Chicks from a high and low feather pecking line of laying hens differ in apomorphine sensitivity

Proactive rodents show a larger behavioral response to apomorphine (APO) than reactive copers, suggesting a more sensitive DA system in proactive individuals. Previously, chicks from a high feather pecking (HFP) and low feather pecking line (LFP) have been suggested to display a proactive and reactive coping strategy, respectively. Therefore, at approximately 4 weeks of age, the behavior of 48 LFP and 48 HFP chicks in response to an APO injection was studied using an open field. Another objective of the present study was to determine whether behavioral variation (in an open field) between HFP and LFP birds, after APO injection, is also reflected by variation of D(1) and D(2) receptor densities in the brain. Receptor binding capacities were assessed by measuring specific binding of tritiated D(1) and D(2) receptor ligands in different regions of the brain of control HFP and LFP chicks. In the present study, it is shown that indeed HFP chicks display a more enhanced behavioral response to acute APO treatment (0.5 mg/kg BW) than LFP birds in an open field. This difference was not reflected by variation of D(1) and D(2) receptor densities in the brain between both lines.     

Nasal versus bronchial and nasal response to oral aspirin challenge: Clinical and biochemical differences between patients with aspirin-induced asthma/rhinitis

BACKGROUND: Aspirin-induced asthma/rhinitis (AIAR) is characterized by the altered metabolism of leukotrienes and proinflammatory prostaglandins. The basal and postchallenge levels of eicosanoids might reflect the clinical and biochemical characteristics of patients with distinct types of hypersensitive responses to aspirin. OBJECTIVE: We compared clinical and eicosanoid profiles of patients with AIAR showing both bronchial and nasal versus isolated nasal responses to aspirin challenge. METHODS: Twenty-three patients with AIAR underwent the single-blind, oral, placebo-controlled aspirin challenge. The bronchial response (BR) was evidenced by dyspnea and spirometry, whereas the nasal response (NR) was evidenced by nasal symptoms and acoustic rhinometry and/or rhinomanometry. Urinary leukotriene E4 (uLTE4), serum and urinary stable prostaglandin D2 metabolite, and 9alpha,11beta-prostaglandin F2 (9alpha,11beta-PGF2), were determined at baseline and after the aspirin challenge. RESULTS: Fifteen subjects showed BR and NR (BNR), whereas 8 showed NR only. Basal uLTE4 in the BNR group was significantly higher than in the NR group. After aspirin challenge, it increased significantly in both groups. Serum 9alpha,11beta-PGF2 increased after aspirin challenge in the BNR group only. The patients with BNR had more severe AIAR. CONCLUSIONS: BNR to aspirin in AIAR indicates a more advanced disease and more profound underlying eicosanoid metabolism disturbances.     

Tacrine restores cholinergic nicotinic receptors and glucose metabolism in alzheimer patients as visualized by positron emission tomography

Three patients with Alzheimer's disease, a 68-year-old woman with mild dementia and 2 men (aged 64 and 72 years) with moderate dementia were treated orally with the cholinesterase inhibitor tacrine (tetrahydroaminoacridine), 80 mg daily, for several months. The patients were investigated using positron emission tomography (PET) prior to, and after 3 weeks and 3 months of treatment. The PET studies involved a multi-tracer system consisting of [¹⁸F]-fluoro-deoxy-glucose (¹⁸F-FDG) (tracer for glucose metabolism); ¹¹C-butanol (cerebral blood flow) and (S)(−)- and (R)(+)-[N-¹¹C-methyl]-nicotine (nicotinic receptors; cholinergic neural activity). Tacrine treatment increased the uptake of ¹¹C-nicotine to the brain. Significant reduced difference in uptake between the two enantiomers (S)(−)- and (R)(+)¹¹C-nicotine was observed in the frontal and temporal cortices after tacrine treatment in all three patients. The kinetic analysis indicated increased binding of (S)(−)¹¹C-nicotine in brain compatible with a restoration of nicotinic cholinergic receptors. The most pronounced effect was observed after 3 weeks and 3 months treatment in the patient with mild dementia. An increase in cerebral glucose utilization was found in the 68-year-old patient with mild dementia but also slightly in the 64-year-old man with moderate dementia when treated with tacrine for 3 months. Tacrine administration did not affect cerebral blood flow. The PET data obtained after 3 weeks of tacrine treatment was paralleled by improvement in neuropsychological performance. This study shows in vivo by PET neurochemical effects induced in brain by treatment with tacrine to Alzheimer patients. Intervention with tacrine in the early course of the disease might be necessary for clinical improvement.     

