A role for the right anterior temporal lobe in taste quality recognition

We conducted two experiments to examine central processing of the taste of citric acid. In the first experiment, elevated citric acid recognition thresholds, but normal detection thresholds, were observed in a group of patients who had undergone a right anterior temporal lobectomy for the treatment of epilepsy, compared with a control group and a group of patients who had undergone the same operation in the left hemisphere. In the second study, using positron emission tomography, we compared regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in a condition in which citric acid was presented with one in which water was presented (with similar somatosensory stimulation across both conditions). We observed increased rCBF bilaterally in the caudolateral orbitofrontal cortex, in the right anteromedial temporal lobe, and in the right caudomedial orbitofrontal cortex. The elevated recognition thresholds exhibited in patients with resection of the right anteromedial temporal lobe may be accounted for by damage in an area corresponding to that of the rCBF increase. These results suggest that although taste sensation may be computed in the primary taste cortex, recognition requires further processing by structures located in the anteromedial temporal lobe. Furthermore, they point to preferential processing of this higher-order gustatory function by the right cerebral hemisphere.     

Detection of staphylococcal genes directly from cerebrospinal and peritoneal fluid samples using a multiplex polymerase chain reaction

A 27-year-old woman receiving electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for the treatment of depression developed post-ECT headaches refractory to treatment with acetaminophen and various nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs. The patient was then treated successfully with oral sumatriptan. This case suggests that sumatriptan may be a useful treatment of post-ECT headaches that are unresponsive to conventional analgesics.     

Surgery of chest wall deformities

The effect of melatonin (MEL) on the nephropathy and the oxidative stress induced by a single and high dose of Adriamycin (AD) has been studied in Wistar male rats. MEL (50 microg/kg/day) was injected intraperitoneally 3 and 7 days, respectively, before and after AD injection (20 mg/kg i.p.). Trunk blood was drawn and triglycerides, total cholesterol, phospholipids, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, urea, creatinine, total protein, lipoperoxides, and reduced glutathione (GSH) levels and catalase activity (CAT) were determined in serum. In kidney homogenates, lipoperoxides, GSH, and CAT were measured as well as total protein in urine. AD administration resulted in hyperlipidemia and high-grade proteinuria and a marked increase in serum lipoperoxides, urea, and creatinine. In the kidney, the increase in lipoperoxides was accompanied by a significant decrease of GSH and CAT. The efficiency of MEL was specially remarkable in restoring GSH, CAT, and proteinuria to the levels of controls. These results confirm the involvement of free radicals in the pathogenesis of nephrotoxicity induced by AD. Likewise, they show the high antioxidative power of MEL and its marked effect on the prevention and suppression of this nephropathy.     

The Index of Drug Involvement: a partial validation

Social workers often need a wider range of assessment scales that can be used in education, research, and practice. The Index of Drug Involvement (IDI) is a short-form assessment scale that may be of use to social work educators, researchers, and practitioners who work with clients with drug abuse or chemical dependency problems. This article describes the IDI; provides information about its administration, scoring, and interpretation; and describes the initial research conducted to validate the instrument. This article provides information about the reliability of the IDI; reports the standard error of measurement; and presents findings concerning the content, construct, and criterion validity of the instrument. Also presented is initial information about the development and use of a clinical cutting score that will help practitioners evaluate the clinical significance of a drug abuse problem and that can be a guide for establishing initial and final treatment goals.     

Piperacillin-tazobactam as empiric monotherapy in febrile neutropenic patients with haematological malignancies

To examine the relationship between apolipoprotein E (apoE) phenotype and life span, we measured the frequently of the apoE phenotype and allele in 54 Japanese centenarians who lived in the Tokyo metropolitan area in 1994, 1995, and 1996. The control group consisted of 973 subjects, 883 healthy volunteers who were described previously and 90 healthy people who came to the Keio health consulting center. The apoE phenotypes in the centenarians was 2 E2/E2 (3.7%), 5 E2/E3 (9.3%), 38 E3/E3 (70.4%), and 9 3E/E4 (16.7%). No other phenotype was observed. In the control group, the phenotypes were 2 E2/E2 (0.2%), 57 E2/E3 (5.9%) 712 E3/E3 (73.2%), and 179 E3/E4 (18.4%). The frequency of E2 was higher in the centenarians. The frequencies of the apoE allele in the centenarians and the control subjects were epsilon 2 8.3% vs. 3.5%, epsilon 3 83.3% vs. 85.4%, and epsilon 4 8.3% vs. 10.9%. The frequency of the apoE allele differed significantly between centenarians and control subjects (chi 2 = 6.84, p = 0.033). Levels of serum cholesterol and apolipoprotein B were significantly lower in the E2/E2 + E2/E3 centenarians. Studies of the frequency of the apoE allele in Japanese, French, and Finnish subjects showed that epsilon 2 is more frequent and epsilon 4 is less frequent in centenarians. These data show the apoE phenotype may affect life span: epsilon 2 is positively and epsilon 4 is negatively associated with longevity.     

