Fatal encephalitis in a patient with refractory celiac disease presenting with myorhythmia and carpal spasm.

We report the case of a woman with refractory celiac disease who developed abnormal spontaneous movements of the extremities and face consistent with myorhythmia. Investigation led to a diagnosis of encephalitis, confirmed by postmortem examination. The movements were likely caused by nonparaneoplastic encephalitis associated with refractory celiac disease. Etiologic and diagnostic considerations and treatment options are discussed.     

Gender differences in facial reactions to facial expressions

This study explored whether males and females differ in facial muscle reactivity when exposed to facial expressions. The study also examined whether the sex of the stimulus faces differentially influences the response patterns to facial stimuli. Thus, the sex was manipulated in a 2 x 2 factorial design by exposing males and females to slides of angry and happy faces displayed by both sexes. Facial electromyographic (EMG) activity was measured from the corrugator and zygomatic muscle regions. The subjects were also required to rate the stimuli on different dimensions. The results showed that angry faces evoked increased corrugator activity whereas happy faces evoked increased zygomatic activity. As predicted, these effects were more pronounced for females, particularly for the response to happy faces. Interestingly, there were no facial EMG effects for gender of stimulus. It was further found that males and females perceived the stimuli similarly. The results are consistent with previous findings indicating that females are more facially reactive than are males.     

K-ras and B-raf gene mutations are not associated with gastrin- and CCK2-receptor mRNA expression in human colorectal tumour tissues

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer is a multistep process caused by genetic alterations in cell growth regulatory genes such as K-ras and B-raf. It has been assumed that mutations in the K-ras gene induce gastrin gene expression and that gastrin stimulates the growth of colorectal cancer in an autocrine fashion by coexpressing gastrin and cholecystokinin (CCK)2 receptors. The aim of this study was to examine a possible association of K-ras and B-raf gene mutations with gastrin and CCK2 receptor mRNA expression in human colon and rectum tumour biopsy specimens. METHODS: K-ras and B-raf gene mutations as well as gastrin and CCK2 receptor mRNA expression in 50 colon and 46 rectum biopsies, respectively, were determined using molecular biology methods. RESULTS: K-ras mutations occurred in 44% colon and 30% rectum and B-raf mutations in 16% colon and 4% rectum tumours, respectively. Gastrin mRNA was expressed in 64% colon and 61% rectum tumours, whereas CCK2 receptor mRNAs was expressed in 32% colon and 13% rectum tumours. K-ras or B-raf gene mutations and simultaneous gastrin mRNA expression was observed in 40% colon and 17% rectum tumours, respectively. Co-expression of gastrin and CCK2 receptor mRNA occurred in 20% colon and 9% rectal tumours. CONCLUSIONS: The results do not support the hypothesis that K-ras and B-raf gene mutations have an impact on gastrin- and CCK-receptor mRNA expression in colorectal tumour tissues.     

alphaB-crystallin promotes tumor angiogenesis by increasing vascular survival during tube morphogenesis

Selective targeting of endothelial cells in tumor vessels requires delineation of key molecular events in formation and survival of blood vessels within the tumor microenvironment. To this end, proteins transiently up-regulated during vessel morphogenesis were screened for their potential as targets in antiangiogenic tumor therapy. The molecular chaperone alphaB-crystallin was identified as specifically induced with regard to expression level, modification by serine phosphorylation, and subcellular localization during tubular morphogenesis of endothelial cells. Small interfering RNA-mediated knockdown of alphaB-crystallin expression did not affect endothelial proliferation but led to attenuated tubular morphogenesis, early activation of proapoptotic caspase-3, and increased apoptosis. alphaB-crystallin was expressed in a subset of human tumor vessels but not in normal capillaries. Tumors grown in alphaB-crystallin(-/-) mice were significantly less vascularized than wild-type tumors and displayed increased areas of apoptosis/necrosis. Importantly, tumor vessels in alphaB-crystallin(-/-) mice were leaky and showed signs of caspase-3 activation and extensive apoptosis. Ultrastructural analyses showed defective vessels partially devoid of endothelial lining. These data strongly implicate alphaB-crystallin as an important regulator of tubular morphogenesis and survival of endothelial cell during tumor angiogenesis. Hereby we identify the small heat shock protein family as a novel class of angiogenic modulators.     

Facial reactions, autonomic activity and experienced emotion: a three component model of emotional conditioning

The present study was designed to evaluate whether aversively conditioned responses to facial stimuli are detectable in all three components of the emotional response system, i.e. the expressive/behavioral, the physiological/autonomic and the cognitive/experienced component of emotion. Two groups of subjects were conditioned to angry or happy facial expression stimuli using a 100 dB noise as UCS in a differential aversive conditioning paradigm. The three components of the emotional response system were measured as: Facial-EMG reactions (corrugator and zygomatic muscle regions); autonomic activity (skin conductance, SCR; SCR half recovery time, T/2; heart rate, HR); and ratings of experienced emotion. It was found that responses in all components of the emotional response system were detectable in the angry group as greater EMG and autonomic resistance to extinction and greater self-reported fear. More specifically the angry group showed a resistant conditioning effect for the facial-EMG corrugator muscle that was accompanied by resistant conditioning for SCR frequency, slower SCR recovery, resistant conditioning in HR and a higher self-reported fear than the happy group. Thus, aversive conditioning to angry facial stimuli induce a uniform negative emotional response pattern as indicated by all three components of the emotional response system. These data suggest that a negative 'affect program' triggers responses in the different emotional components. The results suggest that human subjects are biologically prepared to react with a negative emotion to angry facial stimuli.