AbstractThe Christmas season can have a major impact on human health. Especially increased contact with in-laws during the holiday season is an important environmental factor known to affect both ...physical and mental health (Mirza et al., 2004). However, the mechanism through which in-laws influence host health is not yet understood. Emerging evidence has identified the intestinal microbiota as an important mediator for both physical and mental health. Here, we performed a prospective observational study to examine the impact of contact with in-laws on the gut microbiome during the Christmas season. We conducted 16S ribosomal DNA sequencing of fecal samples collected at two separate time points (December 23rd and December 27th 2016) from a group of 28 healthy volunteers celebrating Christmas. To discriminate between participants who visited their own family versus their in-laws, we built a multivariate statistical model that identified microbial biomarker species. We observed two distinct microbial-biomarker signatures discriminating the participants that visited their in-laws versus their own family over the Christmas season. We identified seven bacterial species whose relative-change profile differed significantly among these two groups. In participants visiting in-laws, there was a significant decrease in all Ruminococcus species, known to be associated with psychological stress and depression. A larger randomized controlled study is needed to reproduce these findings before we can recognize in-laws as a potential risk factor for the gut microbiota composition and subsequently host health.
This study aimed to determine a demographic profile of methamphetamine (MA)-related admissions to major psychiatric services in Cape Town, obtain a substance use profile from admitted patients, a ...profile of common MA-related symptoms encountered during the assessment of the patients presenting with MA-related problems, and a brief profile of the psychiatric diagnoses made.
Staff in six psychiatric hospitals or wards in Cape Town collected data on methamphetamine related admissions between July and December 2008 using a one-page record review form. The data collection form consisted of the patient's demographic details, presenting symptoms, previous admission details, current MA and other substance use information, and DSM-IV diagnosis.
A total of 235 forms were completed. Most patients were male (69%) and the mean age was 25 years. The most common presenting symptoms were aggressive behaviour (74%), followed by delusions (59%) and hallucinations (57%). Males were two times more likely to present with aggression as compared to females, while females were significantly more likely to present with depressed mood or euphoric/elevated mood. The majority of patients had substance-induced psychotic disorder (41%), followed by schizophrenia (31%). Twelve percent (12%) had bipolar mood disorder.
MA-related psychiatric admissions pose serious challenges to all health services dealing with these patients. Further training and treatment protocol development and distribution is indicated.
Aims
In type 2 diabetes impaired insulin‐induced muscle perfusion is thought to contribute to reduced whole‐body glucose uptake. In this study, we examined the effects of iloprost, a stable ...prostacyclin analogue, on insulin‐induced muscle capillary recruitment and whole‐body glucose uptake.
Materials and Methods
In a randomized cross‐over design, 12 type 2 diabetes patients (age, 55 46‐69 years; BMI, 33.1 31.0‐39 kg/m2) underwent two hyperinsulinaemic‐euglycaemic clamps, one with and one without simultaneous low‐dose iloprost infusion. Contrast‐enhanced ultrasonography of the vastus lateralis muscle was performed before and during the clamp. Muscle capillary recruitment was calculated as percentage change in microvascular blood volume (MBV) before and during the clamp.
Results
Insulin infusion reduced skeletal muscle MBV by ~50% compared to the fasting state (fasting, 1.77·10−4 1.54·10−5–2.44·10−3 arbitrary units (AU); hyperinsulinaemia, 6.69·10−5 2.68·10−6–5.72·10−4 AU; P = 0.050). Infusion of iloprost prevented this insulin‐induced skeletal muscle capillary derecruitment, from (−49.5 −89.5 to 55.3 %) to (8.0 −68.8 to 306.6 %), for conditions without and with iloprost, respectively. The rate of glucose disappearance (Rd) did not change significantly during iloprost infusion (17.3 10.0‐40.8 μmol/kg/min) compared with insulin infusion alone (17.6 9.9‐68.7 μmol/kg/min).
Conclusions
Our data suggest that acute improvement in insulin‐stimulated muscle perfusion is not an attractive therapeutic approach to bypass cellular resistance to glucose uptake in type 2 diabetes. Whether long‐term improvements in insulin‐induced muscle perfusion may prove beneficial for glucose disposal remains to be determined.
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