Magical thinking in narratives of adolescent cutters.

Adolescents sometimes cut themselves to relieve distress; however, the mechanism is unknown. Previous studies have linked self-injury to deficits in processing emotions symbolically through language. To investigate expressive language of adolescent cutters, the authors analyzed 100 narratives posted on the Internet. Most narratives (n = 66) displayed idiosyncratic use of language indicating poor differentiation between the real and the symbolic, such as blood substituting for negative emotions, which can then be released from the self; or emotional pain magically transforming into physical pain, which can then be managed. This kind of magical thinking correlated with cutting to relieve distress, to see blood, and to feel pain, but negatively correlated with complex representation of people, understanding social causality, and self-esteem. The results suggest that magical thinking represents a pre-symbolic mental state that processes and organizes distressing emotions through body schema. Magical thinking thus provides a plausible mechanism for why cutting works.

Cross-linking of the extracellular matrix by the maillard reaction in aging and diabetes: an update on "a puzzle nearing resolution".

The aging extracellular matrix is characterized by an age-related increase in insolubilization, yellowing, and stiffening, all of which can be mimicked by the Maillard reaction in vitro. These phenomena are accelerated in metabolic diseases such as diabetes and end-stage renal disease, which have in common with physiological aging the accumulation of various glycation products and cross-links. Eight years ago we concluded that the evidence favored oxidative cross-linking in experimental diabetes [Monnier, V.M. et al. 1996. The mechanism of collagen cross-linking in diabetes: a puzzle nearing completion. Diabetes 45(Suppl. 3): 67-72] and proposed a major role for a putative non-UV active cross-link derived from glucose. Below, we provide an update of the field that leads to the conclusion that, while oxidation might be important for Maillard reaction-mediated cross-linking via Strecker degradation and allysine formation, the single most important collagen cross-link known to date in diabetes and aging is glucosepane, a lysyl-arginine cross-link that forms under nonoxidative conditions.

Paradoxical effects of green tea (Camellia sinensis) and antioxidant vitamins in diabetic rats: improved retinopathy and renal mitochondrial defects but deterioration of collagen matrix glycoxidation and cross-linking.

We tested the hypothesis that green tea prevents diabetes-related tissue dysfunctions attributable to oxidation. Diabetic rats were treated daily with tap water, vitamins C and E, or fresh Japanese green tea extract. After 12 months, body weights were decreased, whereas glycated lysine in aorta, tendon, and plasma were increased by diabetes (P < 0.001) but unaffected by treatment. Erythrocyte glutathione and plasma hydroperoxides were improved by the vitamins (P < 0.05) and green tea (P < 0.001). Retinal superoxide production, acellular capillaries, and pericyte ghosts were increased by diabetes (P < 0.001) and improved by green tea and the vitamins (P variable). Lens crystallin fluorescence at 370/440 nm was ameliorated by green tea (P < 0.05) but not the vitamins. Marginal effects on nephropathy parameters were noted. However, suppressed renal mitochondrial NADH-linked ADP-dependent and dinitrophenol-dependent respiration and complex III activity were improved by green tea (P variable). Green tea also suppressed the methylglyoxal hydroimidazolone immunostaining of a 28-kDa mitochondrial protein. Surprising, glycoxidation in tendon, aorta, and plasma was either worsened or not significantly improved by the vitamins and green tea. Glucosepane cross-links were increased by diabetes (P < 0.001), and green tea worsened total cross-linking. In conclusion, green tea and antioxidant vitamins improved several diabetes-related cellular dysfunctions but worsened matrix glycoxidation in selected tissues, suggesting that antioxidant treatment tilts the balance from oxidative to carbonyl stress in the extracellular compartment.