Genetic analysis of Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato ticks,parasites of dogs in the Canary Islands,Cyprus, and Croatia,based on mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene sequences

Parasitology Research - The aim of this work was to perform an analysis based on mtDNA sequences of the 16S rRNA gene in order to determine the phylogenetic position of ticks belonging to the...     

Subjective cognitive-affective status following thalamic stroke

Previous patient studies suggest that thalamic stroke may yield persistent deficits in several cognitive domains. At present, the subjective dimension and everyday relevance of these impairments is unclear, since many patients with thalamic stroke only show minor changes on physical examination. Here, we have studied subjective consequences of focal thalamic lesions. A sample of 68 patients with a history of ischemic thalamic stroke was examined by using established clinical self-report questionnaires assessing memory, attention, executive functions, emotional status and health-related quality of life. In order to control for general factors related to cerebrovascular disease, self-reports were compared to an age-matched group of 34 patients with a history of transient ischemic attack. Thalamic lesions were co-registered to an atlas of the human thalamus. Lesion overlap and subtraction analyses were used for lesion-to-symptom mapping. When both patient groups were compared, no significant differences were found for either questionnaire. However, when subgroups were compared, patients with infarctions involving the posterior thalamus showed significant emotional disturbances and elevated anxiety levels compared to patients with more anterior lesions. Our findings thus point to the existence of a persistent affective impairment associated with chronic lesions of the posterior thalamus. This syndrome may result from damage to connections between medial pulvinar and extra-thalamic regions involved in affective processing. Our findings suggest that the posterior thalamus may contribute significantly to the regulation of mood.     

How Many Sonograms Are Needed to Reliably Predict the Absence of Fetal Overgrowth in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Pregnancies?

OBJECTIVE

Serial measurements of the fetal abdominal circumference have been used to guide metabolic management of pregnancies complicated by gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). A reduction in the number of repeat ultrasound examinations would save resources. Our purpose was to determine the number of serial abdominal circumference measurements per patient necessary to reliably predict the absence of fetal overgrowth.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Women who had GDM were asked to return for repeat ultrasound at 3- to 4-week intervals starting at initiation of care (mean 26.9 ± 5.7 weeks). Maternal risk factors associated with fetal overgrowth were determined.

RESULTS

A total of 4,478 ultrasound examinations were performed on 1,914 subjects (2.3 ± 1.2 per pregnancy). Of the 518 women with fetal abdominal circumference >90th percentile, it was diagnosed in 73.9% with the first ultrasound examination at entry and in 13.1% with the second ultrasound examination. Of the fetuses, 85.9 and 86.9% of the fetuses were born non-large for gestational age (LGA) when abdominal circumference was <90th percentile at 24–27 weeks and 28–32 weeks, respectively, and 88.0% were born non-LGA when both scans showed normal growth. For those women who had no risk factors for fetal overgrowth (risk factors: BMI >30 kg/m², history of macrosomia, and fasting glucose > 100 mg/dl), the accuracy of prediction of a non-LGA neonate was 90.0, 89.5, and 95.2%. The predictive ability did not increase with more than two normal scans.

CONCLUSIONS

The yield of sonographic diagnosis of a large fetus drops markedly after the finding of a fetal abdominal circumference <90th percentile on two sonograms, which excludes with high reliability the risk of a LGA newborn. The ability was enhanced in women who had no risk factors for neonatal macrosomia.The recommendations for diagnosis and treatment of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) of the Fifth International Workshop-Conference on Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (1) suggest consideration of fetal growth patterns to guide metabolic management of pregnant women with GDM. Estimation of fetal weight, particularly at term and in fetuses with high neonatal weight, is not as precise as is desirable (2). However, enlarged size (3–6) and accelerated growth velocity of the fetal abdominal circumference in the third trimester is known to predict large-for-gestational-age (LGA) birth weight (7). Previous randomized studies have demonstrated that measurement of the fetal abdominal circumference throughout pregnancy in women who have GDM is useful to identify pregnancies at high risk for fetal overgrowth and therefore in need of intensified intervention (8–11). On the other side, relaxed glycemic goals had been allowed in women with sonographic evidence of normal fetal growth. Besides saving insulin therapy, this approach reduced the rate of fetal growth restriction in the fetuses of those women. Published protocols for fetal growth–based management require sonographic determination of fetal abdominal circumference at the time of diagnosis of GDM (8–11) followed by repeat examinations at 2 (11)- to 4-week intervals (9,10). Serial sonographic examinations are costly and require the time and expertise of experienced ultrasonographers and/or physicians.The purpose of our study was to determine the number of sequential ultrasound examinations necessary not to miss development of an enlarged abdominal circumference during pregnancy and to assure a low risk for a LGA neonate with a great degree of certainty when the scans suggest normal fetal growth. In addition, we wished to evaluate whether the absence of maternal risk factors for neonatal macrosomia would enhance the accuracy of the ultrasound examination predicting a non-LGA neonate.     

