The Push-Turn-Taptap Task Outperforms Measures of Executive Functioning in Predicting Declines in Functionality: Evidence-Based Approach to Test Validation

Performance on the Push-Turn-Taptap (PTT) task has been shown to be a strong predictor of concurrent everyday functioning. This study utilized a prospective, longitudinal design to evaluate the PTT task for predicting future performance on a behavioral assessment of everyday functioning. The PTT task was compared to other measures of executive functioning as well as general cognition in terms of administration time and ability to identify participants who evidenced functional decline. A total of 50 community-dwelling older adults (ages 58–87) completed the PTT task, Mattis Dementia Rating Scale, Geriatric Depression Scale, Behavioral Dyscontrol Scale, Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System, and Timed Instrumental Activities of Daily Living. Baseline PTT performance (a) was highly correlated with an objective measure of everyday functioning after approximately one year (r?=??.497, p?<?.001), (b) was associated with changes in follow-up functioning, F(3, 46)?=?3.15, p?=?.03, (c) was a better predictor of future functional status than a longer battery of EF, and (d) reliably identified individuals with the greatest magnitude of functional decline. The PTT tasks may provide a particularly advantageous method of predicting future changes in everyday functioning in older adults.     

Social Stress Alters Inhibitory Synaptic Input to Distinct Subpopulations of Raphe Serotonin Neurons

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Multiaxial mechanical properties and constitutive modeling of human adipose tissue: A basis for preoperative simulations in plastic and reconstructive surgery

A preoperative simulation of soft tissue deformations during plastic and reconstructive surgery is desirable to support the surgeon’s planning and to improve surgical outcomes. The current development of constitutive adipose tissue models, for the implementation in multilayer computational frameworks for the simulation of human soft tissue deformations, has proved difficult because knowledge of the required mechanical parameters of fat tissue is limited. Therefore, for the first time, human abdominal adipose tissues were mechanically investigated by biaxial tensile and triaxial shear tests. The results of this study suggest that human abdominal adipose tissues under quasi-static and dynamic multiaxial loadings can be characterized as a nonlinear, anisotropic and viscoelastic soft biological material. The nonlinear and anisotropic features are consequences of the material’s collagenous microstructure. The aligned collagenous septa observed in histological investigations causes the anisotropy of the tissue. A hyperelastic model used in this study was appropriate to represent the quasi-static multiaxial mechanical behavior of fat tissue. The constitutive parameters are intended to serve as a basis for soft tissue simulations using the finite element method, which is an apparent method for obtaining promising results in the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery.     

Dopaminergic Function in the Psychosis Spectrum: An [18F]-DOPA Imaging Study in Healthy Individuals With Auditory Hallucinations

Background: The psychosis phenotype appears to exist in the population as a continuum, but it is not clear if subclinical psychotic symptoms and psychotic disorders share the same neurobiology. We investigated whether the dopaminergic dysfunction seen in psychotic disorders is also present in healthy, well-functioning people with hallucinations. Methods: We compared dopamine synthesis capacity (using 6-[¹⁸F]fluoro-L-DOPA [[¹⁸F]-DOPA] positron emission tomography imaging) in 16 healthy individuals with frequent persistent auditory verbal hallucinations (hallucinating group) with that in 16 matched controls. Results: There was no significant difference in dopamine synthesis capacity in the striatum, or its functional subdivisions, between groups and no relationship between subclinical psychotic symptom severity or schizotypal traits and dopamine synthesis capacity in the hallucinating group. Conclusions: Altered dopamine synthesis capacity is unlikely to underlie subclinical hallucinations, suggesting that although there may be a phenomenological psychosis continuum, there are distinctions at the neurobiological level.     