Active-Passive Coping and Skin Conductance and Heart Rate Changes

Sixty subjects were administered 33 tasks, selected from the Raven Progressive Matrices, in conditions that differed by type of monetary reinforcement (reward, frustration, and control group). Subjects were tested in pairs. One subject, assigned as the active one, was asked to solve a problem while the other was only a passive observer. Heart rate level and the amplitude of evoked skin conductance responses were measured. Statistical analysis detected a higher heart rate level in active versus passive subjects at the beginning stage of the experiment, as well as a faster heart rate decrease in the former versus the latter group during subsequent blocks of four tasks. Changes in skin conductance response magnitude during the ensuing task phases exhibited a descending trend in passive subjects and an ascending trend in active subjects. The monetary reinforcement manipulation was not effective. The results support a concept put forward by Fowles (1988), who maintained that tonic heart rate and skin conductance response amplitude may serve as indices of the behavioral activation system and behavioral inhibition system, respectively, as postulated by Gray's model of arousal.     

Cellular immune responses of patients with juvenile chronic arthritis to retinal antigens and their synthetic peptides

The objective of this study was to determine the proliferative responses of peripheral blood lymphocytes of ocular antigens like retinal S-antigen, peptides M and G of S-antigen, yeast histone H3 peptide 106–121 homologous to peptide M and peptide R16 of interphotoreceptor retinoid binding protein (IRBP) in children with juvenile chronic arthritis (JCA). We have studied the in vitro proliferative response of peripheral blood lymphocytes from 41 patients with JCA (10 with and 31 without uveitis) and 23 healthy controls against the above antigens. The responders were retested after 1 or 6 months. Fifty (5/10) and 9.7% (3/31) of JCA patients with and without uveitis, respectively, responded (stimulation index >3) to S-antigen or one of its peptide listed above or yeast histone H3 peptide or R16 of IRBP. None of the healthy controls responded to any of these antigens. The difference in the frequency of responders (SI>3) between JCA associated with uveitis and healthy controls was statistically significant (p=0.001). Similarly, the difference between JCA with and without uveitis was also significant (p=0.013). Our findings suggest that these antigens may have a role in the pathogenesis of uveitis in a subset of patients with JCA.     

Substance use and perceived symptom improvement among patients with bipolar disorder and substance dependence

BACKGROUND: Bipolar disorder (BPD) is the Axis I disorder with the highest risk for coexisting substance use disorder. One explanation for this phenomenon is the 'self-medication hypothesis', which states that some patients experience improvement in psychiatric symptoms as a result of substance use. We thus investigated reasons for substance use and perceived substance-induced improvement in BPD symptoms among patients with current BPD and substance dependence. METHODS: A total of 45 patients received six monthly assessments; 21 also received integrated group therapy (IGT), focusing simultaneously on BPD and substance dependence, while 24 did not receive IGT. Patients reported at intake their current reasons for initiating substance use (including BPD symptoms) and the effects of substance use on those symptoms. RESULTS: Nearly all patients initiated substance use because of at least one BPD symptom, especially depression (77.8%) and racing thoughts (57.8%); most (66.7%) reported improvement in at least one BPD symptom as a result of substance use. Among patients reporting substance-induced improvement in BPD symptoms, those receiving IGT reported fewer days of drug use over the 6-month study period than those not receiving IGT; this difference was not significant among patients without substance-induced improvement in BPD symptoms. LIMITATIONS: The study is limited by its small sample size and by the potential inaccuracy of self-reports regarding the effects of substance use on mood. CONCLUSIONS: Substance dependent patients who report that substance use improves their BPD symptoms may benefit from treatment that focuses simultaneously on both disorders.     

