Impaired Human Sexual and Erectile Function Affecting Semen Quality, in Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Pilot Study.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a rising problem, with important implications for public health. Recent evidence has revealed a link between OSA and reduced male fertility. We investigated the association between OSA and sexual and erectile function, as well as semen quality, and the effect of treatment by continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP).

Kv1.3 Channel Up-Regulation in Peripheral Blood T Lymphocytes of Patients With Multiple Sclerosis.

Voltage-gated Kv1.3 potassium channels are key regulators of T lymphocyte activation, proliferation and cytokine production, by providing the necessary membrane hyper-polarization for calcium influx following immune stimulation. It is noteworthy that an accumulating body of and evidence links these channels to multiple sclerosis pathophysiology.

Validation of the Greek ORTO-15 questionnaire for the assessment of orthorexia nervosa and its relation to eating disorders symptomatology.

Purpose: The aim of the study was the validation of the Greek version of the ORTO-15 questionnaire. An additional aim was to explore the relation between orthorexic and eating disorder behaviors in a sample of Greek students.

Methods: ORTO-15 was translated and adapted in the Greek language.

Crystal structure of a human neuronal nAChR extracellular domain in pentameric assembly: Ligand-bound α2 homopentamer.

In this study we report the X-ray crystal structure of the extracellular domain (ECD) of the human neuronal α2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subunit in complex with the agonist epibatidine at 3.2 Å. Interestingly, α2 was crystallized as a pentamer, revealing the intersubunit interactions in a wild type neuronal nAChR ECD and the full ligand binding pocket conferred by two adjacent α subunits.

Effects of Yeast and Bacterial Commensals and Pathogens of the Female Genital Tract on the Transepithelial Electrical Resistance of HeLa Cells.

Commensals of the human body can shift to a pathogenic phase when the host immune system is impaired. This study aims to investigate the effect of seven yeast and two bacterial commensals and opportunistic pathogens isolated from blood and the female genital tract on the transepithelial electrical resistance (TER) of human cervical epithelial cell cultures (HeLa). The pathogens Candida tropicalis, C.

CEND1 and NEUROGENIN2 Reprogram Mouse Astrocytes and Embryonic Fibroblasts to Induced Neural Precursors and Differentiated Neurons.

Recent studies demonstrate that astroglia from non-neurogenic brain regions can be reprogrammed into functional neurons through forced expression of neurogenic factors. Here we explored the effect of CEND1 and NEUROG2 on reprogramming of mouse cortical astrocytes and embryonic fibroblasts. Forced expression of CEND1, NEUROG2, or both resulted in acquisition of induced neuronal cells expressing subtype-specific markers, while long-term live-cell imaging highlighted the existence of two different modes of neuronal trans-differentiation.

Immunotherapy-responsive limbic encephalitis with antibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase.

Glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) has been recently identified as a target of humoral autoimmunity in a small subgroup of patients with non-paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis (NPLE). We present a patient with NPLE and positive anti-GAD antibodies who showed significant improvement after long-term immunotherapy. A 48-year old female was admitted with a two-year history of anterograde amnesia and seizures.

Contrasting patterns of deficits in visuospatial memory and executive function in patients with major depression with and without ECT referral.

Background: The pretreatment neuropsychological profile of drug-resistant patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) referred for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) may differ from that of their drug-respondent MDD counterparts. Such differences could help in identifying distinct MDD subtypes, thus offering insights into the neuropathology underlying differential treatment responses.

Method: Depressed patients with ECT referral (ECTs), depressed patients with no ECT referral (NECTs) and non-psychiatric Controls (matched groups, n=15) were assessed with memory and executive function tests from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB).

Aberrant modulation of a delayed rectifier potassium channel by glutamate in Alzheimer's disease.

In Alzheimer's disease (AD), potassium channel abnormalities have been reported in both neural and peripheral tissues. Herein, using whole-cell patch-clamp, we demonstrate an aberrant glutamate-dependent modulation of K(V)1.3 channels in T lymphocytes of AD patients.

Dopaminergic and serotonergic modulation of persistent behaviour in the reinforced spatial alternation model of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Rationale: We have proposed rewarded T-maze alternation as a model of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): the serotonin agonist m-chlorophenylpiperazine (mCPP) increments persistence therein, while chronic pretreatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI fluoxetine) but not benzodiazepine or desipramine abolishes mCPP effects. However, we noted that acute SSRI administration also causes transient persistence increase, counteracted by mCPP pretreatment.

Objectives: This study (a) further explores the cross-tolerance between fluoxetine and mCPP and (b) extends the model by investigating its sensitivity to dopaminergic manipulations (D2, 3 agonism--quinpirole).

Serum C-reactive protein at admission predicts in-hospital mortality in medical patients.

