Developing guidelines for pet rat housing through expert consultation.

Background: Pet care guidelines play an important role in ensuring that owners are well informed about good husbandry practices, allowing them to provide the best care for their animals. However, the development of such guidelines is difficult when there is little appropriate empirical evidence on which to base guidelines, as in the case of pet rats. The consultation of multiple experts can help to surmount this challenge.

Pet rat welfare in the United Kingdom: The good, the bad and the ugly.

Background: To date, despite the substantial literature investigating how rats prefer to be kept in captivity, no research has been conducted to assess the housing, husbandry and health of pet rats.

Methods: To better understand the United Kingdom's pet rat population and the welfare issues they face, we conducted an online survey of pet rat owners. The survey included questions about the owner and their opinions about pet rats, and about their rats' health, husbandry and housing.

The Test Your Memory for Mild Cognitive Impairment (TYM-MCI).

Background: To validate a short cognitive test: the Test Your Memory for Mild Cognitive Impairment (TYM-MCI) in the diagnosis of patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment or mild Alzheimer's disease (aMCI/AD).

Methods: Two hundred and two patients with mild memory problems were recruited. All had 'passed' the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE).

Validation of fluorescent dust marking of Culicoides biting midges and the design of a self-marking technique.

Background: Investigation of insect flight patterns frequently involves the use of dispersal studies. A common method for studying insect dispersal is mark-release-recapture (MRR) techniques using wild-caught insects in their natural environment; however, this requires a suitable marker. At present, no studies have been performed to identify markers that are suitable for use in midges within the Obsoletus Group, and visible by eye or down a light microscope.

The hard Test Your Memory. Evaluation of a short cognitive test to detect mild Alzheimer's disease and amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

Objective: The aim of this study is the evaluation of a novel cognitive test, the hard Test Your Memory (H-TYM), in the detection of mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI).

Methods: This paper uses a prospective study in an outpatient memory clinic. We recruited 97 patients with a diagnosis of mild AD or aMCI aged between 50 and 80 years.

Lower N-acetyl-aspartate levels in prefrontal cortices in pediatric bipolar disorder: a ¹H magnetic resonance spectroscopy study.

Objective: The few studies applying single-voxel ¹H spectroscopy in children and adolescents with bipolar disorder (BD) have reported low N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) levels in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and high myo-inositol / phosphocreatine plus creatine (PCr+Cr) ratios in the anterior cingulate. The aim of this study was to evaluate NAA, glycerophosphocholine plus phosphocholine (GPC+PC) and PCr+Cr in various frontal cortical areas in children and adolescents with BD. We hypothesized that NAA levels within the prefrontal cortex are lower in BD patients than in healthy controls, indicating neurodevelopmental alterations in the former.

Assessment of personality dimensions in children and adolescents with bipolar disorder using the Junior Temperament and Character Inventory.

Objective: We compared temperament and character traits in children and adolescents with bipolar disorder (BP) and healthy control (HC) subjects.

Method: Sixty nine subjects (38 BP and 31 HC), 8-17 years old, were assessed with the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Present and Lifetime. Temperament and character traits were measured with parent and child versions of the Junior Temperament and Character Inventory.

Evidence for disruption in prefrontal cortical functions in juvenile bipolar disorder.

Objectives: Systematic parsing of executive function processes is critical for the development of more specific models of neurobiological processes mediating disturbed cognition in youth with bipolar disorder (BPD).

Methods: A sample of 33 children and adolescents with bipolar I disorder (BPD I) (mean age 12.1 +/- 3.

Medial temporal lobe abnormalities in pediatric unipolar depression.

In vivo anatomical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies in adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) have implicated neurocircuitries involved in mood regulation in the pathophysiology of mood disorders. Specifically, abnormalities in the medial temporal lobe structures have been reported. This study examined a sample of children and adolescents with major depressive disorder to investigate anatomical abnormalities in these key medial temporal brain regions.

Low levels of N-acetyl aspartate in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of pediatric bipolar patients.

Background: Increasing evidence suggests abnormalities in the structure, function, and neurochemistry of the frontal cortex in pediatric bipolar (BP) patients. We conducted a single-voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H MRS) of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) of pediatric BP patients, expecting lower N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) levels within that brain region compared to healthy comparison subjects.

Methods: We studied 35 pediatric BP (23 BP type I, 12 BP type II; mean age +/- SD = 13.

Declarative memory impairment in pediatric bipolar disorder.

Objectives: Impaired verbal declarative memory has been proposed as a trait marker for adult bipolar disorder. However, similar impairments in juvenile-onset bipolar disorder have not been yet documented. Here, we assessed declarative memory in a large sample of clinically well-characterized children with bipolar disorder.

Proton spectroscopy study of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in pediatric depressed patients.

The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plays an essential role in mood regulation and integration of cognitive functions that are abnormal in major depressive disorder (MDD). Few neuroimaging studies have evaluated the still maturing DLPFC in depressed children and adolescents. We conducted single voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H MRS) of the left DLPFC in 14 depressed children and adolescents (13.