Relationship between aggressive behavior, depressed mood, and other disruptive behavior in Puerto Rican children diagnosed with attention deficit and disruptive behaviors disorders

OBJECTIVE: The present study was directed at examining the relationship between aggressive behavior, depressed mood, other disruptive behaviors in children diagnosed with ADHD or ODD disorders in Puerto Rico. METHODS: One hundred seventy six (176) students (127 males and 49 females) from 12 public elementary schools in the San Juan Area of Puerto Rico participated in the study. The participants were divided into a group of ADHD children who exhibited aggressive behavior, a group of ADHD children that did not show aggressive behavior, and a normal group. Several self-report measures were administered to the children and teachers. RESULTS: Our results indicate that the best predictor of aggressive behavior was the hyperactivity and impulsiveness for both ADHD males and females. In addition, depressed mood in both males and females was also a significant predictor of aggressive behavior in Puerto Rican ADHD children. However, in females the social problems variable was also found to be a significant grouping variable. CONCLUSION: The first conclusion of these results is that inattentiveness does not appear to be a relevant factor in ADHD Puerto Rican children who exhibit aggressive behavior. Second, we need to be cognizant to the fact that Puerto Rican ADHD children do exhibit high co-morbidity for aggressive behavior, depressed mood, and social problems. Thus, our diagnostic and treatment approaches with ADHD Puerto Rican children need to include an assessment of the social environment of the child and its effect on his emotional state, in particular his or her mood.

Compatibility of endoparasitoid Hyposoter didymator (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) protected stages with five selected insecticides.

Hyposoter didymator (Thunberg) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) is a koinobiont endoparasitoid that emerges from the parasitization of economically important noctuid pests. H. didymator also is considered one of the most important native biocontrol agents of noctuids in Spain. Side effects of five insecticides with very different modes of action (fipronil, imidacloprid, natural pyrethrins + piperonyl butoxide, pymetrozine, and triflumuron) at the maximum field recommended rate in Spain were evaluated on H. didymator parasitizing Spodoptera littoralis (Boisduval) larvae and pupae of the endoparasitoid. Parasitized larvae were topically treated or ingested treated artificial diet. Parasitoid cocoons were topically treated. Host mortality when parasitized larvae were treated, as well as further development of the parasitoid surviving (e.g., percentage of cocoons spun, adult emergence, hosts attacked, and numbered progeny) were determined. Toxicity after treatment of parasitized larvae differed depending on the mode of exposure and insecticide. Fipronil was always highly toxic; imidacloprid killed all host insects by ingestion, but it was less toxic to both host and parasitoids, when administered topically; natural pyrethrins + piperonyl butoxide and triflumuron showed differing degrees of toxicity, and pymetrozine was harmless. Parasitoid cocoons provided effective protection against all the insecticides, except fipronil.

Modification of adherence to plastic and to human buccal cells of Candida albicans and Candida dubliniensis by a subinhibitory concentration of itraconazole.

Exposure to subinhibitory concentrations of antifungal agents can influence the adherence of Candida spp. to the host cell. In this study the adherence of Candida albicans ATCC 10231 and Candida dubliniensis CECT 11455 to plastic and to human buccal epithelial cells was evaluated following pre-exposure to 0.5 x minimum inhibitory capacity (MIC) of itraconazole and compared with the corresponding cellular surface hydrophobicity. The yeasts were grown in Sabouraud broth or RPMI-1640 with itraconazole (0.5 x MIC) for 24-26 h at 37 degrees C and the drug was then removed. The adhesion capacity to plastic was studied by turbidimetry in a polystyrene microtiter plate. The adhesion of the yeast to buccal epithelial cells was determined using microscopy techniques. The cellular surface hydrophobicity levels were determined by the microbial adhesion hydrocarbons test. Pre-exposure to itraconazole decreased plastic adherence and cellular surface hydrophobicity in both species when grown in RPMI. When C. albicans was grown in Sabouraud broth, it was nonhydrophobic and did not adhere and therefore no change was detected with the antibiotic. Itraconazole increased adherence to buccal epithelial cells in both species and media studied, as compared to controls without antifungal agents. To study the effects of these antifungal agents on pathogenicity mechanisms, it will be necessary to standardize the methodology for evaluation to determine their in vivo therapeutic efficacy.

