Genetic and Environmental Influences on Language Ability in Older Adults: Findings from the Older Australian Twins Study.

We used a sub-sample from the Older Australian Twins Study to estimate the heritability of performance on three tests of language ability: Boston Naming Test (BNT), Letter/Phonemic Fluency (FAS) and Category/Semantic Fluency (CFT) Tests. After adjusting for age, sex, education, mood, and global cognition (GC), heritability estimates obtained for the three tests were 0.35, 0.59, and 0.20, respectively. Multivariate analyses showed that the genetic correlation were high for BNT and CFT (0.61), but low for BNT and FAS (0.17), and for FAS and CFT (0.28). Genetic modelling with Cholesky decomposition indicated that the covariation between the three measures could be explained by a common genetic factor. Environmental correlations between the language ability measures were low, and there were considerable specific environmental influences for each measure. Future longitudinal studies with language performance and neuroimaging data can further our understanding of genetic and environmental factors involved in the process of cognitive aging.

Age, anger regulation and well-being.

Emotion regulation has been argued to be an important factor in well-being. The current study investigated the effects of adult aging on emotional expression, emotional control and rumination about emotional events, focusing on an emotion which is particularly important in social interaction: anger. Measures of anger regulation and well-being were obtained in a sample of 286 adults aged between 18 and 88. Older adults expressed anger outwardly less often, and reported more inner control of anger using calming strategies compared to their younger counterparts. These age differences were not explained by variance in social desirability of responding. Age improvements in negative affect and anxiety were partly explained by age differences in anger regulation suggesting an important role for anger management in good mental health amongst older adults. Further, age improvements in quality of life were explained by variance in anger regulation indicating that improved management of emotions with age is an important factor in maintaining well-being in old age.

Personal disturbance scale: factor structure confirmed in a large nonclinical sample.

The two-component structure of anxiety and depression items of the short form Personal Disturbance Scale, reported in an earlier clinical study of 480 adult psychiatric patients, was substantially replicated in a large nonclinical sample of 758 adults.

Normative data for the HADS from a large non-clinical sample.

OBJECTIVES: To provide normative data for the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS). DESIGN: Repeated measures and correlational. METHODS: The HADS was administered to a non-clinical sample, broadly representative of the general adult UK population (N = 1792) in terms of the distributions of age, gender and occupational status. Correlational analysis was used to determine the influence of demographic variables on HADS scores. RESULTS: Demographic variables had only very modest influences on HADS scores. The reliability of the HADS is acceptable; the Anxiety and Depression scales are moderately correlated (.53). Tables to convert raw scores to percentiles are presented for females and males. CONCLUSIONS: The present normative data allow clinicians to assess the rarity of a given HADS score, and thus provide a useful supplement to existing cut-off scores.

Locomotor activity and accumbens Fos expression driven by ventral hippocampal stimulation require D1 and D2 receptors.

Numerous studies have suggested that excitatory projections from the ventral hippocampus to the nucleus accumbens modulate locomotor activity in rats. Furthermore, the ability of ventral hippocampal neurons to alter locomotor activity may involve the dense dopaminergic innervation found in the nucleus accumbens. The purpose of this study was to: (i) more fully characterize the locomotor effects of acute alterations in ventral hippocampal activity; (ii) ascertain the influence of dopamine agonists and antagonists on locomotor changes produced by altered ventral hippocampal activity; and (iii) use immediate early gene induction to determine whether dopamine antagonists alter the response of nucleus accumbens neurons to ventral hippocampal stimulation. By comparing a variety of excitatory amino acid agonists, it was found that ventral hippocampal infusion of N-methyl-D-aspartate elevated locomotor activity in a subconvulsive manner, while other excitatory amino acid receptor agonists did not. Inactivation of the ventral hippocampus achieved by lidocaine infusion did not suppress ongoing locomotor activity, nor did it affect amphetamine-induced increases in locomotor activity. Increases in locomotor activity induced by ventral hippocampal N-methyl-D-aspartate infusion were blocked by systemic administration of haloperidol (a D2 receptor antagonist), SCH-23390 (a D1 receptor antagonist) or reserpine. Cellular expression of the protein product of the immediate early gene, c-fos, was dramatically increased in the nucleus accumbens shell after ventral hippocampal N-methyl-D-aspartate infusion, and haloperidol, SCH-23390 and reserpine attenuated this effect. These results suggest that the increases, but not decreases, in ventral hippocampal activity have a measurable effect on ongoing rates of locomotion, and that this effect requires both D1 and D2 receptors. Moreover, the studies of Fos expression suggest that dopamine receptor antagonists attenuate neuronal responses to ventral hippocampal stimulation within the nucleus accumbens, a brain region important in the generation and maintenance of locomotor activity.

Homicide by strychnine poisoning.

Homicide by strychnine has become very rare during the last decades. Its bitter taste and the violent mode of death commonly aroused suspicion of poisoning and this, together with its ease of chemical detection, deterred criminals from using it. We present the case of an elderly woman who arrived at the hospital casualty department in extremis and with severe convulsions. Her death was certified nevertheless as due to natural causes and she was buried without the death being reported to the Director of Public Prosecutions. It was not until a month later that investigation led to the exhumation of the body. Biological samples were found to contain strychnine sulphate. The perpetrator was charged and later confessed.

