Motor inhibition and cognitive flexibility in eating disorder subtypes

Anorexia Nervosa (AN) and Bulimia Nervosa (BN) are complex Eating Disorders (EDs). Even if are considered two different diagnostic categories, they share clinical relevant characteristics. The evaluation of neurocognitive functions, using standardized neuropsychological assessment, could be a interesting approach to better understand differences and similarities between diagnostic categories and clinical subtypes in EDs thus improving our knowledge of the pathophisiology of EDs spectrum. This study explored cognitive flexibility and motor inhibition in patients with AN considering both Restricter and Binge/Purge subtypes, patients with BN and healthy comparisons subjects (HC). Intra-Extra Dimentional Set shifting Test and Stop Signal Task, selected from CANTAB battery, were administered to analyzed set-shifting and motor inhibition respectively. AN patients showed a deficient motor inhibition compared to HC, while no evidence for impaired motor inhibition was found in BN patients; a significant relationship between commission errors in the Stop Signal Task and attentional impulsiveness was found. Moreover, no difference in set-shifting abilities was found comparing all clinician groups and HC. So our results indicated no cognitive impairment in these two cognitive functions in BN patients, while AN and BN showed different performances in motor inhibition. A similar cognitive profile was found in other obsessive compulsive spectrum disorders. Finally, the paper suggests a new interactive approach for the study of cognitive profile in psychiatric disorders; it might be more useful since it is more closely related to the executive functions complexity.     

A Probabilistic Classification Tool for Genetic Subtypes of Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma with Therapeutic Implications

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Comparative analysis of the fate of donor dendritic cells and B cells and their influence on alloreactive T cell responses under tacrolimus immunosuppression

We have shown that tacrolimus (TAC)-induced liver allograft acceptance is associated with migration and persistence of donor B cells and dendritic cells (DC). To clarify whether these MHC class II+ leukocytes have favorable roles in inducing tolerance, we analyzed recipient T cell reactions after allogeneic B or DC infusion. LEW rat B cells localized exclusively in BN host B cell follicles without any direct contact with host T cells. While few donor DC migrated to T cell areas and marginal zones, they were captured by host APC, suggesting that allogeneic MHC class II+ cells may induce immune reactions via the indirect pathway. Although DC-infused non-immunosuppressed recipients showed enhanced ex vivo anti-donor responses, persistent in vitro donor-specific hyporeactivity was seen equally with donor DC or B cell infusion under TAC. The results indicate that donor MHC class II+ APC are capable of regulating recipient immune reactions under TAC. Possible involvement of the indirect pathway of allorecognition is discussed.     

Genotoxicity of monosodium glutamate

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is one of the most widely used flavor enhancers throughout the world. The aim of this study is to investigate the genotoxic potential of MSG by using chromosome aberrations (CAs), sister-chromatid exchanges (SCEs), cytokinesis-blocked micronucleus (CBMN), and random amplified polymorphic DNA-polimerase chain reaction (RAPD-PCR) in cultured human lymphocytes and alkaline comet assays in isolated human lymphocytes, which were incubated with six concentrations (250, 500, 1000, 2000, 4000 and 8000 μg/mL) of MSG. The result of this study indicated that MSG significantly and dose dependently increased the frequencies of CAs, SCE and MN in all treatments and times, compared with control. However, the replication (RI) and nuclear division indices (NDI) were not affected. In this paper, in vitro genotoxic effects of the MSG was also investigated on human peripheral lymphocytes by analysing the RAPD-PCR with arbitrary 10-mer primers. The changes occurring in RAPD profiles after MSG treatment include increase or decrease in band intensity and gain or loss of bands. In the comet assay, this additive caused DNA damage at all concentrations in isolated human lymphocytes after 1-h in vitro exposure. Our results demonstrate that MSG is genotoxic to the human peripheral blood lymphocytes in vitro.     

Roles of BN52021 in platelet-activating factor pathway in inflammatory MS1 cells

AIM: To determine the effects of BN52021 on platelet-activating factor receptor (PAFR) signaling molecules under lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory conditions in MS1 cells. METHODS: MS1 cells (a mouse pancreatic islet endothelial cell line) were grown in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, 2 mmol/L glutamine and 100 μg/mL penicillin/streptomycin in 5% CO 2 at 37 ℃. After growth to confluency in media, the cells were processed for subsequent studies. The MS1 cells received 0, 0.1, 1 and 10 μg/mL LPS in this experiment. The viability/prolifera-tion of the cells induced by LPS was observed using a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide colorimetric assay. Apoptosis and necrosis of the cells under the inflammatory condition described previously were observed using Hoechst 33342-propidium iodide staining. Adenylate cyclase (AC), phospholipase A 2 (PLA 2 ), phospholipase Cβ (PLCβ), protein tyrosine kinase (PTK), G protein-coupled receptor kinases (GRK) and p38-mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) mRNA in the PAFR signaling pathway were measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction. The protein expression level of phosphorylated AC (p-AC), phosphorylated PLA 2 (p-PLA 2 ), phosphorylated PTK (p-PTK), phosphorylated p38 MAPK (p-p38 MAPK), PLCβ and GRK was measured using Western blotting analysis. RESULTS: The activity of MS1 cells incubated with dif- ferent concentrations of LPS for 6 h decreased significantly in the 1 μg/mL LPS group (0.49 ± 0.10 vs 0.67 ± 0.13, P < 0.05) and 10 μg/mL LPS group (0.44 ± 0.10 vs 0.67 ± 0.13, P < 0.001), but not in 0.1 μg/mL group. When the incubation time was extended to 12 h (0.33 ± 0.05, 0.32 ± 0.03 and 0.25 ± 0.03 vs 0.69 ± 0.01) and 24 h (0.31 ± 0.01, 0.29 ± 0.03 and 0.25 ± 0.01 vs 0.63 ± 0.01), MS1 cell activity decreased in all LPS concentration groups compared with the blank control (P < 0.001). BN52021 significantly improved the cell activity when its concentration     

