Construct validity and reliability of a French-Canadian translation of the eating in the absence of hunger questionnaire for children and adolescents.

Eating in the absence of hunger (EAH) has been associated with overweight and obesity during childhood. The gold standard to assess this behavior is a laboratory-based protocol, but a questionnaire to assess EAH more efficiently in children and adolescents has been developed and validated in English. We assessed construct validity (structural and convergent validity) and reliability (internal consistency and temporal stability) of a French translation of the EAH Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents among French-Canadian youths. We recruited participants in Montreal (Canada) aged 7-15 years old, who completed the questionnaire and provided anthropometric data. We asked participants to complete the questionnaire a second time ∼4 weeks later. The questionnaire consists of 14 questions and 3 subscales that assess EAH due to negative affect, fatigue/boredom, and external cues. We performed an exploratory factor analysis to test the factor structure and we calculated Cronbach alpha coefficients and intra-class correlations to assess internal consistency and temporal stability, respectively. We assessed associations between EAH and BMI z-score using Pearson correlations. We included 196 participants (50% girls; mean (SD) 11.9 (2.3) years old) for the first completion and 153 for the second completion. The exploratory factor analysis generated the same three subscales as the original questionnaire: negative affect (α = 0.86; ICC = 0.78), fatigue/boredom (α = 0.75; ICC = 0.70), and external cues (α = 0.68; ICC = 0.54). Participant's BMI z-scores were positively associated with the average scores from the negative affect subscale (r = 0.19; ρ = 0.009). Our results suggest that this questionnaire has an adequate construct validity, internal consistency, and temporal stability.

Quantitative myelin imaging with coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy: alleviating the excitation polarization dependence with circularly polarized laser beams.

The use of coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy tuned to the lipid vibration for quantitative myelin imaging suffers from the excitation polarization dependence of this third-order nonlinear optical effect. The contrast obtained depends on the orientation of the myelin membrane, which in turn affects the morphometric parameters that can be extracted with image analysis. We show how circularly polarized laser beams can be used to avoid this complication, leading to images free of excitation polarization dependence. The technique promises to be optimal for in vivo imaging and the resulting images can be used for coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering optical histology on native state tissue.

Rapid tranquilization with olanzapine in acute psychosis: a case series.

Acute, high-dose loading strategies (rapid neuroleptization) with the first-generation antipsychotics administered orally or parenterally, alone or combined with benzodiazepines, have been a commonly used treatment paradigm for controlling acutely agitated psychotic patients. The rationale was to achieve high plasma levels of drug within a shorter time period, resulting in rapid symptom mitigation. However, studies have shown that rapid neuroleptization with first-generation antipsychotics is associated with a greater incidence of side effects. To our knowledge, loading strategies with second-generation antipsychotics have not been investigated, primarily owing to a need for dose titration. Olanzapine, a second-generation antipsychotic, is well tolerated in doses ranging from 5 to 20 mg. The objective of this report was to determine experience with the use of up to 20 mg of an oral loading dose of olanzapine administered within 4 hours in the treatment of patients early in an acute psychotic phase of their illness. In the reported case series of 57 patients, olanzapine initiated at 15 to 20 mg/day was a safe and effective medication for rapidly calming the agitation of acutely agitated psychotic patients (rapid tranquilization). Furthermore, dose reduction over 2 to 3 weeks was achieved in a number of patients without appreciable loss of efficacy.

Comparative immunoreactivity of mouse and hamster sperm proteins recognized by an anti-P26h hamster sperm protein.

