Isolation-rearing of rats causes a variety of behavioral changes, including anxiety, learning deficits and sensory changes related to schizophrenia. Similar changes are seen following loss of ...serotonin during development. Thus, the effects of isolation-rearing on behavior may be due to changes in serotonin.
Sprague-Dawley rats were raised in groups of four (social animals) or in isolation, from postnatal day 22 until postnatal day 64. The hippocampi were examined immunochemically for changes in serotonin. Our findings show that serotonin terminals are lost throughout the CA regions of hippocampus, where there is also an associated loss of dendrites, but not in the molecular layer of the dentate gyrus. Thus, some of the brain and behavioral changes seen in isolation-reared animals could be due to loss of serotonin.
CONTEXT It has been proposed that low sexual desire and sexual dysfunction are
associated with low blood testosterone levels in women. However, evidence
to support this is lacking. OBJECTIVE To ...determine whether women with low self-reported sexual desire and
sexual satisfaction are more likely to have low serum androgen levels than
women without self-reported low sexual desire and sexual satisfaction. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A community-based, cross-sectional study of 1423 women aged 18 to 75
years, who were randomly recruited via the electoral roll in Victoria, Australia,
from April 2002 to August 2003. Women were excluded from the analysis if they
took psychiatric medication, had abnormal thyroid function, documented polycystic
ovarian syndrome, or were younger than 45 years and using oral contraception. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Domain scores of the Profile of Female Sexual Function (PFSF) and serum
levels of total and free testosterone, androstenedione, and dehydroepiandrosterone
sulfate. RESULTS A total of 1021 individuals were included in the final analysis. No
clinically significant relationships between having a low score for any PFSF
domain and having a low serum total or free testosterone or androstenedione
level was demonstrated. A low domain score for sexual responsiveness for women
aged 45 years or older was associated with higher odds of having a serum dehydroepiandrosterone
sulfate level below the 10th percentile for this age group (odds ratio OR,
3.90; 95% confidence interval CI, 1.54-9.81; P = .004).
For women aged 18 to 44 years, having a low domain score for sexual desire
(OR, 3.86; 95% CI, 1.27-11.67; P = .02),
sexual arousal (OR, 6.39; 95% CI, 2.30-17.73; P<.001),
and sexual responsiveness (OR, 6.59; 95% CI, 2.37-18.34; P<.001) was associated with having a dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate
level below the 10th percentile. CONCLUSIONS No single androgen level is predictive of low female sexual function,
and the majority of women with low dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate levels did
not have low sexual function.
The context in which fear memories are extinguished has important implications for treating human fear and anxiety disorders. Extinction of Pavlovian fear conditioning is context specific; after ...extinction, fear responses are reduced only in the extinction context and remain elevated in every other context. Contextual modulation of spike firing in the amygdala is a putative mechanism for the context-specific expression of extinguished fear. To test this possibility, we conditioned rats to fear two auditory conditional stimuli (CSs) and then extinguished each CS in separate and distinct contexts. Thereafter, single-unit activity in the lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA) and freezing behavior were recorded during tests in which each CS was presented in each extinction context. Hence, each CS was tested in its own extinction context and in the context of the other CS. Conditional freezing was context dependent; fear to an extinguished CS was low in its own extinction context and high in the other test context. Similarly, the majority of LA neurons exhibited context-dependent spike firing; short-latency spike firing was greater to both CSs when they were presented outside of their own extinction context. In contrast, behavioral and neuronal responses to either non-extinguished CSs or habituated auditory stimuli were not contextually modulated. Context-dependent neuronal activity in the LA may be an important mechanism for disambiguating the meaning of fear signals, thereby enabling appropriate behavioral responses to such stimuli.
Amygdala neuroplasticity has emerged as a candidate substrate for Pavlovian fear memory. By this view, conditional stimulus (CS)-evoked activity represents a mnemonic code that initiates the ...expression of fear behaviors. However, a fear state may nonassociatively enhance sensory processing, biasing CS-evoked activity in amygdala neurons. Here we describe experiments that dissociate auditory CS-evoked spike firing in the lateral amygdala (LA) and both conditional fear behavior and LA excitability in rats. We found that the expression of conditional freezing and increased LA excitability was neither necessary nor sufficient for the expression of conditional increases in CS-evoked spike firing. Rather, conditioning-related changes in CS-evoked spike firing were solely determined by the associative history of the CS. Thus, our data support a model in which associative activity in the LA encodes fear memory and contributes to the expression of learned fear behaviors.