[Hyperhomocysteinemia as risk factor in a Mexican population]. / La hiperhomocisteinemia como factor de riesgo en una población mexicana.

Hyperhomocysteinemia is considered one of the emerging risk factors for the development of coronary artery disease (CAD). In order to know the prevalence of this metabolic disorder in a Mexican population with early CAD (< 50 years), we studied a group of these patients and compared the levels of homocysteine with a group of patients, paired by age and gender, without angiographic evidence of coronary atherosclerosis. Preliminary results show that the population with early CAD has more traditional risk factors, specially diabetes mellitus, and higher levels of homocysteine in plasma. Moreover there is a genetic factor with higher incidence of a TT homozygotic mutation of the MTHFR that increases homocysteine because of an altered folate metabolism.

A case of Kearns-Sayre syndrome with the 4,977-bp common deletion associated with a novel 7,704-bp deletion.

Mitochondria from a patient diagnosed with Kearns-Sayre syndrome (KSS) exhibited severely diminished cytochrome c oxidase activity and at least four mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) species: 9%-11% of the fulllength mtDNA (16.6 kb), 70%-75% of a 11.7-kb population (harboring the 4,977-bp common deletion), 2%-3% of a 10.5-kb population, and 12%-17% of a 8.9-kb population. The 8.9-kb mtDNA exhibited a secondary deletion that extended 7,704 bp from nucleotide 7,979 in the cox2 gene to nucleotide 15,683 in the cytb gene. To our knowledge, this is the first description of the presence of at least two large-scale deletions of mtDNA in KSS.

Dediazoniation of p-hydroxybenzenediazonium ion in a neutral aqueous medium.

The dediazoniation of p-hydroxybenzenediazonium ion (PDQ) in a neutral aqueous medium has been studied under controlled experimental conditions to prevent photochemical and/or heterolytic side-reactions. Oxygen increased the dediazoniation rate of PDQ and caused the appearance of quinone and hydroquinone. An accumulation of quinone deriving from the reduction of PDQ by hydroquinone was also observed. In ESR analyses with different spin traps, the most stable signal was identified as belonging to the adduct of the p-hydroxyphenyl radical, even in the presence of dimethylsulfoxide or ethanol. A general scheme is proposed including three pathways for the homolytic dediazoniation of PDQ. Pathway 1 represents dediazoniation induced by a hydroxyl ion, a slow process at neutral pH and an even slower one with deaerated samples; a favored quinoid structure is put forward to explain these results. In pathway 2, the formation of a semiquinone radical via the reaction of an aryl radical with oxygen is put forward to justify the increase in the dediazoniation rate in the presence of oxygen. In pathway 3, hydroquinone, produced by semiquinone dismutation, may act as a reducing agent.

Hypopituitarism in two brothers born by breech delivery.

OBJECTIVE: To describe two brothers with hypopituitarism who had been born by breech delivery and to discuss whether this condition corresponds to a familial form or to a pituitary stalk section as a result of the breech delivery. METHODS: We present the clinical, biochemical, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) characteristics of two Mexican brothers, 19 and 21 years old, with hypopituitarism and a history of breech delivery. RESULTS: Physical examination of both patients showed short stature with normal body proportions, an obviously younger appearance than that expected for their chronologic age, high-pitched voice, irregularly positioned teeth, no axillary or pubic hair, and prepubertal genitalia. Biochemical testing showed low thyroxine and free thyroxine values with inadequate or normal thyrotropin, low basal testosterone, and mildly increased serum prolactin levels. Stimulation tests showed a normal and a delayed thyrotropin response to thyrotropin-releasing hormone, subnormal serum cortisol, considerably blunted growth hormone (GH) response to insulin-induced hypoglycemia, and absence of GH response to GH-releasing hormone in both cases. MRI showed an ectopic neuropituitary gland. In case 1, a caudal portion of a very thin pituitary stalk was observed, suggesting the preservation of a vascular component of the stalk. Because both parents of these brothers shared the major histocompatibility complex haplotype HLA-A*2301, B*3501, DRB1*0407, DQA1*03, DQB1*0201, consanguinity was suggested. CONCLUSION: The phenotype of these patients differs from that described in families with POU1F1 (Pit-1) and PROP1 mutations. These cases are most likely related to an autosomal recessive gene mutation that warrants further research. To our knowledge, this is the first report of hypopituitarism in two brothers born by breech delivery.