Magnetic resonance imaging of brain abnormalities in patients with the Nijmegen breakage syndrome

The results of brain MRI are presented in 22 patients with documented Nijmegen breakage syndrome (NBS), aged from 1 and 9/12 to 20 years. T1-, PD or FLAIR and T2-weighted SE/TSE images in three planes were obtained. Twenty-one patients showed microcephaly. Decreased size of frontal lobes and narrow frontal horns of the lateral ventricles was observed in all cases. In 6 patients agenesis of the posterior part of the corpus callosum was found as well as colpocephaly and temporal horn dilatation. In 2 patients callosal hypoplasia was accompanied by other anomalies: abnormal cerebrospinal fluid spaces. Sinusitis was present in all patients as a result of primary immunodeficiency. As in ataxia teleangiectasia and other breakage syndromes, NBS patients show inherited malignancy susceptibility and hypersensitivity to X and gamma radiation. Because of that computed tomography is contraindicated in these patients and MRI should be the method of choice in diagnostic imaging.     

Suppressed anger, evaluative threat, and cardiovascular reactivity: a tripartite profile approach.

Despite decades of theory and research implicating suppressed anger in the development of cardiovascular disorders involving cardiovascular reactivity (CVR), to date the theoretical components of low anger expression, guilt feelings over agonistic reactions, and defensive strivings to avoid social disapproval have not been used conjointly to profile suppressed anger for the prediction of CVR. The purpose of this study, then, was to cluster analyze measures of anger expression, hostility guilt, and social defensiveness to create a suppressed anger profile (low anger expression, high hostility guilt, high social defensiveness) and a non-suppressed profile from a sample of college males. Social evaluative threat may be a potent stressor for people who defensively suppress anger expression. Thus, to examine the combined effects of suppressed anger and social evaluative threat, participants, prior to telling a story to a Thematic Apperception Card (TAT), were randomly assigned to either a high-threat (story will be compared to stories created by the mentally ill) or a low-threat condition (story used to study effects of talking on cardiovascular responses). Blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) were monitored during a rest period and the subsequent TAT card period. As predicted, suppressed anger males in the high-threat condition showed the highest levels of diastolic BP and HR change from the rest period. The suppressed anger group's systolic BP reactivity was independent of threat manipulation. Research implications are discussed.     

Human Lyme arthritis and the immunoglobulin G antibody response to the 37-kilodalton arthritis-related protein of Borrelia burgdorferi

In Borrelia burgdorferi-infected C3H-scid mice, antiserum to a differentially expressed, 37-kDa spirochetal outer-surface protein, termed arthritis-related protein (Arp), has been shown to prevent or reduce the severity of arthritis. In this study, we determined the immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody responses to this spirochetal protein in single serum samples from 124 antibiotic-treated human patients with early or late manifestations of Lyme disease and in serial serum samples from 20 historic, untreated patients who were followed longitudinally from early infection through the period of arthritis. These 20 patients were representative of the spectrum of the severity and duration of Lyme arthritis. Among the 124 antibiotic-treated patients, 53% with culture-proven erythema migrans (EM) had IgG responses to recombinant glutathione S-transferase (GST)-Arp, as did 59% of the patients with facial palsy and 68% of those with Lyme arthritis. In addition, 75 to 80% of the 20 past, untreated patients had reactivity with this protein when EM was present, during initial episodes of joint pain, or during the maximal period of arthritis. There was no association at any of these three time points between GST-Arp antibody levels and the severity of the maximal attack of arthritis or the total duration of arthritis. Thus, after the first several weeks of infection, 60 to 80% of patients had IgG antibody responses to GST-Arp, but this response did not correlate with the severity or duration of Lyme arthritis.