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Journal Article 2015; 36(3): 196-200 PubMed PMID: 26313383 Citation  Keywords:  Adolescent, Adult, Humans, Male, Memory, Episodic, Mental Recall:physiology, Saliva:chemistry, Testosterone:analysis, Young Adult,.   

OBJECTIVES: Although there is consensus that sex hormones modulate memory, we have an incomplete understanding of their role in remembering and forgetting. Humans continuously update memory, forgetting old, out-of-date information and encoding new, more relevant information. Updating processes can be studied with the list method of directed forgetting.r />r /> METHODS: In the list method of directed forgetting task, subjects study two lists of items and, after study of list 1, are asked to either forget or remember the list for an upcoming memory test. Free testosterone level was quantified from saliva samples. Directed forgetting and saliva testosterone were evaluated in young men (aged between 18 and 28 years).r />r /> RESULTS: Following a forget cue, recall of list-1 items was reduced and recall of list-2 items was enhanced. However, only recall of list-2 items was associated with free testosterone level. Following a forget cue, participants with low testosterone levels showed higher recall of list-2 items than participants with high testosterone levels.r />r /> CONCLUSION: The selective association between testosterone level and list-2 recall is consistent with two-mechanism accounts of memory updating, where the forgetting effect is due to impaired retrieval and the enhancement effect to improved encoding. On the basis of this view, the present results indicate that low testosterone levels are associated with improved binding of the newly encoded memories to their context cue....

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Journal Article 2015; 36(3): 193-195 PubMed PMID: 26313382 Citation  Keywords:  Animals, Hypothalamus:drug effects, Kisspeptins:metabolism, Lipopolysaccharides:administration & dosage, Male, Neuropeptides:metabolism, RNA, Messenger:metabolism, Rats, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Testis:drug effects,.   

OBJECTIVES: In the hypothalamus, kisspeptin and RFamide-related peptide (RFRP) regulate gonadotropin-releasing hormone expression. Kisspeptin and RFRP are also found in the testes and might play roles in steroidogenesis and spermatogenesis.r />r /> DESIGN AND RESULTS: The present study demonstrated that the hypothalamic mRNA expression level of the kisspeptin receptor was decreased by the injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (500 μg/kg) in male rats, and it was suggested that such changes might contribute to reductions in serum luteinizing hormone levels. Contrary to our expectations, hypothalamic RFRP and testicular GPR147 (the RFRP receptor) mRNA expression were also decreased by LPS injection.r />r /> CONCLUSIONS: We speculate that changes in hypothalamic RFRP expression might represent a protective response aimed at attenuating LPS-induced anorectic responses....

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Journal Article 2015; 36(3): 187-192 PubMed PMID: 26313381 Citation  Keywords:  Biological Clocks:physiology, Humans, Melatonin:physiology, Signal Transduction:physiology, Time,.   

: Temporal organization plays a key role in humans, and presumably all species on Earth. A core building block of the chronobiological architecture is the master clock, located in the suprachi asmatic nuclei [SCN], which organizes "when" things happen in sub-cellular biochemistry, cells, organs and organisms, including humans. Conceptually, time messenging should follow a 5 step-cascade. While abundant evidence suggests how steps 1 through 4 work, step 5 of "how is central time information transmitted througout the body?" awaits elucidation. Step 1: Light provides information on environmental (external) time; Step 2: Ocular interfaces between light and biological (internal) time are intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells [ipRGS] and rods and cones; Step 3: Via the retinohypothalamic tract external time information reaches the light-dependent master clock in the brain, viz the SCN; Step 4: The SCN translate environmental time information into biological time and distribute this information to numerous brain structures via a melanopsin-based network. Step 5: Melatonin, we propose, transmits, or is a messenger of, internal time information to all parts of the body to allow temporal organization which is orchestrated by the SCN. Key reasons why we expect melatonin to have such role include: First, melatonin, as the chemical expression of darkness, is centrally involved in time- and timing-related processes such as encoding clock and calendar information in the brain; Second, melatonin travels throughout the body without limits and is thus a ubiquitous molecule. The chemial conservation of melatonin in all tested species could make this molecule a candidate for a universal time messenger, possibly constituting a legacy of an all-embracing evolutionary history....

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Letter 2015; 36(3): 185-186 PubMed PMID: 26313380 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, Female, Humans, Male, Pilot Projects, Proteomics:methods, Tears:chemistry,.   

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Journal Article 2015; 36(2): 178-182 PubMed PMID: 26071589 Citation  Keywords:  Animals, Animals, Newborn, Aromatase:genetics, Brain:metabolism, Estrogen Receptor alpha:genetics, Female, Fetus, Hypothalamus:metabolism, Mice, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Mice, Knockout, RNA, Messenger:metabolism,.   

