High-resolution computed tomography study of the cranium of a fossil anthropoid primate, Parapithecus grangeri: new insights into the evolutionary history of primate sensory systems

Extant anthropoids have large brains, small olfactory bulbs, and high-acuity vision compared with other primates. The relative timing of the evolution of these characteristics may have important implications for brain evolution. Here computed tomography is used to examine the cranium of a fossil anthropoid, Parapithecus grangeri. It is found that P. grangeri had a relatively small brain compared with living primates. In addition, it had an olfactory bulb in the middle of the range for living primates. Methods for relating optic foramen area and other cranial measurements to acuity are discussed. Multiple regression is used to estimate retinal ganglion cell number in P. grangeri. Given currently available comparative data, P. grangeri seems to have had retinal ganglion cell counts intermediate for living primates, overlapping with the upper end of the range for strepsirrhines and possibly with the lower end for anthropoids.     

Immune responses to mosquito saliva in 14 individuals with acute systemic allergic reactions to mosquito bites

BACKGROUND: Mosquito bite-induced acute systemic allergic reactions are an increasing clinical concern and have not been optimally characterized immunologically. OBJECTIVE: We wanted to study the immunologic basis of these reactions. METHODS: Sera were received from 14 individuals with a history of acute systemic allergic reactions to mosquito bites, defined as the presence of one or more of the following: urticaria, angioedema, wheezing, dyspnea, hypotension, and decrease or loss of consciousness. Ten individuals were from the United States and one each was from Canada, Germany, Japan, and Switzerland. An indirect ELISA was developed to measure specific IgE and IgG antibodies to saliva from 5 common mosquito species with different geographic distributions: Aedes aegypti, Aedes vexans, Aedes albopictus, Anopheles sinensis, and Culex quinquefasciatus. Twenty-nine individuals with negative bite test results from laboratory-reared mosquitoes served as control subjects. RESULTS: Mosquito saliva-specific IgE levels to all 5 species were significantly increased in the individuals with systemic allergic reactions compared with the control subjects ( P < .061 for Aedes vexans and P < .008 for the remaining 4 species). By using the mean of the control subjects plus 1 SD as a cut-off level, 11 individuals had positive results to Aedes albopictus and up to 4 additional species; 3 individuals had positive results to only one species. Saliva-specific IgG levels were not significantly increased in the individuals with systemic allergic reactions compared with levels seen in the control subjects ( P > .05). CONCLUSION: Acute systemic allergic reactions to mosquito bites involve mosquito saliva-specific IgE and can be characterized immunologically. Aedes albopictus is the most common species associated with systemic allergic reactions to mosquito bites.     

Egg-sharing in assisted conception: ethical and practical considerations

The present acute shortage of eggs for donation cannot be overcomeunless adequate guidelines are set to alleviate the anxietiesregarding payments, in cash or kind, to donors. The currentHuman Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) guidelinesdo not allow direct payment to donors but accept the provisionof lower cost or free in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatmentto women in recognition of oocyte donation to anonymous recipients.Egg-sharing achieved in this way enables two infertile couplesto benefit from a single surgical procedure. However, the practicalguidelines related to this approach are ill-defined at the presenttime leading to some justifiable uncertainty. A pilot studywas therefore undertaken in order to establish the place ofegg-sharing in an assisted conception programme. The currentHFEA guidelines on medical screening of patients, counselling,age and rigid anonymity between the donor and recipient werefollowed. The study involved 55 women (25 donors and 30 recipients)in 73 treatment cycles involving fresh and frozen-thawed embryos.Donors were previous IVF patients who, regardless of their abilityto pay, shared their eggs equally with matched anonymous recipients.They paid only for their consultations and tests right up tothe point of being matched with a recipient The sole recipientpaid the cost applicable in egg donation of a single egg collection,although both received embryo transfers. The results indicatethat although the recipients were older than the donors (41.4± 0.9 versus 31.6 ± 0.5 years), and there wasno difference in the mean number of eggs allocated, the percentagefertilization rates, or the mean number of embryos transferred,there were more births per patient amongst recipients than amongstdonors (30 versus 20%). We conclude that providing the donorsare selected carefully, this scheme whereby a sub-fertile donorhelps a sub-fertile recipient is a very constructive way ofsolving the problem of the shortage of eggs for donation. Thereare also the advantages of including a group of women who wouldotherwise be denied treatment Problems related to ‘patientcoercion’ can, in our view, be fully overcome by the applicationof strict common-sense safeguards. The ideal of pure altruismis not without its medical and moral risk. The success of egg-sharingdepends on shared interests and a degree of altruism betweenthe donor, the recipient and the centre. The current HFEA guidelinesshould be applauded for enabling a highly effective conceptof mutual help to develop.     

