Planar photonic crystals infiltrated with liquid crystals: optical characterization of molecule orientation.

Nematic liquid crystals are infiltrated into InP-based planar photonic crystals. Optical measurements as a function of temperature and polarization are used to study the average director field configuration in the nanometer-size holes: a planar equilibrium state is found.

A Polycomb group protein complex with sequence-specific DNA-binding and selective methyl-lysine-binding activities.

Polycomb response elements (PREs) are specific cis-regulatory sequences needed for transcriptional repression of HOX and other target genes by Polycomb group (PcG) proteins. Among the many PcG proteins known in Drosophila, Pho is the only sequence-specific DNA-binding protein. To gain insight into the function of Pho, we purified Pho protein complexes from Drosophila embryos and found that Pho exists in two distinct protein assemblies: a Pho-dINO80 complex containing the Drosophila INO80 nucleosome-remodeling complex, and a Pho-repressive complex (PhoRC) containing the uncharacterized gene product dSfmbt.

Humor and smiling: cortical regions selective for cognitive, affective, and volitional components.

Background: The interrelationships among humor, smiling, and grinning have fascinated philosophers for millennia and neurologists for over a century. A functional dissociation between emotional facial expressions and those under voluntary control was suggested decades ago. Recent functional imaging studies, however, have been somewhat at odds with older studies with respect to the role of the right frontal cortex in the perception of humor.

Sickle haemoglobin and haemoglobin Stanleyville II: possible confusion with sickle cell-haemoglobin C disease.

Objectives: To bring to the attention of East African practitioners, the characteristics of Hb Stanleyville II, its interaction with HbS, and the resemblance of the double heterozygote to sickle cell-haemoglobin C (SC) disease.

Data Sources: A prospective study of 100 patients with Sickle Cell (SS) disease in the steady state attending the sickle cell Clinic at Mulago Hospital, Kampala, Uganda.

Study Selection: Out of 100 patients with SS disease, two were also heterozygous for an alpha chain variant identified as Hb Stanleyville II.

Analysis of a polycomb group protein defines regions that link repressive activity on nucleosomal templates to in vivo function.

Polycomb group (PcG) genes propagate patterns of transcriptional repression throughout development. The products of several such genes are part of Polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1), which inhibits chromatin remodeling and transcription in vitro. Genetic and biochemical studies suggest the product of the Posterior sex combs (Psc) gene plays a central role in both PcG-mediated gene repression in vivo and PRC1 activity in vitro.

Nucleosome binding and histone methyltransferase activity of Drosophila PRC2.

The Drosophila Polycomb group protein E(z) is a histone methyltransferase (HMTase) that is essential for maintaining HOX gene silencing during development. E(z) exists in a multiprotein complex called Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) that also contains Su(z)12, Esc and Nurf55. Reconstituted recombinant PRC2 methylates nucleosomes in vitro, but recombinant E(z) on its own shows only poor HMTase activity on nucleosomes.

Electroconvulsive therapy dosage in continuation/maintenance electroconvulsive therapy: when is a new threshold titration necessary?

Treatment effects and side effects of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) depend on the level of applied energy in relation to the individual patient's seizure threshold. The threshold is known to increase during a course of frequently repeated ECT treatments and to return to baseline 6 months after cessation of treatment. In continuation ECT, however, as well as after early relapses, the interval between treatments is often longer than a few days but shorter than 6 months.

The potential of electrospray ionization mass spectrometry for the diagnosis of hemoglobin variants found in newborn screening.

Analytical procedures have been developed for the detection and diagnosis of sickle cell disease in newborn babies by analyzing the hemoglobin extracted from dried blood spots on Guthrie cards using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). An essential requirement is the ability to reliably differentiate two globin chains whose molecular weights differ by only 1 Da such as adult hemoglobin (Hb A) and Hb C. This has been achieved by improving the accuracy and precision of the molecular weight determination to a fraction of a dalton.

[Somatoform complaints in the elderly. Prevalence and associations with personality variables, career, and family].

The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of clinically relevant somatoform complaints in a representative sample of the elderly. For the first time, the job-related development of the elderly is analysed in relation to somatoform complaints. Further, personality variables and family development are examined.

Detection and quantitation of normal and variant haemoglobins: an analytical review.

As well as six 'normal' haemoglobins that occur at various stages of development, more than 800 abnormal or variant haemoglobins have been described. Many of these variant haemoglobins have no significant clinical consequences apart from causing confusion to clinicians and in laboratories; however, some of the variant haemoglobins result in major morbidity or mortality. The laboratory challenge is to detect these clinically significant haemoglobins and to identify them with sufficient accuracy for clinical purposes, as well as to quantitate both these and the 'normal' haemoglobins.

Improvement of the educational process by computer-based visualization of procedures: randomized controlled trial.

Background: Before any invasive procedure, physicians have a legal obligation to inform patients. Traditionally, this involves a discussion with a physician, supplemented by written leaflet information directed at the specific procedure.

Objective: Comparison of the use and effectiveness of computer-based visualization opposed to standardized conversation for providing patients with information of forthcoming procedures (coronary catheters or endoscopy procedures).

[Tick-borne encephalitis (FSME)--how great is the danger really?].

Tick-borne encephalitis is a neurotropic viral disease transmitted by ticks, and occasionally by the drinking of milk. Its incidence in Central and Eastern Europe has increased sharply, supposedly due--among other things--to climate warming and changes in leisure activities. The probability of contracting the disease following viral infection is about 30%.

