Leptospira interrogans Prevents Macrophage Cell Death and Pyroptotic IL-1β Release through Its Atypical Lipopolysaccharide.

Leptospira interrogans are bacteria that can infect all vertebrates and are responsible for leptospirosis, a neglected zoonosis. Some hosts, such as humans, are susceptible to the disease, whereas mice are resistant and get chronically colonized. Although leptospires escape recognition by some immune receptors, they activate the NOD-like receptor pyrin 3-inflammasome and trigger IL-1β secretion.

Vigilance in schizophrenia and its disruption by impaired pre-attentive selection: a dysintegration hypothesis.

Introduction: The study determined, simultaneously, whether major deficits of schizophrenia (sustained and selective attention, slow information processing, slow motor responding) are independent or related to each other.

Methods: An auditory vigilance task (Pigache Attention Task, PAT) required a button-press to targets during four 5-minute subtests (slow diotic, fast diotic, slow dichotic, fast dichotic, analogous to four versions of the continuous performance test). Twenty schizophrenics on the first test-occasion of a double-blind, placebo controlled, crossover study were compared to 11 healthy subjects.

Auditory sustained attention in schizophrenia: a comparison of the Continuous Performance Test and the Pigache Attention Task.

An auditory version of the Continuous Performance Test (CPT) was compared with the Pigache Attention Task (PAT) to evaluate relative sensitivities in schizophrenia. Digits spoken seamlessly for 5 min required a button-press response to each of 50 targets. Diotic and dichotic event rates were 1/s for the CPT and 0.

Selective impairment of auditory attention following closed head injuries or right cerebrovascular accidents.

According to clinical experience a frequent consequence of head injury is an impairment of auditory attention. We investigated the possibility that patients with either closed head injuries (CHI), or cerebrovascular accidents (CVA) of the right hemisphere, would be impaired by comparison to healthy subjects on an objective test of auditory attention. We used an experimental paradigm that consisted of four subtests which comprised strings of auditory digits heard either diotically or dichotically, at either fast or slow presentation rates, respectively.

Effects of placebo, orphenadrine, and rising doses of chlorpromazine, on PAT performance in chronic schizophrenia. A two year longitudinal study.

An earlier study (Study 1: 14 months duration) showed that the PAT (an auditory attention task) is sensitive to changes of clinical state in chronic schizophrenia and is able to predict hospital discharge. The newly presented study (Study 2: 12 months duration) investigated the effects of increasing the dose of chlorpromazine (CPZ) stepwise (double-blind) to between 900 mg and 1800 mg per day, in 10 of the original 20 patients. Measurements were made fortnightly throughout both studies and the data were depicted continuously for each patient.

The clinical relevance of an auditory attention task (PAT) in a longitudinal study of chronic schizophrenia, with placebo substitution for chlorpromazine.

A new auditory attention task (PAT) is described. The test comprises four different subtest combinations (diotic/dichotic, slow/fast) each of 5 min duration. Omission and commission errors are combined by an index of errors (IE).

Treatment of Alzheimer's disease with a synthetic ACTH 4-9 analog.

The synthetic ACTH 4-9 analog, Org 2766, was administered to 77 Alzheimer's patients for 6 months in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Although Org 2766 was tolerated well, no significant effect of Org 2766 could be demonstrated in terms of rating scales or cognitive functions.

Desglycinamide-9-arginine-8-vasopressin (DGAVP, Organon 5667) in patients with dementia.

Vasopressin peptides have been shown to facilitate learning and memory in both animals and humans; however, the effectiveness in humans is controversial. In a double blind parallel group study, 17 demented subjects (either Alzheimer's or alcoholic) were given either desglycinamide-9-arginine-8-vasopressin (DGAVP) 92 micrograms intranasally TID or an identical placebo for 1 week after having received 1 week of placebo. To our knowledge, this is the first report of DGAVP being used in subjects with dementia.

A modification of the Johnson-Neyman technique comparing two regressions, applied to treatment effects dependent on baseline levels.

Treatment effects can often depend on baseline (pre-treatment) variables. This is ignored in many studies, or else the relationship is removed statistically by analysis of covariance. The latter method, however, assumes that slopes are equal and also loses information on the base-line contribution.

Comparison of scoring methods for tests of attention, including an error index for use with schizophrenic patients.

A resume is given of various doubts raised concerning the application of signal-detection theory to discrimination tasks involving 'supra-threshold' stimuli, as in tests of vigilance and selective attention. The validity of this theory in pathological conditions, such as schizophrenia, is also questioned. The continuing need for a unitary index combining errors or omission and commission is emphasized and the various indices so far proposed are compared using experimental data.

Changes in serum tryptophan and albumin binding of tryptophan in chlorpromazine-treated chronic schizophrenics on withdrawal and restoration of drug therapy.

Withdrawal of drug from a group of chlorpromazine-treated chronic male schizophrenics led to a significant rise in the initially low serum tryptophan concentration, and a rise in the fraction freely diffusible. These changes, which would be expected to lead to an increase in tryptophan influx into the brain, and hence to an increase in cerebral serotonin synthesis, could be related to the clinical effects of drug withdrawal.