Insular atrophy and diminished disgust reactivity.

Disgust is an emotion that helps us deal with potential contamination (Rozin & Fallon, 1987). It produces a distinctive facial expression (e.g.

Impaired Recognition and Regulation of Disgust Is Associated with Distinct but Partially Overlapping Patterns of Decreased Gray Matter Volume in the Ventroanterior Insula.

Background: The ventroanterior insula is implicated in the experience, expression, and recognition of disgust; however, whether this brain region is required for recognizing disgust or regulating disgusting behaviors remains unknown.

Methods: We examined the brain correlates of the presence of disgusting behavior and impaired recognition of disgust using voxel-based morphometry in a sample of 305 patients with heterogeneous patterns of neurodegeneration. Permutation-based analyses were used to determine regions of decreased gray matter volume at a significance level p <= .

Damage to left frontal regulatory circuits produces greater positive emotional reactivity in frontotemporal dementia.

Positive emotions foster social relationships and motivate thought and action. Dysregulation of positive emotion may give rise to debilitating clinical symptomatology such as mania, risk-taking, and disinhibition. Neuroanatomically, there is extensive evidence that the left hemisphere of the brain, and the left frontal lobe in particular, plays an important role in positive emotion generation.

Diminished disgust reactivity in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia.

Frontotemporal dementia is a neurodegenerative disease that impacts emotion and social behavior. Using laboratory measures of emotional reactivity, our past work has found that reactivity to loud noises and to thematically simple happy and sad emotional films are preserved in the early stages of the disease while other emotional responses (e.g.

Four therapeutic diets: adherence and acceptability.

Many health conditions are treated, at least in part, by therapeutic diets. Although the success of any intervention depends on its acceptability to the patient, the acceptability of therapeutic diets and factors that influence it have been largely neglected in nutrition research. A working definition of acceptability is proposed and an examination and summary are provided of available data on the acceptability of common diet regimens used for medical conditions.

PATRIC: the VBI PathoSystems Resource Integration Center.

The PathoSystems Resource Integration Center (PATRIC) is one of eight Bioinformatics Resource Centers (BRCs) funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infection Diseases (NIAID) to create a data and analysis resource for selected NIAID priority pathogens, specifically proteobacteria of the genera Brucella, Rickettsia and Coxiella, and corona-, calici- and lyssaviruses and viruses associated with hepatitis A and E. The goal of the project is to provide a comprehensive bioinformatics resource for these pathogens, including consistently annotated genome, proteome and metabolic pathway data to facilitate research into counter-measures, including drugs, vaccines and diagnostics. The project's curation strategy has three prongs: 'breadth first' beginning with whole-genome and proteome curation using standardized protocols, a 'targeted' approach addressing the specific needs of researchers and an integrative strategy to leverage high-throughput experimental data (e.

Farming exposure in childhood, exposure to markers of infections and the development of atopy in rural subjects.

Background: Within the context of the hygiene hypothesis, we aimed to study the potential association between farming-related risk factors and Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) as well as Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) seropositivity.

PIML: the Pathogen Information Markup Language.

Motivation: A vast amount of information about human, animal and plant pathogens has been acquired, stored and displayed in varied formats through different resources, both electronically and otherwise. However, there is no community standard format for organizing this information or agreement on machine-readable format(s) for data exchange, thereby hampering interoperation efforts across information systems harboring such infectious disease data.

Results: The Pathogen Information Markup Language (PIML) is a free, open, XML-based format for representing pathogen information.

A life scientist's gateway to distributed data management and computing: the PathPort/ToolBus framework.

The emergent needs of the bioinformatics community challenge current information systems. The pace of biological data generation far outstrips Moore's Law. Therefore, a gap continues to widen between the capabilities to produce biological (molecular and cell) data sets and the capability to manage and analyze these data sets.

