REM sleep behaviour disorder: an overview

REM sleep behaviour disorder (RSBD) is a recently described parasomnia characterised by a history of excessive nocturnal motor activity and absence of muscle atonia during REM sleep. Only limited literature is available on this condition. The exact prevalence is unclear, but recent studies suggest it might not be an uncommon condition. The elderly are more often affected and there is a male preponderance. While transient RSBD can be seen after taking certain drugs or during drug withdrawal, the chronic type is usually idiopathic or associated with an underlying degenerative neurological condition. It can result in considerable distress and/or serious injury to the patients or their bed partners. Differential diagnoses include sleep-walking, night terrors, nightmares, nocturnal seizures, obstructive sleep apnoea, post-traumatic stress disorder, dissociative states and nocturnal confusional states. The dramatic response to clonazepam highlights the importance of recognition and appropriate treatment of this sleep disorder.     

Association between intestinal vitamin D receptor, calcium absorption, and serum 1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D in normal young and elderly women

This paper systematically reviews the results from epidemiologic studies investigating the hypothesis that breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women increases with increasing concentrations of estradiol in blood and with increasing urinary estrogen excretion rates. Data from 29 epidemiologic studies of endogenous hormones and postmenopausal breast cancer were used. The ratio of the average estrogen concentration in the women with breast cancer to that in the women without breast cancer (and its 95 percent confidence interval [CI]) was calculated for each study, and the results were summarized by calculating weighted averages of the log ratios. In six prospective studies of serum estradiol concentration, 329 women who subsequently developed breast cancer had, overall, a 15 percent (CI = 6-24 percent, P = 0.0003) higher mean concentration of estradiol in their blood than the 1,105 women who remained free of cancer. The results of these prospective studies did not differ significantly from each other (chi2 for heterogeneity = 8.7; degrees of freedom = 5; P > 0.1). Similar differences in mean estrogen levels were seen in the case-control studies which reported either estradiol concentrations in the blood or urinary estrogen excretion. However, the case-control studies showed significant heterogeneity among their results. The data from the prospective studies strongly suggest that breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women is associated with relatively high concentrations of endogenous estradiol.     

Stimulation of large-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels by Evans blue in cultured endothelial cells of human umbilical veins

The effect of Evans blue (EB) on large-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ (BKCa) channels was investigated in cultured endothelial cells of human umbilical veins. In whole-cell configuration, EB (50 microM) reversibly increased the amplitude of K+ outward currents (IK). When the patch pipettes were filled with 10 mM EGTA, its stimulatory effect on IK was unaltered. Further application of EB in the presence of suramin, a blocker of P2-purinergic receptor, or AOPCP, an inhibitor of 5'-nucleotidase, still increased IK. However, charybdotoxin (100 nM) suppressed EB-induced increase in IK. In inside-out configuration, bath application of EB (50 microM) did not change single channel conductance but significantly increased the activity of BKCa channels. The EB-induced increase in the activity of BKCa channels was independent on internal Ca2+. EB (50 microM) shifted the activation curve of BKCa channels to less positive membrane potentials by approximately 20 mV. The change in the kinetic behavior of BKCa channels caused by EB in these cells is due to an increase in mean open time and a decrease in mean closed time. These results indicate that EB can stimulate the activity of BKCa channel in endothelial cells. This effect is unrelated to its blockade of P2-purinergic receptors or inhibition of 5'-nucleotidase. The direct stimulation of these ionic channels by EB may contribute to its effect on capillary permeability.     

Catalytic Rearrangement of Epoxide Compounds

Products formed by rearrangement of epoxide compounds provide useful intermediates in organic syntheses and some of them are valuable as raw materials in the chemical industry. Many studies on the catalytic rearrangement of the epoxides have been made. The reactions which have been used most frequently are homogeneous with acid or base catalysts such as BF3, MgBr2, t-BuOK, or lithium dialkylamides; the acid catalysts form mainly carbonyl compounds (ketone and aldehyde) and the base catalysts in most cases yield allylic alcohols. Recently the heterogeneous reaction over solid catalysts was also investigated, but the catalysts used were just alumina and silica gel, solid acid and base catalysts, and it is very recent that various kinds of the solid acids and bases have been used as catalysts for epoxide isomerization, especially by the authors (Section VI-A). Studies with molten salts are few, and investigations with metal complex and organometal catalysts have just begun.     

Response map properties of units in the dorsal cochlear nucleus of barbiturate-anesthetized gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus)

The response map scheme introduced by Evans and Nelson (1973) and modified by others, including Davis et al. (1996) for use with gerbils, has been used primarily for classifying units recorded in the cochlear nucleus of unanesthetized decerebrate preparations. Units lacking spontaneous activity (SpAc) have been classified as either type I/III or type II units based on the relative strength of their responses to broad-band noise compared to their responses to best-frequency (BF) tones. The relative noise index (rho), a ratio of these responses after SpAc is subtracted out, provides a convenient measure of this relative strength. In this paper, responses of 320 units recorded in the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) of barbiturate-anesthetized gerbils to short-duration BF tones and broad-band noise were recorded. Since 87.5% of these units lacked SpAc, their response maps resembled those of type II and type I/III units. Units were characterized by rho and the normalized slope (m) of a best line fit to the BF rate versus level plot starting from the sound level corresponding to the first inflection point of the rate curve (typically its maximum value or the start of its sloping saturation). The distributions of rho and m values do not form distinct clusters as they do for units in the decerebrate preparation. Thus, the criteria developed for classifying DCN units in the decerebrate preparation do not appear appropriate for units in the barbiturate-anesthetized preparation. Deposits of horseradish peroxidase were used to locate 52 units. Most of the low SpAc units, 56% with poor noise responses (5/9) and nearly 70% with strong noise responses (25/36), and nearly all of the high SpAc units (6/7), were located either within or below the fusiform cell layer.     

Activation of DNA synthesis and expression of the JE gene by catalase in mouse osteoblastic cells: possible involvement of hydrogen peroxide in negative growth regulation

Type I diabetes susceptibility genes have been identified within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) on chromosome 6p21.3 and near the VNTR/insulin region on chromosome 11p15.5. We have used polymorphic dinucleotide repeat markers to search the human genome for additional susceptibility genes in 162 type I diabetic families with an affected sibling pair. We report that an additional susceptibility gene is located on chromosome 2q31 near HOXD8 (P < 10(-5), maximum logarithm of odds score = 4.8) in an analysis of affected sibling pairs having specific human leukocyte antigen (HLA) and hypervariable nucleotide tandem repeat (VNTR)/insulin gene haplotypes (absence of high-risk HLA-DR3/4 haplotypes and presence of homozygous high-risk class I VNTR alleles). These results suggest the interaction of a minimum of three genes in the pathogenesis of type I diabetes in humans.