Distribution and prevalence of Wolbachia in Japanese populations of Lepidoptera

Wolbachia are cytoplasmically inherited bacteria that are reported to infect at least 18-30% of all insect species. Our survey of Lepidoptera indicated that 44.9% of forty-nine species and 77.8% of nine families tested positive for Wolbachia using PCR with wsp primers. Nineteen species had not been described previously as infected. In particular, although Pieris rapae, which is a common species in Japan, is infected by Wolbachia, the prevalence was very low (3.4%) and there were some localities where Wolbachia could not be detected. The probability of detection of Wolbachia depends on the number of screened individuals of P. rapae. The results indicate that the actual number of species that are positive for Wolbachia may be higher than previously reported.     

Challenging the neuronal MIBG uptake by pharmacological intervention: effect of a single dose of oral amitriptyline on regional cardiac MIBG uptake

Purpose Imaging with metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) is used for the assessment of neuronal dysfunction in various cardiovascular disorders. Although valuable information is obtained by resting MIBG imaging, it is conceivable that competitive interference with the re-uptake mechanism would exaggerate MIBG defects and might unmask subclinical neuronal dysfunction. Tricyclic antidepressants, such as amitriptyline, have been reported to significantly increase cardiac MIBG washout and inhibit uptake into presynaptic neurons. This study was undertaken to assess whether a single oral dose of amitriptyline could influence cardiac MIBG distribution.Methods Six patients (aged 62–81 years; four males, two females) who had demonstrated a normal cardiac MIBG scan during work-up for movement disorders were studied. The patients underwent a second ¹²³I-MIBG study after oral administration of 25 mg amitriptyline within 1 week. Single-photon emission computed tomography images were acquired at 4 h to assess the regional distribution of MIBG, after generation of polar maps and employing a 20-segment model. Mean percentage of peak activity was calculated for each segment at rest and after amitriptyline administration.Results After amitriptyline administration, there was a decrease in regional MIBG uptake in 10±4 segments per patient [62/120 segments (52%): 37 segments with a 5–10% decrease, 25 segments with a >10% decrease]. This change was statistically significant in lateral (P=0.003), apical (P<0.0001) and inferior (P=0.03) regions.Conclusion A single oral dose of amitriptyline can induce changes in the uptake and retention of cardiac MIBG, indicating the feasibility of use of pharmacological intervention in cardiac neurotransmission imaging.     

Prevalence of urinary,fecal and double incontinence in the elderly living at home

The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of urinary, fecal and double incontinence in the elderly, through a population-based cross-sectional survey. The study included all patients aged 60 and over of nine general practices in the Nijmegen Monitoring Project. Patients living in a home for the elderly were excluded, as well as patients with dementia, patients who were too ill to participate and patients with a catheter. There were 5278 selected patients who received a postal questionnaire. Of these, 88% returned it. Nineteen percent of the respondents had involuntary loss of urine twice a month or more, 6% loss of feces and 3% both. The prevalence of urinary, fecal and double incontinence increased with age in both men and women, and especially in men in the oldest age group. Urinary incontinence was more prevalent in women than in men. The prevalence of fecal incontinence showed no sex differences, but the type of fecal incontinence did differ between men and women. In men loss of mucus was twice as common as in women. Double incontinence was also equally prevalent in men and women, except in the age group 65–74 years. In conclusion, urinary, fecal and double incontinence are common conditions in the community-dwelling population. The prevalence rates increase with age. Urinary incontinence is more prevalent in women. There were no sex differences in the prevalence of fecal incontinence but the type of fecal incontinence was different in men and women.Abbreviations FI Fecal incontinence - UI Urinary incontinence Editorial Comment: This large population-based survey looked at the prevalence of urinary, fecal, and double incontinence in women and men in the Netherlands. The fact that the authors were able to get an 88% return on their questionnaire demonstrates the utility of having primary care physicians involved in gaining pertinent information from patients. The response rate for specialists attempting such surveys on their own is grossly inferior to what these authors were able to accomplish. Although there was a higher prevalence of urinary incontinence in women, there was no difference between men and women in the prevalence of fecal incontinence. More studies like this are needed to establish prevalence data for pelvic floor dysfunction in general.An erratum to this article can be found at     

