Assessing declarative memory in schizophrenia using Wisconsin Card Sorting Test stimuli: the Paired Associate Recognition Test

The Paired Associate Recognition Test (PART) was developed to measure declarative memory using Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) stimuli, so that both tasks could be administered during functional neuroimaging to differentiate memory and executive function, and associated frontal and temporal lobe activation in schizophrenia. The current study was designed to compare PART and WCST performance in schizophrenic patients and to examine effects of medication and symptomatology. The PART, WCST, and standard declarative memory tasks were administered to 30 chronic schizophrenic patients and 30 matched healthy control subjects. Supporting task validity was the finding that patients were equally impaired on the PART and the WCST. Neuroleptics did not appear to affect performance. The effect of anticholinergic medication correlated negatively with WCST performance in a small subsample. Severity of schizophrenia-specific symptoms measured at intake on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale correlated negatively with performance on the WCST. These results support the application of the PART and WCST in future functional neuroimaging studies.     

The pattern of inflammation in rat sepsis due to enterotoxin-producing Staphylococcus aureus: a comparison with ischemia-reperfusion injury

Sepsis and trauma have similarities in their immunopathologic profiles. Both conditions can result in multi-system organ failure which is sometimes associated with cytokine generation and inflammatory cell activation. Furthermore, decreases in peripheral blood monocyte expression of HLA-DR have been noted in both human sepsis and trauma. However, the magnitude, onset, and time course of such stimuli are often difficult to ascertain in human studies. Thus, to study a more detailed in vivo immunologic profile in these conditions, rat models were employed. Our aim was to describe and analyze cytokine and peripheral blood immunophenotype patterns in bacterially induced rat sepsis and to compare this to rat ischemia-reperfusion injury. Sprague-Dawley rats underwent either bacterial injection with enterotoxin producing Staphylococcus aureus or hind limb ischemia/ reperfusion. Two bacterial doses which were either lethal or sublethal at 24-48 hours were utilized. Peripheral blood neutrophils and B-lymphocytes were studied for expression of beta-integrins (CD11b and CD11b/c) and I-A, respectively, using flow cytometry. Corresponding plasma levels of TNF alpha and interferon gamma were measured by ELISA. At 24 hr, a lethal bacterial lethal bacterial dose injection resulted in significantly higher levels of neutrophil CD11b/c expression (p < 0.005) compared with ischemia-reperfusion treatment. B-cell I-A expression was also higher in lethal sepsis. Gamma interferon levels were significantly higher in lethal sepsis compared with ischemia-reperfusion (p = 0.005). Studies over time showed that CD11b expression and interferon gamma were both more marked at 6 hr than at 24 hr in lethal sepsis. This pattern was not observed in sublethal sepsis or in ischemia-reperfusion. CD11b/c expression on the other hand remained elevated at comparable levels at 6 and 24 hr in lethal sepsis. B-cell I-A expression in ischemia-reperfusion and sublethal sepsis decreased at 24 hr compared with baseline. Lethal sepsis in rats injected with enterotoxin producing staphylococcus results in phasic alterations in neutrophil CD11b and plasma interferon levels prior to death. In analogy to the findings of monocyte decreases in DR expression observed in human trauma and sepsis, rat B-cell I-A expression showed decreases in sublethal sepsis as well as in ischemia-reperfusion injury. However, this was not observed in lethal sepsis. These findings have implications in understanding the immunologic/inflammatory changes observed in human sepsis and trauma.     

