ECT in a patient with Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia, with dopamine transporter visualisation using 123I-ioflupane SPET.

A 58-year old woman with chronic schizophrenia developed worsening parkinsonian symptoms over the previous 6 years, and was eventually diagnosed as having Parkinson's disease. Antipsychotics were stopped because they worsened these symptoms. Antiparkinsonian treatment led to a significant increase in delusions and behavioural disorganisation.

Spectral enhancement in the double pulse regime of laser proton acceleration.

The use of two separate ultraintense laser pulses in laser-proton acceleration was compared to the single pulse case employing the same total laser energy. A double pulse profile, with the temporal separation of the pulses varied between 0.75-2.

Laser-driven fast electron collimation in targets with resistivity boundary.

We demonstrate experimentally that the relativistic electron flow in a dense plasma can be efficiently confined and guided in targets exhibiting a high-resistivity-core-low-resistivity-cladding structure analogous to optical waveguides. The relativistic electron beam is shown to be confined to an area of the order of the core diameter (50 μm), which has the potential to substantially enhance the coupling efficiency of electrons to the compressed fusion fuel in the Fast Ignitor fusion in full-scale fusion experiments.

Biofeedback therapy for dysfunctional voiding in children.

The past decade has seen a dramatic shift in the management of lower urinary tract dysfunction, including dysfunctional voiding, in children. Once treated primarily with medication, dysfunctional voiding now is managed successfully in most cases with noninvasive evaluations and biofeedback-based pelvic floor muscle retraining. Introduced in 1979, biofeedback initially was expensive and labor intensive, requiring inpatient treatment.

Has the optimum time for faecal nematode egg count reduction testing in sheep in New Zealand changed?

Aim: To determine what, if any, changes have taken place in the optimum time, for undertaking faecal egg count reduction tests (FECRT) in sheep in New Zealand.

Methods: A comparison was made between the numbers and types of nematode genera adequately represented for testing purposes (faecal nematode egg count (FEC) of ≥50 epg) in initial FECRT case submissions to a veterinary laboratory in New Zealand, during two 4-year periods, in 1992-1995 and 2006-2009.

Results: Although there were some minor differences between them, the seasonal patterns of occurrence remained basically the same for all parasite genera in both datasets, with their individual peak periods of representation occurring during February to May in all instances.

Correlated structural and functional brain abnormalities in the default mode network in schizophrenia patients.

Background: There is increasing evidence of default mode network (DMN) dysfunction in schizophrenia. It has also been suggested that brain structural changes are maximal in a medial frontal area which overlaps with the anterior midline node of this network.

Methods: Brain deactivations were examined in 14 schizophrenic patients and 14 controls during performance of two tasks requiring identification or labelling of facial emotions.

Gastrointestinal transit, post-prandial lipaemia and satiety following 3 days high-fat diet in men.

Background/objectives: High-fat (HF) diets of 2 weeks have been shown to accelerate gastric emptying (GE). To date, no studies have shown any alteration in GE following shorter HF diets. The aim of this study was to assess if an HF, high-energy diet of 3 days can adapt gastrointestinal (GI) transit, blood lipids and satiety.

Induction of transposase and polyprotein RNA levels in disseminated neoplastic hemocytes of soft-shell clams: Mya arenaria.

In Prince Edward Island, a high mortality of soft-shell clams Mya arenaria was found to be related to the disease known as disseminated neoplasia (DN). However, the molecular mechanisms by which hemocytes of clams are transformed in the course of DN remain by far unknown. This study aims at identifying the transcripts involved in the development of the disease.

Lamotrigine: when and where does it act in affective disorders? A systematic review.

Recent published data and treatment guidelines have created uncertainty about the use of lamotrigine in affective disorders, especially in acute bipolar depression. Furthermore, unpublished data on lamotrigine in mania, mixed episodes, unipolar depression and rapid cycling are still waiting to be integrated into the literature. Therefore, we critically reviewed the position of lamotrigine in the acute and long-term treatment of affective disorders.

Procedural learning in schizophrenia: reconciling the discrepant findings.

Background: Studies of procedural learning in schizophrenia have been inconsistent, sometimes finding it to be preserved and sometimes impaired. This study examined three factors that could account for the variability among findings: type of task, presence of general intellectual impairment, and the extrapyramidal side effects of neuroleptic treatment.

Methods: Forty-three patients with schizophrenia and 22 normal control subjects were examined with three different paradigms: the pursuit rotor, mirror reading, and probabilistic learning ("weather prediction").

Pernicious anaemia presenting as catatonia without signs of anaemia or macrocytosis.

Pernicious anaemia can present with psychiatric symptoms before haematological or neurological manifestations appear. We describe a young woman who presented with insidious onset catatonia without evidence of psychosis or depression. Blood count and mean cell volume were normal and neurological findings were equivocal.

