Affective modulation of the startle response among children at high and low risk for anxiety disorders.

BACKGROUND: Identifying early markers of risk for anxiety disorders in children may aid in understanding underlying mechanisms and informing prevention efforts. Affective modulation of the startle response indexes sensitivity to pleasant and unpleasant environmental contexts and has been shown to relate to anxiety, yet the extent to which abnormalities in affect-modulated startle reflect vulnerability for anxiety disorders in children has yet to be examined. The current study assessed the effects of parental psychopathology on affective modulation of startle in offspring. METHOD: Nine-year-old children (n = 144) with no history of anxiety or depressive disorders completed a passive picture viewing task in which eye-blink startle responses were measured during the presentation of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant images. RESULTS: Maternal anxiety was associated with distinct patterns of affective modulation of startle in offspring, such that children with maternal histories of anxiety showed potentiation of the startle response while viewing unpleasant images, but not attenuation during pleasant images, whereas children with no maternal history of anxiety exhibited attenuation of the startle response during pleasant images, but did not exhibit unpleasant potentiation - even when controlling for child symptoms of anxiety and depression. No effects of maternal depression or paternal psychopathology were observed. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that both enhanced startle responses in unpleasant conditions and failure to inhibit startle responses in pleasant conditions may reflect early emerging vulnerabilities that contribute to the later development of anxiety disorders.

Thyroid transcription factor-1 is a specific marker of benign but not malignant feline lung tumours.

Feline lung tumours are currently subclassified according to the criteria of the World Health Organisation, but this scheme contains overlap in the tumour phenotype. The aims of the present study were to re-evaluate the histological features of feline lung tumours and to correlate these with expression of the markers thyroid transcription factor (TTF)-1 and Ki67. TTF-1 was found to be a highly specific marker for neoplastic and non-neoplastic lung tissue and thyroid tissue, but was expressed only weakly in invasive lung tumours. A combined semiquantitative score for Ki67 and TTF-1 expression correlated well with differentiation and invasive behaviour of the tumours and may thus be of potential value for evaluation of feline lung tumours.

Additive effects of the dopamine D2 receptor and dopamine transporter genes on the error-related negativity in young children.

The error-related negativity (ERN) is a negative deflection in the event-related potential that occurs approximately 50 ms following the commission of an error at fronto-central electrode sites. Previous models suggest dopamine plays a role in the generation of the ERN. We recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) while 279 children aged 5-7 years completed a simple Go/No-Go task; the ERN was examined in relation to the dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) and dopamine transporter (DAT1) genes. Results suggest an additive effect of the DRD2 and DAT1 genotype on ERN magnitude such that children with at least one DRD2 A1 allele and children with at least one DAT1 9 allele have an increased (i.e. more negative) ERN. These results provide further support for the involvement of dopamine in the generation of the ERN.

Influence of insulin therapy on expression of chemokine receptor CCR5 and selected inflammatory markers in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

OBJECTIVE: Leukocyte migration to the subendothelial space is considered crucial in the initiation of atherosclerosis. There is increasing evidence that overexpression of chemokine receptors contribute to this process. CCR5 is one of the receptors present on peripheral T lymphocytes, monocytes and macrophages. We decided to evaluate the expression of CCR5 on monocytes and macrophages in peripheral blood and selected inflammatory markers in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus before and after the initiation of insulin therapy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 10 patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes and 6 healthy control subjects were studied. Assessment of CCR5 expression on the surface of monocytes and macrophages in peripheral blood was performed using flow cytometry before the initiation of insulin therapy and after 5-week treatment. Serum concentrations of RANTES, TNF-alpha, IL-6 and hsCRP were assessed. RESULTS: When compared to control subjects, we observed higher densities of CCR5 on the surface of peripheral blood monocytes and macrophages and higher concentrations of RANTES, TNF-alpha, IL-6 and hsCRP before insulin therapy. After 5-week insulin therapy, there was a significant decrease in the expression of CCR5 on the surface of these cells and a significant fall in serum levels of RANTES, IL-6, TNF-alpha and hsCRP. CONCLUSIONS: Type 2 diabetes leads to an increase in the inflammatory process, and insulin therapy inhibits the early stages of this process.

