Decision making on behalf of elders with advanced cognitive impairment: family transitions.

Changes in family decision making responsibilities occur with progression of cognitive impairment. Focus groups with family members of nursing home residents with advanced cognitive impairment investigated values and beliefs used in making decisions for the elder. Family members described difficult decisions they had made to date, noting a significant transition in their decision making role when the elders' decisions needed to be superseded (especially with changes in living arrangements).

Rodent brain and heart catecholamine levels are altered by different models of copper deficiency.

Limiting dopamine beta-monooxygenase results in lower norepinephrine (NE) and higher dopamine (DA) concentrations in copper-deficient Cu- tissues compared to copper-adequate Cu+ tissues. Mice and rat offspring were compared to determine the effect of differences in dietary copper Cu deficiency started during gestation or lactation on catecholamine, NE and DA, content in brain and heart. Holtzman rat and Hsd:ICR (CD-1) outbred albino mouse dams were fed a Cu- diet and drank deionized water or Cu supplemented water.

Neuroendocrine and behavioral mechanisms mediating the relationship between anger expression and cardiovascular risk: assessment considerations and improvements.

The hypothesis that intense anger experience may increase risk for or exacerbate cardiovascular diseases has been under active theoretical and empirical interest for decades. Biopsychological models of disease suggest that persons displaying exaggerated physiological responses to acute emotional or stressful states are at a greater risk to develop cardiovascular disorders. The last two decades have witnessed active work to refine means by which anger expression can be assessed, and laboratory research has produced evidence suggesting that certain expression styles may predict enhanced physiological responses to acute stress.

Esterification prevents induction of the mitochondrial permeability transition by N-acetyl perfluorooctane sulfonamides.

N-Alkyl perfluorooctane sulfonamides have been widely used as surfactants on fabrics and papers, fire retardants, and anticorrosion agents, among many other commercial applications. The broad use, global distribution, and environmental persistence of these compounds has generated considerable interest regarding potentially toxic effects. We have previously reported that perfluorooctanesulfonamidoacetate (FOSAA) and N-ethylperfluorooctanesulfonamidoacetate (N-EtFOSAA) induce the mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT) in vitro, resulting in cytochrome c release, inhibition of respiration, and generation of reactive oxygen species.

Murine cytomegalovirus infection markedly reduces serum MCP-1 levels in MCP-1 transgenic mice.

Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) is a pro-inflammatory chemokine believed to play a major role in atherogenesis. Injured endothelial cells express MCP-1, which attracts monocytes to the blood vessel wall and leads to the formation of atheromas. Cytomegalovirus infection may also play a role in atherogenesis and accelerates inflammation in tissues that overexpress MCP-1.

Plasma peptidylglycine alpha-amidating monooxygenase (PAM) and ceruloplasmin are affected by age and copper status in rats and mice.

In an attempt to identify a sensitive and improved marker of mammalian copper status during neonatal development experiments compared two plasma cuproenzymes, peptidylglycine alpha-amidating monooxygenase (PAM ), an enzyme involved in peptide posttranslational activation, to ceruloplasmin (Cp), a ferroxidase involved in iron mobilization. Dietary Cu deficiency (Cu-) was studied in dams and offspring at postnatal age 3 (P3), P12, and P28. Rodent Cp activity rose during lactation whereas PAM activity fell.

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical responses to psychological stress and risk for smoking relapse.

Stress is a commonly reported precipitant of relapse to substance use. There is a growing recognition of the need to understand psychobiological alterations in the stress response among chronic drug users, and to determine how they may precipitate relapse. This paper focuses on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) response to stress among dependent smokers.

Modulation of monocarboxylic acid transporter-1 kinetic function by the cAMP signaling pathway in rat brain endothelial cells.

MCT1 (monocarboxylic acid transporter 1) facilitates bidirectional monocarboxylic acid transport across membranes. MCT1 function and regulation have not been characterized previously in cerebral endothelial cells but may be important during normal cerebral energy metabolism and during brain diseases such as stroke. Here, by using the cytoplasmic pH indicator 2',7'-bis-(2-carboxyethyl)-5-(and-6)-carboxyfluorescein-acetoxymethyl ester, the initial rates of monocarboxylate-dependent cytoplasmic acidification were measured as an indication of MCT1 kinetic function in vitro using the rat brain endothelial cell (RBE4) model of blood-brain transport.

Direct effects of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors on rat cardiac mitochondrial bioenergetics.

In this investigation we demonstrate that various nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) and their corresponding nucleotides can cause a direct, DNA polymerase-gamma-independent, inhibition of respiration, membrane potential, and calcium loading capacity in isolated rat heart mitochondria in vitro. Both AZT and d4T also increased total adenine phosphate energy charge in H9c2 rat cardiac myocytes in cell culture. These results demonstrate that the various NRTI nucleosides and nucleotides are capable, at sufficiently high concentrations, of directly affecting mitochondrial bioenergetics in vitro, which may enhance the toxicity observed in vivo previously attributed to inhibition of DNA polymerase-gamma.