OBJECTIVES: Local estrogen production in the brain regulates critical functions including neuronal development, gonadotropin secretion and sexual behavior. In the mouse brain, a 36 kb distal promoter (l.f) regulates the Cyp19a1 gene that encodes aromatase, the key enzyme for estrogen biosynthesis. In vitro, promoter l.f interacts with estrogen receptor alpha (Esr1) to mediate Cyp19a1 mRNA expression and enzyme activity in mouse hypothalamic neuronal cell lines. The in vivo mechanisms that control mammalian brain aromatase expression during fetal and adult development, however, are not thoroughly understood. Our aim was to elucidate the basis of the in vivo connection between Esr1 and Cyp19a1.r />r /> METHODS: Pregnant mice were sacrificed at gestational days 9, 11, 13, 15, 16, 19, 21 and the brain tissues of the fetuses were harvested along with five newborns at the age of postnatal day 2. Esr1KO (female) were also sacrificed and their hypothalamus were excised out. Then both fetuses and adults RNA were isolated, reverse transcribed and amplified employing primers specific for Esr1 and Cyp19a1 with Real time PCR.r />r /> RESULTS: In the fetal mouse brain, Cyp19a1 mRNA levels are inversely correlated with estrogen receptor alpha (Esr1) mRNA levels in a temporal manner. Moreover, Cyp19a1 mRNA levels increased in the hypothalamus of estrogen receptor-alpha knockout female mice (Esr1KO).r />r /> CONCLUSION: Taken together, our findings might indicate that Esr1 has crucial roles in the in vivo regulation of aromatase expression in the brain during fetal and adult life....

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Journal Article 2015; 36(2): 171-177 PubMed PMID: 26071588 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, Age Factors, Age of Onset, Aged, Cross-Sectional Studies, Depressive Disorder:drug therapy, Female, Humans, Male, Medication Adherence:psychology, Middle Aged, Remission Induction, Severity of Illness Index, Social Stigma,.   

OBJECTIVE: A wide range of variables may influence the rate of adherence to treatment. These variables can be associated with the disease itself, method of treatment, patient's personality, environmental factors and therapeutic relationship. Self-stigma is one of the possible factors related to poor adherence. The aim of the study was to find out the relationship between current adherence, discontinuation of medication in the past and self-stigma in stable psychiatric outpatients diagnosed with depressive disorder.r />r /> METHODS: The study included 72 stable outpatients diagnosed with depressive disorder with a mean age of 49.00 ± 12.56. Disorder severity was assessed using the Clinical Global Impression scale. Adherence was measured by the Drug Attitude Inventory - 10 items (DAI-10) scale and self-stigma by the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness (ISMI) scale. The data were evaluated in 66 patients. Six patients were excluded because of incompletely filled in questionnaires.r />r /> RESULTS: The rate of adherence was not associated with gender, education, employment, family burden (family history) or partner status. Current adherence did not differ between patients who arbitrarily discontinued their medication in the past and those who did not. Adherence was significantly positively correlated with patient's age, age at disease onset and the level of self-stigma.r />r /> CONCLUSIONS: The study results suggest that the level of self-stigma and age of the patient can be very important factors associated with adherence in patients with depressive disorder....

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Journal Article 2015; 36(2): 161-164 PubMed PMID: 26071587 Citation  Keywords:  Chronic Pain:therapy, Female, High-Energy Shock Waves:therapeutic use, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Pain Measurement, Treatment Outcome,.   

: The method of shock wave therapy (ESWT) was used for the treatment of several symptoms of chronic pain. There were especially: cervical syndromes, lumbago, plantar fasciitis, achillodynia, metatarsalgia and humeral epicondylitis. We confirmed the positive effect of shock wave therapy for pain relief on these syndromes. This method is also effective in other pain syndromes. The effect of this application is very individual and therefore it is necessary to indicate differing numbers of therapeutic applications. We recommend this method as a very useful tool for completion possibilities in the treatment of chronic pain....

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Journal Article 2015; 36(2): 165-170 PubMed PMID: 26071586 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, Aged, Ether-A-Go-Go Potassium Channels:metabolism, Growth Hormone-Secreting Pituitary Adenoma:metabolism, Humans, Ki-67 Antigen:metabolism, Male, Middle Aged, Pilot Projects, Young Adult,.   

OBJECTIVE: To determine immunohistochemical expression of Eag1 in pituitary adenomas of patients with acromegaly and to assess the correlation between Eag1 expression with cavernous sinus invasion, tumoral Ki-67 labeling index (LI), age and gender of the patients.r />r /> METHODS: The paraffin embedded pituitary adenoma tissue sections of 28 patients with acromegaly who were diagnosed as monohormonal growth hormone (GH) secreting adenomas were immunostained for Eag1 using the avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex method. Eag1 immunoreactivity was scored according to the extensity of the cytoplasm and cell membrane immunoreactivity for Eag1 (score 1 = <10%, score 2 = 10-25%, score 3 = 25-50% and score 4 = >50% of the adenoma cells showed immunoreactivity for Eag1, respectively).r />r /> RESULTS: Overall, GH secreting pituitary adenomas displayed diverse levels of Eag1 immunoreactivity, however, 64% of the adenomas displayed a strong Eag1 immunoreactivity (score 3 and 4). Five of the tumors displayed Eag1 immunoreactivity score 1, 5 displayed score 2, 10 displayed score 3 and 8 displayed score 4, respectively. No correlation was found between Eag1 immunoreactivity with cavernous sinus invasion, Ki-67 LI, age and gender of the patients.r />r /> CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest Eag1 is strongly expressed in the majority of GH secreting pituitary adenomas. However, we could not find any correlation between immunoreactivity of Eag1 with cavernous sinus invasion, Ki-67 LI, age and gender of the patients. Further studies with larger sample sizes are required to demonstrate the role of Eag1 on tumorigenesis, angiogenesis, invasion and response to the treatment in GH secreting pituitary adenomas....

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