bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Nerve growth factor‐stimulated neuronal differentiation induces changes in P2 receptor expression and nucleotide‐stimulated catecholamine release
Authors: Arthur David B. , Taupenot Laurent , Insel Paul A. 
Published: January 2007

AbstractExtracellular nucleotides modulate synaptic transmission and neuronal communication by activating purinergic 2 (P2) (nucleotide) receptors. Here, we assessed changes in the regulation by nucleotides and their receptors of an important physiological response – release and uptake of catecholamines – that accompanies sympathoadrenal neuronal differentiation. Nerve growth factor (NGF)‐promoted differentiation of pheochromocytoma 12 (PC12) cells enhanced the ability of the non‐hydrolyzable ATP analog, ATPγS, to stimulate catecholamine (norepinephrine, NE) release and this enhancement occurred without a significant alteration in NE uptake. In addition to ATPγS, 2‐MeSATP and αβMeATP, P2X receptor‐selective agonists, caused greater NE release from NGF‐differentiated than from undifferentiated PC12 cells. NGF‐differentiated PC12 cells had altered mRNA expression of several P2Y and P2X receptors but protein expression was only increased for P2X, in particular P2X1‐4,receptors and P2X, but not P2Y, receptor inhibitors blunted the NGF‐promoted enhancement in nucleotide‐regulated catecholamine release. Surprisingly, siRNA directed against P2X2, the receptor with the highest expression, failed to alter NE release by ATPγS. These findings indicate that sympathetic neuronal differentiation by NGF increases both the expression of P2X receptor sub‐types and their regulation of catecholamine release. NGF‐promoted increased expression of P2X receptors thus appears to be a physiologically important response that characterizes sympathetic neuronal differentiation.
Kainate receptors and RNA editing in cholinergic neurons
Authors: Olsen Douglas P. , Dunlap Kathleen , Jacob Michele H. 
Published: January 2007

AbstractParasympathetic ganglia are considered simple relay systems that have cholinergic input and output, with modulation occurring centrally. Greater complexity is suggested, however, by our showing here that avian ciliary ganglion (CG) neurons also express a different excitatory receptor type –ionotropic glutamate receptors of the kainate subtype (KARs). This is the first report of glutamate receptor expression in the CG and KAR expression in any cholinergic neuron. We show that KARs form functional channels on CG neurons. KARs localize to CG neuron axons and somata as well as axons and terminals of pre‐synaptic inputs to the CG. Glutamate transporters are expressed on Schwann cells that surround synapses on neuronal somata, and may provide a local source of glutamate. CG neurons express multiple KAR subunit mRNAs (GluR5, GluR7, and KA1), and their relative levels change dramatically during axon outgrowth and synaptic differentiation. The developmental role for KARs may depend upon their calcium permeability, a property regulated by mRNA editing. We show GluR5 editing increases predominantly at the time CG axons contact peripheral targets. Our data suggest that glutamatergic signaling may function as a local circuit mechanism to modulate excitability and calcium signaling during synapse formation and maturation in the CG in vivo.
Clinical pharmacology and therapeutic use of antioxidant vitamins
Authors: Rodrigo Ramón , Guichard Cristián , Charles Roberto 
Published: January 2007

AbstractThe clinical use of antioxidants has gained considerable interest during the last decade. It was suggested from epidemiological studies that diets high in fruits and vegetables might help decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease. Therefore, supplements of vitamins C and E were applied through protocols aimed to prevent diseases such as atherosclerosis, preeclampsia or hypertension, thought to be mediated by oxidative stress. Despite the biological properties of these vitamins could account for an effective protection, as shown by several clinical and experimental studies, their efficacy remains controversial in the light of some recent clinical trials and meta‐analyses. However, the methodology of these studies, criteria for selection of patients, the uncertain extent of progression of the disease when initiating supplementation, the lack of mechanistic studies containing basic scientific aspects, such as the bioavailability, pharmacokinetic properties, and the nature of the antioxidant sources of vitamins, could account for the inconsistency of the various clinical trials and meta‐analyses assessing the efficacy of these vitamins to prevent human diseases. This review presents a survey of the clinical use of antioxidant vitamins E and C, proposing study models based on the biological effects of these compounds likely to counteract the pathophysiological mechanisms able to explain the structural and functional organ damage.
Circadian and time‐dependent variability in tacrolimus pharmacokinetics
Authors: Park Sung‐In , Felipe Claudia R. , Pinheiro‐Machado Paula G. , Garcia Riberto , Tedesco‐Silva Helio , Medina‐Pestana Jose O. 
Published: January 2007