L-threo 3,4-dihydroxyphenylserine treatment during mouse perinatal and rat postnatal development does not alter the impact of dietary copper deficiency.

Dietary copper (Cu) deficiency was induced perinatally in Swiss Albino mice and postnatally in male Holtzman rats to investigate the effect of L-threo 3,4-dihydroxyphenylserine (DOPS) on pup survival and catecholamine levels in a 2 x 2 factorial design. Mouse dams were placed on one of four treatments 14 days after mating and rats at postnatal day 19 (P19). Treatments were Cu-adequate (Cu + ) and Cu-deficient (Cu - ) diets with or without DOPS (1 mg/ml) in the drinking water.

N400 as an index of semantic expectancies: differential effects of alcohol and cocaine dependence.

Background: Chronic substance abuse has been associated with decrements in the processing and expression of language. The present study utilized the N400 event-related electroencephalographic potential to index semantic processing in 133 adults with (n=49) or without (n=84) a history of alcohol and/or cocaine dependence. The contributions of age, gender, and comorbid marijuana and nicotine dependence, and antisocial symptomology to N400 decrements were either covaried or controlled.

Attenuated adrenocorticotropic responses to psychological stress are associated with early smoking relapse.

Rationale: Research has demonstrated that psychosocial stressors increase smoking and risk for smoking relapse. Alterations in biological systems involved in the stress response caused by chronic smoking may contribute to early relapse.

Objectives: We examined the extent to which pituitary-adrenocortical and cardiovascular responses to stress following the first 24 h of a quit attempt predict early relapse.

Peptidylglycine-alpha-amidating monooxygenase activity and protein are lower in copper-deficient rats and suckling copper-deficient mice.

Peptidylglycine-alpha-amidating monooxygenase (PAM) is a copper-dependent enzyme involved in peptide posttranslational activation. Dietary Cu deficiency (Cu-) was studied to determine if lower PAM activity was due to reduction in protein or cofactor limitation. PAM activity was lower in cardiac atria of Cu- rats than Cu-adequate (Cu+) rats and there was a 50% equivalent reduction in PAM protein.

Adolescents in mid-sized and rural communities: foregone care, perceived barriers, and risk factors.

Purpose: To investigate the perceived health care needs, foregone care, barriers to care, and associated risk factors in a non-urban population of adolescents.

Methods: Tenth-grade students attending school and 15-17-year-old youth not attending school in a Midwestern county were surveyed or interviewed. Eighty-six percent provided usable data (n = 1948, 134 of whom were not in school).

Mitochondrial permeability transition as the critical target of N-acetyl perfluorooctane sulfonamide toxicity in vitro.

Perfluorooctanyl compounds with active functional groups have been shown to disrupt mitochondrial bioenergetics by three distinct mechanisms: protonophoric uncoupling of mitochondrial respiration, induction of the mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT), or a nonselective increase in membrane permeability. The purpose of this investigation was to identify the initial target and specific sequence of events associated with the N-acetyl substituted perfluorooctanesulfonamides induced MPT. N-acetyl-perfluorooctanesulfonamide (FOSAA), N-ethyl-N-acetyl-perfluorooctanesulfonamide (N-Et FOSAA), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS), and N-ethyl-N-(2-ethoxy)-perfluorooctanesulfonamide (N-Et FOSE) were added individually to liver mitochondria freshly isolated from Sprague-Dawley rats.

Blood pressure but not cortisol mediates stress effects on subsequent pain perception in healthy men and women.

Research has demonstrated that exposure to acute stress may attenuate pain perception. Mechanisms of this effect in humans have not been determined. This study was conducted to determine the extent to which psychophysiological and adrenocortical responses to acute stress predict subsequent pain perception.

Metallochaperone for Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase (CCS) protein but not mRNA is higher in organs from copper-deficient mice and rats.

Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD1) is an abundant metalloenzyme important in scavenging superoxide ions. Cu-deficient rats and mice have lower SOD1 activity and protein, possibly because apo-SOD1 is degraded faster than holo-SOD1. SOD1 interacts with and requires its metallochaperone CCS for donating copper.

Multitrack system for superfusing isolated cardiac myocytes.

A new system for studying mechanical activity of freshly isolated cardiac myocytes from up to four experimental groups simultaneously is described. Suspensions of cardiac myocytes isolated from adult rat hearts were drawn into microhematocrit capillary tubes, which were then mounted in parallel fashion between two four-channel tubing manifolds placed on the movable stage of an inverted microscope. Within a few minutes, cells settled and attached to the bottom of the tubes and then could be superfused with various test solutions.

Trimellitic anhydride (TMA) dust induces airway obstruction and eosinophilia in non-sensitized guinea pigs.

Trimellitic anhydride (TMA) causes asthma after a latency period of sensitization. In non-sensitized humans and animals, limited studies indicate that TMA exposure may also cause symptoms of asthma without a latency period. Our previous studies (J.