Antidepressant response and well-being in pre-, peri- and postmenopausal women with major depressive disorder treated with fluoxetine

BACKGROUND: We assessed the impact of menopausal status on treatment response and well-being in a cohort of outpatient women with major depressive disorder (DSM-III-R criteria), who received treatment with fluoxetine (20 mg/day for 8 weeks). METHODS: Menopausal status was defined based on age, presence of menstrual irregularity or amenorrhea and vasomotor symptoms. Remission and response of depression were defined as a 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D-17) score or=50%, respectively. Well-being was assessed by self-rating with the Symptom Questionnaire. Remitters were followed up for 28 additional weeks. RESULTS: No differences in rates of response and remission as well as in levels of well-being were observed among pre- (n = 121), peri- (n = 28) and postmenopausal (n = 35) women at the endpoint of the acute phase, even after adjustment for baseline depression severity. Residual symptoms, however, were significantly more common in postmenopausal women, except for the continuation phase endpoint. Differences in residual symptoms during the acute phase subsided after adjustment for baseline depression severity. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, menopausal status did not significantly affect the response to fluoxetine treatment and the degree of posttreatment well-being among major depressive disorder patients.     

Proprioception does not quickly drift during visual occlusion

Several perceptual studies have shown that the ability to estimate the location of the arm degrades quickly during visual occlusion. To account for this effect, it has been suggested that proprioception drifts when not continuously calibrated by vision. In the present study, we re-evaluated this hypothesis by isolating the proprioceptive component of position sense (i.e., the subjects were forced to rely exclusively on proprioception to locate their hand, which was not the case in earlier studies). Three experiments were conducted. In experiment 1, subjects were required to estimate the location of their unseen right hand, at rest, using a visual spot controlled by the left hand through a joystick. Results showed that the mean accuracy was identical whether the localization task was performed immediately after the positioning of the hand or after a 10-s delay. In experiments 2 and 3, subjects were required to point, without vision of their limb, to visual targets. These two experiments relied on the demonstration that biases in the perception of the initial hand location induced systematic variations of the movement characteristics (initial direction, final accuracy, end-point variability). For these motor tasks, the subjects did not pay attention to the initial hand location, which removed the possible occurrence of confounding cognitive strategies. Results indicated that movement characteristics were, on average, not affected when a 15-s or 20-s delay was introduced between the positioning of the arm at the starting point and the presentation of the target. When considered together, our results suggest that proprioception does not quickly drift in the absence of visual information. The potential origin of the discrepancy between our results and earlier studies is discussed.     

Changes in EEG activity and hypothalamic temperature as indices for non-REM sleep to REM sleep transitions

A shift of physiological regulations from a homeostatic to a non-homeostatic modality characterizes the passage from non-NREM sleep (NREMS) to REM sleep (REMS). In the rat, an EEG index which allows the automatic scoring of transitions from NREMS to REMS has been proposed: the NREMS to REMS transition indicator value, NIV [J.H. Benington et al., Sleep 17 (1994) 28-36]. However, such transitions are not always followed by a REMS episode, but are often followed by an awakening. In the present study, the relationship between changes in EEG activity and hypothalamic temperature (Thy), taken as an index of autonomic activity, was studied within a window consisting of the 60s which precedes a state change from a consolidated NREMS episode. Furthermore, the probability that a transition would lead to REMS or wake was analysed. The results showed that, within this time window, both a modified NIV (NIV(60)) and the difference between Thy at the limits of the window (Thy(D)) were related to the probability of REMS onset. Both the relationship between the indices and the probability of REMS onset was sigmoid, the latter of which saturated at a probability level around 50-60%. The efficacy for the prediction of successful transitions from NREMS to REMS found using Thy(D) as an index supports the view that such a transition is a dynamic process where the physiological risk to enter REMS is weighted at a central level.     

Child with oral,facial, digital,and skeletal anomalies and psychomotor delay: A new ofds form?

We report on a male infant with oral, facial, digital, and skeletal anomalies in association with severe psychomotor delay. This may represent a new oral-facial-digital syndrome. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Ziegler-Natta polymerization of propene: Cooperative effects of titanium ligands on the steric control of the first addition of monomer

A ¹³C NMR analysis of the methyl and ethyl end-groups in isotactic polypropylene, prepared in the presence of TiCl₃- and Til₃-based catalysts, was performed and the isotactic regularity of the first propylene unit added to the Ti—alkyl bond was measured. In the presence of the catalyst Til₃/Al(¹³CH₂CH₃)₃ the stereoregulating effects derived from the ethyl and iodine ligands are cooperative, so that the addition of the first monomeric unit is as isotactic as the following propagation steps. A comparison of the chain end-groups of polypropylene obtained in the presence of different catalysts shows that the extent of steric control upon insertion of the first monomer molecule results not only from the presence of alkyl titanium ligands larger than methyl and of titanium halide ligands larger than chlorine, but also from mutual ligand interactions.     