AbstractTacrolimus (TAC) is considered a critical dose drug. The purpose of our study was to investigate circadian and time‐dependent changes in TAC pharmacokinetics over the first year after kidney transplantation. Pharmacokinetic (PK) studies were performed in 26 recipients of first living donor kidney transplants at day 7 after morning (a.m.) and evening (p.m.) doses of TAC. Additional serial PK studies were carried out in nine patients at month 6 (M6) and month 12 (M12). Blood samples were collected before 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 12 h after TAC administration. Demographics, TAC and adjunctive immunosuppressive doses, hematology, and biochemistry were recorded in each PK study. Mean age was 37 years, body mass index 23 kg/m2, 58% males, and 85% Caucasian. Higher AUC (231.4 vs. 220 ng·h/mL, P = 0.06) and Cmax (34.1 ± 12.6 vs. 24.4 ± 9.8 ng/mL, P < 0.001), and lower Tmax (1.6 ± 0.8 vs. 2.7 ± 2.0 h, P = 0.05) values were observed comparing a.m. and p.m. administrations. Comparing D7, M6 and M12, there was a significant increase in dose‐normalized AUC (31.4 ± 22.2 vs. 50.1 ± 33 vs. 39.2 ± 24.4 ng·h/mL/mg, P = 0.005), Cmax (4.4 ± 2.4 vs. 7.8 ± 3.5 vs. 6.0 ± 3.3 ng/mL/mg, P < 0.001) and Tmax (1.6 ± 1.1 vs. 1.7 ± 0.4 vs. 1.8 ± 0.8 h, P = 0.006), respectively. Over the first year the intraindividual variability of dose‐normalized AUC, Cmax and C0 were 82%, 72%, and 90%, respectively. No significant changes were observed comparing inter‐individual variability of dose‐normalized AUC (21%, 24%, 33%), Cmax (46%, 45%, 55%), C0 (49%, 83%, 81%) at D7, M6 and M12, respectively. We observed a good correlation between a.m. and p.m. TAC AUC (r2 = 0.90) and C0 (r2 = 0.88). Tacrolimus pharmacokinetics display circadian variation suggesting a slower and delayed absorption phase at nighttime. Tacrolimus also showed time‐dependent PK changes, suggesting an improvement in absorption during the first 6 months. Despite circadian variation we observed good correlations between a.m. and p.m. TAC AUC (r2 = 0.90) and C0 (r2 = 0.88) and between C0 and total daily TAC exposure (a.m. + p.m. AUC) suggesting that trough‐guided therapeutic monitoring is still a reliable and simple strategy to optimize the clinical use of TAC.
Resurrecting melancholia
Authors: Fink M. , Taylor M. A. 
Published: January 2007

Objective: To define melancholia as a distinct mood disorder, identified by unremitting depressed mood, vegetative dysfunction, and psychomotor disturbances, verifiable by neuroendocrine tests, and treatable by electroconvulsive therapy and tricyclic antidepressants.Method: A review of the literature of two centuries finds descriptions of severe mood disorders, either depression or mania or circular, defined as ‘melancholia.’ In the 1980 diagnostic revision (DSM‐III), melancholia was relegated to a features specifier only.Results: DSM classification criteria develop heterogeneous patient samples that are neither guides to prognosis nor to treatment response, and confound studies of pathophysiology. Within the large population of mood disorders, a syndrome of melancholia is identifiable by specific behaviors, vegetative signs, and validated by neuroendocrine abnormalities (cortisolemia). Populations so identified are clinically homogeneous and have improved treatment responses. Patients meeting criteria for melancholia are now identified as psychotic depressed, geriatric depressed, postpartum psychosis, and pharmacotherapy resistant.Conclusion: The review supports the establishment of melancholia by empirically derived criteria rather than by a checklist is an alternative to the major depression choice and offers an improved model for psychiatric classification.
Defining melancholia: the primacy of psychomotor disturbance
Authors: Parker G. 
Published: January 2007