Background: Previous studies have examined the role of inflammatory markers in patients with coronary heart disease, stroke, chronic renal failure and other selected patient populations. The aim of this study was to assess the clinical utility of serum C-reactive protein (CRP) at admission in predicting outcome in hospitalized medical patients.

Methods: All patients admitted to our medical department were eligible to be included in the study.

Glutamate levels and activity of the T cell voltage-gated potassium Kv1.3 channel in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Objective: Alterations in glutamate homeostasis and Kv1.3 voltage-gated potassium channel function have been independently associated with T cell dysfunction, whereas selective blockade of Kv1.3 channels inhibits T cell activation and improves T cell-mediated manifestations in animal models of autoimmunity.

Enhancing effects of lithium on memory are not by-products of learning or attentional deficits.

We recently reported that chronic lithium (LiCl), at therapeutic plasma levels, enhanced spatial working memory and retention of an aversive contingency. Here we examine the possibility that these effects be secondary to LiCl effects on the ability to ignore irrelevant stimuli or on fear conditioning. In Experiment 1, rats subjected to >30 daily intraperitoneal injections of LiCl (2mmol/kg) or saline underwent conditioned emotional response training (CER: 2 CS pairings with 1-s, 1-mA shock) after 40 pre-exposures either to the CS (latent inhibition-LiCl/latent inhibition-saline, n=8) or to another stimulus (control-LiCl/control-saline, n=8).

Enhancing effects of chronic lithium on memory in the rat.

Background: In spite of recent enrichment of neurochemical and behavioural data establishing a neuroprotective role for lithium, its primary effects on cognitive functioning remain ambiguous. This study examines chronic lithium effects on spatial working memory and long-term retention.

Methods: In three discrete experiments, rats subjected to 30 daily intraperitoneal injections (2mmol/kg) of lithium (lithium groups: serum lithium=0.

Reduced expression of metabotropic glutamate receptor 2mRNA in T cells of ALS patients.

Metabotropic glutamate receptors alter the vulnerability of neurons to excitotoxic damage and are reported to display abnormal expression in the central nervous system of ALS patients. Using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, we investigated the mRNA expression of specific metabotropic glutamate receptor subtypes in T lymphocytes of 20 patients with sporadic ALS, compared with healthy age-matched control subjects and patients with other neurological disorders. The levels of metabotropic glutamate receptor 2 mRNA were markedly reduced, whereas the expression of other subtypes (1b, 3, 8) was similar to control levels.

Modulation of voltage-gated potassium channels in human T lymphocytes by extracellular glutamate.

Glutamate is present in the plasma under tightly regulated concentrations. However, under conditions of immune deficiency, such as AIDS and malignancy, its plasma levels are highly elevated. In vitro, glutamate interacts with T lymphocytes, affecting mitogen-induced calcium responses, whereas at high doses, it impairs T lymphocyte proliferation, a process strongly dependent on the activity of voltage-gated potassium channels.

Serologic markers of persistent Chlamydia pneumonia infection and long-term prognosis after successful coronary stenting.

Background: Previous studies have shown an incremental role of inflammation in late prognosis following coronary stenting (CS). In particular, high preprocedural levels of plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) have been related to increased hazard of late ischemic complications. Persistent Chlamydia pneumoniae (Cp) infection, detected by positive IgA anti-Cp titers, may be associated with this inflammatory process and portend a high risk of late adverse prognosis after CS.

The effect of viable Chlamydia pneumoniae on serum cytokines and adhesion molecules in hemodialysis patients.

Background: Chlamydia pneumoniae (Cp) induces the production of cytokines and adhesion molecules in infected host eukaryotic cells. The causes for pro-inflammatory cytokine and adhesion molecule increase in hemodialysis (HD) patients have not been fully elucidated. The possibility that, in this particularly atherosclerotic population, Cp, a microorganism implicated in the infectious-based inflammatory hypothesis of atherosclerosis' is also responsible for these molecules' increase is assessed in this study.

Detection of Chlamydia pneumoniae in peripheral blood mononuclear cells: correlation with inflammation and atherosclerosis in haemodialysis patients.

Background: Chlamydia pneumoniae has been implicated as an inflammatory agent in atherosclerosis. Clinical studies in this field have yielded conflicting results, which may have resulted from a lack of standardization for C.pneumoniae detection.

Extracellular 3',5' cyclic guanosine monophosphate inhibits kainate-activated responses in cultured mouse cerebellar neurons.

The effects of extracellularly applied 3'-5' cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) on kainate responses from cultured cerebellar granule and Purkinje neurons were investigated using whole-cell and outside-out patch recording modes. Cerebellar granule cell responses to kainate were not homogeneous, nor were the effects of cGMP. Therefore, effects of cGMP are described for two groups of granule cells categorized on the basis of the underlying channel conductance estimated by variance analysis.