Family Dinner and Disordered Eating Behaviors in a Large Cohort of Adolescents

We aimed to examine longitudinal associations between family dinner and disordered eating behaviors among adolescents. We studied 7535 females and 5913 males, 9 to 14 years of age in 1996. We performed multivariable logistic regression to assess the associations of previous year family dinner with 1-year incidence of each of 3 outcomes: purging, binge eating, and frequent dieting. Compared to those who ate family dinner “never or some days,” female adolescents who ate family dinner at least most days were less likely to initiate purging, binge eating, and frequent dieting. Estimates of association among males were similar in direction and magnitude, although lower frequency of the outcomes resulted in less precise estimates and fewer statistically significant results.     

Avoiding Medical Complications During the Refeeding of Patients With Anorexia Nervosa

Nutritional rehabilitation and weight restoration are key underpinnings of the treatment protocol for patients with anorexia nervosa. While their inherent state of malnutrition and weight loss is certainly not a healthy one, ironically, the very essence of the refeeding process, if done injudiciously, can also be unsafe for patients with anorexia nervosa. In this article we will provide a review of the major complications that may arise during refeeding, how best to avoid them, and how to treat them.     

Augmentation of Transient Donor Cell Chimerism and Alloantigen‐Specific Regulation of Lung Transplants in Miniature Swine

Donor alloantigen infusion induces T cell regulation and transplant tolerance in small animals. Here, we study donor splenocyte infusion in a large animal model of pulmonary transplantation. Major histocompatibility complex–mismatched single lung transplantation was performed in 28 minipigs followed by a 28‐day course of methylprednisolone and tacrolimus. Some animals received a perioperative donor or third party splenocyte infusion, with or without low‐dose irradiation (IRR) before surgery. Graft survival was significantly prolonged in animals receiving both donor splenocytes and IRR compared with controls with either donor splenocytes or IRR only. In animals with donor splenocytes and IRR, increased donor cell chimerism and CD4⁺CD25^high+ T cell frequencies were detected in peripheral blood associated with decreased interferon‐γ production of leukocytes. Secondary third‐party kidney transplants more than 2 years after pulmonary transplantation were acutely rejected despite maintained tolerance of the lung allografts. As a cellular control, additional animals received third‐party splenocytes or donor splenocyte protein extracts. While animals treated with third‐party splenocytes showed significant graft survival prolongation, the subcellular antigen infusion showed no such effect. In conclusion, minipigs conditioned with preoperative IRR and donor, or third‐party, splenocyte infusions may develop long‐term donor‐specific pulmonary allograft survival in the presence of high levels of circulating regulatory T cells.     

Steroid requirements for regulation of the alpha4 subunit of the GABA(A) receptor in an in vitro model

The alpha4 subunit of the GABA(A) receptor (GABAR) has relatively low expression in the CNS, but is increased in vivo following 48 h administration of the GABA-modulatory steroid 3alpha-OH-5alpha[beta]-pregnan-20-one (THP or [allo]pregnanolone) to female rats. The purpose of the following study was to determine the optimal conditions for steroid-induced upregulation of alpha4 expression in an in vitro model. To this end, we used the IMR-32 cell, a neuroblastoma cell line, which normally expresses alpha4 mRNA at low levels. In undifferentiated IMR-32 cells, 48 h administration of THP increased alpha4 expression when ambient THP levels were reduced by the 5alpha-reductase blocker 4MA, suggesting that the background steroid milieu affects steroid regulation of this subunit. Following neuronal differentiation in serum-free medium, 48 h THP treatment significantly increased alpha4 expression two-fold following application of nerve growth factor (NGF) suggesting that development of neuronal processes facilitates this effect of the steroid. In the absence of NGF treatment, combined administration of 17beta-estradiol (E2) plus THP also increased alpha4 expression to a similar extent as THP following NGF treatment. In addition, E2 alone effectively increased alpha4 expression to maximal levels following NGF treatment. In contrast, neuronal differentiation in the absence of serum deprivation did not increase alpha4 levels. These results suggest that both THP and E2 can increase expression of the GABAR alpha4 subunit, but that this effect is dependent upon the background steroid milieu as well as the degree of neuronal development. These findings demonstrate optimal conditions for steroid-induced upregulation of the alpha4 subunit in an in vitro system.