Personality traits associated with eating disorders and obesity in young Argentineans.

Purpose: Few studies have been conducted on Latin American population to explore how facets of personality, eating disorders, and obesity are related. The main purpose of this study was to explore the personality traits among patients diagnosed with anorexia nervosa (n = 23), bulimia nervosa (n = 32), and obesity (n = 16), in comparison to control group (n = 82).

Methods: A total of 153 individuals participated in the study, 125 were female (81.

[Lithogenic risk index in urinary lithiasis patients and their evolution after treatment.].

Objective: To determine the lithogenic risk index and its evolution after treatment of paraguayan lithiasic patients.

Methods: This experimental study of temporal series included 28 lithiasic patients of both sexes that attended to the Instituto de Prevision Social in 2012. Basal evaluation included metabolic study and urinary saturation indexes determined by EQUIL software.

[Lithogenic risk in patients from Paraguay with urolithiasis].

Unlabelled: The lithogenic risk profile is a graphical representation of metabolic factors and urinary saturation involved in the stone formation with their respective critical values.

Aim: To determine the lithogenic risk profile in patients with urolithiasis.

Material And Methods: Personal data such as anthropometric, history of diseases and family history of urolithiasis were recorded.

[Enteric parasitic disease in children under 5 years of age, indigenous and non-indigenous, from rural communities in Paraguay].

Background: Official figures of mortality in children under five years of age in the Americas, report that infectious and parasitic diseases caused most of the deaths.

Objective: To evaluate the frequency of intestinal parasites in vulnerable children, indigenous and non-indigenous, and their socio-environmental characteristics.

Patients And Methods: We evaluated 247 children under five years of age, of both sexes.

Rigid analogues of the α2-adrenergic blocker atipamezole: small changes, big consequences.

We report the discovery of a new family of α(2) adrenergic receptor antagonists derived from atipamezole. Affinities of the compounds at human α(2) and α(1b) receptors as well as their functional activities at hα(2A) receptors were determined in competition binding and G-protein activation assays, respectively. Central α(2) antagonist activities were confirmed in mice after oral administration.

High-efficacy 5-HT1A agonists for antidepressant treatment: a renewed opportunity.

We report the discovery of novel 5-HT1A receptor agonists and describe the process that led to the antidepressant candidate 9 (F 15599). 9 has nanomolar affinity for 5-HT1A binding sites and is over 1000-fold selective with respect to the other 5-HT1 receptor subtypes, 5-HT2-7 receptor families, and also numerous GPCRs, transporters, ion channels, and enzymes. In a cellular model of signal transduction, 9 activates h5-HT1A receptors with an efficacy superior to that of the prototypical 5-HT1A agonist (+/-)-8-OH-DPAT and comparators undergoing clinical trials.

Resetting the circadian clock by social experience in Drosophila melanogaster.

Circadian clocks are influenced by social interactions in a variety of species, but little is known about the sensory mechanisms underlying these effects. We investigated whether social cues could reset circadian rhythms in Drosophila melanogaster by addressing two questions: Is there a social influence on circadian timing? If so, then how is that influence communicated? The experiments show that in a social context Drosophila transmit and receive cues that influence circadian time and that these cues are likely olfactory.

Courtship and other behaviors affected by a heat-sensitive, molecularly novel mutation in the cacophony calcium-channel gene of Drosophila.

The cacophony (cac) locus of Drosophila melanogaster, which encodes a calcium-channel subunit, has been mutated to cause courtship-song defects or abnormal responses to visual stimuli. However, the most recently isolated cac mutant was identified as an enhancer of a comatose mutation's effects on general locomotion. We analyzed the cac(TS2) mutation in terms of its intragenic molecular change and its effects on behaviors more complex than the fly's elementary ability to move.

Advanced analysis of a cryptochrome mutation's effects on the robustness and phase of molecular cycles in isolated peripheral tissues of Drosophila.

Background: Previously, we reported effects of the cry(b) mutation on circadian rhythms in period and timeless gene expression within isolated peripheral Drosophila tissues. We relied on luciferase activity driven by the respective regulatory genomic elements to provide real-time reporting of cycling gene expression. Subsequently, we developed a tool kit for the analysis of behavioral and molecular cycles.

Signal analysis of behavioral and molecular cycles.

Background: Circadian clocks are biological oscillators that regulate molecular, physiological, and behavioral rhythms in a wide variety of organisms. While behavioral rhythms are typically monitored over many cycles, a similar approach to molecular rhythms was not possible until recently; the advent of real-time analysis using transgenic reporters now permits the observations of molecular rhythms over many cycles as well. This development suggests that new details about the relationship between molecular and behavioral rhythms may be revealed.

Three generations of automatically designed robots.

The difficulties associated with designing, building, and controlling robots have led their development to a stasis: Applications are limited mostly to repetitive tasks with predefined behavior. Over the last few years we have been trying to address this challenge through an alternative approach: Rather than trying to control an existing machine or create a general-purpose robot, we propose that both the morphology and the controller should evolve at the same time. This process can lead to the automatic design of special-purpose mechanisms and controllers for specific short-term objectives.

A new role for cryptochrome in a Drosophila circadian oscillator.

Cryptochromes are flavin/pterin-containing proteins that are involved in circadian clock function in Drosophila and mice. In mice, the cryptochromes Cry1 and Cry2 are integral components of the circadian oscillator within the brain and contribute to circadian photoreception in the retina. In Drosophila, cryptochrome (CRY) acts as a photoreceptor that mediates light input to circadian oscillators in both brain and peripheral tissue.

Evolutionary body building: adaptive physical designs for robots.

Creating artificial life forms through evolutionary robotics faces a "chicken and egg" problem: Learning to control a complex body is dominated by problems specific to its sensors and effectors, while building a body that is controllable assumes the pre-existence of a brain. The idea of coevolution of bodies and brains is becoming popular, but little work has been done in evolution of physical structure because of the lack of a general framework for doing it. Evolution of creatures in simulation has usually resulted in virtual entities that are not buildable, while embodied evolution in actual robotics is constrained by the slow pace of real time.

Novel derivatives of 2-pyridinemethylamine as selective, potent, and orally active agonists at 5-HT1A receptors.

The aim of this work was to improve the oral bioavailability of a recently discovered, novel structural class of 5-HT1A receptor agonists: aryl-{[4-(6-R-pyridin-2-ylmethyl)-amino]-methyl}-piperidin-1 -yl-metha none. Incorporation of a fluorine atom in the beta-position to the amino function in the side chain led to analogues that exhibited, in general, enhanced and long-lasting 5-HT1A agonist activity in rats after oral administration. Location of the fluorine atom at the C-4 position of the piperidine ring was the most favorable, and among the various substituents tested, the ability of the fluorine was unique in improving the oral activity of this family of ligands.

Design and synthesis of a series of 6-substituted-2-pyridinylmethylamine derivatives as novel, high-affinity, selective agonists at 5-HT1A receptors.

A search for novel, selective agonists with high intrinsic activity at the 5-HT1A subtype of serotonin (5-HT) receptors was undertaken. Mechanistic and thermodynamic considerations led to the design of 6-substituted-2-pyridinylmethylamine as a potential 5-HT1A pharmacophore. Various adducts derived from the 6-substituted-2-pyridinylmethylamine moiety were tested for their affinity at 5-HT1A, alpha1-adrenergic, and D2-dopaminergic receptors.