Objective:  To argue that melancholia is a categorically distinct depressive condition, able to be differentiated from other depressive conditions by a neuropathological marker [observable psychomotor disturbance (PMD)] and having a differential response to various antidepressant treatments.Method:  The above statements are addressed by review of a wide body of research, which identified observable PMD as the cardinal marker of melancholia and developed the CORE measure as a strategy for assessing PMD and its severity. Properties of the CORE measure, including reliability, validity and treatment prediction, are overviewed.Results:  A case is made for defining melancholia and a strategy for establishing its probability.Conclusion:  Melancholia is positioned as a categorical entity capable of being circumscribed by its cardinal feature of PMD.
Melancholia agitata and mixed depression
Authors: Koukopoulos A. , Sani G. , Koukopoulos A. E. , Manfredi G. , Pacchiarotti I. , Girardi P. 
Published: January 2007

Objective:  The diagnostic entity of major depressive episode includes both simple and agitated or mixed depression. Mixed depression is characterized by a full depressive episode with several symptoms of excitatory nature. Mixed depressions worsen if treated with antidepressants.Method:  We have reviewed the clinical charts of the 2141 patients treated at the Centro Lucio Bini of Rome from January 1999 to June 2006. These patients were diagnosed according to DSM‐IV criteria. Research diagnostic criteria were applied for agitated depression with motor agitation and Author's diagnostic criteria for agitated depression without motor agitation.Results:  One thousand and twenty‐six patients had a depressive episode as index episode. Three hundred and forty six (33%) were mixed depressive states. One hundred and thirty eight (44%) of them were spontaneous; in 173 cases, the onset of the mixed depression was associated with antidepressants.Conclusion:  Psychic and motor agitation are considered equally important for the definition of agitated depression. Treating agitated depression with antidepressants worsens the clinical picture. The use of Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), neuroleptics and anticonvulsants are recommended. The term Melancholia Agitata is proposed for agitated (mixed) depression.
Epidemiology of subtypes of depression
Authors: Kessing L. V. 
Published: January 2007

Objective:  There is a general clinical impression that depression differs qualitatively from non‐depressive conditions, and that it can be identified as a categorical entity. In contrast, epidemiological studies support the view that depression is dynamic in nature and develops on a continuous scale. The present article reviews selected epidemiological studies of depressive subtypes.Method:  A selective review.Results:  Prior studies have found no clear differences in clinical presentation or long‐term outcome between patients with melancholic and with neurotic/reactive depression. In addition, recent studies suggest that there is no clear demarcation between mild, moderate, and severe depression, pointing toward a continuity rather than categories of illness. For the individual patient, depressive symptoms seem to change over time, fulfilling criteria for major depression, minor depression, dysthymia, and subsyndromal states; the association between stressful life events and depression appears to diminish with the number of depressive episodes. Finally, recent genetic findings are congruent with a model indicating that the majority of depressions develop in the interplay between genes and stressful experiences, whereas ‘reactive’ depressions and ‘endogenous’ depressions apparently exist at a lower prevalence.Conclusion:  Further longitudinal, analytical, and genetic epidemiologic studies are needed to reveal which conditions are mild and transient, and which may be precursors of more severe and substantial illness such as melancholia.
Does dopamine dysfunction drive depression?
Authors: Malhi G. S. , Berk M. 
Published: January 2007

