Ethanol-induced conditioned place preference is expressed through a ventral tegmental area dependent mechanism

The authors examined the role of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and nucleus accumbens (NAc) in the expression of ethanol-induced conditioned place preference (CPP). After cannulas were implanted, male DBA/2J mice underwent an unbiased Pavlovian-conditioning procedure for ethanol-induced CPP. Before preference testing, the mice were injected intra-VTA (Experiments 1 and 3) or intra-NAc (Experiment 2) with the nonselective opioid antagonist methylnaloxonium (0-ng, 375-ng, or 750-ng total infusion; Experiments 1 and 2) or the gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA(B)) agonist baclofen (0-ng, 25-ng, or 50-ng total infusion; Experiment 3). Intra-VTA methylnaloxonium or baclofen decreased ethanol-induced CPP, whereas intra-NAc methylnaloxonium had no effect. These findings indicate that the conditioned rewarding effect of ethanol is expressed through a VTA-dependent mechanism that involves both opioid and GABA(B) receptors.     

Long PCR-ribotyping of nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae.

PCR-ribotyping, a new typing method based on long PCR, has been developed for nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi). Ribosomal operons of NTHi were amplified by long PCR and were found to be highly polymorphic for internal HaeIII sites. The technique was applied to 49 isolates previously subjected to conventional ribotyping, and the two methods showed a high level of concordance for serial isolates from individual subjects. PCR-ribotyping provides a powerful new typing tool for strain characterization in epidemiological investigations of NTHi.     

The rheumatic patient''s early needs and expectations

During the last few years, studies have revealed that the need for psychosocial support and concrete social services are great in the early stages of the treatment of rheumatic diseases. The ability to keep a job, to do household chores, to participate in leisure activities and to maintain social relations is clearly impaired. Anxiety and depression are not unusual and often associated with weak support from relatives, loneliness and disturbed family relations. Nevertheless, the patients report resilience and determination to cope with the impacts of illness. Crisis intervention, vocational guidance and counselling about problems concerning the disease should be available and offered to the patients. As the patients seem to be unaccustomed to talking about their psychosocial problems, an empathetic and information-seeking attitude on the part of the health care staff is essential.     

Molecular genetic analysis of familial early-onset Alzheimer's disease linked to chromosome 14q24.3

Genetic linkage studies have indicated that chromosome 14q24.3harbours a major locus for early-onset (onset age <65 years)Alzheimer's disease (AD3). Positional cloning efforts have identifieda novel gene S182 or presenilin 1 as the AD3 gene. We have mappedS182 in the AD3 candidate region between D14S277 and D14S284defined by genetic linkage studies in the two chromosome 14linked, early-onset AD families AD/A and AD/B. We have shownthat S182 is expressed in lymphoblasts and have determined thecomplete cDNA in both brain and lymphoblasts by RT-PCR sequencing.S182 is alternatively spliced in both brain and lymphoblastswithin a putative phosphorylation site located 5' in the codingregion. We identified two novel mutations, Ile143Thr and Gly384Alalocated in, respectively, the second transmembrane domain andin the sixth hydrophilic loop of the putative transmembranestructure of S182. As families AD/A and AD/B have a very similarAD phenotype our observation of two mutations in functionallydifferent domains suggest that onset age and severity of ADmay not be very helpful predictors of the location of putativeS182 mutations.