Synthesis and CB1 cannabinoid receptor affinity of 4-alkoxycarbonyl-1,5-diaryl-1,2,3-triazoles.

A series of 4-alkoxycarbonyl-1,5-diaryl-1,2,3-triazoles were synthesized regioselectively using click chemistry and evaluated at CB1 cannabinoid receptors. The n-propyl ester 11 (K(i)=4.6 nM) and phenyl ester 14 (K(i)=11 nM) exhibited the most potent affinity of the series.

Differential predictors of critical comments and emotional over-involvement in first-episode psychosis.

Background: Little research has focused on delineating the specific predictors of emotional over-involvement (EOI) and critical comments (CC) in the early course of psychosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the differential relationships of EOI and CC with relevant predictors in relatives of first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients.

Method: Baseline patient-related factors including psychotic symptoms, depression and duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) and carer attributes comprising CC, EOI, burden of care and carers' stress and depression were assessed in a cohort of 63 remitted FEP patients and their relatives.

Sensitivity to cocaine conditioned reward depends on sex and age.

Human and animal laboratory studies show that females and males respond differently to drugs and that drug administration during adolescence leads to different behavioral effects than during adulthood. Adult female rats are more sensitive to the behavioral effects of cocaine than adult males, but it is not known if the same effect of sex exists during adolescence. In the present study, sensitivity to the conditioned reward of cocaine was evaluated using a conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm where adolescent (PND 34) and adult (PND 66) male and female rats were trained and tested for the development of CPP to multiple doses of cocaine.

Enhancing treatment fidelity in psychotherapy research: novel approach to measure the components of cognitive behavioural therapy for relapse prevention in first-episode psychosis.

Objectives: Establishing treatment fidelity is one of the most important aspects of psychotherapy research. Treatment fidelity refers to the methodological strategies used to examine and enhance the reliability and validity of psychotherapy. This study sought to develop and evaluate a measure specifically designed to assess fidelity to the different therapeutic components (i.

Spectrochemical evaluation of pyridinium chloride as a possible selective fluorescence quenching agent of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in water and neat acetonitrile.

Pyridinium chloride (PC) is examined as a selective, fluorescence quenching agent for alternant as opposed to nonalternant polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in two polar solvents - water and acetonitrile. Nine alternant and 13 nonalternant PAHs were dissolved in water and acetonitrile and a total of 0.2 M of pyridinium chloride was added.

PqsE functions independently of PqsR-Pseudomonas quinolone signal and enhances the rhl quorum-sensing system.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that causes both acute and chronic infections in immunocompromised individuals. This gram-negative bacterium produces a battery of virulence factors that allow it to infect and survive in many different hostile environments. The control of many of these virulence factors falls under the influence of one of three P.

"Heely"-related injuries in children.

Background: "Heelys", or shoes with an integral wheel embedded into the heel, are becoming increasingly popular among children in the UK. Despite the manufacturer's claims about their safety, increasing numbers of patients are attending the emergency department with "Heely"-related injuries.

Aim: To assess the number and type of "Heely"-related injuries seen in the emergency department in a busy district general hospital and to assess the number of school days lost as a result of these injuries as a secondary measure of the impact on education and lifestyle.

Reliability and validity of two new instruments for measuring aspects of mental slowness in the daily lives of stroke patients.

The objective of the study was to examine psychometric characteristics of two measures related to mental slowness experienced after stroke: One measure is aimed at performance on tasks, the other is a questionnaire evaluating perceived consequences of mental slowness. A group of 37 stroke patients and 33 matched controls were studied. A subgroup of 10 patients and 22 controls was observed by two independent raters to determine inter-rater reliability, a subgroup of 18 patients completed the questionnaire twice over a two-week interval to determine test-retest stability.

Using mental practice in stroke rehabilitation: a framework.

Introduction: Motor imagery and mental practice are getting increased attention in neurological rehabilitation. Several different mental practice intervention protocols have been used in studies on its effect on recovery in stroke rehabilitation. The content of the intervention protocols itself is rarely discussed or questioned.

Living with GASB 45: how to manage liabilities associated with retiree medical benefits.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board Statement 45 (GASB 45) obliges public employers to disclose liabilities related to postretirement medical benefits. Most state and local government entities are beginning to analyze and quantify how GASB 45 liabilities will affect their balance sheets and credit ratings. This article describes the many ways to reduce those liabilities without eliminating retiree medical plan benefits altogether.

The effects of stretching in spasticity: a systematic review.

Objectives: To investigate the general effect of stretching on spasticity and to explore the complexity of stretching in patients with spasticity.

Data Sources: Two researchers independently performed a systematic literature search using the databases: Medline, PEDro, Cochrane library, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Allied and Complementary Medicine.

Study Selection: Studies on adults receiving a stretching technique to reduce spasticity were included.

Measures for rating social participation in people with aphasia: a systematic review.

Background: Re-establishing participation in social life is an important aim of rehabilitation, but instruments to measure participation in people with aphasia are rare.

