Current Issue : April - June Volume : 2012 Issue Number : 2 Articles : 8 Articles
Background: It is well established that COMT is a strong candidate gene for substance use disorder and\r\nschizophrenia. Recently we identified two SNPs in COMT (rs4680 and rs165774) that are associated with\r\nschizophrenia in an Australian cohort. Individuals with schizophrenia were more than twice as likely to carry the\r\nGG genotype compared to the AA genotype for both the rs165774 and rs4680 SNPs. Association of both rs4680\r\nand rs165774 with substance dependence, a common comorbidity of schizophrenia has not been investigated.\r\nMethods: To determine whether COMT is important in substance dependence, rs165774 and rs4680 were\r\ngenotyped and haplotyped in patients with nicotine, alcohol and opiate dependence.\r\nResults: The rs165774 SNP was associated with alcohol dependence. However, it was not associated with nicotine\r\nor opiate dependence. Individuals with alcohol dependence were more than twice as likely to carry the GG or AG\r\ngenotypes compared to the AA genotype, indicating a dominant mode of inheritance. The rs4680 SNP showed a\r\nweak association with alcohol dependence at the allele level that did not reach significance at the genotype level\r\nbut it was not associated with nicotine or opiate dependence. Analysis of rs165774/rs4680 haplotypes also revealed\r\nassociation with alcohol dependence with the G/G haplotype being almost 1.5 times more common in alcoholdependent\r\ncases.\r\nConclusions: Our study provides further support for the importance of the COMT in alcohol dependence in\r\naddition to schizophrenia. It is possible that the rs165774 SNP, in combination with rs4680, results in a common\r\nmolecular variant of COMT that contributes to schizophrenia and alcohol dependence susceptibility. This is\r\npotentially important for future studies of comorbidity. As our participant numbers are limited our observations\r\nshould be viewed with caution until they are independently replicated....
Objectives: We examined whether plasma concentrations of amyloid beta (Ab) as protein derivatives play a\ncentral role in the etiology of autistic features.\nDesign and Methods: Concentrations of human Ab (1-42), Ab (1-40), and Ab (40/42) in the plasma of 52 autistic\nchildren (aged 3-16 years) and 36 age-matched control subjects were determined by using the ELISA technique\nand were compared.\nResults: Compared to control subjects, autistic children exhibited significantly lower concentrations of both Ab (1-\n40) and Ab (1-42) and lower Ab (40/42) concentration ratio. Receiver operating characteristics curve (ROC) analysis\nshowed that these measurements of Ab peptides showed high specificity and sensitivity in distinguishing autistic\nchildren from control subjects.\nConclusions: Lower concentrations of Ab (1-42) and Ab (1-40) were attributed to loss of Ab equilibrium between\nthe brain and blood, an imbalance that may lead to failure to draw Ab from the brain and/or impairment of band\ng- secretase�s concentration or kinetics as enzymes involving in Ab production....
To stabilize the craniometric data for central India population and to find out any sexual dimorphism in posterior nasal openings in the nasopharyngeal region. The present study was conducted on three hundred and twenty-two dry skulls of central India region. The dry skulls taken for study are first examined to determine the sex of the skull then various measurements of the posterior nasal opening on both side were taken. The average width of posterior nasal opening on right side among the male cases was observed 13.81(1.16) mm and for the female cases it was observed 13.46(1.32) mm (P0.05). The average width of posterior nasal opening on left side among the male cases was observed 14.02(1.08) mm and for female cases it was observed 13.57(1.13) mm (P0.001). The average width of posterior nasal opening on both side (right side & left side) of the male cases were found statistically significant higher compared with female cases. The average height of posterior nasal opening on right side among the male cases was noted at 27.41( 2.10) mm and for female it was 25.69(( 2.07) mm (P0.001). The average height of posterior nasal opening on left side among the male cases was noted at 27.58( 2.05) mm and for female it was 25.66(( 1.87) mm (P0.001). The average height of posterior nasal opening on both side (right side & left side) of male cases were statistically significant higher than female cases. In this study, there is positive correlation between the height and width of Posterior Nares and the increase in height is proportional to the increase in width. This study shows that the Posterior Nasal openings in the skulls of central Indian population is slightly larger than that mentioned in Gray’s Anatomy (39th edition) and the measurements of height and width of the posterior nasal opening on both side were found higher in male skulls than female skulls....