Neuroanatomical profiles of alexithymia dimensions and subtypes

Alexithymia, a major risk factor for a range of psychiatric and neurological disorders, has been recognized to comprise two dimensions, a cognitive dimension (difficulties identifying, analyzing, and verbalizing feelings) and an affective one (difficulties emotionalizing and fantasizing). Based on these dimensions, the existence of four distinct alexithymia subtypes has been proposed, but never empirically tested. In this study, 125 participants were assigned to four groups corresponding to the proposed alexithymia subtypes: Type I (impairment on both dimensions), Type II (impairment on the cognitive, but not the affective dimension), Type III (impairment on the affective, but not the cognitive dimension), and Lexithymics (no impairment on either dimension). By means of voxel‐based morphometry, associations of the alexithymia dimensions and subtypes with gray and white matter volumes were analyzed. Type I and Type II alexithymia were characterized by gray matter volume reductions in the left amygdala and the thalamus. The cognitive dimension was further linked to volume reductions in the right amygdala, left posterior insula, precuneus, caudate, hippocampus, and parahippocampus. Type III alexithymia was marked by volume reduction in the MCC only, and the affective dimension was further characterized by larger sgACC volume. Moreover, individuals with the intermediate alexithymia Types II and III showed gray matter volume reductions in distinct regions, and had larger corpus callosum volumes compared to Lexithymics. These results substantiate the notion of a differential impact of the cognitive and affective alexithymia dimensions on brain morphology and provide evidence for separable neuroanatomical representations of the different alexithymia subtypes. Hum Brain Mapp 36:3805–3818, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Impaired Cognition after Stimulation of P2Y1 Receptors in the Rat Medial Prefrontal Cortex

We hypothesize that cortical ATP and ADP accumulating in the extracellular space, eg during prolonged network activity, contribute to a decline in cognitive performance in particular via stimulation of the G protein-coupled P2Y₁ receptor (P2Y₁R) subtype. Here, we report first evidence on P2Y₁R-mediated control of cognitive functioning in rats using bilateral microinfusions of the selective agonist MRS2365 into medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). MRS2365 attenuated prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle reflex while having no impact on startle amplitude. Stimulation of P2Y₁Rs deteriorated performance accuracy in the delayed non-matching to position task in a delay dependent manner and increased the rate of magazine entries consistent with both working memory disturbances and impaired impulse control. Further, MRS2365 significantly impaired performance in the reversal learning task. These effects might be related to MRS2365-evoked increase of dopamine observed by microdialysis to be short-lasting in mPFC and long-lasting in the nucleus accumbens. P2Y₁Rs were identified on pyramidal cells and parvalbumin-positive interneurons, but not on tyrosine hydroxylase-positive fibers, which argues for an indirect activation of dopaminergic afferents in the cortex by MRS2365. Collectively, these results suggest that activation of P2Y₁Rs in the mPFC impairs inhibitory control and behavioral flexibility mediated by increased mesocorticolimbic activity and local disinhibition.     

Travel-associated Coxiella burnetii infections: three cases of Q fever with different clinical manifestation

BACKGROUND: Certain activities expose travellers to Coxiella burnetii, the causative agent of acute human Q fever. Awareness of Q fever must be improved, also as a potential imported disease, but delayed seroconversion and serological cross-reactivity complicate the diagnosis. Granulomatous inflammation of liver and bone marrow can be typical histopathological findings. CASE PRESENTATIONS: We present three imported cases of Q fever with different clinical presentations, in which the travel history identified the sources of infection. CONCLUSIONS: Q fever should be suspected in any imported febrile disease of unknown origin. Clinical manifestations are variable and repeated serological testing is mandatory. In some cases diagnostic biopsies might help to establish early diagnosis.     

Short-term effects of air temperature on blood markers of coagulation and inflammation in potentially susceptible individuals

Objectives Changes in air temperature are associated with an increase in cardiovascular events, but the role of procoagulant and proinflammatory blood markers is still poorly understood. The authors investigated the association between air temperature and fibrinogen, plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1, interleukin-6 and high-sensitivity C reactive protein in two potentially susceptible groups. Methods This prospective panel study was conducted between March 2007 and December 2008 in Augsburg, Germany. The study population comprised 187 participants with type 2 diabetes mellitus or impaired glucose tolerance and 87 participants with genetic polymorphisms on the detoxification and inflammation pathways. Overall, 1766 repeated blood measurements were collected. Hourly meteorology data were available from a central measurement site. The association between temperature and blood markers was analysed with additive mixed models. Results For type 2 diabetes mellitus and impaired glucose tolerance participants, the authors observed immediate, lagged and cumulative increases in fibrinogen (range of percentage changes in geometric mean: 0.6%-0.8%) and plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (6.0%-10.1%) in association with a 5°C temperature decrement. Participants with a body mass index above 30 kg/m(2) as well as females showed particularly strong fibrinogen effects. In participants with the special genetic background, 5°C decreases in the 5-day average of temperature led to a change of 8.0% (95% CI 0.5% to 16.2%) in interleukin-6 and of -8.4% (95% CI -15.8% to -0.3%) in high-sensitivity C reactive protein, the latter driven by physically active individuals. Conclusions The authors observed different temperature effects on blood markers in two potentially susceptible groups probably indicating varying underlying biological mechanisms. This study results might provide a link between temperature and cardiovascular events.