Multiple endocrine cell types in thyroid medullary carcinoma

Summary 10 cases of thyroid medullary carcinoma (TMC) have been studied ultrastructurally and histochemically. Well differentiated calcitonin-producing C cells were present in all tumours, being prevalent in 9 cases. 5-Hydroxytryptamine (5HT) storing cells were found in two cases, somatostatin immunoreactive cells in at least 5 cases and ACTH-immunoreactive cells in 4 cases. Ultrastructurally, at least 3 types of apparently non-C cells were observed. Type 1 cells with large, poorly osmiophilic granules resembling those of gastroenteropancreatic D cells, were present in 6 cases; they appeared to correlate well with somatostatin immunoreactive cells. Type 2 cells with large osmiophilic granules were found in 5 cases; they resembled ACTH-MSH cells of the human pituitary and may correspond to the ACTH-immunoreactive cells of light microscopy. Type 3 cells with small granules and an unknown function were found in 6 cases, always in scarce number. It is concluded that TMC, although mainly made up of C cells, usually contains large proportions of other endocrine cell types.Supported in part by grant N. 75.00630.04 from the Italian National Research Council (C.N.R.). P.F. is a fellow of the Fondazione Anna Villa Rusconi, Varese     

Factors affecting the size of the detour effect in the kinaesthetic perception of Euclidean distance

Three experiments investigated the mechanisms by which we estimate Euclidean distances on the basis of kinaesthetic cues. In all experiments, blindfolded participants followed straight and curvilinear paths with a stylus. Then, with a straight response movement, they estimated the distance between the end-points of the previously explored path. Experiment 1 was designed to validate the hypothesis—made on the basis of results from a previous study—that errors in the kinaesthetic estimations of distances (detour effect) originate from the difficulty to decompose the displacement vector into relevant and irrelevant components, which would become more severe at points of inflection. Using elliptic paths (no inflections), we demonstrated that errors are indeed reduced considerably. The role of the orientation of the work plane was investigated in Experiment 2 in which the same paths used in our previous study were oriented in the frontal rather than the horizontal plane. The results indicate that the detour effect is independent of the orientation. Moreover, despite the asymmetry that gravity introduces between upward and downward movements, errors in the two directions are almost identical. Experiment 3 addressed two issues. First, we demonstrated that introducing a delay between the exploration of the path and the response did not alter significantly the pattern of errors. By contrast, we demonstrated that errors are severely reduced when the number of paths to be explored is reduced by half. The results of the three experiments are discussed within the context of current theories of sensori-motor coding.     

Colorectal polyposis with mixed juvenile and adenomatous patterns

Summary An unusual form of colorectal polyposis is described displaying juvenile, adenomatous and mixed patterns in a 17-year-old girl. Although juvenile polyposis is generally considered to be non-neoplastic in nature, in both the present and in other case reports histological findings support a neoplastic nature. Since an increase in the incidence of large bowel carcinomas has been found in subjects with a previous diagnosis of juvenile polyposis, these patients should be considered to be at risk, and submitted to follow up.     

Novel osteoblast-adhesive peptides for dental/orthopedic biomaterials

Next generation dental/orthopedic biomaterials must be designed to enhance and support osteoblast adhesion. The osteoblasts use different ways to adhere, that is, integrin- and proteoglycan-mediated mechanisms. The present study reports on the synthesis and osteoblast-adhesive properties of peptides carrying RGD motifs and of sequences mapped on human vitronectin. Our data suggest that osteoblast adhesion on polystyrene plates modified with a linear peptide, in which the GRGDSP sequence is repeated four times, was significantly higher when compared to the adhesion obtained using branched peptides, interestingly containing the same motif. Osteoblast adhesion assays on acellular bone matrix using this active peptide gave very promising results. We also demonstrated that a novel peptide, carrying the X-B-B-B-X-B-B-X motif (where B is a basic amino acid and X is a nonbasic residue), promotes proteoglycan-mediated osteoblast adhesion more efficiently with respect to the KRSR sequence that was recently proposed as heparan-sulfate binding peptide.