Two- to four-year experience with cemented, press-fit, and porous coated applications of the profile total hip system.

The clinical outcome and radiographic results of 90 cemented profile stems, 59 press-fit profile stems and 20 porous-coated profile stems implanted between October, 1987 and December, 1989 were analyzed. All total hip replacements were performed by the same group of surgeons. All used a cementless porous ingrowth acetabular component, and all femoral components were of the same geometrical design. Clinical results were evaluated using the Hip Society/SICOT/AAOS consensus format and were recorded prospectively preoperatively and at 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years and 4 years postoperatively. Radiographs were evaluated for component migration, subsidence, and cortical and cancellous biologic response as well as zonal analysis of radiolucent lines, using the Muller THR template. The functional results were similar for all three groups with no significant differences at 2 years postoperatively with respect to pain with activity, limp, or support used. However, patient satisfaction tended to be higher for cemented stems than for press-fit or porous-coated stems. Radiographic analysis showed press-fit stems to have a higher incidence (29.5%) of femoral component subsidence (mean 5.7 mm). None of the porous-coated stems subsided. Press-fit and porous-coated stems also demonstrated a higher rate of cortical hypertrophy at mid- and distal stem levels in comparison to cemented components. Press-fit application of the femoral component gives satisfactory clinical results, and the addition of proximal porous coating may confer additional advantages to the technique. Cemented stems enjoy the highest level of patient satisfaction and the most predictable objective clinical results.

Affinity-specific protein separations using ligand-coupled particles in aqueous two-phase systems: I. Process concept and enzyme binding studies for pyruvate kinase and alcohol dehydrogenase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

A process using ligand-coupled particles in aqueous polyethylene glycol-dextran two-phase polymer systems was developed to achieve a highly selective, scaleable biochemical separation process. Product protein is bound to the ligand-coupled particles that quantitatively distribute to the polyethylene glycol-rich upper phase. Other proteins and contaminants partition preferentially to the dextran-rich lower phase.The process offers significant advantages over affinity partitioning here the ligand is coupled to the backbone of a polyethylene glycol polymer. These advantages include a much wider diversity of ligands that can be coupled to particles and more effective confinement of the ligand in the process. Affinity partition with ligands coupled to particles is more amenable to scale-up than is affinity chromatography. A variety of commercially available Sepharose-based particles are suitable for this process. Homogenates from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is genetically altered to overproduce pyruvate kinase, and Cibacron blue F3G-A-coupled Sepharose particles are used as a model system for the process. Binding studies with/without aqueous two-phase systems show that the formation of a two-phase system after the adsorption equilibrium is reached does not affect the apparent dissociation constant. Binding of protein to ligand-coupled particles is more rapid in single-phase systems than in the polymer two-phase system. Single-phase binding eliminates the mass transfer resistance associated with redistribution of product protein from the dextran-rich bottom phase to the polyethylene glycol-rich top phase.

Affinity-specific protein separations using ligand-coupled particles in aqueous two-phase systems: II. Recovery and purification of pyruvate kinase and alcohol dehydrogenase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The novel approach of using aqueous two-phase systems for the elution of protein from ligand-coupled particles is investigated using pyruvate kinase and alcohol dehydrogenase from recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Cibacron blue F3G-A-coupled Sepharose CL6B (Blue-Sepharose) particles as a model system. The ligand-coupled particles distribute quantitatively to the polyethylene glycol-(PEG-) rich top phase and the recovered enzymes partition selectively to the dextran-(DEX-) rich bottom phase. An effective recovery and partial purification of pyruvate kinase and alcohol dehydrogenase from Blue-Sepharose particles using PEG8000-DEXT500 aqueous two-phase systems are demonstrated through a modest increase of salt concentration. The bioselective eluting agent, MgADP, which is useful in chromatographic operations, is not required for the process using aqueous two-phase systems. Recovery of pyruvate kinase, which is bound to ligand-coupled particles, in the DEX-rich bottom phase of aqueous two-phase systems can be up to 95% in one-step operations. The mixing time of ligand-coupled particles with aqueous two-phase systems is a major controlling variable. The salt concentration, the molecular weight of polymer, and the total volume of aqueous two-phase systems also influence the recovery of pyruvate kinase from ligand-coupled particles. The recovered enzymes in the DEX-rich bottom phase remain biologically stable over a long period of storage time. The concentration of product protein in a reduced volume and the easy separation from ligand-coupled particles are added advantages of the process using aqueous two-phase systems. Preliminary studies with goat polyclonal anti-pyruvate kinase-coupled Sepharose particles indicate that the process also may be applicable when a high-affinity ligand such as antibody is used. The experimental results and a theoretical derivation based on equilibrium models for binding/dissociation of ligands and proteins show that the process results in better recovery as compared to that of conventional bulk elution techniques.