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Case Reports 2008; 29(1): 67-68 PubMed PMID: 18283251 Citation  Keywords:  Brain:blood supply, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome:diagnostic imaging, Diagnosis, Differential, Female, Fluorodeoxyglucose F18:metabolism, Humans, Middle Aged, Positron-Emission Tomography:methods, Radiopharmaceuticals:metabolism, Regional Blood Flow, Tomogra.   

: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a subacute spongiform encephalopathy. This fatal prion disease is characterized by rapidly progressive dementia with a variety of neurological disorders. Diagnostic methods provided by nuclear medicine might be helpful for evaluation of patients with probable CJD as additional diagnostic tools to MRI and cerebro-spinal fluid evaluation. The experience with FDG-PET and brain perfusion SPECT is presented....

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Journal Article 2008; 29(1): 137-140 PubMed PMID: 18283245 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, Blood Glucose:metabolism, Female, Humans, Hypothyroidism:blood, Insulin:blood, Middle Aged, Severity of Illness Index, Thyroid Gland:physiopathology, Thyroidectomy, Thyrotropin:blood, Thyroxine:blood, Triiodothyronine:blood,.   

OBJECTIVES: Among the peripheral effects of thyroid hormone action, their influence on insulin is of great interest and conflicting data on this subject are available. Despite various studies already performed, of concern is whether insulin levels change in line with a deterioration of thyroid function. In this study, we investigated serum serum insulin levels and their correlations with thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (FT4) and free triiodothyronine (FT3) in hypothyroid women.

DESIGN AND METHODS: Study group consisted of 22 women with a history of total thyroidectomy and radioiodine ablation performed for thyroid cancer, without diabetes or glucose intolerance. After six-weeks of thyroxine withdrawal, subjects were admitted to the Department of Endocrinology of the Poznan University of Medical Sciences to perform this study.

RESULTS: Plasma glucose and insulin were respectively: 4.76+/-0.47 mmol/L and 7.19+/-4.22 microU/mL. Serum TSH, FT4 and FT3 were respectively: 91.66+/-58.59 microU/mL, 2.65+/-2.19 pmol/L, and 1.53+/-1.00 pmol/L. Correlations were: r of -0. 4381 and P of 0.0414, r of -0.2368 and P of 0.2887, and r of 0.3954 and P of 0.0686 for insulin and FT4, insulin and FT3, and insulin and TSH, respectively. The only significant correlation was an inverse correlation between insulin and FT4.

CONCLUSIONS: In profound hypothyroidism insulin concentrations correlate with FT4 only, but not with FT3 or TSH....

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Journal Article 2007; 28(6): 781-788 PubMed PMID: 18063949 Citation  Keywords:  Analysis of Variance, Animals, Behavior, Animal:drug effects, Dose-Response Relationship, Drug, Exploratory Behavior:drug effects, Female, Hallucinogens:pharmacology, Male, Motor Activity:drug effects, N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine:pharmacology, .   

: 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) is a widely abused drug that impairs behavioral, emotional and cognitive functions in humans and animals. The aim of this study was to evaluate MDMA effects on the spontaneous behavioral repertoire of rats with a focus on the gender differences. MDMA was given subcutaneously in a single dose of 2.5, 5 and 10 mg/kg and the spontaneous behavior of male and female rats was studied using the open field test. Behavioral patterns (locomotion, rearing, floor-sniffing, air-sniffing, grooming, immobility and stereotypy) were registered in two sessions - 30 and 60 min following MDMA administration; each session lasting 5 min. We found that MDMA totally disrupted the structure and timing of spontaneous behavioral patterns in both genders; no evident differences were measured between either of the sessions. MDMA irrespective of the dosage produced hyperlocomotion, excessive floor-sniffing and almost absolute suppression of grooming and immobility. A biphasic effect of MDMA was found in rearing. Gender differences were present namely in rearing and sniffing stereotypy. This study also confirms that behavioral experiments should focus on more behavioral elements than only on e.g. locomotion and that the observer-based approach still gives the most reliable results....

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Journal Article 2007; 28(6): 846-853 PubMed PMID: 18063939 Citation  Keywords:  Analysis of Variance, Animals, Chronic Disease, Circadian Rhythm:physiology, Corticosterone:blood, Disease Models, Animal, Exploratory Behavior:physiology, Male, Mice, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Motor Activity, Oxytocin:blood, Photoperiod, Stress, Physiological:.   

: Experiments were performed in C57BL/6J male mice to determine 1) light/dark effects of acute and chronic shaker stress on open field behavioral patterns and 2) light/dark effects of chronic stress on plasma corticosterone and oxytocin. Shaker stress was applied acutely (15 min) or chronically (3 or 7 days). Mice were tested in the open field in the light or dark phase of the circadian cycle. For the endocrine study, mice were exposed to 3 days of intermittent shaker stress and sacrificed after the last stress event (09:00 or 19:00 h). Acute or chronic shaker stress had no significant effects on intensity of motor activity and rearing of mice tested under either light condition. Mice tested in the dark phase had higher motor activity and exhibited lower anxiety-like behavior as expressed by central zone activities and had higher emotionality as expressed by increased defecation. Chronic stress increased corticosterone with a greater absolute increase in the dark period. However, the percentage stress-induced increase was not different between the day and night periods. The oxytocin response to stress was observed only during the light phase with no change seen at dark phase. These results show that there is a marked difference in the light/dark pituitary stress response with no alteration in stress induced behavioral changes. They also suggest that there are circadian interactions in the endocrine stress axis that are without consequences for open field behavior....

