[Borderline personality disorder: clinic approach of a psychopathology "without limits"]. / La personnalité borderline: clinique d'une psychopathologie "sans limites".

The borderline personality disorder is a common psychiatric entity, which is characterized by a varied symptomatology and a significant comorbidity. It seems that its etiologic is heterogeneous, comprising psychosocial factors as much as biological and genetic. So the best approach of the borderline personality disorder would be a multidisciplinary bio-psycho-social one. Through a clinical case, we illustrate this disorder and its treatment in outpatient clinic.

Incidence of inflammatory bowel disease in the province of Liège (Belgium). La Société de Gastroentérologie Liègeoise.

UNLABELLED: Up to now, as there is no national registry of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Belgium, the study of IBD epidemiology in our country is only possible through institutional or regional series. Therefore we conducted a prospective epidemiologic study of IBD in the Province of Liège (1 million inhabitants). METHODS: 29 (out of 47) private and public gastroenterologists completed a standard questionnaire for each patient consulting for the first time with clinical symptoms compatible with IBD between 1/06/1993 and 31/05/1994. RESULTS: During that period 104 cases of IBD were recorded: 56 (54%) Crohn's disease (CD), 36 (35%) ulcerative colitis (UC) including 7 proctitis (19% of UC) and 12 (11%) unclassified colitis. The annual incidence was 5.5 per 100.000 for CD and 3.5 for UC. The sex ratio F/M was 1.7 for CD and 0.7 for UC. The median age at the time of diagnosis was 33.5 yrs for CD and 40 yrs for UC. The highest age specific incidence rate for CD and UC was between 20 and 29 yrs : 13.6 and 6.1, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This first Belgian prospective study has shown an incidence rate for CD comparable with that seen in north European studies but lower than that seen for UC. These results were similar to those observed in the northern part of France. Belgium appears to be a privileged country to undertake a national register and to study epidemiological aspects of IBD.

Interstitial telomeric repeats within the Arabidopsis thaliana genome.

The sequence taAACCCTAa, or telo-box, is found at the same location within all known promoters of plant genes encoding the translation elongation factor EF-1 alpha. An analysis of Arabidopsis DNA sequences available in databases revealed that the sequence AAACCCTAA, corresponding to 1.3 units of the plant telomeric repeat AAACCCT, is over-represented within the Arabidopsis genome. These motifs are found both within the transcribed and the untranscribed genome. The examination of their location in the available sequences as well as in selected and partially sequenced cDNA clones suggest that they are preferentially located in the 5' region of genes. We show that a protein present in both maize and Arabidopsis cellular extracts is able to interact specifically with this motif. The putative functions associated with this sequence are discussed. We propose a model involving the telomerase to explain the spreading of this motif within the genome.

Isolation and structural characterization of a new non-phosphorylated lipoamino acid from Mycobacterium phlei.

A new non-phosphorylated lipoamino acid was extracted from Mycobacterium phlei, strain IST. It is particularly sensitive to alkaline hydrolysis, and contains a lysine residue joined to a 1,2-diglyceride via an ester linkage. The FAB-positive mass spectrum shows the presence of various molecular species of which the most abundant contains a palmitic and a tuberculostearic acid residue. An analogue of this lipid was synthesized, 1,2-dipalmitoyl 3-lysyl glycerol. Both its chromatographic behavior (TLC), and the decomposition pathways of the MH+ ions, studied by FAB MS and MIKE spectroscopy, were identical to the natural product.

[Behavior modifications induced by unilateral administration of picrotoxin into rat substantia nigra]. / Modifications de comportement provoquées par administration unilatérale de picrotoxine dans la substance noire du rat.

Intranigral injection of picrotoxin in Rats induced contralateral rotation and stereotyped behaviour. These responses were significantly altered following neuroleptic treatment (haloperiod, pimozide) or ipsilateral striatal electrolytic destruction. The present results provide behavioural evidence for gamma-aminobutyric acid-mediated inhibition of the dopaminergic nigrostriatal pathway.