Objective:  To examine the evidence that dopamine (DA) dysfunction contributes to melancholic depression.Method:  Database (EMBASE, PsychLit and MEDLINE) searches using relevant key words were conducted and citations were scrutinized.Results:  In this paper, we assume that the definition of melancholia is contingent upon the presence of psychomotor disturbance (PMD). In melancholic depression PMD comprises both a cognitive and motor component and DA is found to be important in both. DA neurotransmission modulates cognition in particular in attention, adaptation and motivational processes and has a pivotal role in motor function.Conclusion:  DA is a credible aetiological candidate for the PMD in melancholic depression. However, melancholia needs first to be characterized both clinically and in terms of its pathophysiology. In this regard, illnesses such as bipolar depression and Parkinson's disease warrant consideration as they provide suitable models of both the cognitive and motor aspects of PMD, and hold the necessary markers to better define melancholia.
Treatment response in melancholia
Authors: Brown W. A. 
Published: January 2007

Objective:  Ascertain the response to specific depression treatments in melancholic and non‐melancholic depressed patients.Method:  Literature review focusing on studies addressing symptoms, diagnostic profiles, severity and other predictors of outcome with antidepressant medication, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), psychotherapy and placebo.Results:  Patients with melancholia do not consistently differ from those with non‐melancholic depression in their response to antidepressants and ECT, but patients with melancholia show a significantly lower rate of placebo response. Depressed patients classified as severely ill‐many of whom are melancholic‐likewise do not differ from the less severely ill in response to antidepressants but do have a consistently lower placebo response rate. The little available data from psychotherapy studies also consistently show that melancholic and severely depressed patients are less likely than the more mildly depressed to improve with various types of psychotherapy. Depressed patients with increased pituitary‐adrenocortical activity‐most of whom are melancholic‐show a similar pattern of treatment response: they do well with ECT and antidepressants and poorly with placebo and psychotherapies.Conclusion:  The research data, in the aggregate, suggest that the presence of melancholia predicts a poor response to psychotherapy and placebo and a relatively good response to antidepressants and ECT.
Pharmacological treatment of negative symptoms of schizophrenia: therapeutic opportunity or Cul‐de‐sac?
Authors: Buckley P. F. , Stahl S. M. 
Published: January 2007

Objective: Negative symptoms of schizophrenia are debilitating and they contribute to poor outcome in schizophrenia. Initial enthusiasm that second‐generation antipsychotics would prove to be powerful agents to improve negative symptoms has given way to relative pessimism that the effects of current pharmacological treatments are at best modest.Method: A review of the current ‘state‐of‐play’ of pharmacological treatments for negative symptoms in schizophrenia.Results: Treatment results to date have been largely disappointing. The evidence for efficacy of second‐generation antipsychotics is reviewed.Conclusion: The measurement and treatment trials methodology for the evaluation of negative symptoms need additional refinement before therapeutic optimism that better treatments for negative symptoms can be realized.
Does self‐weighting of items enhance the performance of an oral health‐related quality of life questionnaire?
Authors: Locker David , Berka Eva , Jokovic Aleksandra , Tompson Bryan 
Published: January 2007

Abstract –  Objectives:  To determine if self‐weighting of the items in an oral health‐related quality of life questionnaire improves its psychometric properties.Methods:  The Surgical Orthodontic Outcome Questionnaire (SOOQ) was designed to assess the oral health‐related quality of life of individuals before and after corrective surgery. Each of its 33 ‘items’ consists of two questions: a question concerning the frequency with which a given functional or psychosocial problem had been experienced and a ‘weighting’ question which asked about how much the individual was bothered by that problem. The questionnaire was completed by three groups of individuals: (i) pretreatment; (ii) immediate (i.e. 2–6 months) postsurgery and (iii) postsurgery (i.e. more than 2 years after surgery). Unweighted scale scores were obtained by summing the response codes to the frequency question and weighted scores by summing the products of the frequency and bother questions. These scores were calculated for the full questionnaire and a short form consisting of 15 items. The discriminative and correlational construct validity of these scores was compared along with internal consistency reliability. The sensitivity to change and longitudinal construct validity of unweighted and weighted scores was assessed in a simulated evaluative study in which pretreatment and postsurgery subjects were paired.Results:  For both the long and short forms of the questionnaire, unweighted and weighted scores discriminated between the groups enrolled in the study. Correlations with a general health rating were similar, as were Cronbach's alpha values and test–retest reliabilities. The simulated evaluative study suggested no differences in sensitivity to change or longitudinal construct validity. When subscale scores were examined, there was a suggestion that weighting improved their reliability.Conclusions:  Self‐weighting of items did not substantially improve the performance of the SOOQ. Domain weights should be developed and tested to determine if they have an effect on its properties.
Developing a short form of Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP) for dental aesthetics: OHIP‐aesthetic
Authors: Wong Anthony H. H. , Cheung C. S. , McGrath Colman 
Published: January 2007