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Journal Article 2007; 28(6): 757-760 PubMed PMID: 18063930 Citation  Keywords:  Activity Cycles:physiology, Aging:immunology, Animals, Columbidae, Leukocytes:physiology, Melatonin:physiology, Neuroimmunomodulation:physiology, Phagocytosis:physiology, Serotonin:blood, Sleep:physiology, Superoxides:blood, Tryptophan:physiology, Wakeful.   

: All organisms present circadian rhythm in most of their physiological functions, and among them there stand out sleep, motor activity, immune function, the secretion of melatonin, and the production and release of numerous neurotransmitters, in particular of serotonin because of its relationship with the aforementioned factors. Aging changes these rhythms, altering sleep quality and contributing to immunosenescence. Treatment with exogenously administered melatonin or tryptophan may restore these impaired functions due to aging. In our animal model (Streptopelia risoria), both the hormone and the amino acid acted on the activity-rest rhythms, modulating the circulating levels of melatonin and serotonin, and increased the cell viability and resistance to induced oxidative stress of blood heterophils, at the same time as enhancing the phagocytic function and neutralizing the superoxide anions deriving from this immune function. Also, in the old individuals, the treatments with melatonin and tryptophan at the concentrations and times of administration considered suitable improved nocturnal rest besides reverting the immunosuppressory and oxidative effects accompanying phagocytosis at these advanced ages....

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Case Reports 2007; 28(6): 739-744 PubMed PMID: 18063928 Citation  Keywords:  Adolescent, Antibodies:blood, Antioxidants:therapeutic use, Biomarkers, Diet Therapy, Enterobacteriaceae:immunology, Enterobacteriaceae Infections:complications, Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic:etiology, Female, Humans, Immunoglobulins, Intravenous:therapeutic .   

: There is now evidence that chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is accompanied by an increased translocation of endotoxins from gram-negative enterobacteria through the gut wall, as demonstrated by increased prevalences and median values for serum IgM and IgA against the endotoxins of gram-negative enterobacteria. This condition can also be described as increased gut permeability or leaky gut and indicates intestinal mucosal dysfunction (IMD). Here we report a case of a 13 year old girl with CFS who showed very high values for serum IgM against the LPS of some enterobacteria and signs of oxidative and nitrosative stress, activation of the inflammatory response system, and IgG3 subclass deficiency. Upon treatment with specific antioxidants and a "leaky gut diet", which both aim to treat increased gut permeability, and immunoglobins intravenously, the increased translocation of the LPS of gram negative enterobacteria normalized and this normalization was accompanied by a complete remission of the CFS symptoms....

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Journal Article 2007; 28(6): 826-831 PubMed PMID: 18063923 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, Anti-Inflammatory Agents:immunology, Cytokines:immunology, Depressive Disorder:metabolism, Female, Gene Expression Regulation:immunology, Humans, Indoleamine-Pyrrole 2,3,-Dioxygenase:immunology, Inflammation:metabolism, Interferon-gamma:immunology,.   

: Immune activation is accompanied by induction of indoleamine (2,3)-dioxygenase (IDO), an enzyme which degrades tryptophan, a phenomenon which plays a role in the pathophysiology of major depression and post-natal depression and anxiety states. TRYCATs - tryptophan catabolites along the IDO pathway - such as kynurenine, kynurenic acid, xanthurenic acid, and quinolinic acid, have multiple effects, e.g. apoptotic, anti- versus pro-oxidant, neurotoxic versus neuroprotective, and anxiolytic versus anxiogenic effects. The aim of the present study was to study the immune effects of the above TRYCATS. Toward this end we examined the effects of the above TRYCATs on the LPS + PHA-induced production of interferon-gamma (IFNgamma), interleukin-10 (IL-10), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha) in 18 normal volunteers. We found that the production of IFNgamma was significantly decreased by all 4 catabolites. Xanthurenic acid and quinolinic acid decreased the production of IL-10. Kynurenine, kynurenic acid, and xanthurenic acid, decreased the IFNgamma/IL-10 production ratio, whereas quinolinic acid increased this ratio. Kynurenic acid significantly reduced the stimulated production of TNFalpha. It is concluded that kynurenine, kynurenic acid, and xanthurenic acid have anti-inflammatory effects trough a reduction of IFNgamma, whereas quinolinic acid has pro-inflammatory effects in particular via significant decreases in IL-10. Following inflammation-induced IDO activation, some TRYCATs, i.e. kynurenine, kynurenic acid, and xanthurenic acid, exert a negative feedback control over IFNgamma production thus downregulating the initial inflammation, whereas an excess of quinolinic acid further aggravates the initial inflammation....

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Journal Article 2007; 28(Suppl 3): 33-34 PubMed PMID: 18030276 Citation  Keywords:  Anti-Bacterial Agents:therapeutic use, Community-Acquired Infections:drug therapy, Diabetes Complications:drug therapy, Diabetes Mellitus, Humans, Meningitis, Bacterial:drug therapy, Outcome Assessment (Health Care), Oxacillin:therapeutic use, Staphylococ.   

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