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Cognitive control (CC) over emotional distraction is of particular importance for adaptive human behaviour and is associated with activity in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). Deficient CC, e.g., presenting as negativity bias, has been suggested to underlie many of the core symptoms of major depression (MD) and is associated with impairments of dlPFC function. Correspondingly, enhancement of dlPFC activity with anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can ameliorate these impairments in patients with MD. Here, we tested the hypothesis that a reduction of dlPFC activity by cathodal tDCS induces CC deficits, thus triggering a depression-like negativity bias in healthy subjects. Twenty-eight individuals participated in a double-blinded, balanced randomized crossover trial of cathodal (1 mA, 20 min) and sham tDCS applied to the left dlPFC. To assess CC we conducted a delayed response working memory (DWM) task and an arithmetic inhibition task (AIT) with pictures of varying valent content (negative, neutral, positive) during and immediately after stimulation. Cathodal tDCS led to impaired CC specifically over negative material as assessed by reduced response accuracy in the DWM and prolonged response latency in the AIT. Hence, the current study supports the notion that left dlPFC is critically involved in CC over negative material. Together with previously reported beneficial anodal effects, it indicates that the hypoactivation of left dlPFC causes deficits in CC over negative material, which is a possible aetiological mechanism of depression.

Retrospective cohort study.

The optimal surgical approach and treatment of unstable thoracolumbar spine injuries are poorly defined owing to a lack of widely accepted level I clinical literature. This lack of evidence-based standards has led to varied practice patterns based on individual surgeon preferences. The purpose of this study was to survey the leaders in the field of spine trauma to define the major characteristics of thoracolumbar injuries that influence their surgical decision making. In the absence of good scientific data, expert consensus opinions may provide surgeons with a practical framework to guide therapy and to conduct future research.

Significant controversy exists regarding the optimal management of thoracolumbar injuries. This is in part due to the lack of understanding of the natural history of various injury subtypes and the absence of a universally accepted classification scheme that facilitates communication among care providers and assists in directing treatment. The Spine Trauma Study Group has developed an injury severity score based on three major variables: the mechanism of injury determined by radiographic appearance, the integrity of the posterior ligamentous complex, and the neurologic status of the patient. By systematically assigning specific point values within each category based on the severity of injury, a final severity score may be generated that can be used to help direct treatment. The goal of this work is to present a proposal of a detailed treatment algorithm to assist in the nonoperative or operative management of thoracolumbar injuries.

Injuries to the vertebral column may result in mechanical instability, neurologic compromise, or both. Historically, management has involved manipulative realignment of the osseous elements followed by immobilization. Immobilization of the spine may require the use of cumbersome braces, casts, skeletal traction, prolonged bed rest, or some combination therein. Such devices result in difficulties with patient transfers, delay in early mobilization and rehabilitation, prolongation of convalescence, and a negative psychological impact on the injured. Improvements in surgical techniques and spinal internal fixation systems have allowed for early and effective surgical stabilization of unstable injuries while minimizing the physiological insult to the injured. Such advances have allowed for a decreased reliance on external immobilization devices for spine immobilization, which facilitates early rehabilitation.

Intercomparison studies provide a useful approach to characterise candidate reference materials and provide a tool to assess the performance of laboratories, instrumentation and sample work-up protocols. The IAEA organises intercomparison exercises for trace elements in a range of matrices which attract the participation of a large number of laboratories from around the globe. Participants are free to choose their own analytical strategy and therefore a wide range of digestion procedures and analytical methods are represented. A statistical assessment of the data obtained by up to 158 laboratories for six elements (Al, Fe, Se, Cd, Hg and Pb) representing ‘easy’, ‘problematic’ and ‘challenging’ analytes during two IAEA intercomparison studies on biological matrices, NIST SRM 1570a Spinach and a candidate reference material, IAEA-359 Cabbage, is discussed. The elemental concentrations for the elements studied range from the ng g-1 to the fraction of a percent level.

Various cell populations in rat bone marrow were characterized by means of a two dimensional separation using velocity sedimentation and free flow electrophoresis and by electrical sizing of the separated cells. Up to 4.5 mm/hr five different populations with discrete distributions in volume (coefficient of variation 10% to 13%) and sedimentation velocity (coefficient of variation 6% to 10%) were observed. Three of the small sized populations represented lymphocytes and small normoblasts and two of the larger sized populations represented myeloid cells. Almost all of these cells were in the G0/G1 cycle phase. In the faster sedimenting fractions which contained immature myeloid, erythroid and undefined blast cells and two S phase populations, discrete volume distributions were not evaluated. The cell populations with homogeneous volume (particularly the small lymphocytes) showed high density variations which condiserably impair the separation resolution. The cells sedimenting slower than 3.5 mm/hr were further separated by means of free flow electrophoresis into three peaks differing in electrophoretic mobility (EPM). The peaks of low and high EPM contained two populations and the peak of medium EPM contained three populations all characterized by normal volume distributions of uniform coefficient of variation between 11% and 14%. The small cells in the peaks of high and medium EPM were normolblasts and the other cells were lymphocytes. The biological significance of these results is discussed.