Mutational analysis of the genome-linked protein of cowpea mosaic virus.

In this study we have performed a mutational analysis of the cowpea mosaic comovirus (CPMV) genome-linked protein VPg to discern the structural requirements necessary for proper functioning of VPg. Either changing the serine residue linking VPg to RNA at a tyrosine or a threonine or changing the position of the serine from the N-terminal end to position 2 or 3 abolished virus infectivity. Some of the mutations affected the cleavage between the VPg and the 58K ATP-binding protein in vitro, which might have contributed to the lethal phenotype. RNA replication of some of the mutants designed to replace VPg with the related cowpea severe mosaic comovirus was completely abolished, whereas replication of others was not affected or only mildly affected, showing that amino acids that are not conserved between the comoviruses can be critical for the function of VPg. The replicative proteins of one of the mutants failed to accumulate in typical cytopathic structures and this might reflect the involvement of VPg in protein-protein interactions with the other replicative proteins.

[The course of pregnancy and delivery among women with thrombocytopenia]. / Przebieg ciazy i porodu u kobiet z maloplytkowoscia.

Between January 1987 and December 1997 in The Ludwik Rydygier Medical University in Bydgoszcz 10 pregnant woman with autoimmune or "gestational" thrombocytopenia and preeclampsia--associated thrombocytopenia were evaluated. All of the patients delivered naturally and one delivered by caesarean section for obstetric indications. Severe neonatal thrombocytopenia was observed in one of newborns.

[Pregnancy and labor in patients with myopathy]. / Ciaza i poród u pacjentki z miopatia.

25 years old pregnant women with dysrtophia musculorum progresiva was observed in The Ludwik Rydygier Medical University in Bydgoszcz (Poland). Pre-term activity of uterus and diabetes gravidarum were complicated pregnancy. In 36 week of pregnancy forceps operation was make of obstetric indications and maternal myopathy.

Nucleotide sequence of RNA of a Polish isolate of potato leafroll luteovirus.

The nucleotide sequence of the genomic RNA of a Polish isolate of a potato leafroll virus was determined. Some variations between the determined sequences were observed. A comparison of the frequency of sequence variants in particular regions of the genome is presented.

Structural requirements for efficient translational frameshifting in the synthesis of the putative viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of potato leafroll virus.

The putative RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of potato leafroll luteovirus (PLRV) is expressed by -1 ribosomal frameshifting in the region where the open reading frames (ORF) of proteins 2a and 2b overlap. The signal responsible for efficient frameshift is composed of the slippery site UUUAAAU followed by a sequence that has the potential to adopt two alternative folding patterns, either a structure involving a pseudoknot, or a simple stem-loop structure. To investigate the structure requirements for efficient frameshifting, mutants in the stem-loop or in the potential pseudoknot regions of a Polish isolate of PLRV (PLRV-P) have been analyzed. Mutations that are located in the second stem (S2) of the potential pseudoknot structure, but are located in unpaired regions of the alternative stem-loop structure, reduce frameshift efficiency. Deletion of the 3' end sequence of the alternative stem-loop structure does not reduce frameshift efficiency. Our results confirm that -1 frameshift in the overlap region depends on the slippery site and on the downstream positioned sequence, and propose that in PLRV-P a pseudoknot is required for efficient frameshifting. These results are in agreement with those recently published for the closely related beet western yellows luteovirus (BWYV).

Restriction map of Thiobacillus versutus plasmid pTAV1.

A restriction map of Thiobacillus versutus plasmid pTAV1 was constructed using EcoRI, BamHI and SalI restriction enzymes. Knowledge of the restriction map is an obligatory starting point for genetic and molecular studies of this, so far cryptic, plasmid.