Sequence and genomic organization of GBV-C: A novel member of the flaviviridae associated with human non-A-E hepatitis

Recently, sequences from a novel virus, termed GB virus C (GBV-C), were identified in serum from several patients with cryptogenic hepatitis. In the present study, the nucleotide sequence of this virus has been extended to near-genome length. GBV-C encodes a putative single large polyprotein in which the structural proteins are positioned at the N-terminal end, with the nonstructural proteins located at the C-terminal end. Amino acid sequence analysis of this large polyprotein reveals the presence of protease, helicase, and replicase motifs. Sequence alignments of the polyprotein followed by phylogenetic analyses suggest that GBV-C is a member of the Flaviviridae, most closely related to the recently described GB virus A. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Couple power dynamics, systemic family functioning, and child adjustment: a test of a mediational model in a multiethnic sample

Power dynamics in the marital dyad and systemic elements of whole-family functioning (cohesion, subsystem boundary formations) were examined in relation to each other and also in relation to child adjustment in a multiethnic sample of families. Support was found for a mediational model, such that family functioning was found to mediate the relationship between marital power dynamics and children's internalizing and externalizing behavior. Some support also was found for ethnicity as a moderator of the association between systemic family processes and children's adjustment. Disturbances in family cohesion and subsystem boundaries were more strongly related to internalizing symptomatology for children in European American families compared to children in Hispanic American families.     

Evaluation of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute guidelines impairment domain for classifying asthma control and predicting asthma exacerbations

BackgroundAccurate assessment of asthma control may help predict future asthma exacerbations.ObjectiveTo evaluate asthma guidelines impairment domain components as predictors of exacerbations in severe/difficult-to-treat asthma.MethodsChildren (aged 6–11 years; n = 289) and adolescents/adults (aged ≥12 years; n = 2,094) with complete baseline and 12-month data from The Epidemiology and Natural History of Asthma Outcomes and Treatment Regimens study were included. Asthma was categorized as very poorly controlled, not well-controlled, and well-controlled using impairment domain components. Effects of omitting each component on very poorly controlled and not well controlled groups were examined. Multivariable logistic regression determined the relationship of components in predicting asthma exacerbations.ResultsOmission of individual impairment domain components led to misclassification of asthma control in 11% to 39% of patients. A baseline exacerbation was the strongest independent predictor of exacerbation at month 12 in children (odds ratio = 2.94; P < .001) and adolescents/adults (odds ratio = 2.93; P < .001). In children, very poorly controlled asthma-based short-acting β2-agonist use was associated with a 2-fold higher exacerbation risk (odds ratio = 2.03; P = .011). In adolescents/adults, not well controlled or very poorly controlled asthma based on short-acting β2-agonist use (odds ratio = 1.49), lung function (odds ratio = 1.66), and the Asthma Therapy Assessment Questionnaire (odds ratio = 1.94) were also independent predictors of exacerbations (P < .001).ConclusionsAlthough the combined use of individual components of the impairment domain increases the sensitivity of identifying patients at high risk for future asthma exacerbations, specific components may be more important than others in severe/difficult-to-treat asthma. Prior exacerbations, short-acting β2-agonist use, lung function, and (in adolescents/adults) the Asthma Therapy Assessment Questionnaire were independent predictors of exacerbations.     