Metabolism and biochemical effects of 3,3',4,4'-tetrachlorobiphenyl in pregnant and fetal rats

The metabolism and distribution of a single oral dose of 25 mumol 14C-labelled 3,3',4,4'-tetrachlorobiphenyl (14C-TCB) were investigated in pregnant female Wistar rats and their fetuses. TCB was administered on day 13 of gestation and the elimination was followed for 7 days. Non-pregnant rats were treated similarly for comparison. Fecal elimination of 14C-TCB derived radioactivity was significantly lower in pregnant rats than in non-pregnant rats. The major metabolite found in adult liver and plasma, placental tissue, whole fetuses and fetal plasma was 3,3',4',5-tetrachloro-4-biphenylol (4-OH-TCB). Tissue levels (liver, abdominal fat, skin, skeletal muscle, kidney and plasma) of 14C-TCB-derived radioactivity declined by 65-85% over a 7-day period following administration in the adult animals. However, 14C-TCB-derived radioactivity accumulated more than 100-fold in the fetuses over the same time period, and GC/MS analysis revealed that the fetal accumulation in radioactivity was due primarily to 4-OH-TCB, and not the parent compound. On day 20 of gestation, concentrations of 4-OH-TCB were 14 times greater in fetal plasma than maternal plasma. Treatment with 14C-TCB significantly reduced plasma thyroxine levels by at least 28% up to 7 days after administration in non-pregnant animals and up to 4 days after administration in pregnant rats (31% decrease). By 7 days after administration plasma thyroxine levels had returned to control levels in the TCB-treated pregnant rats. However, fetal plasma thyroxine levels were significantly decreased by 35% in fetuses from 14C-TCB-treated dams 7 days after TCB administration. Hepatic microsomal ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity was significantly induced in TCB-treated dams relative to controls at 4 and 7 days after administration, while no EROD activity was detected in hepatic microsomes from control or TCB treated fetal rats at day 20 of gestation. These data suggest that hydroxylated metabolites of polychlorinated biphenyls may play a role in the development toxicity of these compounds.     

Behavioral factors affecting exposure potential for household cleaning products

Variation in repeated nucleotide sequences (RNSs) at the level of entire families assayed by Southern blot hybridization is remarkably low within species and is a powerful tool for scrutinizing the origin of allopolyploid taxa. Thirty-one clones from RNSs isolated from different Triticeae genera were used to investigate the genome constitution of South American Elymus. One of these clones, pHch2, preferentially hybridized with the diploid H genome Hordeum species. Hybridization of this clone with a worldwide collection of Elymus species with known genome formulas showed that pHch2 clearly discriminates Elymus species with the H genome (StH, StHH, StStH, and StHY) from those with other genome combinations (StY, StStY, StPY, and StP). Hybridization with pHch2 indicates the presence of the H genome in all South American Elymus species except Elymus erianthus and Elymus mendocinus. Hybridization with additional clones that revealed differential restriction fragments (marker bands) for the H genome confirmed the absence of the H genome in these species. Differential restriction fragments for the Ns genome of Psathyrostachys were detected in E. erianthus and E. mendocinus and three species of Leymus. Based on genome constitution, morphology, and habitat, E. erianthus and E. mendocinus were transferred to the genus Leymus.     

Health economic benefits and quality of life during improved glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a randomized, controlled, double-blind trial

CONTEXT: Although the long-term health benefits of good glycemic control in patients with diabetes are well documented, shorter-term quality of life (QOL) and economic savings generally have been reported to be minimal or absent. OBJECTIVE: To examine short-term outcomes of glycemic control in type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). DESIGN: Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel trial. SETTING: Sixty-two sites in the United States. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 569 male and female volunteers with type 2 DM. INTERVENTION: After a 3-week, single-blind placebo-washout period, participants were randomized to diet and titration with either 5 to 20 mg of glipizide gastrointestinal therapeutic system (GITS) (n = 377) or placebo (n = 192) for 12 weeks. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Change from baseline in glucose and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels and symptom distress, QOL, and health economic indicators by questionnaires and diaries. RESULTS: After 12 weeks, mean (+/-SE) HbA1c and fasting blood glucose levels decreased with active therapy (glipizide GITS) vs placebo (7.5% 0.1% vs 9.3%+/-0.1% and 7.0+/-0.1 mmol/L [126+/-2 mg/dL] vs 9.3+/-0.2 mmol/L [168+/-4 mg/ dL], respectively; P<.001). Quality-of-life treatment differences (SD units) for symptom distress (+0.59; P<.001), general perceived health (+0.36; P= .004), cognitive functioning (+0.34; P=.005), and the overall visual analog scale (VAS) (+0.24; P=.04) were significantly more favorable for active therapy. Subscales of acuity (+0.38; P=.002), VAS emotional health (+0.35; P=.003), general health (+0.27; P=.01), sleep (+0.26; P=.04), depression (+0.25; P=.05), disorientation and detachment (+0.23; P= .05), and vitality (+0.22; P=.04) were most affected. Favorable health economic outcomes for glipizide GITS included higher retained employment (97% vs 85%; P<.001), greater productive capacity (99% vs 87%; P<.001), less absenteeism (losses = $24 vs $115 per worker per month; P<.001), fewer bed-days (losses = $1539 vs $1843 per 1000 person-days; P=.05), and fewer restricted-activity days (losses = $2660 vs $4275 per 1000 person-days; P=.01). CONCLUSIONS: Improved glycemic control of type 2 DM is associated with substantial short-term symptomatic, QOL, and health economic benefits.     