Placement of ventricular reservoirs is a common practice to treat various tumors of the central nervous system (CNS). Ventricular\r\ncatheter-reservoir-associated edema has been noted in the literature, but a thorough review of this literature identified no articles\r\nthat examine this particular complication in neurooncology patients, specifically. We report two cases of ventricular catheterreservoir-\r\nassociated edema in patients receiving treatment for CNS metastasis....
Background: The synapse-associated protein 97 gene (SAP97) encodes a regulatory scaffold protein for the\r\nlocalization of L-alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA), kainate and N-methyl-Daspartate\r\n(NMDA) type glutamate receptors. We have recently demonstrated nominally significant associations\r\nbetween SAP97 gene and schizophrenia among Japanese males. The present study aimed to replicate these\r\nfindings using an independent and larger sample.\r\nMethods: We investigated seven SAP97 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that displayed a significant\r\nassociation with schizophrenia in our preceding study in an independent Japanese population consisting of a total\r\nof 393 unrelated patients with schizophrenia (232 males and 161 females) and 393 unrelated control subjects (211\r\nmales and 182 females).\r\nResults: The SNP rs9843659 showed a significant genotypic association with male patients in a recessive model (p\r\n= 0.037). The analysis of the combined data from the current and prior studies also demonstrated a significant\r\nassociation of this SNP (p = 0.0039). The meta-analysis for the allele frequency covering the two studies yielded an\r\nodds ratio of 1.38.\r\nConclusions: The present study replicated the previously reported male-selective genetic association between the\r\nSAP97 polymorphism and schizophrenia. These findings further support the possible involvement of the SAP97\r\ngene variation in the susceptibility to schizophrenia in males and in the genetic basis for sex differences in the\r\ndisorder....
Background: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a developmental disorder characterised by\r\nsymptoms of inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity. The spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) is a wellcharacterised\r\nmodel of this disorder and has been shown to exhibit dopamine dysregulation, one of the\r\nhypothesised causes of ADHD. Since stress experienced in the early stages of life can have long-lasting effects on\r\nbehaviour, it was considered that early life stress may alter development of the dopaminergic system and thereby\r\ncontribute to the behavioural characteristics of SHR. It was hypothesized that maternal separation would alter\r\ndopamine regulation by the transporter (DAT) in ways that distinguish SHR from control rat strains.\r\nMethods: SHR and control Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats were subjected to maternal separation for 3 hours per day from\r\npostnatal day 2 to 14. Rats were tested for separation-induced anxiety-like behaviour followed by in vivo\r\nchronoamperometry to determine whether changes had occurred in striatal clearance of dopamine by DAT. The\r\nrate of disappearance of ejected dopamine was used as a measure of DAT function.\r\nResults: Consistent with a model for ADHD, SHR were more active than WKY in the open field. SHR entered the\r\ninner zone more frequently and covered a significantly greater distance than WKY. Maternal separation increased\r\nthe time that WKY spent in the closed arms and latency to enter the open arms of the elevated plus maze,\r\nconsistent with other rat strains. Of note is that, maternal separation failed to produce anxiety-like behaviour in\r\nSHR. Analysis of the chronoamperometric data revealed that there was no difference in DAT function in the\r\nstriatum of non-separated SHR and WKY. Maternal separation decreased the rate of dopamine clearance (k-1) in\r\nSHR striatum. Consistent with this observation, the dopamine clearance time (T100) was increased in SHR. These\r\nresults suggest that the chronic mild stress of maternal separation impaired the function of striatal DAT in SHR.\r\nConclusions: The present findings suggest that maternal separation failed to alter the behaviour of SHR in the\r\nopen field and elevated plus maze. However, maternal separation altered the dopaminergic system by decreasing\r\nsurface expression of DAT and/or the affinity of DAT for dopamine, increasing the time to clear dopamine from the\r\nextracellular fluid in the striatum of SHR....
