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Journal Article 2008; 29(4): 475-481 PubMed PMID: 18766148 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, Animals, Female, Humans, Infant, Newborn, Male, Neuroprotective Agents:metabolism, Reaction Time:physiology, Rh-Hr Blood-Group System:metabolism, Testosterone:blood, Toxoplasma:metabolism, Toxoplasmosis:physiopathology,.   

BACKGROUND: The biological function of RhD protein, a major component of the Rh blood group system, is largely unknown. No phenotypic effect of RhD protein, except its role in hemolytic disease of newborns and protective role against Toxoplasma-induced impairment of reaction times in men, has been described.r />r /> METHODS: Here we searched for a protective effect of RhD positivity against Toxoplasma-induced prolongation of reaction times in a set of 110 male and 226 female students of the Faculty of Science tested for latent toxoplasmosis and concentration of testosterone in saliva.r />r /> RESULTS: RhD-positive subjects have been confirmed to be less sensitive to the influence of latent toxoplasmosis on reaction times than Rh-negative subjects. While a protective role of RhD positivity has been demonstrated previously in four populations of men, the present study has shown a similar effect in 226 female students. Our results have also shown that the concentration of testosterone in saliva strongly influences (reduces) reaction times (especially in men) and therefore, this factor should be controlled in future reaction times studies.r />r /> CONCLUSIONS: The observed effects of RhD phenotype could provide not only a clue to the long-standing evolutionary enigma of the origin of RhD polymorphism in humans (the effect of balancing selection), differences in the RhD+ allele frequencies in geographically distinct populations (resulting from geographic variation in the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii), but might also be the missing piece in the puzzle of the physiological function of the RhD molecule....

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Journal Article 2008; 29(4): 512-517 PubMed PMID: 18766147 Citation  Keywords:  Autistic Disorder:physiopathology, Child, Child, Preschool, Electroencephalography, Humans, Intellectual Disability:physiopathology, Polysomnography, Sleep:physiology,.   

OBJECTIVES: Autism is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder with a high rate of epilepsy and subclinical epileptiform activity. High physical connectivity on a microcolumnar level leading to epileptiform activity and low functional informational connectivity are assumed in autism. The aim of this study was to investigate nonlinear EEG brain dynamics in terms of synchronization in a group of children with autism spectrum disorders compared to a control group. We expected a lower degree of synchronization in autistic subjects.r />r /> METHODS: The autistic group consisted of 27 patients with autism spectrum disorders diagnosed according to ICD-10. The mean age of the sample was 7.1 (SD 3.6) years, 14 of them were mentally retarded. Normal EEG was found in 9 patients, epileptiform EEG in 18 autistic patients. Four patients had a history of epileptic seizures, fully compensated in long term. The control group consisted of 20 children (mean age of 8.4, SD 2.3 years) with normal intelligence, without an epileptic history, investigated within the frame of the research program for cochlear implantation. They had normal neurological examination and suffered from perceptive deafness. Normal EEG was found in 17 of the control subjects, epileptiform EEG was in 3 control subjects. We analyzed night sleep EEG recordings from 10 channels (F3, F4, F7, F8, C3, C4, T3, T4, P3 and P4) with the inclusion of sleep stages NREM 2, 3 and 4 in the subsequent analyses. Coarse-grained entropy information rates between neighbouring electrodes were computed, expressing the synchronization between 11 selected electrode couples.r />r /> RESULTS: Synchronization was significantly lower in the autistic group in all three examined NREM stages even when age and intelligence were taken into account as covariates.r />r /> CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study confirmed the validity of the underconnectivity model in autism....

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Journal Article 2008; 29(4): 547-551 PubMed PMID: 18766146 Citation  Keywords:  Animals, Female, Male, Neuronal Plasticity:physiology, Neurons:cytology, Oxytocin:metabolism, Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus:cytology, Rats, Restraint, Physical, Rodentia, Stress, Psychological,.   

