Transient glacial incision in the Patagonian Andes from ~6 Ma to present.

We report a mountain-scale record of erosion rates in the central Patagonian Andes from >10 million years (Ma) ago to present, which covers the transition from a fluvial to alpine glaciated landscape. Apatite (U-Th)/He ages of 72 granitic cobbles from alpine glacial deposits show slow erosion before ~6 Ma ago, followed by a two- to threefold increase in the spatially averaged erosion rate of the source region after the onset of alpine glaciations and a 15-fold increase in the top 25% of the distribution. This transition is followed by a pronounced decrease in erosion rates over the past ~3 Ma. We ascribe the pulse of fast erosion to local deepening and widening of valleys, which are characteristic features of alpine glaciated landscapes. The subsequent decline in local erosion rates may represent a return toward a balance between rock uplift and erosion.

[Pharmaceutical consultation for liver transplant patients: a contribution to therapeutic education]. / La consultation pharmaceutique en transplantation hépatique : une contribution à l'éducation thérapeutique des patients.

The pharmaceutical consultation offered to liver transplant patients is one of the components of therapeutic education. The content of this consultation has been designed on the basis of research results led in the field of health communication. This research has highlighted the need to clarify to the patient the aims and format of the consultation, to obtain patient approval, and to elicit patient participation in the elaboration of the treatment plan. Studying and taking into account patient representations of transplantation, of transplant treatment and rejection is indispensable to the design of an efficient communication plan. Setting up this consultation requires initial training or continuing vocational training of the pharmacist - this training will address issues in psychology, cognitive science and health communication. No such training is currently available in universities and needs to be set up. It should be followed by practice and training during internships in hospitals and community pharmacies.

Apo E levels and distribution in rhesus monkeys consuming an atherogenic diet.

The effect of an atherogenic diet on serum apo E levels and distribution among the lipoproteins of rhesus monkeys was studied. Animals able to maintain their serum cholesterol levels below 250 mg/dl (hyporesponders) showed no significant change in their serum apo E levels; however, in monkeys whose serum cholesterol concentrations ranged from 250 to 850 mg/dl, serum apo E levels appeared to have increased in direct proportion to plasma cholesterol concentration (r2 = 0.92) such that in monkeys whose serum cholesterol concentration exceeded 650 mg/dl (hyperresponders), the apo E levels had increased 5-6-fold. The majority of the apo E (60%) in hyporesponders consuming the atherogenic diet was associated with HDL, whereas only 10% of the serum apo E was associated with HDL in hypercholesterolemic hyperresponders. Nonetheless, the absolute amount of HDL-associated apo E was the same in both phenotypes. Thus, essentially all of the increase in serum apo E levels in hyperresponders was due to an increase in non-HDL-associated apo E. The mean density of the fraction showing the greatest increase in apo E, and accounting for the majority of the d less than 1.063 g/ml apo E in hyperresponders, was 1.010 g/ml. That fraction was distinct from the lipoproteins principally responsible for the increase in apo B and cholesterol levels in those animals. The latter were smaller in size and higher in density than the major apo E-rich fraction. Nonetheless, the d less than 1.063 g/ml apo E apparently circulates on apo B-containing particles, since it was retained on an anti-apo B immunoaffinity column. These data show that a diet-induced hypercholesterolemia is accompanied by a marked increase in serum apo E levels in rhesus monkeys, but that the lipoproteins principally responsible for the increase in apo E levels are distinct from those mainly responsible for the hypercholesterolemia. They also suggest that the levels of apo E-containing HDL in hypercholesterolemic hyperresponders are not significantly lowered by the diet, even though those animals' apo A-I levels were severely reduced. Thus, both the LDL and the HDL of the hypercholesterolemic primate contain apo E-rich subfractions which are metabolically distinct from the principal lipoprotein family in each fraction.

Comparison of regional brain 5-HT and 5-HIAA content in flexor and extensor rats.

Hindlimb extension (HLE) induced by maximal electroshock seizures (MES) can be markedly affected by drugs which affect CNS 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT). Consequently, it has been proposed that the natural resistance of certain rats (flexor rats) to HLE is due to elevated levels of 5-HT. We have tested the hypothesis that the increased resistance of flexor rats to MES-induced HLE is due to elevated serotonergic levels in some region(s) of the CNS by examining 5-HT and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) levels in 8 regions of the CNS in rats classified by MES as either flexors or extensors. Furthermore, we compared the in vivo synthesis rate of 5-HT between flexor and extensor rats in 6 regions of the brain by measuring the accumulation of 5-HTP following aromatic amino acid decarboxylase inhibition with NSD-1015. All neurochemical analyses were carried out on rats sacrificed one week after their last seizure test. No differences in 5-HT, 5-HIAA or 5-HTP synthesis rate were detected between flexor and extensor rats for any of the regions examined, suggesting that enhanced serotonergic levels are not responsible for the unusual resistance of flexor rats to HLE.