Fabry's disease and psychosis: causality or coincidence?

A 21-year-old female with Fabry's disease (FD) presented acute psychotic symptoms such as delusions, auditory hallucinations and formal thought disorders. Since the age of 14, she had suffered from various psychiatric symptoms increasing in frequency and intensity. We considered the differential diagnoses of prodromal symptoms of schizophrenia and organic schizophrenia-like disorder. Routine examinations including cognitive testing, electroencephalography and structural magnetic resonance imaging revealed no pathological findings. Additional structural and functional imaging demonstrated a minor CNS involvement of FD, yet without functional limitations. In summary our examination results support the thesis that in the case of our patient a mere coincidence of FD and psychotic symptoms is more likely than a causal connection.

The recruitment of bone marrow-derived cells to skin wounds is independent of wound size

Wounded skin recruits progenitor cells, which repair the tissue defect. These cells are derived from stem cells in several niches in the skin. In addition, bone marrow-derived cells (BMDCs) are recruited and contribute to wound repair. We hypothesized that larger wounds recruit more cells from the bone marrow. Wild-type rats were lethally irradiated and transplanted with bone marrow cells from green fluorescent protein (GFP)-transgenic rats. Seven weeks later, 4, 10, and 20 mm wounds were created. The wound tissue was harvested after 14 days. The density of GFP-positive cells in the wounds and the adjacent tissues was determined, as well as in normal skin from the flank. Bone marrow-derived myofibroblasts, activated fibroblasts, and macrophages were also quantified. After correction for cell density, the recruitment of BMDCs (23±11%) was found to be independent of wound size. Similar fractions of GFP-positive cells were also detected in nonwounded adjacent tissue (29±11%), and in normal skin (26±19%). The data indicate that BMDCs are not preferentially recruited to skin wounds. Furthermore, wound size does not seem to affect the recruitment of BMDCs.

Preferential recruitment of bone marrow-derived cells to rat palatal wounds but not to skin wounds

To investigate the contribution of bone marrow-derived cells to oral mucosa wounds and skin wounds.

Immunodetection of 3-nitrotyrosine in the liver of zymosan-treated rats with a new monoclonal antibody: comparison to analysis by HPLC

Zymosan-induced peritonitis is associated with an increased production of reactive nitrogen oxides that may contribute to the often-observed failure of multiple organ systems in this model of acute inflammation. Quantitative biochemical evidence is provided for a marked 13-fold increase in protein-bound 3-nitrotyrosine (NTyr), a biomarker of reactive nitrogen oxides, in liver tissue of zymosan-treated rats. In order to investigate the localization of NTyr in this affected tissue, a monoclonal antibody, designated 39B6, was raised against 3-(4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenylacetamido) propionic acid-bovine serum albumin conjugate and its performance characterized. 39B6 was judged by competition ELISA to be approximately 2 orders of magnitude more sensitive than a commercial anti-NTyr monoclonal antibody. Binding characteristics of 39B6 were similar, but not identical, to that of a commercial affinity-purified polyclonal antibody in ELISA and immunohistochemical analyses. Western blot experiments revealed high specificity of 39B6 against NTyr and increased immunoreactivity of specific proteins from liver tissue homogenates of zymosan-treated rats. Immunohistochemical analysis of liver sections indicated a marked zymosan-induced increase in immunofluorescent staining, which was particularly intense in or adjacent to nonparenchymal cells, but not in the parenchymal cells of this tissue. Quantitative analysis of fractions enriched in these cell populations corroborated the immunofluorescent data, although the relative amounts detected in response to zymosan treatment was greatly reduced compared to whole liver tissue. These results demonstrate the high specificity of the newly developed antibody and its usefulness in Western blot and immunohistochemical analysis for NTyr, confirm the presence of NTyr by complementary methods, and suggest the possible involvement of reactive nitrogen oxides in hepatic vascular dysfunction.

Vagus nerve stimulation for depression: efficacy and safety in a European study

Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapy is associated with a decrease in seizure frequency in partial-onset seizure patients. Initial trials suggest that it may be an effective treatment, with few side-effects, for intractable depression.

A functional model for adult stem cells in epithelial tissues

Tissue turnover, regeneration, and repair take place throughout life. Stem cells are key players in these processes. The characteristics and niches of the stem cell populations in different tissues, and even in related tissues, vary extensively. In this review, stem cell differentiation and stem cell contribution to tissue maintenance and regeneration is compared in the epithelia of the skin, the cornea, the lung, and the intestine. A hierarchical model for adult stem cells is proposed, based on the potency of stem cell subpopulations in a specific tissue. The potency is defined in terms of the maintenance, the repair, and the regeneration of the tissue. The niche supplies cues to maintain the specific stem cell potency.

Current Resources

Reviews include: The Managed Care Answer Book for Mental Health Professionals. ( 1997) Gayle McCracken Tuttle and Dianne Rush Woods. Bristol, P A: Brunner/Mazel, Inc. Reviewed by Patricia Newlin Somebody Else's Children: and the Struggle to Save America's Troubled Families. (1996) John Hubner and Jill Wolfson. New York: Three Rivers Press. Reviewed by John Nasuti Assessing the Long-Term Effects of Foster Care-A Research Synthesis. (1996) Thomas P. McDonald, Reva I. Allen, Alex Westerfield, and Irving Piliavin. Washington, D.C.: CWLA Press. Reviewed by Anthony N. Ma/uccio

Characterization of the cytochrome P-450 drug metabolism system of LS174T human colon tumor cell line

The human colon tumor cell line, LS174T, has been shown to have four major components of the drug metabolizing system; cytochrome b$\sb5$ reductase, cytochrome b$\sb5$, cytochrome P450 reductase and cytochrome P450, by activity measurements, spectral studies and antibody cross-reactivity. Cytochrome P450IA1 is induced by benzanthracene in these cells as shown by activity with the specific substrate, ethoxyresorufin, cross-reactivity with rabbit antibodies to rat IA1, and by a hybridizing band on a Northern blot to a rat IA1 probe.^ Further, this system has proven responsive to various inducers and conditions of growth. The enzyme activities were found stable over limited cell passages with control values of 0.03 and 0.13 $\mu$mol/min/mg protein for NADPH and NADH cytochrome c (cyt c) reducing activity, 0.05 nmol cyt b$\sb5$ per milligram and 0.013 nmol cytochrome P450 per milligram of microsomal protein. Phenobarbital/hydrocortisone treatment showed a consistent, but not always significant increase in the NADPH and NADH cyt c reducing activity and benzanthracene treatment an increase in the NADH cyt c reducing activity. Delta-aminolevulinic acid (0.5mM) caused a significant decrease in the specific activity of all enzyme contents and activities tested.^ Finally, the cytochrome b$\sb5$ to cytochrome P450, by the coordinate induction of the cytochrome b$\sb5$ pathway by P450 inducers, by the high ratio of NADH to NADPH ethoxycoumarin deethylase activity in uninduced cell microsomes, and by the increase in NADH and NADPH ethoxycoumarin deethylase activity when the microsomes were treated with potassium cyanide, a desaturase inhibitor. ^

Die israelitischen Notabeln zu Speier : Erörterung einiger ihren Berathungen zum Grunde gelegten Fragepunkte

von M. Berliner