Changes with age in the distribution of a frailty index

Models of human mortality include a factor that summarises intrinsic differences in individual rates of ageing, commonly called frailty. Frailty also describes a clinical syndrome of apparent vulnerability. In a representative, cross-sectional, Canadian survey (n = 66,589) we calculated a frailty index as the mean accumulation of deficits and previously showed it to increase exponentially with age. Here, its density function exhibited a monotonic change in shape, being least skewed at the oldest ages. Although the shape gradually changed, the frailty index was well fitted by a gamma distribution. Of note, the variation coefficient, initially high, decreased from middle age on. Being able to quantify frailty means that health risks can be summarised at both the individual and group levels.     

用GPC研究壳聚糖氧化降解过程中的分子量及其分布

用凝胶渗透色谱法跟踪研究了过氧化氢对壳聚糖氧化降解过程中壳聚糖的分子量及其分布的影响,结果表明,反应温度、时间和过氧化氢用量对壳聚糖的降解程度及降解产品质量均有影响。     

Trends in cigarette smoking among US adults with diabetes: findings from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

BACKGROUND: Smoking substantially increases morbidity and mortality rates in people with diabetes. Previous studies have shown that the prevalence of smoking among people with diabetes is similar to that among people without diabetes. We sought to examine temporal trends in the prevalence of smoking among people with diabetes since 1990. METHODS: We analyzed data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System for 1990-2001. RESULTS: The age-adjusted prevalence of smoking among adults with diabetes was 23.6% (men, 25.4%; women, 22.2%) in 1990 and 23.2% (men, 24.8%; women, 21.9%) in 2001. In comparison, the prevalence among participants without diabetes was 24.2% (men, 25.7%; women, 22.8%) in 1990 and 23.2% (men, 24.8%; women, 21.5%) in 2001. Thus, the prevalence of cigarette smoking was similar and remained stable from 1990 through 2001. Among participants with diabetes, significant decreases in the prevalence of smoking occurred among African Americans and those aged >/=65 years. CONCLUSIONS: New efforts and commitments to promote smoking cessation among people with diabetes are needed.     

Estrous cycle stage-dependent expression of acute tolerance to morphine analgesia in rats

Both baseline pain sensitivity and the response to antinociceptive treatment are sensitive to an animal's sex and estrous cycle stage. Sex differences are also observed in the development of antinociceptive tolerance induced by repetitive exposure to opiate drugs such as morphine. Conventional tolerance study protocols do not assess the impact of the estrous cycle stage. The present study aimed to compare the development of acute tolerance to morphine-induced antinociception in male and female (cycling and ovariectomized) Wistar rats using the tail-flick test. Acute tolerance was induced by two consecutive subcutaneous injections of morphine (10 mg/kg) or saline separated by an interval of 6 h. It was found that rats pretreated with morphine were tolerant to the second morphine dose. Tolerance was most pronounced in proestrous female rats and, to a lesser degree, in male rats. It was absent in ovariectomized rats as well as during the estrus, metestrus and diestrus phases. Thus, the estrous cycle exerts dramatic effects on the induction of acute tolerance to morphine-induced antinociception. These results suggest that pain management strategies can be optimized through the use of sex- and estrous cycle-specific techniques.     

