Effects of sugar and aspartame on aggression and activity in children

Habitual sugar consumption and behavior following challenge by sugar and aspartame were studied in 30 preschool boys. The 18 subjects whose parents considered them sugar reactive had more disruptive behavior problems at baseline than the other 12 subjects. Habitual sugar consumption correlated only with duration of aggression against property in alleged responders. Double-blind crossover challenges with aspartame, saccharin, sucrose, and glucose produced no significant effect on aggression or observers' ratings of behavior. Lower actometer counts followed the trials of aspartame, but the difference was not apparent to observers. It is unlikely that sugar and aspartame are clinically significant causes of disruptive behavior.     

BREASTFEEDING AND THE WORKING MOTHER

The medical and lay communities have been somewhat oblivious to the needs of the working mother who continues to breastfeed. This paper offers guidelines on decision making for returning to work, presents a detailed discussion of expressing and storing breast milk, and considers some of the ramifications of nursing and working away from the baby.     

Testosterone and trenbolone enanthate increase mature myostatin protein expression despite increasing skeletal muscle hypertrophy and satellite cell number in rodent muscle

The androgen‐induced alterations in adult rodent skeletal muscle fibre cross‐sectional area (fCSA), satellite cell content and myostatin (Mstn) were examined in 10‐month‐old Fisher 344 rats (n = 41) assigned to Sham surgery, orchiectomy (ORX), ORX + testosterone (TEST; 7.0 mg week^?1) or ORX + trenbolone (TREN; 1.0 mg week^?1). After 29 days, animals were euthanised and the levator ani/bulbocavernosus (LABC) muscle complex was harvested for analyses. LABC muscle fCSA was 102% and 94% higher in ORX + TEST and ORX + TREN compared to ORX (p < .001). ORX + TEST and ORX + TREN increased satellite cell numbers by 181% and 178% compared to ORX, respectively (p < .01), with no differences between conditions for myonuclear number per muscle fibre (p = .948). Mstn protein was increased 159% and 169% in the ORX + TEST and ORX + TREN compared to ORX (p < .01). pan‐SMAD2/3 protein was ~30–50% greater in ORX compared to SHAM (p = .006), ORX + TEST (p = .037) and ORX + TREN (p = .043), although there were no between‐treatment effects regarding phosphorylated SMAD2/3. Mstn, ActrIIb and Mighty mRNAs were lower in ORX, ORX + TEST and ORX + TREN compared to SHAM (p < .05). Testosterone and trenbolone administration increased muscle fCSA and satellite cell number without increasing myonuclei number, and increased Mstn protein levels. Several genes and signalling proteins related to myostatin signalling were differentially regulated by ORX or androgen therapy.     

CYP1A1 Ile462Val polymorphism and colorectal cancer risk in Polish patients

Head and neck squamous epithelial cell cancer (HNSCC), the world’s fifth most common type of cancers, is associated with short life expectancy and high death rates if not detected in early stages. The aim of this study was to investigate hRRM1 and p53R2 gene polymorphisms by using real-time PCR technique in patients with head and neck cancer. In total, 87 patients with head and neck malignancies and 87 control group who have not any malignancies were included in the study between January 2011 and February 2012 in Istanbul University Faculty of Medicine Department of ORL. In the study, real-time PCR was used to detect hRRM1 (rs12806698 C/A) and p53R2 (rs2290707 G/T) gene polymorphisms in Turkish HNSCC patients and healthy individuals. Genomic DNA isolation was performed according to the kit protocol with spin column. LightCycler 1.5 system was used to perform SNP genotyping using hybridization probes consisting of 3′-fluorescein and a 5′-LightCycler Red labeled pair of oligonucleotide probes. There were significant differences in the distribution of hRRM1 genotypes. Frequency of individuals with hRRM1 AA genotype was higher in patients with less differentiation when compared with well differentiation [p 0.025, Fisher’s exact test, odds ratio (OR) 0.140, 95 % confidence intervals (CI) 0.024–0.797]. It is observed that A allele carriers have nearly twofold risk for development of the disease (p = 0.022; χ ² 5.24; OR 2.02, 95 % CI 1.10–3.72).     

Sub-wavelength infrared imaging of lipids

Infrared absorption spectroscopy of lipid layers was performed by combining optics and scanning probe microscopy. This experimental approach enables sub-diffraction IR imaging with a spatial resolution on the nanometer scale of 1, 2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine lipid layers.OCIS codes: (310.6628) Subwavelength structures, nanostructures; (350.5340) Photothermal effects; (300.6340) Spectroscopy, infrared     

Involvement of the subthalamic nucleus in engagement with behaviourally relevant stimuli

In this study we investigate how the basal ganglia (BG) may process the behavioural relevance of environmental cues by recording local field potentials (LFPs) in the subthalamic nucleus of patients with Parkinson's disease who had undergone implantation of electrodes for deep brain stimulation. Fourteen patients were recorded as they performed a paradigm dissociating warning cue presentation from programming related to execution of specific tasks. Target and non-target warning cues of differing behavioural relevance were contrasted, and we evaluated if warning cue-evoked activities varied according to whether the eventual task to be performed was motor or cognitive and whether patients were receiving or withdrawn from dopaminergic therapy. Warning cues evoked a complex temporal sequence of activities with three epochs over the 760 ms following the onset of the warning cue. In contrast to the initial evoked LFP, evoked activities over two later periods were significantly influenced by behavioural relevance and by treatment state. The early activity was likely related to the initial orientating of attention induced by a novel target, while the delayed responses in our paradigm may reflect processing related to the non-motor resource implications of cues. The results suggest that the BG are intimately involved in the evaluation of changes in the environment and of their behavioural significance. The latter process is partly modulated by dopamine. Weakness in this function might contribute to the behavioural impairment that can follow BG lesions and surgery.