OBJECTIVES AND METHODS: The presence of oxytocin (OT) and its putative participation to the phenotypic plasticity of CRH neurones in the stressed jerboa was investigated. We analysed by immunocytochemistry the OT expression within the hypothalamic parvicellular paraventricular nucleus (pPVN) of male jerboas submitted to an acute immobilization (30 min).r />r /> RESULTS: OT presence was clearly demonstrated in the pPVN of the jerboa and no significant difference in the number of OT immunolabeled cells was observed whatever the experimental conditions. Interestingly, CRH-immunoreactive neurons coexpressed OT within cell bodies and terminals in a similar way both in control and stressed animals. The level of coexpression was regionally heterogeneous and was not sensitive to the stress immobilization.r />r /> CONCLUSION: The present data reveal for the first time the occurrence of OT in hypothalamic pPVN neurons of the jerboa. Moreover, this OT expression level does not change upon an acute immobilization stress. These new data, coupled together with our previous work in the jerboa, incontestably establish a clear dichotomy between a stress-responsive CRH/CCK system and a stress non-responsive OT/VP system in the pPVN....

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Journal Article 2008; 29(4): 447-450 PubMed PMID: 18766145 Citation  Keywords:  Chorioamnionitis:pathology, Female, Fetal Membranes, Premature Rupture:pathology, Humans, Infant, Newborn, Infant, Newborn, Diseases:pathology, Inflammation:pathology, Perinatal Mortality, Placenta:pathology, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Complications, Infectious.   

BACKGROUND: PROM and pPROM and early onset neonatal sepsis negatively affect the neonatal perinatal mortality and morbidity.r />r /> OBJECTIVES: The target of the work was to evaluate the relationship between chorioamnionitis, funisitis and PROM, pPROM and the risk of early onset neonatal sepsis.r />r /> METHODS: We examined 152 samples of the placenta and umbilical cord, histologically and microbiologically, in 53 women without PROM, 52 women with PROM and 47 women with pPROM.r />r /> RESULTS: We demonstrated a statistically significant relationship of chorioamnionitis and funisitis to the risk of early-onset neonatal sepsis. We demonstrated no relationship between pathological findings in the placenta and PROM or pPROM.r />r /> CONCLUSIONS: The histological findings of an amniotic-type placentitis can particularly be used for supporting or possibly excluding the diagnosis of early onset neonatal sepsis....

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Journal Article 2008; 29(4): 454-460 PubMed PMID: 18766144 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, Aged, Biomechanical Phenomena, Elasticity, Female, Humans, Middle Aged, Models, Theoretical, Myometrium:anatomy & histology, Rheology, Stress, Mechanical,.   

: This work answers some questions related to detection of rheological properties of soft tissues exemplified in myometrium, stressed by external tensile force. In the first stage of the experiment the tissue samples were ciclically stressed and response loops were recorded. This test proved severe plastical deformation of samples, which is not usually being stated for living tissues. In addition to course, growth and stabilizing this deformation also energetical losses of individual hysteresis loops of the response were evaluated. In the second stage of the experiment the tissue samples were exposed to a loading force changed in step-wise manner in four steps. The sample response to each force step was processed and evaluated separately to obtain basic properties of used model. In next step, the changes in model characteristics were obtained and evaluated for each element in subsequent force steps. By reason of following easier interpretation, the quite simple visco-elastic model, defined by differential equation with analytic solution, is used. The results prove necessary to introduce in model both spring and damper constants dependent on the magnitude of the loading force and one damper with even time dependent constant. The interindividual variability of characteristic values of the model elements is surprisingly low. On the other side, they are strongly dependent on load magnitude. Complete mathematical model of uterine wall tissue is obtained by amending the principal equation by formulas describing changes in individual components of the model....

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Journal Article 2008; 29(4): 451-453 PubMed PMID: 18766143 Citation  Keywords:  Humans, Impulsive Behavior, Male, Neuroendocrinology, Reward, Saliva:enzymology, Statistics as Topic, Surveys and Questionnaires, alpha-Amylases:metabolism,.   

