The Neuropeptide Oxytocin Enhances Information Sharing and Group Decision Making Quality.

Groups can make better decisions than individuals when members cooperatively exchange and integrate their uniquely held information and insights. However, under conformity pressures group members are biased towards exchanging commonly known information, and away from exchanging unique information, thus undermining group decision-making quality. At the neurobiological level, conformity associates with the neuropeptide oxytocin. A double-blind placebo controlled study found no evidence for oxytocin induced conformity. Compared to placebo groups, three-person groups whose members received intranasal oxytocin, focused more on unique information (i) and repeated this information more often (ii). These findings reveal oxytocin as a neurobiological driver of group decision-making processes.

Clinical Studies in Non-chromosome 4-Linked Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy.

OBJECTIVES: To characterize clinically and molecularly a large, non-chromosome 4-linked facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHMD) family. METHODS: Neurological evaluations of affected (N = 55) and at-risk (N = 48) individuals were performed along with selected laboratory analyses, including creatine kinase testing, muscle biopsy, p13E-11 fragment analysis, and cytogenetic studies. Genetic analyses of the scapuloperoneal muscular dystrophy and scapuloperoneal muscular atrophy regions on chromosome 12 were performed using genetic markers flanking the intervals of interest and parametric LOD score analyses. RESULTS: Clinically, the FSHMD in individuals in this family is indistinguishable from that observed in chromosome 4-linked FSHMD. Fragment analysis with p13E-11 showed no small fragment segregating with the family and no evidence for 4:10 translocation or deletion of the p13E-11 binding site. Linkage analysis excluded the loci for autosomal-dominant scapuloperoneal muscular dystrophy and scapuloperoneal muscular atrophy. CONCLUSIONS: This family is clinically similar to patients with the chromosome 4-linked FSHMD. These data support our previous hypothesis of genetic heterogeneity within FSHMD.

Myotilin is mutated in limb girdle muscular dystrophy 1A.

We have identified a mutation in the myotilin gene in a large North American family of German descent expressing an autosomal dominant form of limb girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD1A). We have previously mapped this gene to 5q31. Symptoms of this adult onset disease are progressive weakness of the hip and shoulder girdles, as well as a distinctive dysarthric pattern of speech. Muscle of affected individuals shows degeneration of myofibers, variations in fiber size, fiber splitting, centrally located myonuclei and a large number of autophagic vesicles. Affected muscle also exhibits disorganization and streaming of the Z-line similar to that seen in nemaline myopathy. We have identified a C450T missense mutation in the myotilin gene that is predicted to result in the conversion of residue 57 from threonine to isoleucine. This mutation has not been found in 396 control chromosomes. The mutant allele is transcribed and normal levels of correctly localized myotilin protein are seen in LGMD1A muscle. Myotilin is a sarcomeric protein that binds to alpha-actinin and is localized in the Z-line. The observed missense mutation does not disrupt binding to alpha-actinin.

Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome: electrodiagnostic findings and response to treatment.

The authors reviewed the incidence of cancer, repetitive nerve stimulation findings, and response to treatment in 73 patients with Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome. Thirty-one patients (42%) had lung cancer, 29 small cell. Doubling of the compound motor action potential amplitude in three tested distal muscles was seen in only 41% of patients. Treatment with 3, 4-diaminopyridine produced moderate to marked self-reported functional improvement in 79% of the 53 treated patients.

Identification of a new autosomal dominant limb-girdle muscular dystrophy locus on chromosome 7.

We report the identification of a new locus for autosomal dominant limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD1) on 7q. Two of five families (1047 and 1701) demonstrate evidence in favor of linkage to this region. The maximum two-point LOD score for family 1047 was 3.76 for D7S427, and that for family 1701 was 2.63 for D7S3058. Flanking markers place the LGMD1 locus between D7S2423 and D7S427, with multipoint analysis slightly favoring the 9-cM interval spanned by D7S2546 and D7S2423. Three of five families appear to be unlinked to this new locus on chromosome 7, thus establishing further heterogeneity within the LGMD1 diagnostic classification.

Confirmation of a second locus for CMT2 and evidence for additional genetic heterogeneity.

The Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) neuropathies are a group of disorders exhibiting neurophysical, pathological and genetic heterogeneity. CMT2 is a diagnostic subtype of this group of disorders characterized by variable expression and age-of-onset and normal or slightly diminished nerve conduction velocities. Previously, linkage and heterogeneity had been reported in CMT2 with linked families localizing to chromosome 1p (CMT2A). Recently a second CMT2 locus has been described on chromosome 7 in a single large CMT2 family (CMT2D). We have performed pedigree linkage analysis on 15 CMT2 families (N = 371 individuals, 106 affected family members) and have confirmed linkage to chromosome 7. Furthermore, using both admixture and multipoint linkage analysis we show conclusive evidence for additional heterogeneity within this clinical subtype with evidence of families that exclude linkage to both the CMT2D and CMT2A regions. In addition, unlike the previous report we found no obvious consistent clinical differences between the linked family types.

Repetitive nerve stimulation studies in the Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome.

We compared changes in amplitude and area of surface recorded compound motor action potentials (CMAPs) during 20-Hz repetitive nerve stimulation and after maximum voluntary contraction in patients with the Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS), myasthenia gravis (MG), and normal controls. There was greater potentiation of CMAP amplitude after voluntary contraction than during 20-Hz stimulation in 10 of 14 LEMS patients; CMAP area increased more after exercise than during 20-Hz stimulation in all LEMS patients. Although abnormal potentiation of CMAP area and amplitude was seen in equal numbers of LEMS patients, more LEMS patients demonstrated a greater than 100% potentiation of CMAP area than of CMAP amplitude. We conclude that maximum voluntary contraction is preferable to brief 20-Hz RNS to demonstrate potentiation in LEMS because it is at least as sensitive and is less painful. Measurement of CMAP area in LEMS patients is not better than measuring the change in CMAP amplitude in demonstrating abnormal potentiation. Testing of a single hand muscle for potentiation in LEMS does not demonstrate abnormal potentiation in all LEMS patients.