Use of complementary/alternative therapies by women with advanced-stage breast cancer.

Background: This study sought to describe the pattern of complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) use among a group of patients with advanced breast cancer, to examine the main reasons for their CAM use, to identify patient's information sources and their communication pattern with their physicians.

Methods: Face-to-face structured interviews of patients with advanced-stage breast cancer at a comprehensive oncology center.

Results: Seventy three percent of patients used CAM; relaxation/meditative techniques and herbal medicine were the most common.

Neuroprotection by nitric oxide against hydroxyl radical-induced nigral neurotoxicity.

We investigated the effects of nitric oxide on an in vitro and in vivo generation of hydroxyl radicals, and in vivo neurotoxicity caused by intranigral infusion of ferrous citrate in rats. The formation of hydroxyl radicals in vitro, without exogenous hydrogen peroxide, was dose-dependent. Some nitric oxide donors (e.

Anticipation of play elicits high-frequency ultrasonic vocalizations in young rats.

The authors provide initial documentation that juvenile rats emit short, high-frequency ultrasonic vocalizations (high USVs, approximately 55 kHz) during rough-and-tumble play. In an observational study, they further observe that these vocalizations both correlate with and predict appetitive components of the play behavioral repertoire. Additional experiments characterized eliciting conditions for high USVs.

Ferrous-citrate complex and nigral degeneration: evidence for free-radical formation and lipid peroxidation.

Increased nigral iron content in the parkinsonian brain is now well documented and is implicated in the pathogenesis of this movement disorder. Free iron in the pigmented DA-containing neurons catalyze DA autoxidation and Fenton reaction to produce cytotoxic .OH, initiating lipid peroxidation and consequent cell damage.

Potential problems in using [35S]-dATP-tailed oligonucleotides for detecting mRNAs in certain cells of the immune system.

In this study we examined the cause of unusually intense signals obtained in immune cells by in situ hybridization histochemistry using 35S-labeled oligonucleotides. We verified that the phenomenon is an amplification of a specific signal due to a series of chemical interactions after the probe binds to a specific mRNA in the tissue. The presence of oxidative enzymes in the tissue seems to be necessary for this reaction to occur.

Mapping of the colocalization of calretinin and tyrosine hydroxylase in the rat substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area.

The distribution of calretinin (CR), a calcium binding protein, was compared with that of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), the rate-limiting enzyme in the synthesis of dopamine, throughout the rostrocaudal extent of the rat substantia nigra (SN) and ventral tegmental area (VTA). After mapping the cells using double-labelling immunofluorescence, it was possible to distinguish three distinct cell types: cells immunoreactive for CR only, cells immunoreactive for TH only, and cells in which the two proteins were colocalized (CR + TH). Colocalized cells in rat brain sections comprised approximately 40-55% of the fluorescent labelled cells in the SN compacta, 30-40% in the VTA, and 55-80% in the SN lateralis.

Mental retardation and psychiatric illness.

Although traditional diagnostic criteria are accepted for use with mentally retarded persons, diagnosis of psychiatric disorders in this population is often complicated by clinicians' ignoring or underestimating such disorders and by patients' communication problems. The revision of DSM-III and changes in policies of third-party payers have sensitized clinicians to the presence of psychopathology among mentally retarded persons. The authors discuss the relationship between mental illness and mental retardation and review recent research on the diagnosis of specific psychiatric disorders in these patients.

Oxytocin receptor binding in female prairie voles: endogenous and exogenous oestradiol stimulation.

Abstract Previous studies have demonstrated that oxytocin receptors in specific nuclei of rat forebrain are regulated by gonadal steroids. The current study used in vitro receptor autoradiography to investigate the distribution and regulation of oxytocin receptors in the forebrain of the female prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster). In contrast to rats, in female prairie voles gonadal steroid secretion and oestrus behaviour result from male chemosignal stimulation and ovulation is induced by mating.

Testosterone modulates oxytocin binding in the hypothalamus of castrated male rats.

Oxytocin (OT) binding sites are modulated by estrogens in several brain regions including the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMN) in both male and female rats. To further study steroid regulation of OT receptor binding, we examined the effect of androgen replacement in castrated male rats on OT binding with quantitative autoradiographic methods. Castrated adult male rats were treated with either 250 micrograms testosterone propionate (TP) or oil for 2 days and killed 48 h after the last injection.