Is It Possible to Measure the Role of the Bystander and the Victim of Bullying in Children? Construct Validity of Two Brief Pictorial Scales With IRT and CFA Models.

The study's objective was to develop and validate the psychometric properties of two brief pictorial scales to evaluate the roles of bystanders and victims of bullying. A sample of 910 students was considered (49.6%, boys; 50.

Follow-up study in local allergic rhinitis shows a consistent entity not evolving to systemic allergic rhinitis.

Background: Local allergic rhinitis (LAR) is a common disease that affects 25.7% of the rhinitis population and more than 47% of patients previously diagnosed with nonallergic rhinitis. Whether LAR is the first step in the natural history of allergic rhinitis (AR) with systemic atopy or a consistent entity is unknown.

Nasal allergen provocation test with multiple aeroallergens detects polysensitization in local allergic rhinitis.

Background: Patients previously given a diagnosis of nonallergic rhinitis (NAR) might have a new form of local allergic rhinitis (LAR) with local production of specific IgE antibodies and a positive response to a nasal allergen provocation test (NAPT).

Objective: We evaluated an NAPT protocol using multiple aeroallergens (NAPT-M) for the detection of polysensitization to several aeroallergens in patients with LAR.

Methods: NAPT-Ms with 2 different panels of aeroallergens for patients with perennial and seasonal rhinitis were performed in 25 patients with LAR and 25 patients with NAR whose disease was diagnosed by means of NAPTs 1 year earlier.

Another abnormal trait in the serotonin metabolism path in intrauterine growth-restricted infants.

Background: The present study was aimed to obtain information on the interaction kinetics of L-tryptophan (L-Trp) with plasma albumin from normal, intrauterine growth-restricted (IUGR) and nutritionally recovered (NR) newborn infants.

Methods: A case study cohort was planned in 37 newborns during the first 3 months of life. At birth two groups were formed.

A functional disturbance in the auditory cortex related to a low serotonergic neurotransmission in women with type 2 diabetes.

Background/aims: To determine if the slope of the amplitude/stimulus intensity function (ASF) of the N1/P2 component of the auditory evoked potential was increased in women with type 2 diabetes reflecting a low brain serotonergic activity in the auditory cortex.

Methods: In a comparative study in women with type 2 diabetes and controls, we measured free, bound and total plasma L-tryptophan (L-Trp), neutral amino acids (NAA) and free fatty acids (FFA) and recorded the N1/P2 component of the auditory evoked potential.

Results: The diabetic patients were overweight and FFA and NAA in plasma were significantly elevated.

A low brain serotonergic neurotransmission in children with type 1 diabetes detected through the intensity dependence of auditory-evoked potentials.

Objective: To determine in children with type 1 diabetes the plasma free fraction of L-tryptophan (FFT) and the intensity-dependent auditory-evoked potentials (IDAEPs) as indicators of possible changes in brain serotonergic neurotransmission.

Research Design And Methods: A prospective and comparative study was performed in children with type 1 diabetes and normal control subjects. We measured FFT, bound and total plasma L-tryptophan, neutral amino acids (NAAs), albumin, free fatty acids (FFAs), glucose, and HbA1c(A1C) and recorded IDAEPs with four intensities (40, 60, 90, and 103 dB).

Inhibition and kinetic changes of brain tryptophan-5-hydroxylase during insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in the rat.

In the present study we report results on the possible mechanism of inhibition of tryptophan-5-hydroxylase activity induced by insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Kinetic experiments were done with different L-tryptophan (L-Trp) concentrations in the rat brain at different days of evolution of the disease. Additionally, different activation conditions of the enzyme were evaluated, to gain information on the mechanism of the activity changes.

Serotonin-related tryptophan in children with insulin-dependent diabetes.

In the course of the present research in school children with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, we observed that the free fraction of L-tryptophan, the free fraction of L-tryptophan/total L-tryptophan, and the free fraction of L-tryptophan/neutral amino acids ratios, are significantly reduced. The decrease of free fraction of L-tryptophan in plasma with a concomitant decrease of the free fraction of L-tryptophan/neutral amino acids ratio suggest a decrease in the transport of the precursor amino acid to the brain and in the serotonin synthesis rate, similar to that observed in diabetic animals. This finding may be of relevance in the pathophysiology and in the clinical picture, which could be related to an alteration of serotonin metabolism and neurotransmission in the brain and may be possibly related to neuropsychiatric disorders in diabetic school children.

Neither increased nor decreased availability of cortical serotonin (5HT) disturbs barrel field formation in isocaloric undernourished rat pups.

Serotonin (5HT) is expressed transiently in primary sensory areas of the rat neocortex during the establishment of the thalamo-cortical topography and somatotopy. The precise role of 5HT during the specification of neocortical areas is still uncertain. We evaluated the effects of increasing and decreasing cortical serotonin concentrations on the specification of the barrel cortex using a rat model of isocaloric undernutrition.