Abortion as liberty and right Hobin, Terrence J
The Human life review,
2005-Winter, 20050101, Letnik:
31, Številka:
1
Journal Article, Magazine Article
Hobin takes on the impact of the imprecision of meaning--another form of language corruption which is more subtle, but also dangerous. He notes, as example, the words "rights" and "liberties," which ...are both used, almost interchangeably, in discussions about abortion, with their meanings so often confused that they are sometimes treated as if they were the same thing. He continues with a fascinating discussion of the proper functions of government, which leads into his main inquiry: whether the legalization of abortion created a "liberty" that makes any sense.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Highlights ► Learned food-cues can stimulate feeding in the absence of physiological hunger. ► How food-cues are integrated with the homeostatic physiological control is unknown. ► We examined Fos ...induction in lateral hypothalamic orexigenic neuropeptide neurons. ► Food-cue induced Fos in orexin but not in melanin-concentrating hormone neurons.
Most genotoxic anticancer agents fail in tumors with intact DNA repair. Therefore, trabectedin, anagent more toxic to cells with active DNA repair, specifically transcription-coupled nucleotide ...excision repair (TC-NER), provides therapeutic opportunities. To unlock the potential of trabectedin and inform its application in precision oncology, an understanding of the mechanism of the drug's TC-NER-dependent toxicity is needed. Here, we determine that abortive TC-NER of trabectedin-DNA adducts forms persistent single-strand breaks (SSBs) as the adducts block the second of the two sequential NER incisions. We map the 3'-hydroxyl groups of SSBs originating from the first NER incision at trabectedin lesions, recording TC-NER on a genome-wide scale. Trabectedin-induced SSBs primarily occur in transcribed strands of active genes and peak near transcription start sites. Frequent SSBs are also found outside gene bodies, connecting TC-NER to divergent transcription from promoters. This work advances the use of trabectedin for precision oncology and for studying TC-NER and transcription.
Technological innovations allow for collection of 24-h recalls (24HRs) in a broader range of studies than previously possible. The web-based Automated Self-Administered 24-Hour Dietary Assessment ...Tool (ASA24) has been shown to be feasible and to perform well in capturing true intake among adults. However, data to inform use with children are limited.
This observational feeding study was conducted to evaluate children's ability to accurately report a lunchtime meal using ASA24 without assistance.
The study was conducted among children (n = 100) aged 10–13 y within a school setting. Students were served an individual cheese pizza, baby carrots, ranch dip, yogurt, a cookie, and 1 choice of water, juice, or milk. Plate waste was collected and weighed. The next day, participants completed ASA24 and a sociodemographic questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were generated to determine match rates by food item and age, and linear regression analyses were conducted to examine associations between sociodemographic characteristics and accuracy of reported energy and nutrient intake. Associations between true and reported energy and nutrient intakes and portion sizes were assessed with use of t tests.
Just under half (49%) of children fully completed ASA24 (median time, 41 min). Children reported an exact, close, or far match for 58% of all foods and beverages consumed, ranging from 29% for dip to 76% for pizza, but also reported some items not consumed as part of the study meal. Older children completed the recall in a shorter time than younger children (mean 31 among 13 y compared with 52 min among 10 y). Intakes of energy (39%), protein (33%), and sodium (78%) were significantly overestimated, whereas portion sizes for cookies (53%) and juice (69%) were underestimated.
Children can report some foods and drinks consumed using ASA24, but our findings suggest challenges with independent completion, necessitating research to examine strategies, such as training and resources, to support data quality.
To determine if expansion of multi-use physical activity trails in an urban centre is associated with reduced rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD).
This was a natural experiment with a difference in ...differences analysis using administrative health records and trail-based cycling data in Winnipeg, Canada. Prior to the intervention, each year, 314,595 (IQR: 309,044 to 319,860) persons over 30 years without CVD were in the comparison group and 37,901 residents (IQR: 37,213 to 38,488) were in the intervention group. Following the intervention, each year, 303,853 (IQR: 302,843 to 304,465) persons were in the comparison group and 35,778 (IQR: 35,551 to 36,053) in the intervention group. The natural experiment was the construction of four multi-use trails, 4-7 km in length, between 2010 and 2012. Intervention and comparison areas were based on buffers of 400 m, 800 m and 1200 m from a new multi-use trail. Bicycle counts were obtained from electromagnetic counters embedded in the trail. The primary outcome was a composite of incident CVD events: CVD-related mortality, ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular events and congestive heart failure. The secondary outcome was a composite of incident CVD risk factors: hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia.
Between 2014 and 2018, 1,681,125 cyclists were recorded on the trails, which varied ~ 2.0-fold across the four trails (2358 vs 4264 counts/week in summer months). Between 2000 and 2018, there were 82,632 CVD events and 201,058 CVD risk events. In propensity score matched Poisson regression models, the incident rate ratio (IRR) was 1.06 (95% CI: 0.90 to 1.24) for CVD events and 0.95 (95%CI: 0.88 to 1.02) for CVD risk factors for areas within 400 m of a trail, relative to comparison areas. Sensitivity analyses indicated this effect was greatest among households adjacent to the trail with highest cycling counts (IRR = 0.85; 95% CI: 0.75 to 0.96).
The addition of multi-use trails was not associated with differences in CVD events or CVD risk factors, however the differences in CVD risk may depend on the level of trail use.
Trial registration number: NCT04057417 .
PDF
