Objective: Alexithymia and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) might share a neuroendocrine pattern characterized by increased urinary norepinephrine (N) and decreased cortisol (C) levels, resulting in a high N/C ratio, at least among male alcoholics. We aimed to explore if this association can also be found in other populations.
Methods: Twenty-four-hour urine samples were obtained from 12 major depressive disorder (MDD) patients and 23 healthy controls (HC) and tested for N and free C. Participants completed the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) and the Symptom Check List (SCL).
Results: Controlling for depression, the neuroendocrine parameters did not differ between the MDD and HC participants nor between women and men. The TAS was not associated with N, C or the N/C ratio in the MDD and HC participants nor in females alone. However, in men, the N/C ratio correlated significantly with the TAS (r = .80).
Conclusions: Our preliminary findings indicate that alexithymia is associated with an increased noradrenergic activity and a decreased basal activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis among men. This gender difference may reflect divergent underlying neurobiological processes of alexithymia in men and women.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2004.07.006 | DOI Listing |
Circ Cardiovasc Imaging
January 2025
Duke Clinical Research Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC. (P.S., C.H., G.B., A.H., S.H.S., P.S.D., M.A.D.).
Background: Patients with abnormal (positive) exercise electrocardiography, but normal stress echocardiography (+ECG/-Echo), have an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events compared with patients with a normal (negative) ECG and a normal stress Echo (-ECG/-Echo). However, it is unclear if +ECG/-Echo discordance is associated with a greater burden of subclinical coronary atherosclerosis.
Methods: Project Baseline Health Study participants who underwent a stress Echo and coronary artery calcium (CAC) scan were stratified by stress Echo result: -ECG/-Echo or +ECG/-Echo.
Sci Rep
January 2025
Northwest Oilfield Company, SINOPEC, Ürümqi, 830011, China.
Deep oil reservoirs are becoming increasingly significant fields of hydrocarbon exploration in recent decades. Hydrothermal fluid flow is deemed as a potentially crucial factor affecting the occurrence of deep oil reservoirs, such as enhancing porosity/permeability of reservoirs, accelerating oil generation and thermal cracking, and modifying organic properties of crude oils. Understanding the interplay between hydrothermal fluids and crude oils would provide useful constraints for reconstructing hydrocarbon accumulation processes and predicting the distribution patterns of crude oils.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Appl Mater Interfaces
January 2025
Key Laboratory of Carbon Materials of Zhejiang Province, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou 325035, China.
Developing high-energy-density lithium-sulfur batteries faces serious polysulfide shuttle effects and sluggish conversion kinetics, often necessitating the excessive use of electrolytes, which in turn adversely affects battery performance. Our study introduces a meticulously designed electrocatalyst, Cu-CeO@N/C, to enhance lean-electrolyte lithium-sulfur battery performance. This catalyst, featuring in situ synthesized Cu clusters, regulates oxygen vacancies in CeO and forms Cu-CeO heterojunctions, thereby diminishing sulfur conversion barriers and hastening reaction kinetics through the generation of S/S intermediates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTissue Cell
December 2024
Department of Anatomy, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka 576104, India. Electronic address:
Thyroid gland which is responsible for the maintenance of metabolism and growth is derived from thyroglossal duct, an outpocketing of foregut. The microscopic study of thyroid gland during development in first, second and third trimesters has utmost significance to understand the several developmental thyroid disorders metabolically and structurally. This study is descriptive observational study carried in tissue sections taken from thyroid gland of still birth and spontaneously aborted human fetuses of first, second and third trimester.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDrugs Real World Outcomes
January 2025
School of Pharmacy, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 100025, Taiwan.
Background And Objectives: Accumulating pediatric efficacy and safety data on drug use is inherently challenging yet essential. This study aimed to analyze the frequency and compute the odds of pediatric drug-associated liver injury across age groups (early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence) and therapeutic categories using adverse drug reactions (ADRs) reporting data spanning nearly two decades.
Methods: We analyzed the reports of suspected ADRs occurring in children and adolescents in the Taiwan National Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting System during the period from May 1998 until July 2017.
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