Substance Abuse among 12 and 13-year-old Young People in Belfast at High Risk of Developing Problem Drug Use

Twenty-nine young people aged 12-13 years considered to be at a high risk of substance abuse primarily because they no longer attend mainstream school participated in the study by completing a questionnaire designed to obtain information on their drug-using behaviours. The evidence in this paper suggests that many of them are already at a high risk for problem drug use compared with their peers in mainstream education. This is heightened by the fact they are excluded from school and are not accessing school-based prevention programmes delivered to their contemporaries at school. The paper concludes by suggesting that additional resources are needed to fully meet their requirements in relation to identifying and delivering appropriate drug prevention strategies.     

Extrapyramidal involvement in Rett's syndrome

Extrapyramidal dysfunction is poorly characterized in Rett's syndrome, a neurodegenerative disorder in girls. We studied the motor and behavioral findings in 32 Rett's syndrome patients, 21 months to 30 years old. In addition to the typical stereotyped movements and scoliosis, other motor disturbances included bruxism, sialorrhea, ocular deviations, parkinsonian findings, dystonia, myoclonus, and athetosis. The types of movement disorders seemed to be age-related, with the hyperkinetic disorders occurring in the younger patients and the bradykinetic disorders occurring more frequently in the older patients.     

High 2-Deoxy-2[F-18]fluoro-<Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">D</Emphasis>-glucose Uptake on Positron Emission Tomography in Hibernoma Originally Thought to be Myxoid Liposarcoma

Purpose The purpose of the study is to describe the rare tumor on 2-deoxy-2[F-18]fluoro-d-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET).Procedure A 33-year-old male was diagnosed with high uptake lesion on FDG-PET scanning, which was found to be hibernoma on excision.Results Hibernoma, originally confused with liposarcoma based on its PET and computed tomography presentation, was excised and correctly identified by pathology.Conclusion Although found to be benign, radiological and FDG-PET scanning results were indistinguishable from malignancy, and biopsy is required to exclude neoplasm.     

Introduction to the special issue: Applying a Caribbean perspective to an analysis of HIV/AIDS

ABSTRACT

This introduction presents a special issue of Global Public Health with a collection of articles that offer multidisciplinary perspectives on HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean. Since the 1990s, poverty, marginalisation, and social stigma have been strong foci of much social science research on HIV/AIDS in the region. These three interrelated phenomena have been offered as explanatory factors contributing to the high prevalence of cases observed in this region. Contributors to this special issue take these emphases in new directions, asking multi-level questions that require unique combinations of epidemiological, social scientific, theoretical, and policy-oriented perspectives and methodologies. Together, they identify several topical areas that intend to create dialogue across disciplines and dialectics, with the fundamental principle that the factors relevant to HIV/AIDS are broad and require intersectional lenses. The articles in this issue offer multi-level interventions into HIV/AIDS in the region, from the varied social circumstances that shape heightened risk factors to patient adherence programmes, with emphases on structural, social, and policy-level approaches. Collectively, this special issue establishes the importance of transdisciplinary approaches to HIV/AIDS that are macro-level in scope, but simultaneously attend to how large-scale dynamics are inflected in situated contexts and histories.     

Fixing human factor IX (fIX): correction of a cryptic RNA splice enables the production of biologically active fIX in the mammary gland of transgenic mice.

Transgenic mice and sheep secrete only low levels of human factor IX in their milk because of an aberrant splicing of the transgene RNA in the mammary gland. Removal of the cryptic 3' splice site prevents this splicing and leads to the production of relatively high levels of factor IX. The purified protein is fully active showing that the mammary gland is capable of the efficient post-translational modification of this protein and that transgenic animals are a suitable means of its production.     

Brain density and symmetry in pedophilic and sexually aggressive offenders

Brain area and optical density were computed for each hemisphere and for 4 sections within the hemispheres at the level of the temporal horns for 18 pedophiles, 12 incest offenders, 34 sexually aggressive offenders of adult females and 12 nonviolent nonsex offender controls. Brain length and width was also computed, using the pineal gland as reference. From the width measures, an index of brain symmetry was computed. Results showed that the brains of sex offenders were relatively smaller in the left hemisphere compared to controls, but there were no significant group differences in optical density. There were no subgroup differences in brain area but the segments corresponding to the left frontal and temporal areas were smaller in sex offenders than controls. There were no significant differences in brain length but sex offenders had smaller widths in both hemispheres than controls. Analysis of symmetry showed that 66.7% of pedophiles and 53.1% of sexual aggressives had asymmetric brains compared to 8.3% of incest offenders and 20.0% of controls. Pedophiles showed smaller left hemispheres than right whereas sexual aggressives were equally split between left and right asymmetry. These results support earlier findings of temporal horn dilatation in pedophiles and sexual aggressives.     

