O’ dose of TOPV, followed by 3 conventional doses started at 6 weeks, and in group B the children received only 3 doses of OPV. Pre and one month post immunization serum samples were tested for the presence of neutralising antibodies. In addition, in group A serum samples were collected at 6 weeks before the administration of 1st dose to see the sero response following ‘O’ dose of TOPV. It was found that administration of OPV on 3rd day of life leads to sero conversion in 15.3% of, infants to all three polio virus types by the age of 6 weeks, and highest sero response was seen for polio virus type 1. Sero-conversion in group A was significantly more than sero-conversion in group B after the administration of last dose. Thus the study has established that immunization of new borns with TOPV is a safe and effective means for improving protection against the disease.