Abstract –  Objectives:  To develop and evaluate shortened forms of the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP) for discriminating dental aesthetics problems and evaluating dental aesthetic outcomes.Methods:  Eighty‐seven subjects self‐completed the 49‐item OHIP at baseline and 63 at follow up (8 weeks later), with the intervention of applying an array of tooth‐whitening products. Expert‐based approach and regression analysis (on baseline data) were undertaken to derive two subset questionnaires (OHIP‐conceptual and OHIP‐regression). Their discriminatory ability for dental aesthetics and their responsiveness to tooth whitening were compared with the original OHIP‐49, Slade's OHIP‐14 and a Chinese short‐form version of OHIP.Results:  The measures developed were strongly associated with self‐rating of dental aesthetics (P < 0.001) unlike OHIP‐49 (P = 0.03) or other OHIP short forms (P > 0.05). The measures were also reliable (Cronbach's alpha 0.86) and comparable with the other OHIP forms. In terms of effect size, OHIP‐conceptual was more effective in measuring changes than the one based on the regression analysis, the original OHIP‐49, OHIP‐14 and the Chinese version of the short‐form OHIP. It also exhibited a less susceptibility to floor effects than other OHIP forms.Conclusion:  A modified short form of the OHIP derived (OHIP‐conceptual) was the most favorable in discriminating dental aesthetics, was reliable and most sensitive to the dental aesthetics intervention – tooth whitening.
Identification and expression analysis of a MYB family transcription factor in the parasitic plant Orobanche ramosa
Authors: González‐Verdejo C.I. , Dita M.A. , Di Pietro A. , Moreno Ma.T. , Barandiarán X. , Rubiales D. , González‐Melendi P. , Pérez‐de‐Luque A. 
Published: January 2007

AbstractMYB proteins are transcription factors (TFs) involved in the regulation of developmental processes in eukaryotes. A number of MYB genes have been identified from plants, but they have not been studied in parasitic plants. In this work, a member of the R2R3 MYB family of TFs was isolated from a complementary DNA library representing different developmental stages of the parasitic plant Orobanche ramosa. The pattern of expression of the gene was studied by in situ hybridisation. Alignment of the deduced Or‐MYB1 protein with members of the MYB family showed the highest overall identity with MYB.Ph3 from petunia (Petunia hybrida), NtMYBAS1/S2 from tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) and AtMYB101 from Arabidopsis thaliana. Amino acid sequence comparisons of DNA‐binding domains showed that Or‐MYB1 protein forms a closely related group with these proteins. Transcripts of Or‐MYB1 were detected during all the developmental stages analysed, and in situ hybridisation showed that the expression was restricted to the parenchymatic cells proximal to the vascular vessels. These findings are consistent with a role of Or‐MYB1 during early stages of development of O. ramosa, probably through the phenylpropanoid pathway.
Diversity of the rodent communities in the Turan Desert region
Authors: NERONOV Valery M. , KHLYAP Ludmila A. , WARSHAVSKY Andrey A. 
Published: January 2007

AbstractWe assessed the diversity of rodent communities in the deserts of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Central Asia using geographic information system technology. There are 66 species of rodents, belonging to eight faunistic complexes, inhabiting this area. We discuss the geographical changes occurring in taxonomic and zoogeographic diversity at both species and community levels. Communities of gerbils and jerboas dominate in the Turan Desert region (66% of the area). Steppe communities of susliks penetrate the deserts from the north. Farming in deserts causes the replacement of native rodent communities with mouse communities or completely eradicates rodents in their main habitats.