Small bone marrow lymphocytes, which had been previously enriched by velocity sedimentation, thymocytes, lymph node cells and spleen cells were electrophoretically separated, stained with fluorescein conjugated rabbit a-rat-Thy-1. globulin and their fluorescence intensities analyzed with a flow cytophotometer. Thy-1. antigens were found in 80% of the bone marrow small lymphocytes showing low electrophoretic mobility (EPM), in all thymocytes, about 80% of which show low and the rest medium to high EPM, and in a few lymph node cells of high EPM. Thy-1. positive cells were not observed in the spleen. All fluorescence intensity histograms obtained were modal and could be properly fitted with normal curves showing coefficients of variation (C.V.) in the range of 20% to 30%. It was observed that the thymocytes of low EPM had an antibody binding affinity significantly different from that of the other stained lymphocytes. Moreover the surface antigen density decreased in the sequence: thymocytes of low EPM, bone marrow lymphocytes of low EPM and thymocytes of high EPM. The fluorescence intensity of stained lymph node cells of high EPM appeared similar to that of thymocytes of high EPM but was not evaluated precisely. Thus the two dimensional cell analysis provided by a combination of EPM and surface fluorescence of Thy-1.+ cells, allows the characterization of different lymphocyte populations which cannot be clearly identified with normal one dimensional techniques. The biological significance of the results is discussed briefly.

Abstract: A combined procedure for sequential determination of low level activity concentrations of90Sr,241Am and Pu radionuclides is described. The analysis of agr-emitters is performed by isotope dilution agr-spectrometry using242Pu or236Pu and243Am tracers. Strontium-90 is analyzed by liquid scintillation counting using the double energetic windows method. The method combines the well established, procedure for Pu analysis based on anion exchange, the powerful and selective method for Sr isolation based on extraction chromatography using Sr-Spec resin and finally it includes the application of the TRU-Spec column for separation and purification of the Am fraction. The radiochemical procedure was tested using IAEA reference and intercomparison materials. Major parameters of the procedure as well as advantages and drawbacks are discussed in detail.

The dose- and time-dependent antithrombotic activity of recombinant hirudin (r-hirudin) was examined in a new animal model of venous thrombosis. For the evaluation of the antithrombotic activity of r-hirudin, an occluding thrombus was produced by repeated clamping of the rat jugular vein. The number of clampings necessary to induce thrombosis served as a measure of antithrombotic activity. The gradual reduction of blood flow was registered by Doppler sonography. In order to estimate the relative antithrombotic activity of r-hirudin, its potency in this model was compared with other antithrombotic substances. r-Hirudin proved to be less potent than heparin after intravenous administration. Its half-life after subcutaneous administration was relatively short; however, the antithrombotic potency after subcutaneous administration was comparable to that of heparin.

Fifteen polyanionic bis-aldonic acid amides were synthesized by condensation of the corresponding aldonic acids and alpha,omega-diamines and by subsequent sulfation of the intermediates. The compounds were completely sulfated and exhibited molecular weights between 1450 and 2600 daltons. The antithrombotic activity of these synthetic heparin analogs was evaluated in a rat jugular vein clamping induced thrombosis model. Several compounds pounds were potent antithrombotic substances comparable in potency to the low molecular weight heparin Fraxiparin. Some structure activity relationships on their pharmacologic action could be deduced. The antithrombotic activity of a representative agent was confirmed using the Wessler stasis model in rabbits. In the in vitro tests the bis-aldonic acid amides exhibited moderate to low anticoagulant effects depending on the assay used. In the activated partial thromboplastin time assay, the anticoagulant potency of these compounds was between 2- and 30-fold lower than that of heparin. The anti-factor Xa activity of the experimental substances was at least 50 times lower than that of heparin, whereas the compounds were devoid of anti-factor IIa activity when measured in an amidolytic assay. The anticoagulant effects of these agents were dependent on the length of the spacing and on the type of aldonic acid moieties. These bisaldonic acid amides represent a novel class of potent antithrombotic substances without any anti-factor IIa activities and only very low anti-factor Xa activities, suggesting that these antiprotease actions are not a prerequisite for the antithrombotic action of polyanionic substances.

A procedure is described for preparative electrophoretic separation of lymphoid cells. The separations were performed with a free flow electrophoretic cell separator model VAP IV (Desaga, Heidelberg, Bender & Hobein, Munich, Brinkmann Instruments, Westbury, N. Y.). Rats were immunized with sheep erythrocytes (SRBC), lymph node cells electrophoretically separated at different times after immunization and the fractions obtained subsequently cultured in diffusion chambers. The antibody forming cells and the morphological composition of the fractions was determined after separation and after culture. Lymph node cells could be separated into 16 fractions. Within this heterogeneous distribution profile two narrow distributions of antibody forming cells of the same specificity but of different stages of development could be detected. The distribution of lower electrophoretic mobility contained the primed lymphocytes and blast cells, the faster distribution contained the differentiated plasma cells. It was found that a homogeneous cell population is rather homogeneous in its electrophoretic mobility. This is an indication that the electrophoretic mobility would be a useful parameter enabling separation of functionally defined cell populations.

Le pegvisomant (PEG), un antagoniste du récepteur de la GH (GH-R) normalise, dans certains cas d’acromégalie non contrôlés par le traitement chirurgical et/ou les analogues de la somatostatine, l’IGF-1 plasmatique. Lorsqu’il persiste, le reliquat adénomateux est exposé à l’action du pegvisomant circulant. L’impact de ce dernier au niveau hypophysaire demeure néanmoins toujours inconnu.