Identification of spherical virus particles in digitized images of entire electron micrographs

Interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) has the most potent immunomodulatory activity of all the interferons. This phase II-B study was performed to define time- and dose-dependent immunomodulatory effects mediated by IFN-gamma in a subset of patients with melanoma treated in the dose-seeking therapeutic trial conducted by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group E4687 (13). The effects of IFN-gamma (Genentech, San Francisco, CA) were evaluated for phenotype and function of peripheral blood lymphocytes obtained twice prestudy, and on days 2, 9, and 29 of IFN-gamma therapy for 50 patients. Early significant increases in CD4/CD8 ratio (p = 0.001) were noted, largely due to a rise in CD4+ and fall in CD8+ T-cell populations sustained through day 29 at only the lowest dosage. Increased natural killer cell (NK) activity (p = 0.001 on day 9; p = 0.01 on day 29) was accompanied by durable increases in circulating activated NK cells (CD56+DR+% p = 0.001, day 9; p = 0.001, day 29). After initial depression of CD56+ and CD16+ cells on day 2, the total percent of CD56+ and CD16+ cells increased significantly by day 29. Increases in NK cell activity were maximal at doses > or =0.1 mg. Monocyte CD14+ expression of DQ+ rose early (p = 0.011 and 0.001 on days 2 and 9), accompanied by elevation in CD14+DR+ cells that was less significant. Immunomodulatory effects of IFN-gamma reported in this trial have major implications for interpretation of past and current clinical trials, and the design of future trials. This is the first trial in which IFN-gamma has been shown to have significant effects on the T-cell compartment of the immune system.     

Localization of putative tumor suppressor loci by genome-wide allelotyping in human pancreatic endocrine tumors

Only two tumor suppressor gene loci, one on 3p25 and the MEN1 gene on 11q13, have thus far been implicated in the pathogenesis of sporadic human pancreatic endocrine tumors (PETs). A genome-wide allelotyping study of 28 human PETs was undertaken to identify other potential tumor suppressor gene loci. In addition to those on chromosomes 3p and 11q, frequent allelic deletions were identified on 3q (32%), 11p (36%), 16p (36%), and 22q (29%). Finer deletion mapping studies localized the smallest regions of common deletion to 3q27, 11p13, and 16p12.3-13.11. Potential candidate genes at these loci include WT1 (11p13), TSC2 (16p13), and NF2 (22q12), but no known tumor suppressor gene localizes to 3q27. The mean fractional allelic loss among these human PETs is 0.126, and no correlation was observed between allelic loss and clinical parameters, including age, sex, hormonal subtype, and disease stage. These findings highlight novel locations of tumor suppressor gene loci that contribute to the pathogenesis of human PETs, and several of these on 3p, 3q, and 22q are syntenic with loci on mouse chromosomes 9 and 16 that are implicated in a murine transgenic model of PETs.