Study of Relaxation by Traditional Medicinal Methods on Biological Indexes of the Elderly(Abstract)

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Bizarre delusions and DSM-III-R schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE: Bizarre delusions are assigned greater weight relative to other delusions in the DSM-III-R diagnosis of schizophrenia. The decision to emphasize bizarre delusions was based largely on historical tradition rather than empirical evidence. This study examined 1) the extent to which a history of bizarre delusions contributes to the diagnosis of schizophrenia and 2) whether schizophrenic patients with bizarre delusions constitute a clinically distinguishable subgroup. METHOD: Two hundred fourteen consecutively admitted psychotic inpatients were assessed for bizarre delusions according to the DSM-III-R criteria. Clinical and demographic correlates of bizarre delusions were examined in subsets of patients diagnosed as schizophrenic according to DSM-III-R who also received CT scans and neuropsychological testing. RESULTS: With the base prevalence rate for schizophrenia of 0.71, bizarre delusions had a sensitivity of 0.79, a specificity of 0.56, and a positive predictive power of 0.82 for the diagnosis of schizophrenia (N = 152) relative to other psychotic disorders (N = 62). Clinical, neurobehavioral, CT scan, and premorbid adjustment data on the schizophrenic patients indicated that beyond manifesting more severe positive symptoms, patients with bizarre delusions did not otherwise constitute a clinically distinguishable subgroup. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that criterion A for the diagnosis of schizophrenia in DSM-IV could be improved by removing the special emphasis that was placed on bizarre delusions in DSM-III-R.     

Changes in the nasal carriage of drug-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae in urban and rural Vietnamese schoolchildren

Studying the antimicrobial drug resistance of nasopharyngeal or nasal carriage isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae in children is likely to have predictive potential for invasive isolates. Streptococcus pneumoniae nasal carriage was studied in 1422 Vietnamese children. Forty-six percent of 536 isolates showed reduced susceptibility to penicillin and 7% showed intermediate susceptibility to ceftriaxone; and 50% of 518 isolates showed resistance to erythromycin. All isolates were sensitive to levofloxacin and gatifloxacin. Urban and suburban children were significantly more likely to carry drug-resistant isolates than rural children. Rates of non-susceptibility to penicillin and erythromycin increased significantly in the rural province Khanh Hoa in 2003/2004 compared with rates obtained in 1997. An emerging clone of penicillin non-susceptible S. pneumoniae of serogroup 15 was identified, which was widely distributed in addition to the pandemic clones Spain(23F)-1 and Taiwan(19F)-14. Although resistance to fluoroquinolones was not observed, 6 (18%) of 34 isolates had a Lys137Asn mutation in the parC gene. This study shows that drug resistance is increasing in carriage isolates of S. pneumoniae in rural areas in Vietnam owing to spread of pandemic and emerging resistant clones.     

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection patterns and risk behaviours in different population groups and provinces in Viet Nam

OBJECTIVE: To study patterns and determinants of HIV prevalence and risk-behaviour characteristics in different population groups in four border provinces of Viet Nam. METHODS: We surveyed four population groups during April-June 2002. We used stratified random-cluster sampling and collected data concomitantly on HIV status and risk behaviours. The groups included were female sex workers (n = 2023), injecting drug users (n = 1391), unmarried males aged 15-24 years (n = 1885) and different categories of mobile groups (n = 1923). FINDINGS: We found marked geographical contrasts in HIV prevalence, particularly among female sex workers (range 0-24%). The HIV prevalence among injecting drug users varied at high levels in all provinces (range 4-36%), whereas lower prevalences were found among both unmarried young men (range 0-1.3%) and mobile groups (range 0-2.5%). All groups reported sex with female sex workers. Less than 40% of the female sex workers had used condoms consistently. The strongest determinants of HIV infection among female sex workers were inconsistent condom use (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 5.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.4-11.8), history of injecting drug use and mobility, and, among injecting drug users, sharing of injection equipment (adjusted OR, 7.3; 95% CI, 2.3-24.0) and sex with non-regular partners (adjusted OR 3.4; 95% CI 1.4-8.5). CONCLUSION: The finding of marked geographical variation in HIV prevalence underscores the value of understanding local contexts in the prevention of HIV infection. Although lacking support from data from all provinces, there would appear to be a potential for sex work to drive a self-sustaining heterosexual epidemic. That the close links to serious injecting drug use epidemics can have an accelerating effect in increasing the spread of HIV merits further study.     

Cellular FLICE-inhibitory protein is required for T cell survival and cycling

Fas-associated death domain (FADD) and caspase-8 are key signal transducers for death receptor-induced apoptosis, whereas cellular FLICE-inhibitory protein (cFLIP) antagonizes this process. Interestingly, FADD and caspase-8 also play a role in T cell development and T cell receptor (TCR)-mediated proliferative responses. To investigate the underlying mechanism, we generated cFLIP-deficient T cells by reconstituting Rag-/- blastocysts with cFLIP-deficient embryonic stem cells. These Rag chimeric mutant mice (rcFLIP-/-) had severely reduced numbers of T cells in the thymus, lymph nodes, and spleen, although mature T lymphocytes did develop. Similar to FADD- or caspase-8-deficient cells, rcFLIP-/- T cells were impaired in proliferation in response to TCR stimulation. Further investigation revealed that cFLIP is required for T cell survival, as well as T cell cycling in response to TCR stimulation. Interestingly, some signaling pathways from the TCR complex appeared competent, as CD3 plus CD28 cross-linking was capable of activating the ERK pathway in rcFLIP-/- T cells. We demonstrate an essential role for cFLIP in T cell function.