OBJECTIVES: This study was aimed to examine the relationships between salivary alpha-amylase (sAA, a non-invasive biological marker of adrenergic activities) levels and hyperbolic discounting for primary reward under simulated life-threatening condition, which is of interest in psychoneuroendocrinology and neuroeconomics of visceral influences on behavior.r />r /> METHODS: We assessed degrees to which delayed primary reward (i.e., water) was discounted (hyperbolic discount rates) in 31 healthy male students. Participants' sAA were also assessed.r />r /> RESULTS: We observed a positive correlation between sAA and hyperbolic discounting for primary reward.r />r /> CONCLUSIONS: The result indicates that threat-induced visceral urge acutely prompts impulsivity in temporal discounting....

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Journal Article 2008; 29(4): 461-466 PubMed PMID: 18766142 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, Atrophy:pathology, Brain:pathology, Disability Evaluation, Disease Progression, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Multiple Sclerosis, Chronic Progressive:pathology, Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting:pathology, Sta.   

OBJECTIVES: To monitor the interaction between the clinical manifestation of the secondary progressive form of multiple sclerosis (SPMS) expressed in the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) and abnormal findings in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain. To compare a time line of brain atrophy in patients with SPMS, patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and the healthy population.r />r /> METHODS: Brain atrophy, volume of increased signal lesions on Fluid Attenuated Inversion Recovery Sequence (FLAIR) sequence (s.c.lesion load) and decreased signal lesions on T1 weighted sequence (s.c. black holes) were measured semi-automatically and correlated with EDSS in 12 patients. Further, we compared a time line of brain parenchyma fraction (BPF) loss in patients with SPMS, patients with RRMS and the healthy population.r />r /> RESULTS: In patients with SPMS, no statistical correlation was found between lesion load in FLAIR and EDSS and there was also no significant statistical correlation (p=0.1134) between the volume of "black holes" and EDSS. However, we did confirm a significant correlation between increase in brain atrophy and clinical status (p=0.0093). Comparison of patients with SPMS or RRMS and the healthy population revealed that brain atrophy progressed most rapidly in patients with SPMS.r />r /> CONCLUSIONS: The presence of a statistically significant difference in BPF loss between patients with SPMS or RRMS and the healthy population merits further study despite the small size of our sample. We postulate that the measurement of brain atrophy could be helpful in determining the transition of RRMS to SPMS and thereby predict the progression of the disease in the future....

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Journal Article 2008; 29(4): 443-446 PubMed PMID: 18766141 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, Aged, Antigens, CD34:analysis, Breast Neoplasms:blood supply, Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast:blood supply, Female, Humans, Immunohistochemistry, Lymph Nodes:metabolism, Lymphatic Metastasis:pathology, Middle Aged, Neoplasm Invasiveness, Neovascularizati.   

BACKGROUND: Angiogenesis is a basic process that enables neoplasms to thrive. Microvessel density (MVD) evaluation is an accepted parameter for assessing the angiogenesis process within a tumor. The aim of the present study has been to assess the number of microcapillaries in both invasive ductal breast cancer with the presence of metastases in regional lymph nodes and in invasive ductal breast cancer without such metastases.r />r /> METHODS: The CD34 antigen immunoreactivity level was assessed by immunohistochemistry in both types of invasive ductal breast cancer. Tissue samples were obtained from 40 patients and were divided into two groups according to whether or not there were lymph node metastases.r />r /> RESULTS: The patients with lymph node metastases exhibited statistically significantly higher numbers of stained microcapillaries than the patients who did not have lymph node metastases.r />r /> CONCLUSION: Thus the number of stained microcapillaries as evaluated by using the CD34 immunoreactivity level seems to be a useful predictor for the development of local lymph node metastases in female invasive ductal breast cancer....

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