Types of Adrenoreceptors Mediating Responses of Rabbit Gastric Muscularis Mucosae

This study investigated adrenoreceptor-mediated responses of muscularis mucosae from the fundic and antral ends of the rabbit gastric corpus. Norepinephrine-induced fundic muscularis mucosae contractions were enhanced by propranolol and converted to relaxations by phentolamine. Methoxamine, but not clonidine, elicited large fundic contractions. Fundic muscle responded to low isoproterenol concentrations with atenolol- and butoxamine-resistant relaxations, and to high concentrations with atenolol-sensitive contractions. Norepinephrine evoked propranolol-resistant relaxations of antral muscularis mucosae that were enhanced by phentolamine. Methoxamine and clonidine elicited small antral contractions. Lower concentrations of isoproterenol caused atenolol-resistant antral relaxations that were enhanced by butoxamine; higher concentrations produced weak excitation. Fundic and antral relaxations to isoproterenol were abolished by cyanopindolol. Fundic muscularis mucosae possesses excitatory ₁-, ₁- and inhibitory ₃-adrenoreceptors. Excitatory ₂- and inhibitory ₃-adrenoreceptors predominate in the antral region. The heterogeneous adrenoreceptor-mediated responses of the gastric muscularis mucosae suggest that adrenergic modulation of its motor activity is unlikely to be linked to acid secretion.     

Proteomics by mass spectrometry-Go big or go home?

Mass spectrometry is an important technology for mapping composition and flux in whole proteomes. Over the last 5 years in particular, impressive gains in the depth of proteome coverage have been realized, particularly for model organisms. This review will provide an update on advancements in the key analytical techniques, methods and informatics directed towards whole proteome analysis by mass spectrometry. Practical issues involving sample requirements, analysis time and depth of coverage will be addressed, to gauge how useful data-driven approaches are for solving biological problems. Targeted mass spectrometric methods, based on selected reaction monitoring, are presented as a powerful alternative to data-driven methods. They offer robust, transferable protocols for hypothesis-directed monitoring of limited yet biologically significant tracts of any proteome.     

Potential prognostic marker ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase-L1 does not predict patient survival in non-small cell lung carcinoma

Background

Ubiquitin Carboxyl-Terminal Hydrolase-L1 (UCH-L1) is a deubiquitinating enzyme that is highly expressed throughout the central and peripheral nervous system and in cells of the diffuse neuroendocrine system. Aberrant function of UCH-L1 has been associated with neurological disorders such as Parkinson''s disease and Alzheimer''s disease. Moreover, UCH-L1 exhibits a variable expression pattern in cancer, acting either as a tumour suppressor or promoter, depending on the type of cancer. In non-small cell lung carcinoma primary tumour samples, UCH-L1 is highly expressed and is associated with an advanced tumour stage. This suggests UCH-L1 may be involved in oncogenic transformation and tumour invasion in NSCLC. However, the functional significance of UCH-L1 in the progression of NSCLC is unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of UCH-L1 using NSCLC cell line models and to determine if it is clinically relevant as a prognostic marker for advanced stage disease.

Methods

UCH-L1 expression in NSCLC cell lines H838 and H157 was modulated by siRNA-knockdown, and the phenotypic changes were assessed by flow cytometry, haematoxylin & eosin (H&E) staining and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) cleavage. Metastatic potential was measured by the presence of phosphorylated myosin light chain (MLC2). Tumour microarrays were examined immunohistochemically for UCH-L1 expression. Kaplan-Meier curves were generated using UCH-L1 expression levels and patient survival data extracted from Gene Expression Omnibus data files.

Results

Expression of UCH-L1 was decreased by siRNA in both cell lines, resulting in increased cell death in H838 adenocarcinoma cells but not in the H157 squamous cell line. However, metastatic potential was reduced in H157 cells. Immunohistochemical staining of UCH-L1 in patient tumours confirmed it was preferentially expressed in squamous cell carcinoma rather than adenocarcinoma. However the Kaplan-Meier curves generated showed no correlation between UCH-L1 expression levels and patient outcome.

Conclusions

Although UCH-L1 appears to be involved in carcinogenic processes in NSCLC cell lines, the absence of correlation with patient survival indicates that caution is required in the use of UCH-L1 as a potential prognostic marker for advanced stage and metastasis in lung carcinoma.