Unexpected diagnosis of severe coarctation of the aorta after ketamine procedural sedation.

A 12-year-old child presented to the emergency department with a right forearm fracture. After administration of an intravenous dose of ketamine for fracture reduction, he developed severe hypertension. This sign led us to discover an undiagnosed coarctation of the aorta.

High blood pressure associates with the remodelling of inward rectifier K+ channels in mice mesenteric vascular smooth muscle cells.

The increased vascular tone that defines essential hypertension is associated with depolarization of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and involves a change in the expression profile of ion channels promoting arterial contraction. As a major regulator of VSMC resting membrane potential (V(M)), K(+) channel activity is an important determinant of vascular tone and vessel diameter. However, hypertension-associated changes in the expression and/or modulation of K(+) channels are poorly defined, due to their large molecular diversity and their bed-specific pattern of expression.

Neural correlates of hot and cold executive functions in polysubstance addiction: association between neuropsychological performance and resting brain metabolism as measured by positron emission tomography.

The study of substance-abuse-related neuropsychological deficits and brain alterations may provide a better understanding of the neuroadaptations associated with addiction. In this study we investigated the association between performance on neuropsychological tests of cold and hot executive functions and regional brain metabolism. Measured with positron emission tomography (PET), in a sample of 49 substance-dependent individuals (SDI).

Increasing MuSK activity delays denervation and improves motor function in ALS mice.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating disease that progresses from detachment of motor nerve terminals to complete muscle paralysis and lethal respiratory failure within 5 years of diagnosis. Genetic studies have linked mutations in several genes to ALS, and mice bearing mutations in SOD1 recapitulate hallmark features of the disease. We investigated whether disease symptoms can be ameliorated by co-opting the retrograde signaling pathway that promotes attachment of nerve terminals to muscle.

Psychiatric comorbidity in cocaine users treated in therapeutic community: substance-induced versus independent disorders.

This is a cross-sectional study of 227 cocaine dependent individuals in six different therapeutic communities (TCs) within a single treatment network in Andalusia (Spain). The primary aim of the study is to examine the prevalence of lifetime psychiatric comorbidity in this sample using the Psychiatric Research Interview for Substance and Mental Disorders (PRISM). Diagnoses were assessed 15-20 days after admission.

Stuttering treated with olanzapine: a case report.

Introduction: Spasmophemia, also called stuttering or stammering, is a speech disorder characterized by impairment of the rhythm of words whose classical symptoms are blocks and repetitions.

Methodology: We describe the case of a male patient, his evolution and therapeutic strategies and review the current literature on the subject.

Results: A 33-year-old patient was referred to our Mental Health Unit by his family doctor due to “speech problems and difficulty expressing ideas.

Neural correlates of the severity of cocaine, heroin, alcohol, MDMA and cannabis use in polysubstance abusers: a resting-PET brain metabolism study.

Introduction: Functional imaging studies of addiction following protracted abstinence have not been systematically conducted to look at the associations between severity of use of different drugs and brain dysfunction. Findings from such studies may be relevant to implement specific interventions for treatment. The aim of this study was to examine the association between resting-state regional brain metabolism (measured with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography (FDG-PET) and the severity of use of cocaine, heroin, alcohol, MDMA and cannabis in a sample of polysubstance users with prolonged abstinence from all drugs used.

Moral decision-making in polysubstance dependent individuals.

Background: Moral judgments depend on the integration of complex cognitive and emotional processes. Addiction is associated with core deficits in both cognitive and emotional processing, which may jointly lead to utilitarian biases in moral decision-making.

Methods: We assessed 32 polysubstance dependent males and 32 non-drug using controls using a previously validated moral judgment task, including non-moral scenarios, and moral dilemmas that were either high in emotional salience ("personal scenarios") or low in emotional salience ("impersonal scenarios").

[Impulsivity and compulsivity in cocaine dependent individuals].

A recent theoretical approach describes addiction as a dynamic behavioural change process on the impulsivity-compulsivity axis. However, on the basis of current evidence, it is still difficult to establish a selective association between the course of addiction and individual transition along this axis. The aim of this study is to categorize each of the individuals in a sample of cocaine-dependent patients (CDI) as mainly impulsive or mainly compulsive, on the basis of their performance in neuropsychological inhibition and perseveration tests, and to test the association between the assigned category and their scores in trait impulsivity, and severity of cocaine addiction (measured by means of self-report assessment tools).

Preliminary validation of the Spanish version of the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale (FrSBe) using Rasch analysis.

Primary Objective: To explore the construct validity of the Spanish version of the Frontal Systems Behavioral Scale (FrSBe) using Rasch modelling.

Methods: Item responses of 245 Spanish subjects were analysed using Rasch analysis: self-rating of 65 participants with TBI or stroke (sample A), family-rating of the same 65 participants (sample B) and self-rating of 115 healthy individuals (sample C).

Results: After removing or grouping several problematic items, the Apathy and the Executive Dysfunction sub-scales were found to be valid measures for samples A and B and the Disinhibition sub-scale was valid for samples B and C.

Can decision-making skills affect responses to psychological stress in healthy women?

In recent studies showing how stress can affect an individual's decision-making process, the cognitive component of decision-making could also be considered a coping resource available to individuals when faced with a stressful situation. The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) constitutes the standard test for the assessment of decision-making skills under conditions of uncertainty. Responses of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to psychosocial stress, in turn, have been estimated by means of cortisol measurements.

Trait impulsivity and prefrontal gray matter reductions in cocaine dependent individuals.