The biological tests used in acute-phase of inflammation in bone infection : Clinical study.

We present a comparative study of different biological tests in the acute phase of inflammation. The study was performed in 80 patients after surgical procedures in septic cases. We have compared the levels of C-Reactive Protein (CRP), C3, C3a, C4, T(o), sedimentation rate, and the leucocyte count. The analysis was made before surgery and every week until the ninth week after surgery. The variations in CRP which ocurred very early were extensive. The increase ranged between 200 and 600% after the surgical procedure. In cases without complications the CRP level returned to normal within 20 days. The study showed the CRP as the most specific and sensitive biological test of the acute phase of inflammation. However this biological test cannot differentiate between an acute infective and a severe inflammatory process.

Continuous suction irrigation: prospective bacteriological study.

Twenty-eight patients with osteoarticular infection, were treated with a continuous irrigation suction system after surgical debridement. The mean age was 48 years (17-80 years). The average irrigation time was 11,7 days (6-16 days). After the surgical procedure, a bacteriological analysis of irrigation fluid was made every 3 or 4 days. The bacteriological study was qualitative and quantitative. The results showed that 22 patients (78,5%) had a colonization of the irrigation fluid by microorganisms different from the initial microorganism. In 11 patients (39,3%) the colonization was polymicrobial. The incidence of colonization of the system, increased with the irrigation time: 7,4% at third day, 22,2% at sixth day, 63,1% at tenth day and 87,5% at fourteenth day (quantitative cultures). This increase was more notable between the sixth and the tenth day.

Anti-muscarinic activity of a family of C11N5 compounds isolated from Agelas sponges.

In a search for potential target sites for C11N5 compounds obtained from marine sponges of the genus Agelas we evaluated their interaction with muscarinic acetylcholine receptors from rat brain membranes. In competition experiments with 3H-QNB these compounds displayed the following rank order of potency: sceptrin greater than oroidin greater than or equal to dibromosceptrin greater than or equal to clathrodin. Sceptrin (50 microM) was shown to be a competitive inhibitor of 3H-QNB binding as revealed by Scatchard analysis. The results demonstrate the ability of these compounds to interact with multiple target molecules in the micromolar range.

(-)-agelasidine C and (-)-agelasidine D, two new hypotaurocyamine diterpenoids from the Caribbean sea sponge Agelas clathrodes.

Two new diterpene derivatives of hypotaurocyamine, (-)-agelasidine C [3] and (-)-agelasidine D [5], have been isolated from the Caribbean sea sponge Agelas clathrodes. The structures of 3 and 5 have been established by interpretation and comparison of their spectral data to those of the known antipode (+)-agelasidine C [1].

Application of two-dimensional nmr spectroscopy in the structural determination of marine natural products. Isolation and total structural assignment of 4-deoxyasbestinin diterpenes from the Caribbean gorgonian Briareum asbestinum.

The structures of four novel asbestinin diterpenes isolated in the toxic extracts of the Caribbean gorgonian Briareum asbestinum are discussed. The major metabolite 11-acetoxy-4-deoxyasbestinin B was subjected to a total structural assignment through the concerted application of several 2D nmr techniques that included 1H-1H COSY, RCT-COSY, RCT2 COSY, HC COSY (HMQC), NOESY, proton-detected long range heteronuclear chemical shift correlation (HMBC) and 13C-13C chemical shift correlation spectroscopy (INADEQUATE).