Preclinical drug metabolism in the age of high-throughput screening: an industrial perspective

With the advent of genomics, combinatorial paradigms and high-throughput screen (HTS)-based pharmacological testing, the number of compounds flowing through the discovery pipeline is likely to escalate. At the same time, with increased knowledge of the human drug-metabolizing enzymes and the availability of in vitro absorption-metabolism (AM) models, Preclinical Drug Metabolism is poised to meet the challenges of HTS. In order to be successful, however, a rational HTS strategy (vs. serendipitous HTS) has to be employed. Such a strategy is based on automation, validation and integration of in vitro AM models and database management (AVID). A generalized strategy for rational (AVID-based) HTS in Preclinical Drug Metabolism is described briefly.     

Identification of N-acetylneuraminic acid and its 9-O-acetylated derivative on the cell surface of Cryptococcus neoformans: influence on fungal phagocytosis

Sialic acids from sialoglycoconjugates present at the cell surface of Cryptococcus neoformans yeast forms were analyzed by high-performance thin-layer chromatography, binding of influenza A and C virus strains, enzymatic treatment, and flow cytofluorimetry with fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled lectins. C. neoformans yeast forms grown in a chemically defined medium contain N-acetylneuraminic acid and its 9-O-acetylated derivative. A density of 3 x 10(6) residues of sialic acid per cell was found in C. neoformans. Sialic acids in cryptococcal cells are glycosidically linked to galactopyranosyl units as inferred from the increased reactivity of neuraminidase-treated yeasts with peanut agglutinin. N-Acetylneuraminic acids are alpha-2,6 and alpha-2,3 linked, as indicated by using virus strains M1/5 and M1/5 HS8, respectively, as agglutination probes. The alpha-2,6 linkage markedly predominated. These findings were essentially confirmed by the interaction of cryptococcal cells with the lectins Sambucus nigra agglutinin and Maackia amurensis agglutinin. We also investigated whether the sialyl residues present in C. neoformans are involved in the fungal interaction with a cationic solid-phase substrate and with mouse resident macrophages. Adhesion of yeast cells to poly-L-lysine was mediated, in part, by sialic acid residues, since the number of adherent cells was markedly reduced after treatment with bacterial neuraminidase. The enzymatic removal of sialic acids also made C. neoformans yeast cells more susceptible to endocytosis by macrophages. The results show that sialic acids are components of the cryptococcal cell surface that contribute to its negative charge and protect yeast forms against phagocytosis.     

From blastocyst to placenta: the morphology of implantation in the baboon

Implantation and placentation in the baboon share many morphological features with other primates, as well as having some specific distinctions. The ability to use deturgescence of the sex skin as a method of timing ovulation and the ease with which the uterine lumen can be flushed have been used to examine morphological aspects of blastocyst differentiation and implantation in this species. Preimplantation blastocysts were obtained by non-surgical flushing of the uterus 6-8 days after ovulation, and implantation sites were excised from uteri removed on days 10-16 of gestation. All tissues were prepared for electron microscopy by aldehyde fixation and plastic embedding. Maturation of trophoblast from the compacted morula stage to the expanded blastocyst stage includes increase in numbers of polyribosomes, changes in conformation of mitochondria, and development of an effective endocytic apparatus. An endodermal layer forms beneath the inner cell mass prior to loss of the zona pellucida, and parietal endodermal cells extend beyond the inner cell mass. Azonal blastocysts have regions of syncytial trophoblast adjacent to the inner cell mass, and they may represent adhesion stages of early implantation. In early postimplantation stages, trophoblast replaces the uterine epithelium and processes of syncytial trophoblast invade dilated superficial maternal vessels. In subsequent lacunar stages there is rapid elevation of the developing conceptus above the uterine surface as the lacunae enlarge. Cytotrophoblast rapidly enters maternal vessels, and arterioles are partially or completely occluded by migrating cytotrophoblast. The early access to controlled maternal blood flow apparently allows trophoblastic lacunae to expand superficially as opposed to more extensive endometrial invasion.