Herpes simplex virus esophagitis in immunocompetent children

OBJECTIVES: To review clinical, laboratory, endoscopic and histologic features, treatment and outcome of immunocompetent children with Herpes simplex virus esophagitis. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of the medical records of six children (five males) referred to our unit between 1997-2001. RESULTS: The median age at presentation was 4 years. Fever was present in all, odynophagia/dysphagia in five, retrosternal pain in four, vomiting in three, drooling in two and irritability and drowsiness in one. The median time between the onset of symptoms and the diagnosis was 6.5 days. Endoscopy, performed in all, showed friable mucosa and erosive-ulcerative involvement, with histology showing inflammation and ulcerated esophagitis. Tissue viral culture was performed in five patients and was positive in three, and polymerase chain reaction was positive in two of four tested. Serology was consistent with primary Herpes simplex virus infection in all. All received nasogastric feeding and acyclovir. The outcome was very good. CONCLUSIONS: This is an uncommon and under-recognized condition in the immunocompetent child. The most common symptoms are sometimes not diagnostic, particularly in very young children. The presence of unusual clinical signs may lead to a difficult and delayed diagnosis. Treatment with acyclovir may have hastened the resolution of symptoms, but a controlled clinical study was not performed.     

Effects of estrogen on muscarinic acetylcholine receptors in the rat hippocampus

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether different estrogen manipulations have effects on the expression of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) in the adult female rat hippocampus. Hippocampus was obtained from rats in proestrus (control), ovariectomized for 2, 10 and 15 days, ovariectomized for 15 days and treated with 17beta-estradiol for 7 days, and treated with 17beta-estradiol immediately after ovariectomy for 21 days. Rats' estrogen status was monitored by measuring estradiol plasma levels and uterus relative weight. [3H]quinuclidinyl benzilate ([3H]QNB) binding studies indicated that ovariectomy time-dependently increases the number of mAChRs in hippocampus when compared to those obtained from control rats. Estradiol treatments for 21 days avoid the effect of ovariectomy. However, the estradiol treatments for 7 days after 15 days of ovariectomy slightly change the number of mAChRs. In conclusion, these results showed that ovariectomy time-dependently increases mAChRs number in the rat hippocampus. In addition, these data suggest that treatment with estradiol initiated within a specific period of time after the loss of ovarian function may be effective at preventing specific effects of hormone deprivation on hippocampus.     

Oxidative stress affects synaptosomal gamma-aminobutyric acid and glutamate transport in diabetic rats: the role of insulin

Evidence suggests that oxidative stress is involved in the pathophysiology of diabetic complications and that insulin has a neuroprotective role in oxidative stress conditions. In this study, we evaluated the in vitro effect of insulin in the susceptibility to oxidative stress and in the transport of the amino acid neurotransmitters gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate in a synaptosomal fraction isolated from male type 2 diabetic Goto-Kakizaki (GK) rat brain cortex. The ascorbate/Fe(2+)-induced increase in thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARSs) was similar in Wistar and GK rats and was not reverted by insulin (1 micromol/l), suggesting that other mechanisms, rather than a direct effect in membrane lipid peroxidation, may mediate insulin neuroprotection. Diabetes did not affect GABA and glutamate transport, despite the significant decrease in membrane potential and ATP/ADP ratio, and insulin increased the uptake of both GABA and glutamate in GK rats. Upon oxidation, there was a decrease in the uptake of both neurotransmitters and an increase in extrasynaptosomal glutamate levels and in ATP/ADP ratio in GK rats. Insulin treatment reverted the ascorbate/Fe(2+)-induced decrease in GABA accumulation, with a decrease in extrasynaptosomal GABA. These results suggest that insulin modulates synaptosomal GABA and/or glutamate transport, thus having a neuroprotective role under oxidizing and/or diabetic conditions.     

Life-history traits of standard and autochthonous cladocerans: I. Acute and chronic effects of acetylsalicylic acid

Pharmaceuticals have been recognized as an important group of aquatic micropollutants, mainly because of their biologically active nature. Acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), which is the active compound of Aspirin and many other pharmaceuticals, is consumed in large quantities every year. Therefore, its acute and chronic effects on standard (Daphnia magna) and autochthonous (Daphnia longispina) daphnids were investigated. The results showed that ASA impaired the survivorship, reproduction, and growth of the cladoceran species. The standard daphnid was the more tolerant species in acute assays (48-h EC(50) = 1293.05 mg/L; D. longispina: 48-h EC(50) = 647.31 mg/L); whereas the autochthonous daphnid seemed to be more resistant under chronic exposure to ASA, mainly its population-level traits. Despite this, the observed effect concentrations were much higher than the environmental concentrations of ASA. Notwithstanding this, the impairment of individual-level traits is likely to occur at environmental levels as an ultimate response to long-term exposure.     

Clinical, electroencephalographic, and behavioral features of temporal lobe epilepsy in childhood

This study describes the clinical, electroencephalographic, and behavioral features of 36 children with temporal lobe epilepsy. Patients were divided into two groups: group A, with 6 patients (< 6 years), and group B, with 30 patients (6-18 years). Statistical analysis was performed considering the significance level of .05. Regarding the clinical features of the focal seizures, motor components were more frequently seen in children younger than 6 years of age (P < .01), whereas automatisms were more frequently seen in patients older than 6 years of age (P < .05). Associated myoclonic seizures were more frequent in the younger age group (P < .01). Behavioral disorders such as hyperactivity and aggressiveness and speech delay were more common in the younger age group (P < .05). Temporal lobe epilepsy in children younger than 6 years of age is more frequently associated with motor components, myoclonic seizures, behavioral disorders, and speech delay. Conversely, temporal lobe epilepsy in older patients has frequent automatisms.     

