Back to the Future with Phenotypic Screening

相似文献   

Social Phobia Among Depressed Individuals Entering Residential Rehabilitation Programmes: Prevalence and Correlates

Social phobia commonly co-occurs with substance use disorders and depression; however, the prevalence and correlates of social phobia among individuals with both of these disorders remain unknown. Interviews were conducted with 120 individuals entering residential rehabilitation for substance use treatment, who endorsed criteria for major depression and were recruited to a randomised controlled trial. Nearly three quarters (72.5%) of the sample met diagnostic criteria for social phobia. These individuals were more likely to report problematic drinking, more severe anxiety and depressive rumination, and lower distress tolerance, compared to individuals without social phobia. When examining the impact of applying diagnostic exclusion rules for social phobia among this cohort, results indicate that one third (32.2%) of those with social phobia specified their fear was related to a co-occurring mental health and/or substance use disorder. This group—who would not have met diagnostic criteria for social phobia if exclusion rules were strictly followed—experienced more severe depression, anxiety, depressive rumination, and repetitive negative thinking than those who did not make such attributions. The high prevalence and burden associated with social phobia among depressed substance users highlight the importance of screening for, assessing, and treating the disorder upon entry to treatment, irrespective of whether symptoms are related to other conditions.

     

24-h catecholamine excretion: relationships with age and weight

24-hour urines were obtained from groups of volunteer subjects recruited from populations in the UK, USA, Nigeria and the South Pacific. Urines were collected during the course of normal daily activities. HPLC/electrochemical detection was used to measure concentrations of adrenaline and noradrenaline in each urine. Calculated 24-h output of catecholamines was tested for significant linear regression relationships with age, weight and 24-h urine volume in each population. Noradrenaline excretion tended to be positively related to age and to body wt. Adrenaline excretion tended to show little or no relationship with either age or body wt. Relationships based on catecholamine excretion/U creatinine were notably different to those based on absolute catecholamine excretion. Differences were observed in the nature and strength of the relationships in the different populations, indicating the likely importance of interactions with other factors.     

Processing of timbre and rhythm in musicians and non-musicians

Expert musicians and non-musicians of similar educational and social class background were compared in two experiments involving perception of timbre and rhythm. In Experiment 1 where dichotic monitoring for the sound of the violin was required, there was a practice effect but no ear or group differences. The rhythm monitoring experiment produced a group by ear interaction with musicians faster on the right ear than the left and faster than non-musicians on the right ear only. Analysis of strategies reported by subjects showed that verbal labelling did not apparently influence laterality. Lack of evidence for individual laterality effects reinforces the claim that with stringent experimental and subject controls there is minimal evidence for musicians non-musician laterality effects.     

Anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies induced in mice by syngeneic receptor without adjuvants.

Acetylcholine receptor (AChR)-bearing membranes from the BC3H-1 cell lines were injected, without adjuvant, either intrathymically (i.t.) followed by intraperitoneal (i.p.) booster doses, or i.p. alone, into (C57BL X BALB/c)F1 mice. Over 75% of the animals developed serum anti-AChRs which reacted with the cell-line AChR and with normal mouse endplate AChR. The titres were within the lower range of those of myasthenia gravis patients, and some mice showed reduced miniature endplate potential (m.e.p.p) amplitudes. these results indicate that loss of tolerance to acetylcholine receptors can result from immunization against syngeneic AChR without adjuvant. This approach may provide a useful model for studying mechanisms of autoimmunity against acetylcholine receptor.