Water deprivation activates a glutamatergic projection from the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus to the rostral ventrolateral medulla.

Elevated sympathetic outflow contributes to the maintenance of blood pressure in water-deprived rats. The neural circuitry underlying this response may involve activation of a pathway from the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVH) to the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM). We sought to determine whether the PVH-RVLM projection activated by water deprivation is glutamatergic and/or contains vasopressin- or oxytocin-neurophysins.

Median preoptic neurones projecting to the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus respond to osmotic, circulating Ang II and baroreceptor input in the rat.

The present study sought to determine whether individual neurones of the median preoptic nucleus (MnPO) with axonal projections to the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (MnPO-PVN) respond to osmotic, circulating angiotensin II (Ang II), and baroreceptor stimulation. Hypertonic NaCl (0.75 or 1.

Hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus differentially supports lumbar and renal sympathetic outflow in water-deprived rats.

The present study sought to determine whether the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) contributes in a time-dependent manner to the differential patterning of lumbar and renal sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) in water-deprived rats. Mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) and both lumbar SNA (LSNA) and renal SNA (RSNA) were recorded simultaneously in control, 24 and 48 h water-deprived rats, and the PVN was inhibited bilaterally with microinjection of the GABA(A) agonist muscimol (100 pmol in 100 nl per side). Inhibition of the PVN significantly decreased RSNA in 48 h water-deprived rats but not in 24 h water-deprived or control rats (48 h, -17 +/- 4%; 24 h, -2 +/- 5%; control, 4 +/- 6%; P < 0.

Distribution of labelled anti-tenascin antibodies and fragments after injection into intact or partly resected C6-gliomas in rats.

Introduction: For treatment of malignant glioma, radioimmunotherapy has become a valuable alternative for more than 2 decades. Surprisingly, very little is known about the distribution of intralesionally administered labelled antibodies or fragments. We investigated the migration of labelled antibodies and antibody fragments injected into intact and partly resected C6-glioma in rats at different times after injection.

Water deprivation increases Fos immunoreactivity in PVN autonomic neurons with projections to the spinal cord and rostral ventrolateral medulla.

The present study sought to determine whether water deprivation increases Fos immunoreactivity, a neuronal marker related to synaptic activation, in sympathetic-regulatory neurons of the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN). Fluorogold (4%, 50 nl) and cholera toxin subunit B (0.25%, 20-30 nl) were microinjected into the spinal cord (T1-T3) and rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM), respectively.

Photodynamic therapy of prostate cancer by means of 5-aminolevulinic acid-induced protoporphyrin IX - in vivo experiments on the dunning rat tumor model.

Objective: In order to expand the use of photodynamic therapy (PDT) in the treatment of prostate carcinoma (PCA), the aim of this study was to evaluate PDT by means of 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA)-induced protoporphyrin IX (PPIX) in an in vivo tumor model.

Methods: The model used was the Dunning R3327 tumor. First of all, the pharmacokinetics and the localization of PPIX were obtained using fluorescence measurement techniques.

Acute increases in arterial blood pressure do not reduce plasma vasopressin levels stimulated by angiotensin II or hyperosmolality in rats.

The present study sought to determine whether an acute increase in arterial blood pressure (ABP) reduces plasma vasopressin (VP) levels stimulated by ANG II or hyperosmolality. During an intravenous infusion of ANG II (100 ng.kg(-1).

Acute inhibition of the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus decreases renal sympathetic nerve activity and arterial blood pressure in water-deprived rats.

The present study was performed to determine whether sympathetic outflow and arterial blood pressure in water-deprived rats are dependent on the ongoing neuronal activity of the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN). Renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA), mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), and heart rate were recorded in urethane-alpha-chloralose-anesthetized rats that were deprived of water but not food for 48 h before experiments. Acute inhibition of the PVN by bilateral microinjection of the GABA(A) agonist muscimol (100 pmol/side) significantly decreased RSNA in water-deprived rats (-26.

Intralesional radioimmunotherapy in the treatment of malignant glioma: clinical and experimental findings.

In the last two decades radioimmunotherapy has been used as an additional treatment option for malignant glioma in several centers. More than 400 patients have been reported, who were treated in the framework of different studies. Most of them received labelled antibodies to tenascin, an extracellular matrix-glycoprotein, which is expressed in high amounts in malignant gliomas.

Blunted fenfluramine-evoked prolactin secretion in hypertensive rats.

Plasma prolactin (PRL) levels after acute administration of fenfluramine (FEN) have been used as a probe of brain serotonin activity. FEN-evoked increases in PRL levels inversely correlate with arterial blood pressure (ABP) in humans (Muldoon et al. Hypertension.

Dynamical ensembles in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and their representations.

The stationary states of driven systems of particles are considered from the point of view of the invariant probability distributions in the phase space which characterize them. The main features of various representations of such distributions are reviewed, and a brief derivation of the one based on orbital measures is given. We mention the limits of the mathematical derivations, and discuss the expected range of applicability beyond such limits.

Elevated dietary salt suppresses renin secretion but not thirst evoked by arterial hypotension in rats.

Increased dietary salt intake was used as a nonpharmacological tool to blunt hypotension-induced increases in plasma renin activity (PRA) in order to evaluate the contribution of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) to hypotension-induced thirst. Rats were maintained on 8% NaCl (high) or 1% NaCl (standard) diet for at least 2 wk, and then arterial hypotension was produced by administration of the arteriolar vasodilator diazoxide. Despite marked reductions in PRA, rats maintained on the high-salt diet drank similar amounts of water, displayed similar latencies to drink, and had similar degrees of hypotension compared with rats maintained on the standard diet.

Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of carbapenems: multicenter validity testing and accuracy levels of five antimicrobial test methods for detecting resistance in Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates.

From January 1996 to May 1999, Project ICARE (Intensive Care Antimicrobial Resistance Epidemiology) received 448 nonduplicate clinical isolates of Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa that were reported to be imipenem intermediate or resistant. However, broth microdilution (BMD) confirmatory testing at the Project ICARE central laboratory confirmed this result in only 11 of 123 (8.9%) Enterobacteriaceae isolates and 241 of 325 (74.

Central osmotic regulation of sympathetic nerve activity.

Aim: In this review, we will focus on the central neural mechanisms that couple osmotic perturbations to changes in sympathetic nerve discharge, and the possible impact these actions have in cardiovascular diseases such as arterial hypertension and congestive heart failure.

Results: Changes in extracellular fluid osmolality lead to specific regulatory responses in defence of body fluid and cardiovascular homeostasis. Systemic hyperosmolality is well known to stimulate thirst and the release of antidiuretic hormone.

Photoirradiation therapy of experimental malignant glioma with 5-aminolevulinic acid.

Object: Accumulation of protoporphyrin IX (PPIX) in malignant gliomas is induced by 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA). Because PPIX is a potent photosensitizer, the authors sought to discover whether its accumulation might be exploited for use in photoirradiation therapy of experimental brain tumors, without injuring normal or edematous brain.

Methods: Thirty rats underwent craniotomy and were randomized to the following groups: 1) photoirradiation of cortex (200 J/cm2, 635-nm argon-dye laser); 2) photoirradiation of cortex (200 J/cm2) 6 hours after intravenous administration of 5-ALA (100 mg/kg body weight); 3) cortical cold injury for edema induction; 4) cortical cold injury with simultaneous administration of 5-ALA (100 mg/kg body weight) and photoirradiation of cortex (200 J/cm2) 6 hours later; or 5) irradiation of cortex (200 J/cm2) 6 hours after intravenous administration of Photofrin II (5 mg/kg body weight).

Traffic hypoglycaemias and accidents in patients with diabetes mellitus treated with different antidiabetic regimens.

Objectives: Insulin-treated patients with diabetes are at a higher risk than the general population in causing traffic accidents due to hypoglycaemias. Preceding investigations focused on insulin-treated patients and hypoglycaemia-induced accidents as "end-points". We studied the incidence of symptomatic hypoglycaemia and hypoglycaemia-induced accidents during driving and put it in relation to the different treatment modes of insulin therapy (Conventional Insulin Treatment = CT, Intensified Conventional Insulin Treatment = ICT, Continuous Subcutaneous Insulin Infusion = CSII) as well as to patients treated with oral hypoglycaemia-inducing agents and the two main types of diabetes mellitus.

Facing disability with resources from Aristotle and Nietzsche.

Suddenly unable to walk, I found resources for facing disability in the works of Aristotle and Nietzsche, even though their respective ethical schemes are incommensurable. Implementing Amélie Rorty's notion of crop rotation, I show how each scheme offers the patient something quite indispensable, having to do with how each has its own judgmentally-motivated psychological underpinnings. Aristotle's notion of empathy, wherein the moral move occurs whenever we take up someone else's good as our own, is empowering, especially to those who face an imperiled embodiment.

When debiasing backfires: accessible content and accessibility experiences in debiasing hindsight.

Two studies demonstrated that attempts to debias hindsight by thinking about alternative outcomes may backfire and traced this to the influence of subjective accessibility experiences. Participants listed either few (2) or many (10) thoughts about how an event might have turned out otherwise. Listing many counterfactual thoughts was experienced as difficult and consistently increased the hindsight bias, presumably because the experienced difficulty suggested that there were not many ways in which the event might have turned out otherwise.

Arterial baroreceptors mediate the inhibitory effect of acute increases in arterial blood pressure on thirst.

The present study sought to determine whether arterial baroreceptor afferents mediate the inhibitory effect of an acute increase in arterial blood pressure (AP) on thirst stimulated by systemically administered ANG II or by hyperosmolality. Approximately 2 wk after sinoaortic denervation, one of four doses of ANG II (10, 40, 100, or 250 ng. kg(-1) x min(-1)) was infused intravenously in control and complete sinoaortic-denervated (SAD) rats.

Immune response and virus population composition: HIV as a case study.

Based on the current understanding of the immune response, we present what we believe to be a new model of intrahost virus dynamics. The model takes into account the relationship between virus replication rate and the level of antigen displayed by infected cells, and shows how the cell-directed immune response controls both virus load and virus replication rate. In contrast to conventional wisdom, it shows that the predominant virus variant does not necessarily have the highest replication rate.

Speech timing in children after the Lidcombe Program of early stuttering intervention.

It is known that operant treatments can control stuttering in children. However, at present it is unknown why such treatments are effective. Changes in the usual way of speaking are frequently observed after behavioural treatments for adults who stutter, and it is possible that operant treatments for children also invoke such changes.

Excitatory inputs to the RVLM in the context of the baroreceptor reflex.

The central neural circuit mediating baroreceptor control of sympathetic vasomotor outflow involves an excitatory projection from arterial baroreceptors to nucleus tractus solitarius, an excitatory projection from nucleus tractus solitarius to the caudal ventrolateral medulla, an inhibitory projection from the caudal ventrolateral medulla to the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM), and an excitatory projection from the RVLM to sympathetic preganglionic neurons in the spinal cord. For this circuit to be operational, the relevant neurons in the RVLM must be tonically active. Indeed, numerous studies have demonstrated that RVLM vasomotor neurons are tonically active; however, little is known regarding the nature of the tonic excitatory drive to these neurons.