Which personal,behavioural, environmental,and social factors are important in smoking cessation and relapse in male manual workers? A qualitative study in southeast England

Background

In most developed countries, the prevalence of smoking remains stubbornly high in lower socioeconomic groups. Male manual workers in England are more than twice as likely as those in managerial and professional occupations to smoke (26% vs 11%), find it more difficult to quit, and have the highest relapse rates. We sought to determine perceived factors in smoking cessation and relapse in this hard-to-reach group to inform the development of effective stop smoking services and public health efforts to reduce the health inequality caused by smoking.

血小板激活因子拮抗剂BN52021对大鼠肝脏缺血再灌注损伤的保护作用

目的　研究血小板激活因子拮抗剂ＢＮ５２０２１对大鼠缺血再灌注损伤肝脏的影响。方法　将大鼠分成３组,对照组未行缺血及药物治疗,缺血再灌注损伤组,ＢＮ５２０２１治疗组,比较各组血清谷丙转氨酶（ＡＬＴ）、谷草转氨酶（ＡＳＴ）、碱性磷酸酶（ＡＫＰ）、γ－ＧＴ等各项指标,肝脏的细胞能荷。结果　用血小板激活因子拮抗剂治疗组血清ＡＬＫ、ＡＳＴＩ、ＡＫＰ、γ－ＧＴ均较缺血再灌注损伤组显著降低,能荷水平明显升高。结论　表明ＢＮ５２０２１用于大鼠肝脏缺血再灌注治疗可减少肝脏的损害,提示血小板激活因子（ＰＡＹ）对肝脏缺血再灌注损伤的发生起一定作用,ＢＮ５２０２１有可能用于肝脏缺血再灌注损伤的治疗。     

Mechanical evaluation of the Bravos afterloader system for HDR brachytherapy

PurposeThe Bravos afterloader system was released by Varian Medical Systems in October of 2018 for high-dose-rate brachytherapy with ¹⁹²Ir sources, containing new features such as the CamScale (a new device for daily quality assurance and system recalibration), channel length verification, and different settings for rigid and flexible applicators. This study mechanically evaluated the Bravos system precision and accuracy for clinically relevant scenarios, using dummy sources.Methods and MaterialsThe system was evaluated after three sets of experiments: (1) The CamScale was used to verify inter- and intra-channel dwelling variability and system calibration; (2) A high-speed camera was used to verify the source simulation cable movement inside a transparent quality assurance device, where dwell positions, dwell times, transit times, speed profiles, and accelerations were measured; (3) The source movement inside clinical applicators was captured with an imaging panel while being exposed to an external kV source. Measured and planned dwell positions and times were compared.ResultsMaximum deviations between planned and measured dwell positions and times for the source cable were 0.4 mm for the CamScale measurements and 0.07 seconds for the high-speed camera measurements. Mean dwell position deviations inside clinical applicators were below 1.2 mm for all applicators except the ring that required an offset correction of 1 mm to achieve a mean deviation of 0.4 mm.ConclusionsFeatures of the Bravos afterloader system provide a robust and precise treatment delivery. All measurements were within manufacturer specifications.     

Comparison of Bayes Classifiers for Breast Cancer Classification

Data analytics play vital roles in diagnosis and treatment in the health care sector. To enable practitioner decisionmaking,huge volumes of data should be processed with machine learning techniques to produce tools for predictionand classification. Diseases like breast cancer can be classified based on the nature of the tumor. Finding an effectivealgorithm for classification should help resolve the challenges present in analyzing large volume of data. The objectivewith this paper was to present a report on the performance of Bayes classifiers like Tree Augmented Naive Bayes(TAN), Boosted Augmented Naive Bayes (BAN) and Bayes Belief Network (BBN). Among the three approaches, TANproduced the best performance regarding classification and accuracy. The results obtained provide clear evidence forbenefits of TAN usage in breast cancer classification. Applications of various machine learning algorithms could clearlyassist breast cancer control efforts for identification, prediction, prevention and health care planning.     

BN ProSpec特定蛋白分析仪常见故障实例分析

本文对BN ProSpec特定蛋白分析仪的常见故障进行了分析,并对故障排除过程给予了总结。