Albuminuria in Afro-Caribbeans with Type 2 diabetes mellitus: is the sickle cell trait a risk factor?

Aims: To determine the prevalence of albuminuria [raised albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR)] in an out-patient population of Afro-Caribbeans with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and to determine if the possession of the sickle cell trait (SCT) is a risk factor.

Patients And Methods: The ACR in a morning urine sample was determined in each of 181 Afro-Caribbeans with Type 2 DM attending the out-patient clinic at King's Diabetes Centre of King's College Hospital, London. The subjects were genotyped for the SCT, Haemoglobin AS (HbAS).

Predictors of psychiatric comorbidity in medical outpatients.

Objective: Psychiatric comorbidity in medical outpatients is associated with personal suffering and reduced psychosocial functioning. Simple clinical indicators are needed to improve recognition and treatment of psychiatric comorbidity. This study aimed to identify predictors of psychiatric comorbidity for diagnostic use in busy medical settings and to describe their criterion validity.

Neural correlates of laughter and humour.

Although laughter and humour have been constituents of humanity for thousands if not millions of years, their systematic study has begun only recently. Investigations into their neurological correlates remain fragmentary and the following review is a first attempt to collate and evaluate these studies, most of which have been published over the last two decades. By employing the classical methods of neurology, brain regions associated with symptomatic (pathological) laughter have been determined and catalogued under other diagnostic signs and symptoms of such conditions as epilepsy, strokes and circumspect brain lesions.

Haemoglobin Etobicoke, an incidental finding in an Irish diabetic.

It is well recognized that haemoglobin variants can be detected during the measurement of HbA1c by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). A number of variants have been reported as compromising the quantification of HbA1c, a marker used in the assessment of glycaemic control in diabetes. We describe a case of haemoglobin Etobicoke, a rare alpha chain variant detected in an Irish diabetic during HbA1c analysis.

Why are smiles contagious? An fMRI study of the interaction between perception of facial affect and facial movements.

In human communication there is often a close relationship between the perception of an emotionally expressive face and the facial response of the viewer himself. Whereas perception and generation of facial expressions have been studied separately with functional imaging methods, no studies exist on their interaction. We combined the presentation of emotionally expressive faces with the instruction to react with facial movements predetermined and assigned.

Combined glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and glucosephosphate isomerase deficiency can alter clinical outcome.

Glucosephosphate isomerase (GPI) deficiency in humans is an autosomal recessive disorder, which results in nonspherocytic hemolytic anemia of variable clinical expression. A 4-year-old female with severe congenital hemolytic anemia had low red cell GPI activity of 15.5 IU/g Hb (50% of normal mean) indicating GPI deficiency.

Accurate mass measurement by electrospray ionization quadrupole mass spectrometry: detection of variants differing by <6 Da from normal in human hemoglobin heterozygotes.

Mass spectrometry has a basic limitation when human hemoglobin variants are analyzed, because it cannot resolve two globin chains that differ in mass by <6 Da. Several common beta-chain variants differ by 1 Da from normal and, hence, when present in heterozygotes, are not resolved from the normal beta-chain. Normal and variant chains appear together in the spectrum as a single entity, whose mass is the abundance weighted mean of the two chains.

[Insanity defense in post-traumatic stress disorder].

We report the forensic psychiatric evaluation of a 40 year old Iraqi who suffers from a posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). She committed multiple non violent shopliftings. We mention criteria for a possible causal relationship between the PTSD and the crimes and discuss, why we affirm a insanity defense in this case.

Histone methyltransferase activity of a Drosophila Polycomb group repressor complex.

Polycomb group (PcG) proteins maintain transcriptional repression during development, likely by creating repressive chromatin states. The Extra Sex Combs (ESC) and Enhancer of Zeste [E(Z)] proteins are partners in an essential PcG complex, but its full composition and biochemical activities are not known. A SET domain in E(Z) suggests this complex might methylate histones.

Effect of depressive symptoms on survival after heart transplantation.

Objective: This study explored the value of preoperative self-reported assessment for depression and anxiety in patients who had undergone heart transplantation (HTx). The initial sample was divided into subgroups of patients with ischemic (ICMP) and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCMP). Patient depression and anxiety scores were measured in both subgroups and their impact on pre- and postoperative mortality investigated.

Reporting psychosomatic consultations in the discharge letter: an examination of communication between inpatient and primary care physicians.

The discharge letter is the primary means of communication between the inpatient and the outpatient treatment providers in the German health care system. The inclusion of psychosomatic consultation findings within the discharge letter is a critical step for impacting the psychosocial aspects of patient care following discharge. The present retrospective study measured the extent to which psychosomatic consultations conducted at the University of Heidelberg Medical Hospital were mentioned in the discharge letter during a 2-year index period.

Heart-rate variability (HRV) in the ECG trace of routine EEGs: fast monitoring for the anticholinergic effects of clozapine and olanzapine?

Drug monitoring in psychiatry usually serves psychoactive drug plasma concentration measurement. Anticholinergic properties offer a faster approach to monitoring pharmacodynamic intraindividual effects of the drug by measuring their effects on heart rate variability (HRV), which is sympathetically and parasympathetically controlled via cholinergic synapses. The plasma concentrations of the atypical antipsychotics clozapine and olanzapine correlated with parameters of HRV in 59 patients suffering from schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.