Relationships between different types of maltreatment during childhood and adjustment in adulthood.

There are very few research studies that have evaluated the relationships between multiple forms of childhood maltreatment and psychological adjustment in adulthood. This study evaluates the interrelationships between five different types of child maltreatment (sexual abuse, physical abuse, psychological maltreatment, neglect, witnessing family violence) in a community sample of women and men (N = 175). The relationships between the reported experience of these forms of maltreatment in childhood, family characteristics during childhood, and current psychological adjustment (trauma symptomatology and self-depreciation) were assessed. As hypothesized, family characteristics predicted maltreatment scores and adjustment, and maltreatment scores predicted adjustment after controlling for family environment. There were high correlations between scores on the five maltreatment scales. Results highlight the need to assess all forms of maltreatment when looking at relationships of maltreatment to adjustment and the importance of childhood familial environment for the long-term adjustment of adults.

Influence of dietary sodium intake on renal medullary nitric oxide synthase.

We previously reported that chronic systemic treatment of rats with a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor leads to a selective decrease in renal medullary blood flow, retention of sodium, and the development of hypertension. In the present studies, we used protein blotting techniques to determine the whole tissue distribution and relative quantitation of the different nitric oxide synthase isoforms in the renal cortex and medulla of Sprague-Dawley rats maintained on a low (0.4% NaCl) or high (4.0% NaCl) dietary salt intake. Neural, endothelial, and inducible nitric oxide synthase were readily detectable in homogenized renal inner and outer medullas. Only endothelial nitric oxide synthase was detectable in the renal cortex. Densitometric comparison of Western blots from equal amounts of total inner medullary tissue protein indicated that endothelial, inducible, and neural nitric oxide synthase were increased by 145%, 49%, and 119%, respectively, in rats maintained on a high NaCl diet compared with rats on a low NaCl diet. No significant differences in nitric oxide synthase levels were detected in the outer medulla, renal cortex, or aorta of rats maintained on low and high NaCl diets. In separate studies, continuous intravenous infusion of N(G)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (8.6 mg/kg per day) for 11 days in chronically instrumented rats increased mean arterial pressure 32 +/- 3 mm Hg in rats on a high NaCl diet (n=5) but only increased pressure 17 +/- 3 mm Hg in rats on a low NaCl diet (n=6). These data indicate that increased levels of renal medullary nitric oxide synthase may be important in the chronic adaptation to increased sodium intake.

The mapping of interferon-induced proteins and phosphoproteins from HeLa S3 cells.

Fourteen of 18 proteins induced by interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) in HeLa S3 cells were labeled with [35S]methionine, resolved by two-dimensional electrophoresis, and assigned coordinates corresponding to HeLa proteins previously mapped by Bravo and Celis (Clin. Chem. 28, 766-781, 1982). Proteins phosphorylated with [gamma-32P]ATP in response to polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid [poly(I):poly(C)] were mapped similarly. Multiple phosphorylated species of a 72-kD protein were labeled in response to poly(I):poly(C) by extracts from IFN-treated cells but not by extracts from control cells. These are likely phosphorylated forms of the IFN-induced poly(I):poly(C)-dependent protein kinase, the enzyme responsible for the phosphorylation of the alpha-subunit of eukaryotic initiation factor 2 (eIF-2 alpha). Two phosphorylated forms of eIF-2 alpha were labeled in extracts of IFN-treated cells. One of these is a new phosphorylated product of the double-stranded (ds) RNA-activated protein kinase.