Taenia crassiceps metacestode vesicular fluid antigens shared with the Taenia solium larval stage and reactive with serum antibodies from patients with neurocysticercosis

After removal of host (mouse) serum proteins (albumin, transferrin, IgG and another five unidentified proteins) by immunoaffinity chromatography, the vesicular fluid of T. crassiceps metacestodes (TcVF) was immunoelectrophoretically examined for antigens recognized by rabbit antiserum to aqueous crude extract of T. solium cysticerci. Based on a precipitate pattern developed in electroimmunodiffusion, nine cross-reactive antigens could be demonstrated. In the ELISA, TcVF was shown to be a potent antigen for the demonstration of IgG antibodies in the sera of Mexican patients (n = 14) with confirmed neurocysticercosis (mean E490 values +/- SD: 0.39 +/- 0.38) although it was less sensitive when compared to T. solium VF (0.95 +/- 0.54). Sensitivity was much higher using cross-reactive TcVF antigens selected by immunoaffinity chromatography with rabbit IgG antibodies to larval T. solium crude extract (0.87 +/- 0.57). SDS-PAGE fluorograph of cross-reactive, radioiodinated TcVF protein antigens and selected by antibodies of individual neurocysticercosis sera (n = 13), exhibited six to nine bands depending on the serum tested. Altogether ten 125I-labelled proteins (Mr range from about 20,000 to 200,000) were recognized by neurocysticerosis antibodies. Four proteins (Mr about 22,000, 25,000, 32,000 and 45,000) were detected by all sera.     

Cardiovascular concomitants of tactile and acoustic startle responses in spontaneously hypertensive and normotensive rats

In the present study we have simultaneously investigated cardiovascular and behavioral responses to repeated tactile and acoustic stimulation in adult, male, spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY). Blood pressure and heart rate responses were increased in SHR vs. WKY rats following both types of stimuli. The pressor responses, but not the tachycardic responses, habituated with repeated stimulation in both strains and with both stimulus modalities. The rates of habituation were not significantly different between the two strains. Magnitudes of the behavioral startle responses were significantly elevated in SHR vs. WKY rats with tactile, but not with acoustic stimulation. No significant differences were found between the two strains with respect to the latency, with which the startle responses occurred. These data indicate that SHR as compared to WKY rats respond to repeated stimulation with two different stimulus modalities (tactile and acoustic) with significantly increased pressor and tachycardic responses. This cardiovascular hyperreactivity is not due to different degrees of habituation between the two strains and can be observed even in the absence of significant differences in standard behavioral startle response measures.     

重度肥胖患者胃肠分流术后低氧血症机制的分析

目的　研究重度肥胖对胃肠分流术后动脉血氧分压的影响。方法　对 6 1例进行胃肠分流术的重度肥胖患者及 5 5例择期腹部手术的正常体重患者进行术前肺功能、术前及术后 1～ 5d的血气分析检测。结果　肥胖组术后1～ 5d、对照组术后 1～ 2d的动脉血氧分压较术前显著下降 (P <0 .0 5 ) ;肥胖组术后 1～ 2d动脉血氧分压与其最大分钟通气量及腰臀比显著相关 (P <0 .0 0 0 1)。结论　重度肥胖者较正常体重患者在腹部手术后发生低氧血症的程度较严重且持续时间长。     

Pre-irradiation chemotherapy in children with high-grade astrocytoma: Tumor response to two cycles of the ‘8-drugs-in-1-day’ regimen

SummaryPurpose This study was undertaken to evaluate the radiographie response to two cycles of chemotherapy prior to irradiation in newly diagnosed children with high-grade astrocytomas.Patients and methods. One hundred and thirty children less than 21 years of age with newly-diagnosed highgrade astrocytoma were treated with the eight-drugs-in-one-day chemotherapy regimen as part of a phase III multi-institutional Childrens Cancer Group (CCG) trial. Computerized Tomographic (CT) or Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) scans, obtained after two cycles of chemotherapy had been administered, were compared with post-operative scans to determine treatment response. Scans were evaluated by institutional radiologists, and were reviewed centrally by a single neuroradiologist.Results Of 79 patients with evaluable post-operative residual tumor on CT or MRI scans, 26 (33%) were determined on institutional evaluation to have had an objective response. However, central review of scans documented responses on only 14/79 (18%). A significantly higher response rate on central review was observed for those children 36 months of age or less at study entry than for older children (33% v 11%; p < 0.001). However, a higher disease progression rate was also observed for those children 36 months of age or less than for older children (21% v 2.6%; p < 0.001).Conclusion In this study, the largest yet reported in newly-diagnosed children with high-grade astrocytomas, the chemotherapy regimen has activity in younger children. The differences in response rates reported by institutional and central review highlight the difficulties inherent in assessing response to brain tumor therapy. However, the study does demonstrate the consistent ability of radiologists to identify disease progression within the institutional and central reviews.     

Amphetamine disrupts P50 suppression in normal subjects.