The binding of the spermatozoon to the zona pellucida is a species-specific phenomenon. We have previously shown that the binding of hamster sperm to the homologous zona pellucida involves a sperm 26-kDa glycoprotein, the P26h, originating in the epididymis. In order to establish to what extent this sperm protein is involved in the species-specific recognition of the egg's extracellular coat, we have compared the inhibitory properties of anti-P26h antibodies in a sperm-zona pellucida assay using hamster and mouse gametes. Anti-P26h IgGs inhibit, in a dose-dependent manner, gamete interactions in both species, although in a less efficient manner in the mouse than in the hamster. While anti-26kDa Fab fragments are as efficient as the intact IgG to inhibit hamster sperm-zona pellucida binding, they have no effect on mouse gamete interaction. ELISA, Western blot, and immunohistochemical experiments have been performed in order to characterize the mouse antigen(s) recognized by the anti-P26h antiserum. ELISA and Western blots showed that this antiserum recognized two proteins on mouse spermatozoa that are less reactive than the hamster P26h. These antigens are localized in the acrosomal region of epididymal spermatozoa of both species. These results indicate that the hamster P26H involved in zona pellucida interaction has certain unique epitopes, while others are common to the sperm of both species.

[Isolation and restraints: review of the literature and focus on their impact and normative component]. / Isolement et contentions: revue de littérature et focus sur leurs impacts et les normes qui les régissent.

Despite recent developments in psychopharmacology and a better understanding of agitation patterns in psychiatric patients, the use of isolation and restraint procedures remains a matter of daily practice. Little or no time is spent on its teaching in a formal way. There is almost no literatureton these issues, and it has grown only since legal procedures initiated by patients, which forced practitioners to spend some time analysing these methods. The article gives a succinct reflection of the literature of recent years which focuses more on the normative component, which should govern these procedures and a short analysis of their systemic impact. The review or awareness of certain variables may give clinicians a better perspective on the use of procedures which, unfortunately, continue to be the cause of deaths in psychiatric practice.

[Causal relations of occupational psychiatric disability]. / La relation de causalité dans les causes d'indemnisation psychiatrique au travail.

This article discusses a problem that is relatively common in psychiatric practice, but almost non existent in the literature i.e., an occupational disability arising from a psychological trauma. This inquiry focuses on an area in which millions of dollars a year are at stake. Legislative and administrative authorities are increasingly demand that psychiatrists define objective criteria on which legislators can base decisions in contentious cases. What is the connection between the trauma and the current disability, and what is the risk of reoccurrence? Will the employee be able to resume his or her former duties? It quickly becomes clear that clinical, administrative and legislative realities are often incompatible. This article will therefore provide an overview of the subject in a historical perspective, and to orient the reader, will briefly describe the legislative context in the US and Quebec, as well as the role of the expert in assessing causality. We will attempt, by means of an overall conceptual model, to provide a synopsis of the usual procedure in this type of expert assessment.

The disappearance rate of human versus rat intermediate density lipoproteins from rat liver perfusion.

The aim of this work was to compare the disappearance rate of human and rat intermediate density lipoproteins (IDL) using the rat liver perfusion system. Human and rat IDL were produced in vitro by incubating human or rat very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) with either rat post-heparin plasma (method I) or a resolubilized isopropanol precipitate of rat post-heparin plasma (method II). With both methods, the degree of triacylglycerol lipolysis was approximately 55%. The different preparations of IDL were labelled with 125I and added to perfusates of rat livers. The disappearance rates of 125I-labelled IDL were monitored by measuring the radioactivity associated with apolipoprotein (apo) B in the perfusate during a 15-min period. Both human and rat IDL prepared with method I had an increased apoE to apoC ratio as compared with their native counterparts. Furthermore, human IDL had a significantly higher apoE to apoC ratio than rat IDL. However, when IDL were produced in the absence of exchangeable apolipoproteins (method II), no change in the apoE to apoC ratios was observed for the transformation of VLDL to IDL and the ratios were similar for human and rat IDL. Despite these differences, human IDL were always removed at a lower rate than rat IDL. The only striking difference between the two types of IDL made by method II was that the apoB100 to apoB48 ratio was considerably higher in human than in rat IDL. These results suggest that the apoB100 to apoB48 ratio is likely to be responsible for the observed differences in liver uptake between rat and human IDL.