Ammonium Salts Promote Functional Adaptation of Rat Erythrocytes on the Model of Forced Swimming

Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine - Ammonium, an end-product of catabolism, in low doses can promote adaptation of metabolic pathways in erythrocytes under conditions of extreme...     

Diabetes mellitus, hypertension and medial temporal lobe atrophy: the LADIS study.

HYPOTHESIS: Based on recent findings on the association between vascular risk factors and hippocampal atrophy, we hypothesized that hypertension and diabetes mellitus (DM) are associated with medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA) in subjects without disability, independent of the severity of white matter hyperintensities. METHODS: In the Leukoaraiosis And DISability in the elderly (LADIS) study, we investigated the relationships between DM, hypertension, blood pressure and MTA in 582 subjects, stratified by white matter hyperintensity severity, using multinomial logistic regression. MTA was visually scored for the left and right medial temporal lobe (score 0-4), and meaned. RESULTS: Mean age was 73.5 years (sd 5.1), 54% was female. Of the subjects, 15% had DM, and 70% had a history of hypertension. The likelihood of having MTA score 3 was significantly higher in subjects with DM (OR 2.9; 95% CI: 1.1-7.8) compared with an MTA score of 0 (no atrophy). The odds ratio for MTA score 2 was not significantly increased (OR 1.8; CI: 0.9-4). Systolic and diastolic blood pressure and a history of hypertension were not associated with MTA. There was no interaction between DM and hypertension. Stratification on white matter hyperintensities (WMH) did not alter the associations. CONCLUSION: Our study strengthens the observation that MTA is associated with DM, independently of the amount of small vessel disease as reflected by WMH.     

NF1 mutations in neurofibromatosis 1 patients with plexiform neurofibromas

Neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1) is an autosomal dominant disorder caused by genetic alterations of the NF1 gene on 17q11.2. About 30% of NF1 patients develop plexiform neurofibromas (PNFs), which often cause severe clinical deficits. To determine whether there is a certain genotype underlying PNFs or subtypes of PNFs, we screened 42 NF1 patients from 41 families with PNFs for mutations in the NF1 gene. In 33 out of the 41 (80%) unrelated patients NF1 mutations were found, 24 are novel while the other 9 have been described in previous studies. The 33 mutations included 23 nonsense and frameshift, six splice and four missense mutations. The tumors in these patients had various sizes and features/growth characteristics. No correlation was found between the type or location of the NF1 mutations and size, location or feature of the PNFs, suggesting that many types of NF1 mutations can lead to development of PNFs.