Aims: To identify and describe measures of social participation that may be specifically useful when measuring participation in people with aphasia.

Methods And Procedures: A systematic review of the literature concerning participation instruments was conducted.

Functional MRI correlates of lower limb function in stroke victims with gait impairment.

Background And Purpose: Although knowledge concerning cortical reorganization related to upper limb function after ischemic stroke is growing, similar data for lower limb movements are limited. Previous studies with hand movement suggested increasing recruitment of motor areas in the unlesioned hemisphere with increasing disability. We used ankle movement as a lower limb analog to test for similarities and differences in recovery patterns.

Dystonia.

Introduction: Dystonia is usually a lifelong condition with persistent pain and disability. Focal dystonia affects a single part of the body; generalised dystonia can affect most or all of the body. It is more common in women, and some types of dystonia are more common in people of European Ashkenazi Jewish descent.

Walking performance and its recovery in chronic stroke in relation to extent of lesion overlap with the descending motor tract.

We investigated the association between the degree of lesion overlap with the corticospinal tract and walking performance before and after 4-weeks of partial body weight support (PBWS) treadmill training in 18 individuals (ten male, eight female) with a mean age 59 +/- 13 years (mean +/- SD), range 32-74 years, who were ambulant and 6 months from a subcortical ischaemic stroke. Lesion volumes were manually defined on high resolution T1-weighted 3T-MRI scans and a probabilistic map of the corticospinal tract created using diffusion tensor imaging data collected previously in healthy subjects. The percentage overlap between the lesion and the corticospinal tract was calculated for each patient.

Effects of mental practice embedded in daily therapy compared to therapy as usual in adult stroke patients in Dutch nursing homes: design of a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Mental practice as an additional cognitive therapy is getting increased attention in stroke rehabilitation. A systematic review shows some evidence that several techniques in which movements are rehearsed mentally might be effective but not enough to be certain. This trial investigates whether mental practice can contribute to a quicker and/or better recovery of stroke in two Dutch nursing homes.

Is it possible to use the Structural Dimension Analysis of Motor Memory (SDA-M) to investigate representations of motor actions in stroke patients?

Objective: To determine the feasibility of the Structural Dimension Analysis of Motor Memory (SDA-M), a method derived from sports psychology, in establishing the mental representations of complex movements in patients after stroke.

Design: Case series of patients, with age-matched healthy controls.

Setting: A rehabilitation nursing home.

Activity and Life After Survival of a Cardiac Arrest (ALASCA) and the effectiveness of an early intervention service: design of a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Cardiac arrest survivors may experience hypoxic brain injury that results in cognitive impairments which frequently remain unrecognised. This may lead to limitations in daily activities and participation in society, a decreased quality of life for the patient, and a high strain for the caregiver. Publications about interventions directed at improving quality of life after survival of a cardiac arrest are scarce.

Social roles and long-term illness: is it time to rehabilitate convalescence?

The total extent of sickness in the population has increased while disease has decreased. Being sick is a role that offers the patient many advantages both directly, in terms of being absolved from undertaking many daily activities if necessary, and indirectly, through additional financial and other resources that may be offered. Because of these advantages, it is usual for any persistent sickness to be validated by health care professionals.

Life after survival: long-term daily life functioning and quality of life of patients with hypoxic brain injury as a result of a cardiac arrest.

Objectives: To determine the level of daily functioning and quality of life of patients with hypoxic brain injury after a cardiac arrest and to investigate the predictive value of the duration of coma and post-traumatic amnesia in long-term functioning.

Design: A retrospective cohort study.

Setting: A Dutch rehabilitation centre.

Ethics of collecting and using healthcare data.

Primary responsibility lies with the organisations involved, not ethical review committees

Impact of severity of substance use disorder on symptomatic and functional outcome in young individuals with first-episode psychosis.

Objective: To investigate whether severity of substance use disorder is independently associated with 15-month symptomatic or functional outcome in young individuals with first-episode psychosis.

Method: Ninety-two individuals aged 15 to 30 years with first-episode psychosis participated in a 15-month prospective follow-up study. DSM-IV criteria were used to diagnose psychotic disorders, and DSM-III-R criteria were used to diagnose substance use disorder (abuse or dependence).

Chronic cocaine produces decreases in N/OFQ peptide levels in select rat brain regions.

The interaction of opioids and stimulants is well established; however, the mechanisms that underlie the role that opioid receptors play in psychostimulant action are not. Nociceptin/orphaninFQ (N/OFQ), the endogenous agonist at NOP receptors, attenuates the behavioral effects of cocaine. The effects of cocaine on N/OFQ were examined in rats using immunoautoradiographic and RIA techniques.

Rehabilitation interventions for foot drop in neuromuscular disease.

Background: "Foot drop" or "Floppy foot drop" is the term commonly used to describe weakness or contracture of the muscles around the ankle joint. It may arise from many neuromuscular diseases.

Objectives: To conduct a systematic review of randomised trials of treatment for footdrop resulting from neuromuscular disease.