Search NEL Online

Journal Article 2005; 26(1): 29-34 PubMed PMID: 15726016 Citation  Keywords:  Action Potentials:drug effects, Animals, Body Weight:drug effects, Electrophysiology, Fasting:physiology, Food Deprivation:physiology, Hypothalamus:drug effects, In Vitro Techniques, Nerve Tissue Proteins:pharmacology, Neurons:drug effects, Nutritional St.   

OBJECTIVES: The anorectic and catabolic action of CART is primarily mediated by the hypothalamus. The study proved the hypothesis that neurons of the hypothalamic regulatory system of body weight differentially react to CART in dependence of the nutritional state of the animal: overweight, fed or short-term fasting.

DESIGN AND SETTING: Single unit activity was extracellularly recorded in brain slices. The action of CART was studied in brains of 1. overweight adult rats previously subjected to early postnatal overfeeding in small litters (SL), compared to control litters, 2. normal rats that were deprived of food for 24 h, compared to fed rats.

RESULTS: Hypothalamic dorsomedial neurons of controls, but not SL rats were significantly excited by CART, ventromedial neurons of SL rats were significantly inhibited. Also neurons of hungry rats were significantly inhibited.

MAIN FINDINGS: Controls and overweight SL as well as fed and hungry rats differed significantly in the neuronal effects of CART. The predominant effect of the peptide did neither depend on weight nor on age of animals, but on neonatal development or nutritional state.

CONCLUSION: The increase in inhibition by CART of ventromedial and dorsomedial neuronal activity could in vivo contribute to increased food intake and reduced energy expenditure of overweight SL as of hungry rats. Since leptin is able to change synaptic wiring and the expression of excitatory and inhibitory synapses already within short time, the increased expression of inhibitory responses to CART may reflect a general mechanism in adaptation of neuronal regulatory systems to the nutritional state, in fed, adult small-litter rats acquired during the postnatal critical differentiation period, thus leading to permanently altered function....

Read abstract  Full text PDF

Journal Article 2005; 26(1): 25-28 PubMed PMID: 15726015 Citation  Keywords:  Aging:physiology, Animals, Animals, Newborn, Brachial Plexus:physiology, Electrophysiology, Entropy, Male, Neurons, Afferent:physiology, Pain:etiology, Rats, Rats, Wistar, Rhizotomy, Self Mutilation:etiology,.   

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to describe the development of self-mutilation after extensive dorsal rhizotomy of the brachial plexus performed during early ontogeny in rats.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN: The rhizotomy was performed in three groups of rats according to the central nervous system maturation: infant, young, and adult. After the surgery the occurrence of self-mutilation behavior was compared. Rats from the infant group and non-mutilating deafferentated rats from the adult group underwent extracellular recordings from intralaminar thalamic neurons. Interspikes intervals of the records were compared by means of chaodynamic methods.

RESULTS: In the infant group self-mutilation did not develop at all. Among the young group self-mutilation developed in 40% of rats and consisted of superficial wounds in all cases. In adult self-mutilation appeared in 80% rats and consisted of both superficial wounds (75%) and amputation (25%). In the newborn group and the deafferentated adult group without any signs of self-mutilation means of the parameters were not significantly different and were significantly lower than those of intact adult rats.

MAIN FINDINGS: 1. Self-mutilation does not develop after the rhizotomy in the infant rats. 2. Neurons behave in chaotic way in adult as well as in young animals. 3. Chaodynamic parameters do not differ between infant and adult rats without any signs of self-mutilation.

CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that development of self-mutilation behavior in rats strongly depends on the ontogenetical period of nervous system injury, and that mature nervous system is required for the development of described pathological behavior....

Read abstract  Full text PDF

Journal Article 2005; 26(1): 19-24 PubMed PMID: 15726014 Citation  Keywords:  Adolescent, Age of Onset, Body Height:drug effects, Child, Craniopharyngioma:surgery, Female, Growth Hormone:therapeutic use, Human Growth Hormone:blood, Humans, Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System:abnormalities, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Pituitary Dis.   