Dopamine receptor-mediated regulation of RGS2 and RGS4 mRNA differentially depends on ascending dopamine projections and time

RGS2 and RGS4 mRNAs are regulated in the rat striatum by dopaminergic agents. The present study further characterizes this regulation in three experiments. First, dopamine type 1 (receptor) (D1)- and dopamine type 2 (receptor) (D2)-mediated regulator of G-protein signalling (RGS) gene regulation was investigated in animals with deleted ascending dopaminergic pathways. We showed that RGS2 expression is controlled by D1 receptors either by direct action on D1 receptors or indirectly by presynaptic D2 receptors. Conversely, RGS4 gene expression is independent of presynaptic D2 receptors. Second, the study of colocalization between RGS2 or RGS4 and D1 or D2 by double labelling in situ hybridization histochemistry revealed broad expression of RGS2 and RGS4 mRNA in striatal subpopulations with colocalization of RGS2 and RGS4 with both D1 and D2 receptors. Finally, to test how far their gene regulation is temporally concerted, changes in RGS2 and RGS4 mRNA levels were measured in parallel with receptor occupancy by specific dopaminergic drugs at different time-points. RGS2 was rapidly/transiently up-regulated by the D1 agonist SKF82958 and the D2 antagonist haloperidol (peak at 0.5 h) and down-regulated by the D1 antagonist SCH23390 and the D2 agonist quinpirole (trough at 1 and 2 h). RGS4 showed a delayed/transient up-regulation with SCH23390 and quinpirole (peak at 4 and 2 h) and down-regulation with haloperidol (trough at 8 h). Depending on the drug used, the degree of receptor occupancy did (D1 agonist and RGS2) or did not (D2 antagonist and RGS2) run parallel to RGS gene expression changes, indicating that certain drug effects are direct and others indirect. The precise control of RGS2 and RGS4 expression by dopamine receptors pleads in favour of their potential contribution to the fine-tuning of D1 and D2 receptor signalling cascades.     

A pharmacological differentiation between postjunctional (AT<Subscript>1A</Subscript>) and prejunctional (AT<Subscript>1B</Subscript>) angiotensin II receptors in the rabbit aorta

The effects of angiotensin II and angiotensin III were compared at prejunctional and postjunctional AT₁ receptors of the rabbit thoracic aorta. Furthermore, the influence of PD123319, losartan and eprosartan on these effects was also compared. To study prejunctional effects, the tissues were preincubated with (³H)-noradrenaline, superfused and electrically stimulated (1 Hz, 2 ms, 50 mA, 5 min). To study postjunctional effects, non-cumulative concentration–response curves were determined. Both angiotensin II and angiotensin III were more potent prejunctionally than postjunctionally. In the case of angiotensin II, the EC₅₀ was 12 times lower at the prejunctional than at the postjunctional level, while that of angiotensin III was 30 times lower prejunctionally. Furthermore, whereas angiotensin II was about 33 times more potent than angiotensin III postjunctionally, it was only 12 times more potent than angiotensin III prejunctionally. Eprosartan did not differentiate between prejunctional and postjunctional effects of both angiotensins. In contrast, PD123319 and losartan did differentiate; however, whereas PD123319 concentration-dependently antagonised the facilitation of tritium release caused by angiotensin II and angiotensin III and had no influence on the contraction of the aortic rings elicited by the peptides, losartan did the opposite: it concentration-dependently antagonised the contractions caused by the peptides on the aortic rings and exerted no influence on the facilitatory effect of angiotensin II and angiotensin III. These results show that prejunctional and postjunctional receptors for angiotensin II and angiotensin III are different and underline the hypothesis that postjunctional AT₁ receptors belong to the AT_1A subtype, while prejunctional AT₁ receptors belong to the AT_1B subtype.     

Psychosocial Working Conditions and the Risk of Esophageal and Gastric Cardia Cancers

BACKGROUND: For reasons yet unknown, the incidence of esophageal and gastric cardia adenocarcinoma is increasing rapidly and moderately, respectively. These tumors occur predominantly among males. We hypothesized that stressful psychosocial working conditions might be involved in the etiology of these cancers. OBJECTIVE: To study if job strain, work pace satisfaction and coping are linked to the risk of esophageal or cardia cancers. METHODS: A nationwide Swedish population-based case-control study including 189 and 262 esophageal and cardia adenocarcinoma cases, respectively, 167 esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma cases, and 820 controls. All study subjects were interviewed. The relative risk was estimated using odds ratios, with 95% confidence intervals, adjusted for potential confounders. RESULTS: We found no statistically significant associations between two different measures of job strain and the three cancer types, except between one job strain measure and risk of cardia adenocarcinoma (OR: 2.2; 95% CI: 1.0-4.8). There was a moderately strong association between having a covert coping style, compared to an overt, and risk of both esophageal (OR: 1.8; 95% CI: 1.2-2.8) and cardia adenocarcinoma (OR: 1.5; 95% CI: 1.0-2.3). Among subjects reporting low work pace satisfaction we found an almost 4-fold increased risk of esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma (OR: 3.8; 95% CI: 1.3-11.0), and a nearly 3-fold increased risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma (OR: 2.8; 95% CI: 1.1-7.0). CONCLUSIONS: Work-related stress does not seem to be of importance in the etiology of adenocarcinoma of the esophagus or the gastric cardia. However, the interaction of a stressful work environment and the individual's responses to it may be associated with a moderately increased risk of these cancer types.