Recurrent deletions and reciprocal duplications of 10q11.21q11.23 including CHAT and SLC18A3 are likely mediated by complex low-copy repeats

We report 24 unrelated individuals with deletions and 17 additional cases with duplications at 10q11.21q21.1 identified by chromosomal microarray analysis. The rearrangements range in size from 0.3 to 12 Mb. Nineteen of the deletions and eight duplications are flanked by large, directly oriented segmental duplications of >98% sequence identity, suggesting that nonallelic homologous recombination (NAHR) caused these genomic rearrangements. Nine individuals with deletions and five with duplications have additional copy number changes. Detailed clinical evaluation of 20 patients with deletions revealed variable clinical features, with developmental delay (DD) and/or intellectual disability (ID) as the only features common to a majority of individuals. We suggest that some of the other features present in more than one patient with deletion, including hypotonia, sleep apnea, chronic constipation, gastroesophageal and vesicoureteral refluxes, epilepsy, ataxia, dysphagia, nystagmus, and ptosis may result from deletion of the CHAT gene, encoding choline acetyltransferase, and the SLC18A3 gene, mapping in the first intron of CHAT and encoding vesicular acetylcholine transporter. The phenotypic diversity and presence of the deletion in apparently normal carrier parents suggest that subjects carrying 10q11.21q11.23 deletions may exhibit variable phenotypic expressivity and incomplete penetrance influenced by additional genetic and nongenetic modifiers.     

To err is autonomic: error-related brain potentials, ANS activity, and post-error compensatory behavior

A two-component event-related brain potential consisting of an error-related negativity (ERN/Ne) and positivity (Pe) has been associated with response monitoring and error detection. Both the ERN and Pe have been source-localized to the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)--a frontal structure implicated in both cognitive and affective processing, as well as autonomic nervous system (ANS) modulation. The current study sought to examine the relationships among the ERN, the Pe, two autonomic measures, and behavior. Electroencephalogram (EEG), heart rate (HR), and skin conductance (SC) were recorded while subjects performed a two-choice reaction-time task. In addition to the characteristic ERN-Pe complex, errors were associated with larger SCRs and greater HR deceleration. The ERN correlated with the number of errors, but was unrelated to ANS activity and compensatory behavior. Pe, on the other hand, was correlated significantly with SCR, and both SCR and Pe were significantly correlated with post-error slowing.     

Central nervous system effects of H1-receptor antagonists in the elderly.

BACKGROUND: The potential adverse central nervous system effects of H1-receptor antagonists have not been optimally studied in the elderly. OBJECTIVE: We hypothesized that newer H1-receptor antagonists such as cetirizine and loratadine would cause less central nervous system dysfunction than the older H1-receptor antagonists diphenhydramine and chlorpheniramine in this population, as they do in younger subjects. METHODS: We performed a randomized, double-blind, single-dose, placebo-controlled, 5-way crossover study in 15 healthy elderly subjects (mean age 71 +/- SD 5 years). On study days at least 1 week apart, they received cetirizine 10 mg, loratadine 10 mg, diphenhydramine 50 mg, chlorpheniramine 8 mg, or placebo. Outcome measures, recorded before and 2 to 2.5 hours after dosing were latency of the P300 event-related potential in which increased latency reflects a decreased rate of cognitive processing, visual analogue scale for subjective somnolence, and histamine skin tests for measurement of peripheral H1-blockade. RESULTS: The changes in P300 following each treatment yielded variances that were not equal (P > .05), precluding usual statistical analysis of the means. These variances were ranked: chlorpheniramine > diphenhydramine > loratadine > placebo > cetirizine. The rank of mean differences in the visual analogue scale increase from pre-dose baseline was: diphenhydramine > chlorpheniramine > cetirizine > loratadine > placebo. All H1-receptor antagonists suppressed the histamine-induced wheal and flare significantly compared to baseline. CONCLUSION: In the elderly, the new H1-receptor antagonists cetirizine and loratadine are less likely to cause adverse central nervous system effects than the old H1-antagonists chlorpheniramine or diphenhydramine, but this requires confirmation using additional objective tests of central nervous system function.