AIMS: The aim of the study was an evaluation of final height and growth hormone (GH) secretion after completion of GH therapy (retesting) in patients with GH deficiency (GHD).

PATIENTS AND METHODS: The analysis comprised 53 patients (43 boys, 10 girls) with childhood-onset GHD, who completed GH therapy and reached final height. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), performed in all the patients, led to the following groups: pituitary stalk interruption syndrome (PSIS), pituitary hypoplasia (HP), craniopharyngioma (CP) -- patients after tumour excision, patients with normal hypothalamic-pituitary region (NP).

RESULTS: In 51 patients, final height was normal. The height gain was significantly (p<0.05) greater in PSIS than in that other groups. In retesting, GH secretion was significantly (p<0.005) lower in PSIS and CP than in HP and in NP and also (p<0.05) in HP than in NP. Permanent severe GHD was confirmed in all the patients with PSIS and CP and in some patients with HP (37.5%), while it was excluded in all the patients with normal pituitary in MRI.

CONCLUSIONS: It seems that in patients with PSIS and CP, the confirmation of persistent character of GHD needs no retesting, while in patients with normal MRI results, GHD diagnosis should be established with special attention....

Read abstract  Full text PDF

Journal Article 2004; 25(Suppl 1): 157-168 PubMed PMID: 15735600 Citation  Keywords:  Female, Fingers:physiology, Hand Strength, Humans, Infant, Newborn:physiology, Male, Physical Stimulation, Reference Values, Touch:physiology, Videotape Recording,.   

: The traditional view that the activity of the baby's hands are triggered by a stimulus in an automatic, compulsory, stereotyped way and persisting view that fingering does not occur prior to 4 months of age, have led perception researchers to the assumption that the processing, encoding, and retainment of sensory information could not take place through the manual mode. This study aims to investigate whether fingering and different types of grasping occur before 3 months of age and can be modulated by surface texture of three objects. Using naturalistic observations, this small sample developmental study applied the AB experimental design to achieve aims above. Babies were video taped every week for 12 weeks. Three special manual stimuli were developed for this study. Focal sampling method with either zero-sampling or instantaneous sampling recording rules were used to analyse data with the Observer Video Pro. Each session comprising baseline and 3 experimental conditions lasted for four minutes. Fingering or 'proto fingering' as it is suggested in this article emerges as early as the first week of postnatal life; texture of a handled object modulates both 'proto-palm' and hand-grasp behaviour of healthy newborns. Results suggest that texture also modulates 'proto-fingering' and challenge persisting current assumption that fingering does not occur before four months of age, and further validates the phrase 'neo-haptic' touch to describe hands-on exploration of the newborn. The author suggests that some 'mental representation' of the stimulus is present during 'neo-haptic' recognition of the objects which is in accordance to a constructivist approach to (touch) perception....

Read abstract

Journal Article 2004; 25(Suppl 1): 141-155 PubMed PMID: 15735598 Citation  Keywords:  Adolescent, Adult, Baths:instrumentation, Crying, Equipment Design, Female, Heart Rate, Humans, Infant Behavior, Infant Care, Infant, Newborn:physiology, Male, Rooming-in Care,.   

: The new scientific knowledge about the behaviour of the newborn and their interactions as a developing factor, as well as the new neurosciences findings about the initial brain formation, gave us several elements for a new vision and reflection about the perinatal routines in hospitals. This study raises questions about the first experiences of the rooming in newborns during the specific act of bath, as the only determining factor in altering both behaviour and physiology. Through the monitoring of the heart rate frequency and observing the changes in the states of consciousness level, this article shows how the type of bath that the newborn is subjected to influences his/her organisation. The study showed significant results in the parameters observed during the electric shower bath, leading to unbalance of the subsystems where the individuals organise themselves; such findings made us classify this procedure as very stressing to the baby. To the contrary the bath in the "Tummy Tub" presented insignificant changes, showing a relaxed baby with normal bath behaviours and physiological status; thus this procedure appears to contribute to an energetic and interactive balance of the baby's various systems. The aggressive approach (electric shower) does not allow the newborn auto-regulation to occur and to get proper stimulation and learn basic interactive responses which would facilitate his /her healthy early infancy development....

