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objective: To describe the epidemiological and clinical patterns of congenital foot anomalies seen in one hospital in Côte d'Ivoire. Patients and Methods: This was a retrospective hospital-based study of all children aged 15 years and below who were scene with congenital foot anomalies from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2006, at the paediatric surgery department of Yopougon teaching hospital in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. Their charts were reviewed for material obstetrical history putionts 2 demographic and biometric neonatal data, time intervals before for diagnosis, clinical and radiographic presentations, treatment undertaken and outcome. Results: A total of 466 congenital foot anomalies (CFA) in 330 patients were identified among 1.490 congenital disorders in a period when the number of live births was 235,161. This is resulted in a rate of 1.98 CFA per 1,000 live births The age at diagnosis ranged from way five years with a peak incidence at four years. The live most common of 11 patterns of congenital foot anomalies seen, were clubfeet in 205 144.2 percent) cases, flat feet (16,7 percent) in 78, metamsus warus (14.2 percent) in 66, equine foot (11.8 percent) in 55 and slope feet (4.9 percent) in 23. Bilateral involvement occurred in 126 patients (38.2 percent), while umbilical hernia was the most frequently associated anomaly (64.8 percent). Clubfeet were lilateral in 112 cases (54 percent), while Dimeglio grades I and II, were predominant (74.3 pervect). Treatment consisted of serial plasters for 180 patients (38.6 percent) which were combined with physiotherapy fluid surgical reduction in 143 (30.7 percent) and 25 cases (5.4 percent), respectively. Conclusion: Congenital foot anomalies were frequent and their clinical expression was classical in our study

IntroductionPituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide (PACAP) is a stress-related neuropeptide that is produced in several brain areas. It acts by 3 receptors: PACAP type-1 (PAC1), vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) -1 and -2 (VPAC1 and 2). Data on polymorphisms in PACAP and PAC1 indicate a relationship of the PACAP system with schizophrenia (SCZ).MethodsThe prefrontal cortex was chosen to measure PACAP-gene related expression changes, since this is a central structure in the symptoms of schizophrenia (SCZ). We investigated alterations in the expression of the PACAP-related genes by qPCR in the human dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) of 35 SCZ patients and 34 matched controls in relation to SCZ, suicide, gender and medication.ResultsThe ACC revealed an upregulation in PACAP, PAC1, VPAC1 and VPAC2 in SCZ suicide (S) completers compared to controls. An increase in PACAP, VPAC1 and VPAC2 expression was also present in the ACC in SCZ-S compared to SCZ patients who died naturally (SCZ-N). In the DLPFC, an increase in PAC1 was found in SCZ-N patients compared to SCZ-S and controls. Moreover, an increase in all PACAP-related genes was present in SCZ-N male patients compared to SCZ-N females. Concluding, expression changes were found in PACAP-related genes in relation to SCZ, suicide and gender. In particular, there was a higher PACAP-related gene expression in SCZ patients in the ACC in relation to suicide and in DLPFC in relation to SCZ.DiscussionThese findings suggest a potential link between PACAP and the pathophysiology of SCZ and suicide. Further research is needed to understand the functional significance and potential clinical applications of these changes.

The changes in brain function that perpetuate opiate addiction are unclear. In our studies of human narcolepsy, a disease caused by loss of immunohistochemically detected hypocretin (orexin) neurons, we encountered a control brain (from an apparently neurologically normal individual) with 50% more hypocretin neurons than other control human brains that we had studied. We discovered that this individual was a heroin addict. Studying five postmortem brains from heroin addicts, we report that the brain tissue had, on average, 54% more immunohistochemically detected neurons producing hypocretin than did control brains from neurologically normal subjects. Similar increases in hypocretin-producing cells could be induced in wild-type mice by long-term (but not short-term) administration of morphine. The increased number of detected hypocretin neurons was not due to neurogenesis and outlasted morphine administration by several weeks. The number of neurons containing melanin-concentrating hormone, which are in the same hypothalamic region as hypocretin-producing cells, did not change in response to morphine administration. Morphine administration restored the population of detected hypocretin cells to normal numbers in transgenic mice in which these neurons had been partially depleted. Morphine administration also decreased cataplexy in mice made narcoleptic by the depletion of hypocretin neurons. These findings suggest that opiate agonists may have a role in the treatment of narcolepsy, a disorder caused by hypocretin neuron loss, and that increased numbers of hypocretin-producing cells may play a role in maintaining opiate addiction.

Social impairment and anhedonia are common negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. Here, the authors show that the histamine H1 receptor in cholinergic neurons in the basal forebrain has a critical role in sensorimotor gating, social behaviour, and anhedonia-like behaviour in mice.

Manuel de Falla was a Spanish musician of the XIXth and XXth centuries who had international recognition likely due to his musical fusion talent. His knowledge about Spanish musical traditions gave to his early compositions a new and fresh intellectual interpretation for the typical Spanish folk music. However, in the middle of his musical career, he suffered a strange disease of his eyes named recurrent acute iridocyclitis. This eye flushing is caused by an inflammation of 2 structures of the anterior pole of the ocular globe, the iris, and the ciliary body. It is usually a symptom of another disease and it causes many psychological impairments and disabilities (severe eye pain in bright light, blurry vision, headache, stress for organization (orderliness), and depression in some cases). This soreness of his eyes had an effect over Falla’s compositions and marked an inflection point in his line of musical creations. Eyes in music have been so relevant in another composers and musicians throughout history.