Simultaneous and continuous 24-hour plasma and cerebrospinal fluid leptin measurements: dissociation of concentrations in central and peripheral compartments.

The entrance of leptin into the central nervous system is of physiological relevance to the regulation of food intake, energy balance, and neuroendocrine function. To our knowledge, the relation between plasma and lumbar cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leptin has not been examined across the 24-h period. To evaluate the relation between plasma and CSF leptin across the 24-h period, we studied simultaneous and continuous plasma and CSF leptin in nine subjects.

Identification, characterization, and gene expression profiling of endotoxin-induced myocarditis.

In septic shock, reversible cardiac dysfunction starts within 24 h. Myocardial depressant factors are thought to cause myocyte dysfunction, resulting in alterations of intrinsic cardiac function. Nitric oxide is a myocardial depressant factor candidate.

Stress hormone responses to corticotropin-releasing hormone in substance abusers without severe comorbid psychiatric disease.

Background: Preclinical data indicate a crucial role of stress in the acute effects of drugs of abuse, maintenance of self-administration, and susceptibility to relapse. Stress system activation may serve as a marker for a neurochemical dysfunction with prognostic significance in patients with addiction.

Methods: We tested pituitary adrenocorticotrophin (ACTH) and adrenal cortisol response to ovine corticotropin-releasing hormone (oCRH) to assess the reactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in seven nonsubstance-abusing subjects, 31 polysubstance-abusing subjects without depressive symptoms, and seven subjects with substance abuse and depressive symptoms.

Acetylcholine modulation of neural systems involved in learning and memory.

Extensive evidence supports the view that cholinergic mechanisms modulate learning and memory formation. This paper reviews evidence for cholinergic regulation of multiple memory systems, noting that manipulations of cholinergic functions in many neural systems can enhance or impair memory for tasks generally associated with those neural systems. While parallel memory systems can be identified by combining lesions with carefully crafted tasks, most-if not all-tasks require the combinatorial participation of multiple neural systems.

Cyclooxygenase-2 expression in uveal melanoma: novel classification of mixed-cell-type tumours.

Background: The expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), an inducible prostaglandin (PG) synthase, has been investigated in various human malignant diseases, such as cutaneous melanoma. We investigated the expression of COX-2 in uveal melanoma and related the findings to prognostic factors.

Methods: In 40 cases of uveal melanoma, immunostaining for COX-2 was done.

Intra-hippocampal lidocaine injections impair acquisition of a place task and facilitate acquisition of a response task in rats.

While hippocampal lesions impair learning and memory in many tasks, such lesions also enhance learning and memory in other tasks. The present experiment examines the effects of inactivation of the hippocampus with lidocaine prior to learning, to find food in a place or response version of a four-arm plus-shaped maze. Rats received lidocaine injections 6 min prior to training.

Service use and satisfaction among elderly former prisoners of war in South Carolina.

Objective: This project was developed to evaluate the use of and satisfaction with Veteran's Affairs (VA) medical services and disability benefits among surviving elderly prisoners of war (POWs) in South Carolina.

Method: A single-assessment quantitative survey strategy was implemented to learn more about the service use patterns and satisfaction with care of two groups of male former POWs (N = 87): those who were members of a national POW service organization and those who were not.

Results: Data show that the majority of these POWs had used the VA for medical care in the previous year, received disability compensation through the VA, and were satisfied with VA primary care medical services.

Autoradiographic visualization of corticotropin releasing hormone type 1 receptors with a nonpeptide ligand: synthesis of [(76)Br]MJL-1-109-2.

A high-affinity, nonpeptide radioligand for the CRHR1 was synthesized and showed distribution in rat brain consistent with CRHR1 using in vitro autoradiography. This is the first nonpeptide radiotracer combining high affinity and appropriate lipophilicity that penetrates the blood-brain barrier and hence has the potential to be used for PET imaging studies. In vivo visualization of changes in the CRH1 receptor or its occupancy would further the understanding of the pathophysiology of stress related diseases.

Antithyroid antibody-linked symptoms in borderline personality disorder.

Circulating thyroid autoantibodies are more prevalent in patients with mood disorders than in the general population, but longitudinal clinical data that establish a relationship between thyroid antibody status and the course of any psychiatric syndrome have been lacking. In addition, scant attention has been paid to thyroid hormones and autoimmunity in borderline personality disorder (BPD). We report a case of a patient with classic BPD whose fluctuating mood and, especially, psychotic symptoms-rated using a double-blind method-were directly linked to antithyroglobulin antibody titers serially determined over an inpatient period of 275 d.