Read abstract

Case Reports 2004; 25(Suppl 1): 117-125 PubMed PMID: 15735594 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, Birth Weight, Brain:physiology, Case-Control Studies, Disease:psychology, Female, Fetus:physiology, Hormones:physiology, Humans, Infant, Low Birth Weight, Infant, Newborn, Infant, Premature, Medical Records, Models, Biological, Models, Psychologica.   

: The long term impact of being born premature has received limited scientific investigation. Studies that have been carried out, focus on outcomes in childhood, with very few considering the impact on adult physical health. Three case studies are presented here, investigating differences in adult minor illness and psychological variables between adult participants born preterm, fullterm but small and fullterm with normal birthweight. This is a retrospective design using questionnaires and checklist to gather relevant information. Minor illness symptoms, daily hassles, anxiety, depression and general self-efficacy were measured. The participant born preterm scored higher on all measures. Data were applied to the Equilibrium Model for Minor Illness. Being born early appears to have a greater impact on later adult outcomes measured than being born fullterm but small or fullterm but of normal weight. In this article the authors reflect upon possible explanations for the different outcomes of each of the participants within the foetal origins of disease theory....

Read abstract

Journal Article 2004; 25(Suppl 1): 103-109 PubMed PMID: 15735592 Citation  Keywords:  Caregivers:psychology, Counseling, Humans, Infant, Newborn, Infant, Premature, Intensive Care Units, Neonatal, Parents:psychology, Physician's Role, Psychological Techniques,.   

: Counselling psychology appears to be neglecting the importance and merits of working with the client population associated with the preterm neonate within the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Throughout, the benefits of such a move are highlighted with particular emphasis on how counselling psychologists are uniquely qualified for this role. Specialist knowledge required to provide clients with the greatest therapeutic gains illustrates the pertinent issues, with proposals for clinical practice put forward. NHS Trusts nationwide are encouraged to recruit this ready-made professional into the Department for the psychological health of parents and caregivers engaged in caring for the preterm neonate....

Read abstract

Journal Article 2004; 25(Suppl 1): 67-77 PubMed PMID: 15735588 Citation  Keywords:  Blood Gas Monitoring, Transcutaneous, Child Development, Conditioning (Psychology), Extremities:physiology, Female, Gastrointestinal Contents:chemistry, Handling (Psychology), Heart:physiology, Humans, Hydrogen-Ion Concentration, Infant Behavior, Infant C.   

: This article provides a synopsis of a series of studies exploring the effects of TAC-TIC (Touching And Caressing-Tender In Caring) therapy with premature infants. Study 1 looked at the short and long-term effects and found enhanced mental development in the stroked infants at 15 months. In study 2 the physiological effects of an abbreviated version of TAC-TIC with high-risk ventilated infants were examined and it was concluded that TAC-TIC exerted no harm to these vulnerable infants. The behavioural reactions of a sample of premature and low birthweight infants to TAC-TIC and parental responses to administering it were explored in study 3. The infants were found to respond predominantly with arm and leg movements to TAC-TIC while fathers and mothers reported enjoying performing TAC-TIC and elicited a similar pattern and frequency of behavioural reactions. In study 4 the question of whether TAC-TIC benefits preterm infant learning and/or sucking behaviour was investigated. The conclusion reached was that TAC-TIC may potentially benefit cognitive performance within the neonatal period and that this may be an early indicator of long-term cognitive gains reported by previous studies. Using a matched subjects design, study 5 explored the impact of TAC-TIC upon the digestive system by analysing gastric aspirates before and after TAC-TIC and a control period of time. It was concluded that TAC-TIC appeared to induce a more suitable stomach environment for digestion....

Read abstract