Effects of vitamin supplementation on inflammatory markers and psychological wellbeing among distressed women: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Multivitamins are a popular supplement taken to promote physical and mental health. During periods of stress, they may have a protective role for health and wellbeing, although the current evidence of their efficacy is mixed. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether multivitamin supplementation impacts psychological and inflammatory markers of women who are experiencing psychological distress. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS AND INTERVENTIONS: An 8-week randomized controlled trial was conducted to assess changes in both psychological state and pro-inflammatory markers of patients receiving multivitamins or placebo. The sample comprised women who reported elevated psychological distress in the previous 4 weeks. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Psychological state was assessed using Spielberger's State-Trait Personality Inventory to assess anxiety, curiosity, depression and anger. Pro-inflammatory markers comprised interleukin (IL)-1ß, IL-5, IL-6, tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α and TNF-ß. RESULTS: Improvements across time were observed for all psychological measures and cytokines, except IL-5, but were independent of the active intervention. Only TNF-ß demonstrated a significant differential change between groups over the course of the intervention, in favour of multivitamin supplementation (active group mean rank decreased from 11.1 to 7.1; placebo group mean rank decreased from 8.9 to 7.8). CONCLUSION: The results suggest that administration of multivitamins was not effective in improving psychological state. However, some evidence supported the positive impact of multivitamin supplementation on pro-inflammatory cytokine profiles of women currently experiencing stress.

Changes in magnesium content and subcellular distribution during retinoic acid-induced differentiation of HL60 cells.

Magnesium (Mg) is required for cellular proliferation; however, the differences in subcellular regulation of Mg between proliferating and differentiated cells has not been determined. We used electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) to investigate the subcellular distribution of Mg in HL60 cells (a promyelocytic leukemia cell line) before and after retinoic acid (RA)-induced differentiation. Most intracellular Mg is bound to ATP and the Mg-ATP complex regulates several metabolic enzymes. We also compared alterations in Mg content following differentiation with the changes in ATP and ADP levels. Using atomic absorption spectrophotometry, we observed a significant decrease (-20%) in cellular Mg content in RA-differentiated HL60 cells. To investigate which intracellular compartments were involved in these changes, we analyzed subcellular elemental composition in freeze-dried cryosections of rapidly frozen undifferentiated and differentiated HL60 cells by EPMA. Following differentiation of HL60 cells, we observed an 18% decrease in Mg content in both the cytoplasm (regions of the cell excluding mitochondria and nuclei) and mitochondria. There was also a significant (40%) decrease in cytoplasmic Ca content after RA-induced differentiation. Nuclear Mg concentration was not significantly different between differentiated and undifferentiated HL60 cells, although differentiation was accompanied by a 30% decrease in the nuclear K/Na ratio. After differentiation, cellular ATP and ADP content decreased by 31 and 40%, respectively. We conclude that during exit from the cell cycle, Mg redistributes within cells and that the decrease in cytoplasmic and mitochondrial Mg is accompanied by a decrease in ATP and ADP content.

Teaching infant resuscitation skills to mothers.

This paper describes the evaluation of a program designed to teach basic infant resuscitation skills to mothers during the period of postnatal hospitalization. Data collected from participants before and immediately after the program, and at six months, follow-up indicated that knowledge of resuscitation techniques had moderately improved, however there was a substantial increase in participants' confidence and an associated reduction in anxiety. An additional aspect of the evaluation was to identify any logistical problems; data obtained from postnatal midwifery staff indicated none were evident. It was concluded that the Infant Resuscitation Education Program should be implemented for all mothers of newborn infants.

Chronic sodium depletion increases myocardial calcium content in normotensive rats.

Increased myocardial contractility was found in the perfused heart isolated from sodium depleted Sprague-Dawley rats. Previously, it was reported that in vitro exposure of different cardiac preparations to low Na+ buffers was associated with both an increased contractility and an increased Ca2+ content in the cells. Therefore, this study was designed to examine increases in ventricular Ca2+ content in the hearts of chronically sodium depleted rats. Two groups of 12-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats were studied. One group (n = 5) received furosemide (5 mg/kg/day IP for 4 days), a low Na+ diet and distilled drinking water for 6 weeks (low sodium plus diuretics group = LSD). The other group (n = 5) received the same low Na+ diet, but 0.5% NaCl was supplemented in drinking water (regular sodium group = RS). Body weight and blood pressure were measured weekly during the dietary period in all rats. At the end of the 6 weeks, heart weight as well as water and electrolyte contents of the heart were measured in all animals. Results showed that both body weight and heart weight were significantly lower in LSD than in RS. Moreover, ventricular Na+ content was reduced while ventricular Ca2+ content was doubled in LSD compared to RS (8.2 +/- 0.2 units vs. 9.2 +/- 0.3 units, p less than .05 and 0.45 +/- 0.13 units vs. 0.23 +/- 0.01 units, p less than .01, respectively). We conclude that in vivo sodium depletion induces an increase in ventricular calcium content; this increased myocardial calcium may be related to the increased in vitro cardiac contractility observed after chronic in vivo sodium depletion, but its distribution between intracellular and extracellular compartments needs to be determined.