Diencephalic damage decreases hippocampal acetylcholine release during spontaneous alternation testing.

A rodent model of diencephalic amnesia, pyrithiamine-induced thiamine deficiency (PTD), was used to investigate diencephalic-hippocampal interactions. Acetylcholine (ACh) release, a marker of memory-related activation, was measured in the hippocampus of PTD-treated and control rats prior to, during, and after spontaneous alternation test. During behavioral testing, all animals displayed increases in ACh release.

Switching memory systems during learning: changes in patterns of brain acetylcholine release in the hippocampus and striatum in rats.

This experiment measured acetylcholine (ACh) release simultaneously in the hippocampus and striatum while rats were trained in a cross maze. Consistent with past findings, rats initially showed learning on the basis of place (i.e.

Loss of meal-induced decrease in plasma ghrelin levels in patients with anorexia nervosa.

Studies have shown that ghrelin plays a major role in energy homeostasis and modulation of feeding behavior. However, little is known about the influence of food consumption on plasma ghrelin levels in humans. Therefore, we investigated responses of plasma ghrelin to food intake, meal volume and meal nutritional value in healthy volunteers and women with anorexia nervosa (AN).

Patterns of brain acetylcholine release predict individual differences in preferred learning strategies in rats.

Acetylcholine release was measured simultaneously in the hippocampus and dorsal striatum of rats before and during training on a maze that could be learned using either a hippocampus-dependent spatial strategy or a dorsal striatum-dependent turning strategy. A probe trial administered after rats reached a criterion of 9/10 correct responses revealed that about half of the rats used a spatial strategy and half a turning strategy to solve the task. Acetylcholine release in the hippocampus, as well as the ratio of acetylcholine release in the hippocampus vs.

Naturalistic, self-assignment comparative trial of bupropion SR, a nicotine patch, or both for smoking cessation treatment in primary care.

The effectiveness of bupropion SR, a nicotine patch, or both, when co-administered with cognitive-behavioral therapy, on smoking cessation was evaluated under treatment-as-usual conditions in a primary care smoking cessation clinic. Consecutive consenting patients (n = 189) assigned themselves to one of three treatments according to personal preference: nicotine patch (NTP; n = 27), bupropion SR (B; n = 101), and bupropion SR plus nicotine patch (B + NTP; n = 61). Six-month self-reported abstinence rates were 14.

Vasopressin receptor 1a-mediated negative regulation of B cell receptor signaling.

We report here a study of T and B cell development and function in mice with disruption of the vasopressin receptor 1a (v1a) gene. Loss of the v1a receptor caused a shift from IgM(high)/IgD(high) to the more mature IgM(low)/IgD(high) B cells, a significantly greater extent of splenic B cells proliferation in response to anti-IgM stimulation, and enhanced IgG1 and IgG2b production in response to immune challenge with T-dependent antigen. B-1 cells were increased in v1a(-/-) mice.

The Infrequency-Posttraumatic Stress Disorder scale (Fptsd) for the MMPI-2: development and initial validation with veterans presenting with combat-related PTSD.

Researchers have identified difficulties associated with the use of traditional Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2; Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) validity scales with survivors of traumatic events. A new scale, the Infrequency-Posttraumatic Stress Disorder scale (Fptsd), was created from MMPI-2 items that were infrequently endorsed by 940 male combat veterans presenting for treatment at the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) clinics of 2 Veterans Affairs Medical Centers. A variety of statistical methods were implemented that preliminarily established Fptsd's validity with a validation sample of 323 additional PTSD-diagnosed combat veterans.

Disability compensation seeking among veterans evaluated for posttraumatic stress disorder.

Objective: This study sought to further examine the relationship between compensation-seeking status and reporting of symptoms among combat veterans who were evaluated for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Methods: Archival data were drawn for 320 adult male combat veterans who were consecutively evaluated at a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) PTSD outpatient clinic from 1995 to 1999. The veterans were compared on variables from their clinical evaluation, including diagnostic status and self-report measures such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2, which includes scales designed to detect feigned or exaggerated psychopathology.

Vagotomy attenuates effects of L-glucose but not of D-glucose on spontaneous alternation performance.

Two peripheral signaling routes have been proposed to account for the ability of peripheral substances such as glucose to modulate memory processing in the brain. One possible signaling route is by crossing the blood-brain barrier to act directly on brain. A second route involves activation of peripheral nerves with resulting changes in neural activity carried by peripheral nerves to the brain.