Pharmacokinetics, blood partition and protein binding of DA-7867, a new oxazolidinone

The pharmacokinetics after single intravenous and single and consecutive 2 week oral administration, tissue distribution, in vitro tissue metabolism, stability, blood partition and protein binding of DA‐7867, a new oxazolidinone, were evaluated. After intravenous administration at a dose of 10mg/kg to rats, DA‐7867 was eliminated slowly with time‐averaged total body clearance of 0.915ml/min/kg. After consecutive 2 week oral administration at a dose of 2mg/kg/day to rats, DA‐7867 was accumulated in rats; the AUC was significantly greater (1430 versus 1880µg min/ml) than that after single oral administration at a dose of 2mg/kg. The rat tissues studied had low affinity to DA‐7867; the tissue‐to‐plasma ratios were smaller than unity after both intravenous and oral administration at a dose of 20mg/kg. The rat tissues studied had almost negligible metabolic activity for DA‐7867 based on 30min incubation of DA‐7867 with 9000 g supernatant fraction of rat tissues. DA‐7867 was stable for up to 24h incubation in various buffer solutions having pHs from 1 to 11, Sørensen phosphate buffer of pH 7.4, and rat plasma, urine and liver homogenate and 3h incubation in five human gastric juices. The binding of DA‐7867 to 4% human serum albumin was 50.6% at DA‐7867 concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 20µg/ml. The equilibrium of DA‐7867 between plasma and blood cells of rabbit blood reached fast (within 30s manual mixing), and the plasma‐to‐blood cell concentration ratios were independent of initial blood concentrations of DA‐7867, 1–20µg/ml; the values ranged from 1.39 to 1.63. Protein binding of DA‐7867 in five fresh rats plasma was 72.3%. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rat estrous cycle influences the sexual diergism of HPA axis stimulation by nicotine

We previously reported that female rats had significantly greater hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis responses to cholinergic stimulation by nicotine (NIC) than did male rats. Females in defined estrous cycle stages, however, were not studied because of sample size limitations. We further explored this finding by determining HPA axis responses to two doses of NIC in female rats (N = 101) during different estrous cycle stages, and in males (N = 69). NIC doses were: 0.3 mg/kg, which provided the greatest female-male difference in the earlier study, and 0.5 mg/kg, which stimulated the HPA axis similarly in the two sexes. Plasma AVP, ACTH, and corticosterone were measured. Proestrous and estrous females had higher ACTH responses to NIC (0.3 mg/kg) compared to metestrous and diestrous females, and compared to males. ACTH responses to NIC (0.5 mg/kg) were similar, regardless of estrous cycle stage or sex. Males had higher AVP responses to both NIC doses compared to females in all estrous cycle stages. Corticosterone responses followed the ACTH responses, except that females in all estrous stages started from a higher corticosterone baseline compared to males. These results are similar to our earlier findings across the estrous cycle with non-specific cholinergic stimulation by physostigmine and suggest that the nicotinic system contributes to the differential HPA axis responses to cholinergic challenge across the estrous cycle.     

Successive depth variations in microvascular distribution of rat somatosensory cortex

Although hemodynamic-based functional brain imaging techniques are powerful tools to explore the brain functions noninvasively, hemodynamic-based signal is strongly affected by spatial configuration of microvessels. Understanding the quantitative relations between microvascular structure and functional activity is therefore significant to make a valid signal interpretation for the imaging techniques. In the present study, we evaluated depth profiles of microvascular distributions in rat somatosensory subfields (barrel field, forelimb region, trunk region and hindlimb region) and characterized depth variations in microvascular structures, such as locations, lengths and directions of microvessels, throughout the cortical layers (I-VI). To obtain the accurate microvascular structure, we made a customized casting method by using confocal laser scanning microscope. We observed that microvascular distribution successively varied throughout the cortical layers (I-VI) and that the maximum number density of microvessels was consistently found in middle layers (III-V). In addition, superficial layers had relatively long microvessels, almost perpendicular to the cortical surface, whereas middle layers had short microvessels propagating in all directions. These regional differences in microvascular structures were closely related to the somatosensory subfields, e.g., barrel field was the greatest number density of microvessels among the investigated subfields. Based on these observations, we compared microvascular profiles with previously reported distribution patterns of tissue partial pressure of oxygen (pO2). The results showed that tissue pO2 was correlated with microvascular distribution in some but not all of the subfields. This finding shows that detailed microvascular profiles are helpful to investigate causal relationships between microvascular structure and functional activities in cerebral cortex.