Dopamine modulating agents alter individual subdomains of motivation-related behavior assessed by touchscreen procedures.

Development of novel treatments for motivational deficits experienced by individuals with schizophrenia and major depressive disorder requires procedures that reliably assess effort-related behavior in pre-clinical models. High-throughput touchscreen-based testing, that parallels the computerized assessment of human patients, offers a platform for the establishment of tasks with high level of translational validity. Considerable efforts have been made to validate the touchscreen version of tasks that measure the degree of effort an animal is willing to invest for a reward, such as progressive ratio task.

Altered theta and beta oscillatory synchrony in a genetic mouse model of pathological anxiety.

While the neural circuits mediating normal, adaptive defensive behaviors have been extensively studied, substantially less is currently known about the network mechanisms by which aberrant, pathological anxiety is encoded in the brain. Here we investigate in mice how deletion of Neuroligin-2 (Nlgn2), an inhibitory synapse-specific adhesion protein that has been associated with pathological anxiety and other psychiatric disorders, alters the communication between key brain regions involved in mediating defensive behaviors. To this end, we performed multi-site simultaneous local field potential (LFP) recordings from the basolateral amygdala (BLA), centromedial amygdala (CeM), bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and ventral hippocampus (vHPC) in an open field paradigm.

IgSF9b regulates anxiety behaviors through effects on centromedial amygdala inhibitory synapses.

Abnormalities in synaptic inhibition play a critical role in psychiatric disorders, and accordingly, it is essential to understand the molecular mechanisms linking components of the inhibitory postsynapse to psychiatrically relevant neural circuits and behaviors. Here we study the role of IgSF9b, an adhesion protein that has been associated with affective disorders, in the amygdala anxiety circuitry. We show that deletion of IgSF9b normalizes anxiety-related behaviors and neural processing in mice lacking the synapse organizer Neuroligin-2 (Nlgn2), which was proposed to complex with IgSF9b.

Auditory midbrain coding of statistical learning that results from discontinuous sensory stimulation.

Detecting regular patterns in the environment, a process known as statistical learning, is essential for survival. Neuronal adaptation is a key mechanism in the detection of patterns that are continuously repeated across short (seconds to minutes) temporal windows. Here, we found in mice that a subcortical structure in the auditory midbrain was sensitive to patterns that were repeated discontinuously, in a temporally sparse manner, across windows of minutes to hours.

Inhibition in the amygdala anxiety circuitry.

Inhibitory neurotransmission plays a key role in anxiety disorders, as evidenced by the anxiolytic effect of the benzodiazepine class of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor agonists and the recent discovery of anxiety-associated variants in the molecular components of inhibitory synapses. Accordingly, substantial interest has focused on understanding how inhibitory neurons and synapses contribute to the circuitry underlying adaptive and pathological anxiety behaviors. A key element of the anxiety circuitry is the amygdala, which integrates information from cortical and thalamic sensory inputs to generate fear and anxiety-related behavioral outputs.

Neuroligin 2 deletion alters inhibitory synapse function and anxiety-associated neuronal activation in the amygdala.

Neuroligin 2 (Nlgn2) is a synaptic adhesion protein that plays a central role in the maturation and function of inhibitory synapses. Nlgn2 mutations have been associated with psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, and in mice, deletion of Nlgn2 results in a pronounced anxiety phenotype. To date, however, the molecular and cellular mechanisms linking Nlgn2 deletion to psychiatric phenotypes remain completely unknown.

[Normovolemic hemodilution during surgical revascularization of the myocardium].

The hemodynamic efficiency of hydroxyethyl tarch 130/0.4 "Voluven" (HET) was investigated within a method of acute normovolemic hemodilution in 11 patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD) during the implementation of surgical revascularization of the myocardium under the conditions of extracorporeal artificial blood circulation. It was shown, that in case of invasive monitoring of central hemodynamic and of the oxygen-transport function of the blood circulation system, an exfusion of 13.

[Therapy of arterial hypertension with verapamil hydrochloride in patients after myocardial revascularization].

Verapamil hydrochloride, a calcium blocker from a group of phenyl alkylamines, was tested for its effect on central hemodynamics (CH) and blood oxygen-transporting function (BOTF) in 14 patients with arterial hypertension after surgical myocardial revascularization. CH and BOTF were studied by using a Swan-Hanz catheter and directly measuring blood pressure (BP). There was a significant reduction in BPmean, total peripheral vascular resistance index, left ventricular stroke outcome index, and oxygen delivery index.

[Classification of limited hyperkeratoses].

A classification of limited hyperkeratoses (LH) was developed for practical use in out-patient surgical practice on the basis of literature data and personal studies and observations over 630 patients. Hyperkeratoses are classified according to the etiological sign (mechanical damage to the skin, diseases and deformities of the locomotor apparatus-neurotrophic, genetic, miscellaneous), clinical course (acute LH-soft corn, uncomplicated and infected and chronic LH-dry corn or callus, uncomplicated and complicated with suppuration, formation of fistula, malignization), according to shape (spherical, ellipsoid, cone-shaped), according to localization (hand and foot, unilateral, bilateral, combined, palm, finger, toe, interdigital), according to size (small, moderate, large), and according to number (solitary, multiple). The cause of the disease in 452 patients was the mechanical effect of poorly fitting shoes and trauma caused by various objects.

[Methods and effectiveness of surgical treatment of limited hyperkeratoses with CO2 laser].

A method for surgical treatment of limited hyperkeratoses (LH) with CO2 laser was elaborated. Its essence consists in complete "evaporation" of corns within the boundaries of healthy tissues by means of a CO2 laser. Laser excision of LH was conducted in some patients.

[Some aspects of work at the city laser surgery center of Ashgabad].

During 7-year work 2,500 operations with a laser were performed for 52 diseases at the center. The authors studied the medico-economical data on the use of the laser techniques in the treatment of persisting wounds and trophic ulcers, cutaneous leishmaniasis, chronic anal fissure, purulent diseases of the soft tissues, epithelial coccygeal passage, ingrowing nail, and localized hyperkeratosis. A comparison group consisted of patients who received traditional treatment.

[The primary postponed radical surgical treatment of acute suppurative paraproctitis].

The method of primarily postponed radical surgical treatment of acute purulent paraproctitis consists in puncture of the abscess, introduction of a double-channel drain, and continuous drop irrigation of the cavity for 1-2 days with antiseptic solutions and active aspiration for preoperative management. When the inflammatory process abates, fistulochromography is conducted and a radical operation is carried out on the same day with excision of the inner opening of rectal fistula. The method makes it possible to combine two operations in one stage which are undertaken in one third of patients in routine surgical treatment of acute paraproctitis.

[Treatment of fissure in ano by the method of laser coagulation].

The article analyses the results of treatment of acute and chronic anal fissures with the use of the method of laser photocoagulation in 181 patients, in 87 of them the fissures were combined with other proctological diseases. The essence of the operation is three-fold laser treatment (CO2 laser) of the edges and floor of the fissures. The pathologically changed tissues are evaporated and coagulated in this case with the formation of a coagulation film on the wound surface.