Influence of combined intravenous and topical antibiotic prophylaxis on the incidence of infections, organ dysfunctions, and mortality in critically ill surgical patients: a prospective, stratified, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

We prospectively studied the impact of an antibiotic prophylaxis regimen on the incidence of infections, organ dysfunctions, and mortality in a predominantly surgical and trauma intensive care unit (ICU) population. A total of 546 patients were enrolled and stratified according to Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE)-II scores. They were then randomized to receive either 2 x 400 mg of intravenous ciprofloxacin for 4 days, together with a mixture of topical gentamicin and polymyxin applied to the nostrils, mouth, and stomach throughout their ICU stay or to receive intravenous and topical placebo.

Assessment of the safety and efficacy of the monoclonal anti-tumor necrosis factor antibody-fragment, MAK 195F, in patients with sepsis and septic shock: a multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled, dose-ranging study.

Objective: To investigate the safety, biological effects, and efficacy of the anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antibody fragment, MAK 195F, in a phase II trial in patient with severe sepsis.

Design: Prospective, randomized, open label, placebo-controlled, dose-ranging, multicenter, multinational clinical trial.

Setting: Sixteen academic medical centers' intensive care units in six European countries.

[Fructose vs. glucose in total parenteral nutrition in critically ill patients].

Unlabelled: Parenteral nutrition required following surgery or injury should not only meet post-aggression caloric requirements but also match the specific metabolic needs so as not to worsen the metabolic disruptions already present in this situation. The primary objective of parenteral nutrition is body protein maintenance or restoration by reduction of protein catabolism or promotion of protein synthesis or both. Whether all parenteral energy donors, ie.

Time constant/volume relationship of passive expiration in mechanically ventilated ARDS patients.

Since the adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) lung is known to be inhomogeneous, one could expect an uneven distribution of expiratory time constant during uninterrupted mechanical ventilation. We investigated the time constant/volume relationship of passive expiration, and their modification by external resistive elements. In 12 paralysed intubated ARDS patients, we determined the expiratory time constant (tau E) as a function of the expired volume (VE) during uninterrupted mechanical ventilation.

[Can administration of trasylol in reduced Hammersmith dosage with simultaneous transfusion of autologous blood meet the requirements of open heart surgery?].

Problem: The general positive effect of the proteinase inhibitor trasylol on blood loss and transfusion demand in cardiac surgery has been demonstrated in several placebo-controlled studies. Given the possibility of cardiac and renal side effects associated with a high dose of trasylol (Hammersmith dosage: 6 x 10(6) kallikrein inactivator units KIU), the question of a dose reduction was raised.

Methods: Being designed as a randomized double-blind comparative group study, the investigation included 120 patients with elective primary cardiac surgery from November 1990 to April 1992.

Intrinsic PEEP monitored in the ventilated ARDS patient with a mathematical method.

Under mechanical volume-controlled ventilation, the intensive care patient can develop intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure (iPEEP); that is, the passive expiration is terminated by the following inspiration before the alveolar pressure comes to its physical equilibrium value. We present a mathematical method to estimate this alveolar dynamic iPEEP breath by breath, without the need of a maneuver. We tested it in paralyzed patients ventilated for adult respiratory distress syndrome after multiple trauma and/or sepsis, and we compared the results obtained with the new mathematical method with those from the occlusion method introduced by Pepe and Marini.

[Initial experiences with rigid angled optical systems as intubation aids in difficult intubation].

Referring to a classification by Cormack, difficult laryngoscopy of Grade 3 (only the epiglottis or a part of it can be seen) was simulated in 16 patients by lowering the blade of the laryngoscope, so that the epiglottis was pushed down and thus covered up the vocal cords. The object of the study was to test whether a newly developed rigid endoscope is a useful tool during intubation in cases of laryngoscopical view Grade 3. After simulation of Grade 3 as mentioned above, using a clip, an angle optic was fixed to the vertical part of the blade, so that the movement of the optic in the sagittal level was still possible.

[Energy requirements of surgically treated, injured and infected patients].

There is always a distinct increase in energy expenditure in postoperative, posttraumatic and septic patients. In order to predict this increase in energy expenditure an enormous number of formulas have been developed. However, the problem with all these formulas is that they cannot sufficiently take into account the peculiarities of the underlying disease, the general and nutritional condition or the varying influence of the phase of disease.