Distinct mutation pathways of non-subtype B HIV-1 during in vitro resistance selection with nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors.

Studies were conducted to investigate mutation pathways among subtypes A, B, and C of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) during resistance selection with nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) in cell culture under low-multiplicity of infection (MOI) conditions. The results showed that distinct pathways were selected by different virus subtypes under increasing selective pressure of NNRTIs. F227C and Y181C were the major mutations selected by MK-4965 in subtype A and C viruses during resistance selection.

Paediatric pelvic ring fractures and associated injuries.

Introduction: Paediatric pelvic fractures have been infrequently reviewed. The study was performed to highlight the unique features of pelvic fractures in children.

Patients And Methods: A 14-year retrospective study was undertaken of all patients treated for a pelvic fracture at our institute.

Negative schizophrenic symptoms and the frontal lobe syndrome: one and the same?

The negative symptoms of schizophrenia have been considered to be a psychiatric form of the frontal lobe syndrome. However, no studies have compared these two disorders at the clinical level. In this study, 12 negative symptom schizophrenic patients and 11 patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bv-FTD) were rated for negative symptoms and for occurrence of frontal lobe behaviours in everyday life.

Functional connectivity and brain networks in schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia has often been conceived as a disorder of connectivity between components of large-scale brain networks. We tested this hypothesis by measuring aspects of both functional connectivity and functional network topology derived from resting-state fMRI time series acquired at 72 cerebral regions over 17 min from 15 healthy volunteers (14 male, 1 female) and 12 people diagnosed with schizophrenia (10 male, 2 female). We investigated between-group differences in strength and diversity of functional connectivity in the 0.

Confabulation in schizophrenia: a neuropsychological study.

Confabulation has been documented in schizophrenia, but its neuropsychological correlates appear to be different from those of confabulation in neurological disease states. Forty-five schizophrenic patients and 37 controls were administered a task requiring them to recall fables. They also underwent testing with a range of memory and executive tasks.

Identification and expression of immune-related genes in hemocytes of soft-shell clams, Mya arenaria, challenged with Vibrio splendidus.

Although the mollusc immune system has been studied at the cellular level, the response to pathogens at gene expression level has not been thoroughly investigated. This study aimed to investigate the early molecular response of hemocytes of soft-shell clams, Mya arenaria, to Vibrio splendidus strain LGP32 by identification of transcripts involved in immune defense. The Suppression Subtractive Hybridization (SSH) was used to selectively identify differentially expressed genes in hemocytes exposed to V.

Lower urinary tract dysfunction in childhood.

Lower urinary tract syndrome is common in children. Incontinence, urinary tract infection, vesicoureteral reflux, and constipation are commonly associated with this syndrome. Examining the clinical history of the afflicted patient plays a major role in the accurate diagnosis and treatment of lower urinary tract disorder.

Prospective audit on the use of the LMA-Supreme for airway management of adult patients undergoing elective orthopaedic surgery in prone position.

Background: The LMA-Supreme (SLMA) is a single-use, latex-free, supraglottic airway device with a drain tube which allows immediate assessment of correct positioning of the device at insertion and throughout the procedure and provides access to gastric contents. The anatomically shaped airway tube facilitates easy insertion in anaesthetized patients in the supine, lateral, and prone positions. We present a prospective audit in 205 consecutive adult patients presenting for elective spine surgery in the prone position.

Olfactory reference syndrome: a systematic review of the world literature.

Background: The nosological status of olfactory reference syndrome (ORS) is a matter of debate and there is uncertainty as to what treatments are effective.

Method: The world literature was searched for reports of cases of ORS. Clinical, nosological and therapeutic information from cases meeting proposed diagnostic criteria for the disorder was summarized and tabulated.

Vaccination with peptide mimetics of the gp41 prehairpin fusion intermediate yields neutralizing antisera against HIV-1 isolates.

Eliciting a broadly neutralizing polyclonal antibody response against HIV-1 remains a major challenge. One approach to vaccine development is prevention of HIV-1 entry into cells by blocking the fusion of viral and cell membranes. More specifically, our goal is to elicit neutralizing antibodies that target a transient viral entry intermediate (the prehairpin intermediate) formed by the HIV-1 gp41 protein.

False memory in schizophrenia patients with and without delusions.

Delusions are fixed 'false beliefs' and, although a hallmark feature of schizophrenia, no previous study has examined if delusions might be related to 'false memories'. We used the classic Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm to compare false memory production in schizophrenia patients who were currently experiencing delusions (ED), patients not experiencing delusions (ND) and healthy control participants. The ED group recalled twice as many false-positive memories (i.