Background: Epidemiological studies have indicated that maternal infection during pregnancy may lead to a\r\nhigher incidence of schizophrenia in the offspring. It is assumed that the maternal infection increases the immune\r\nresponse, leading to neurodevelopmental disorders in the offspring. Maternal polyinosinic-polycytidilic acid (PolyI:C)\r\ntreatment induces a wide range of characteristics in the offspring mimicking some schizophrenia symptoms in\r\nhumans. These observations are consistent with the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia.\r\nMethods: We examined whether suppression of the maternal immune response could prevent\r\nneurodevelopmental disorders in adult offspring. PolyI:C or saline was administered to early pregnant rats to mimic\r\nmaternal infection, and the maternal immune response represented by tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a) and\r\ninterleukin-10 (IL-10) levels was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). The NF-B inhibitor\r\npyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC) was used to suppress the maternal immune response. Neurodevelopmental\r\ndisorders in adult offspring were examined by prepulse inhibition (PPI), passive avoidance, and active avoidance\r\ntests.\r\nResults: PolyI:C administration to early pregnant rats led to elevated serum cytokine levels as shown by massive\r\nincreases in serum TNF-a and IL-10 levels. The adult offspring showed defects in prepulse inhibition, and passive\r\navoidance and active avoidance tests. PDTC intervention in early pregnant rats suppressed cytokine increases and\r\nreduced the severity of neurodevelopmental defects in adult offspring.\r\nConclusions: Our findings suggest that PDTC can suppress the maternal immune response induced by PolyI:C and\r\npartially prevent neurodevelopmental disorders of adult offspring....
Background: Converging evidence revealed that facial expressions are processed automatically. Recently, there is\r\nevidence that facial expressions might elicit the visual mismatch negativity (MMN), expression MMN (EMMN),\r\nreflecting that facial expression could be processed under non-attentional condition. In the present study, using a\r\ncross modality task we attempted to investigate whether there is a memory-comparison-based EMMN.\r\nMethods: 12 normal adults were instructed to simultaneously listen to a story and pay attention to a nonpatterned\r\nwhite circle as a visual target interspersed among face stimuli. In the oddball block, the sad face was the\r\ndeviant with a probability of 20% and the neutral face was the standard with a probability of 80%; in the control\r\nblock, the identical sad face was presented with other four kinds of face stimuli with equal probability (20% for\r\neach). Electroencephalogram (EEG) was continuously recorded and ERPs (event-related potentials) in response to\r\neach kind of face stimuli were obtained. Oddball-EMMN in the oddball block was obtained by subtracting the ERPs\r\nelicited by the neutral faces (standard) from those by the sad faces (deviant), while controlled-EMMN was obtained\r\nby subtracting the ERPs elicited by the sad faces in the control block from those by the sad faces in the oddball\r\nblock. Both EMMNs were measured and analyzed by ANOVAs (Analysis of Variance) with repeated measurements.\r\nsLORETA (standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography) was used to investigate the cortical\r\ngenerators of controlled-EMMN.\r\nResults: Both the oddball-EMMN in deviant-standard comparison and the controlled-EMMN in deviant-control\r\ncomparison were observed at occipital-temporal regions with right hemisphere predominance. The oddball-EMMN\r\nwas bigger and earlier than the controlled-EMMN because, besides the memory-based comparison, the former\r\nincluded a difference of refractoriness due to the distinction of presented probability between the deviant and\r\nstandard face stimuli. The source analysis of controlled-EMMN indicated a current source primarily involved in\r\nposterior areas including superior temporal gyrus, postcentral gyrus, inferior parietal lobule as well as the insula.\r\nConclusions: The valid EMMN properly reflecting the memory-based comparison of facial expressions could be\r\nobtained, i.e., the controlled-EMMN....
Loading....