Background: Impulsivity is thought to play a key role in cocaine addiction onset and progression; therefore, we hypothesized that different facets of impulsive personality may be significantly associated with brain structural abnormalities in cocaine-dependent individuals.

Methods: Thirty-eight cocaine-dependent individuals and 38 non-drug using controls completed the UPPS-P scale (measuring five different facets of impulsivity: sensation seeking, lack of premeditation, lack of perseverance, and positive and negative urgency) and were scanned on a 3T MRI scanner. We used whole-brain voxel-based morphometry analyses (VBM) to detect differences in gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) volumes between cocaine users and controls, and to measure differences in the way that impulsivity relates to GM and WM volumes in cocaine users vs.

Kv1.3 channels can modulate cell proliferation during phenotypic switch by an ion-flux independent mechanism.

Objective: Phenotypic modulation of vascular smooth muscle cells has been associated with a decreased expression of all voltage-dependent potassium channel (Kv)1 channel encoding genes but Kcna3 (which encodes Kv1.3 channels). In fact, upregulation of Kv1.

Neuropsychological evaluation of high-risk children from birth to seven years of age.

Unlabelled: High Risk Children (HRC) are those with an increased risk of abnormal development due to any factor affecting neurological growth. Those factors have been the focus of most studies in this area. However, little is known about their long-term consequences over the course of child development.

Effectiveness of holistic neuropsychological rehabilitation for Spanish population with acquired brain injury measured using Rasch analysis.

Introduction: The Rasch model is increasingly used in the field of rehabilitation because it improves the accuracy of measurements of patient status and their changes after therapy.

Objective: To determine the long-term effectiveness of a holistic neuropsychological rehabilitation program for Spanish outpatients with acquired brain injury (ABI) using Rasch analysis.

Methods: Eighteen patients (ten with long evolution - patients who started the program > 6 months after ABI- and eight with short evolution) and their relatives attended the program for 6 months.

Self-regulation and treatment retention in cocaine dependent individuals: a longitudinal study.

Background: We aimed to explore the association between baseline executive functioning and treatment outcome in Therapeutic Communities (TCs).

Methods: We used a longitudinal descriptive design: a baseline neuropsychological assessment was performed within the first 30 days of treatment in TCs. Once participants finished or abandoned treatment, the information about time of stay in treatment was computed for each individual.

Neuropsychological profiling of impulsivity and compulsivity in cocaine dependent individuals.

Rationale: Research on the relative impact of trait impulsivity vs. drug exposure on neuropsychological probes of response inhibition vs. response perseveration has been posited as a valid pathway to explore the transition between impulsivity and compulsivity on psychostimulant dependence.

Diagnosing adult attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder in patients with cocaine dependence: discriminant validity of Barkley executive dysfunction symptoms.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of adult attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a sample of cocaine-dependent patients, and to examine the discriminant validity of the Barkley's executive dysfunction scale in differentiating cocaine-dependent patients with and without ADHD.

Methods: A cross-sectional design was used. A total of 166 cocaine-dependent subjects were assessed.

The lack of knowledge about the voluntary reporting system of adverse drug reactions as a major cause of underreporting: direct survey among health professionals.

Background: Underreporting suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) is one of the main problems that face the pharmacovigilance (PhV) systems based on yellow card schemes.

Objectives: To measure the knowledge level on the suspected ADR voluntary reporting system among physicians and pharmacists in Venezuela and to study its relationship with different variables.

Methods: A population-based, anonymous, and self-administered questionnaire was addressed to health professionals along the national territory of Venezuela.

Adverse events analysis as an educational tool to improve patient safety culture in primary care: a randomized trial.

Background: Patient safety is a leading item on the policy agenda of both major international health organizations and advanced countries generally. The quantitative description of the phenomena has given rise to intense concern with the issue in institutions and organizations, leading to a number of initiatives and research projects and the promotion of patient safety culture, with training becoming a priority both in Spain and internationally. To date, most studies have been conducted in a hospital setting, even though primary care is the type most commonly used by the public, in our experience.

Prenatal DHA status and neurological outcome in children at age 5.5 years are positively associated.

Beneficial effects of perinatal DHA supply on later neurological development have been reported. We assessed the effects of maternal DHA supplementation on the neurological development of their children. Healthy pregnant women from Spain, Germany, and Hungary were randomly assigned to a dietary supplement consisting of either fish oil (FO) (500 mg/d DHA + 150 mg/d EPA), 400 μg/d 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, both, or placebo from wk 20 of gestation until delivery.

Negative mood induction normalizes decision making in male cocaine dependent individuals.

Rationale: Decision making is thought to play a key role in psychostimulant relapse, but very few studies have addressed the issue of how to counteract decision-making deficits in addicted individuals. According to the somatic marker framework, pervasive decision-making problems in addicted individuals may relate to abnormalities in the processing of emotional signals that work to anticipate the prospective outcomes of potential decisions.

Objective: The present study was conducted to test whether the induction of different emotional states (positive, negative, or drug-related) could either normalize or further impair decision-making performance in male cocaine polysubstance-using individuals (CPSI), as indexed by the Iowa gambling task (IGT).

[A descriptive study of the socio-demographic and clinical profile of the patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease].

Objective: To find out the socio-demographic and clinical profile of the patient with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD): characteristics, state of health, situation of disease and social resources.

Method: A descriptive, longitudinal and prospective study, in the Morales Meseguer and Reina Sofía Hospitals in Murcia (Spain), was performed between June 2007 and April 2008. The inclusion criteria was hospital admission due to COPD and patients with cognitive deterioration, a hospital stay > 30 days or < 2 days, or were institutionalised, were excluded.