BACKGROUND: P50 suppression is viewed as an operational measure of sensory "gating" that is reduced in patients with schizophrenia and their family members. Previous reports have demonstrated that neural gating is regulated by monoaminergic tone in rodent models of P50 suppression. METHODS: In this study, 11 healthy subjects participated in P50 event-related potential recordings at baseline and after either oral administration of dextroamphetamine (.3 mg/kg) or placebo, to determine if the administration of a monoaminergic agonist produces P50 suppression deficits similar to those observed in patients with schizophrenia. RESULTS: As hypothesized, amphetamine disrupted the suppression of the P50 event-related potential. There was a statistically significant decrement in P50 suppression during the amphetamine challenge condition (t10 = 3.15, p < .01, mean difference = -44.1%, d = -2.5) relative to the baseline P50 condition. A comparison of P50 suppression in the placebo and amphetamine conditions (both after a baseline recording session) revealed a significant amphetamine-induced disruption of P50 suppression (t6 = 3.71, p < .01, mean difference = -54.4%, d = -3.14). CONCLUSIONS: The biochemical alterations associated with an amphetamine-induced disruption of P50 suppression in this study may be related to the pathophysiology of P50 suppression deficits in schizophrenia. The findings are consistent with several careful examinations of suppression deficits in rodent models that have identified the monoaminergic regulation of P50 suppression. These data indicate that amphetamine induces a disruption of P50 suppression in normal subjects.     

Critical review of the categorical structures of the core Conflictual Relationship Theme Method (CCRT)

The CCRT-method developed by Lester Luborsky is the most widespread and best established method to assess relationship structures in the field of psychodynamic psychotherapy research. Although its categorical structures are criticised in many different ways there have not been any attempts to modify them. This article points out the inconsistency of the current categorical system and demonstrates first approaches to alternative solutions. For this purpose genetic algorithms are used. Their application in psychotherapy research is demonstrated here for the first time.     

Regionally selective effects of intracerebral dopamine infusion on sensorimotor gating of the startle reflex in rats

Systemic administration of dopamine (DA) agonists markedly disrupts sensorimotor gating in rats as measured by prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle response. A qualitatively similar, but quantitatively weaker disruption of PPI follows DA infusion into the nucleus accumbens (NAC). The present study was designed to determine whether forebrain DA terminal fields other than the NAC contribute to the DAergic modulation of PPI. PPI was impaired significantly after infusion of DA (0–40 µg) into the NAC or anteromedial striatum, but not after DA infusion into the orbital cortex or posterolateral striatum. DA infusion into the amygdala also disrupted PPI, but this disruption was accompanied by a dose-dependent decrease in startle amplitude. These results suggest that DA overactivity in the both NAC and anteromedial striatum contribute to the gating-disruptive effects of systemically administered DA agonists, and that DA overactivity in mesocortical, mesoamygdaloid and non-limbic mesostriatal DA systems are not major substrates for a DAergic modulation of PPI.     

The neural substrates of sensorimotor gating of the startle reflex: a review of recent findings and their implications

The startle reflex is a contraction of the skeletal and facial musculature in response to an intense sensory stimulus. While the 'primary' neural control of startle involves brain structures at, or below, the level of the mesencephalon, the startle reflex (SR) exhibits several forms of plasticity that are modulated by the forebrain. Sensorimotor gating of the SR occurs when the reflex is inhibited by a weak 'pre-pulse' that occurs 30-500 ms prior to the startling stimulus. Since 'pre-pulse inhibition' (PPI) of startle may be impaired in certain psychiatric and neurologic disorders (e.g. schizophrenia, schizotypal personality disorder and Huntington's disease), there has been considerable interest in determining the neural substrates of this form of startle plasticity. In rats, PPI is modulated by neural elements linking the limbic cortex with the striatum and pallidum. These substrates may include hippocampal glutamate efferents to the ventral striatum and striatal GABAergic efferents to the ventral pallidum. The striatal dopaminergic modulation of PPI appears to involve primarily D2, but not D1, receptors. Pallidal efferents may impinge directly on the 'primary' startle circuitry via projections to the mesencephalon or, indirectly, via projections to the thalamus. Evidence is reviewed for other neurochemical substrates of PPI-including acetylcholine and opiates. Sensorimotor gating of the startle reflex appears to have a discrete and identifiable set of neural substrates that may be important for our understanding of neuropsychiatric disorders characterized by deficient suppression or 'gating' of sensory, cognitive or motor processes.     

LSD-induced alterations of locomotor patterns and exploration in rats

A free exploration test was used to examine the effects of LSD on investigatory responding and locomotor activity in a novel environment. Rats were injected with 20–30 g/kg LSD or saline prior to being placed in a home cage. After 10 min, a door was opened permitting entry into a larger holeboard chamber where crossovers, rearings, hole pokes, and routes of locomotion were monitored. When administered either 10 or 30 min prior to testing, LSD reduced the time spent in the holeboard chamber only during the first half of a 1-h session, resulting in a corresponding reduction in all holeboard activity measures. In the subsequent 30 min, LSD-treated rats maintained a steady level of responding, in contrast to the continual derement exhibited by controls. Despite their initial avoidance of the holeboard, LSD-treated rats made consistently longer hole pokes into floor holes and showed a more diversified pattern of locomotion than did controls throughout the 1-h session. Most striking was the failure of LSD-treated rats to establish the stereotyped excursion routes, characteristic of controls, from the home cage to various parts of the holeboard. It is suggested that LSD potentiates both neophobic (avoidance) and investigatory responses to a novel environment by retarding the rate of behavioral habituation.