Psychological distress and line-of-duty head injuries in firefighters.

BACKGROUND: Head injuries are common injury in the fire service; however, very little data exist on the risks this may pose to the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression in this high-risk population. AIMS: Our study aimed to compare levels of PTSD and depression symptoms in firefighters with a line-of-duty head injury, non-line-of-duty head injury and no head injury. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, we assessed current PTSD and depression symptoms as well as retrospective head injuries. RESULTS: Seventy-six per cent of the total sample reported at least one head injury in their lifetime. Depression symptoms were significantly more severe among firefighters with a line-of-duty head injury compared to those with no head injury, but not compared to those who sustained a non-line-of-duty head injury. Depression symptoms did not differ between firefighters with a non-line-of-duty head injury and those with no head injury. PTSD symptoms were significantly more severe among firefighters with a line-of-duty head injury compared to both firefighters with no head injury and those with a non-line-of-duty head injury. CONCLUSIONS: We found that firefighters who reported at least one line-of-duty head injury had significantly higher levels of PTSD and depression symptoms than firefighters who reported no head injuries. Our findings also suggest head injuries sustained outside of fire service could have less of an impact on the firefighter's PTSD symptom severity than head injuries that occur as a direct result of their job.

Non-muscle myosin heavy chain as a possible target for protein encoded by metastasis-related mts-1 gene.

The mts-1 gene is associated with the expression of the metastatic phenotype of tumor cells. The protein product of the mts-1 gene belongs to the S100 family of Ca(2+)-binding proteins with unknown biochemical function. In the present work, monoclonal anti-Mts-1 antibodies were used to isolate and characterize Mts-1 protein possible targets. Mts-1 protein can be immunoprecipitated by both anti-Mts-1 and anti-myosin antibodies as a complex with myosin from lysates of different mouse and human cell lines. Precipitation of myosin by anti-Mts-1 antibodies is specific and depends on the presence of Mts-1 protein. Ca(2+)-dependent association between Mts-1 protein and the heavy chain of non-muscle myosin was demonstrated by blot overlay technique. Furthermore, association between myosin and Mts-1 was confirmed by sucrose gradient analysis. Finally, immunofluorescent staining of the mouse mammary adenocarcinoma cell line showed that Mts-1 protein is co-localized with the myosin complex. The data suggest that the target for Mts-1 protein is a heavy chain of non-muscle myosin.