Biomedical subjects

J Karlsson

Publications and source records attributed to J Karlsson.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

The genome of black cottonwood, Populus trichocarpa (Torr. & Gray).

We report the draft genome of the black cottonwood tree, Populus trichocarpa. Integration of shotgun sequence assembly with genetic mapping enabled chromosome-scale reconstruction of the genome. More than 45,000 putative protein-coding genes were identified. Analysis of the assembled genome revealed a whole-genome duplication event; about 8000 pairs of duplicated genes from that event survived in the Populus genome. A second, older duplication event is indistinguishably coincident with the divergence of the Populus and Arabidopsis lineages. Nucleotide substitution, tandem gene duplication, and gross chromosomal rearrangement appear to proceed substantially more slowly in Populus than in Arabidopsis. Populus has more protein-coding genes than Arabidopsis, ranging on average from 1.4 to 1.6 putative Populus homologs for each Arabidopsis gene. However, the relative frequency of protein domains in the two genomes is similar. Overrepresented exceptions in Populus include genes associated with lignocellulosic wall biosynthesis, meristem development, disease resistance, and metabolite transport.

Arabidopsis↗

PubMed2006

Self-efficacy, symptoms and physical activity in patients with an anterior cruciate ligament injury: a prospective study.

Self-efficacy belief may be of major importance for the outcome of rehabilitation after sports-related injuries. A new instrument, the Knee Self-Efficacy Scale (K-SES), was used to evaluate the role of perceived self-efficacy in patients with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. The purpose of this prospective exploratory study was to describe the patients' perceived self-efficacy at various times post-injury and surgery, respectively, for responsiveness of the K-SES and to correlate the K-SES score with the patients' subjective symptoms. The purpose was also to describe the influence of gender, age and physical activity on the patients' perceived self-efficacy. Thirty recently injured patients with an ACL-deficient knee and 33 patients who had undergone ACL reconstruction reported their physical activity level and their perceived self-efficacy on four test occasions during a 1-year period. The patients' subjective knee symptoms were documented on two of the test occasions. A significant increase in the K-SES score was seen after injury as well as after surgery, during the course of rehabilitation. Pre-operatively, men's perceived self-efficacy was significantly (P=0.013) higher compared with women's self-efficacy. Patients with a high baseline (pre-injury) physical activity level (Tegner 7-10) perceived their self-efficacy as being significantly (P=0.005) higher pre-operatively compared with patients with a low baseline activity level (Tegner 3-6). "Younger" (age 17-29), recently injured patients, perceived their self-efficacy as being significantly (P=0.034) higher compared with "older" patients (age 30-54). At the 12-month test, 15 of 30 patients with an ACL-deficient knee and 15 of 33 patients who had undergone ACL reconstruction reported that they had returned or nearly returned to their baseline physical activity level. The subjective knee outcome score, as measured by the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS), improved significantly (P<0.01) during rehabilitation, apart from the KOOS subscale of "pain" (P=0.077) for patients who had undergone ACL reconstruction. There was a "low" to "strong" correlation (r(s)=0.0-0.7) between the K-SES and the five subscales in the KOOS. We conclude from the present study that K-SES has good responsiveness with significantly increased self-efficacy during the rehabilitation process for patients with an ACL-deficient knee as well as for patients who had undergone ACL reconstruction. The improvement in perceived self-efficacy could, however, only be partly explained by the improvement in subjective symptoms. Furthermore, self-efficacy differed significantly with gender, age and physical activity level early in the rehabilitation process.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Single-leg hop testing following fatiguing exercise: reliability and biomechanical analysis.

A fatiguing exercise protocol was combined with single-leg hop testing to improve the possibilities of evaluating the effects of training or rehabilitation interventions. In the first test-retest experiment, 11 healthy male subjects performed two trials of single-leg hops under three different test conditions: non-fatigued and following fatiguing exercise, which consisted of unilateral weight machine knee extensions at 80% and 50%, respectively, of 1 repetition maximum (1 RM) strength. Intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from 0.75 to 0.98 for different hop test conditions, indicating that all tests were reliable. For the second experiment, eight healthy male subjects performed the fatiguing exercise protocol to investigate how fatigue influences lower-extremity joint kinematics and kinetics during single-leg hops. Hip, knee and ankle joint angles, moments and powers, as well as ground-reaction forces were recorded with a six-camera, motion-capture system and a force platform. Recovery of hop performance following the fatiguing exercise was also measured. During the take-off for the single-leg hops, hip and knee flexion angles, generated powers for the knee and ankle joints, and ground-reaction forces decreased for the fatigued hop conditions compared with the non-fatigued condition (P<0.05). Compared with landing during the non-fatigued condition, hip moments and ground-reaction forces were lower for the fatigued hop conditions (P<0.05). The negative joint power was two to three times greater for the knee than for the hip and five to 10 times greater for the knee than for the ankle during landing for all test conditions (P<0.05). Most measured variables had recovered three minutes post-exercise. It is concluded that the fatiguing exercise protocol combined with single-leg hop testing was a reliable method for investigating functional performance under fatigued test conditions. Further, subjects utilized an adapted hop strategy, which employed less hip and knee flexion and generated powers for the knee and ankle joints during take-off, and less hip joint moments during landing under fatigued conditions. The large negative power values observed at the knee joint during the landing phase of the single-leg hop, during which the quadriceps muscle activates eccentrically, indicate that not only hop distance but also the ability to perform successful landings should be investigated when assessing dynamic knee function.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

A new instrument for measuring self-efficacy in patients with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

It has been suggested that self-efficacy belief is of major importance for rehabilitation outcome after sports-related injuries. No instruments are, however, available to evaluate perceived self-efficacy for prognostic and outcome expectations in patients with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. Perceived self-efficacy is defined as a judgment of one's potential ability to carry out a task, rather than a measure of whether or not one actually can or does perform the task. The purpose of this study was to develop a reliable and valid instrument for measuring perceived self-efficacy in patients with an ACL injury. A total of 210 male and female patients with an ACL injury were included in this study. The items were generated by health professionals with long clinical experience of patients with an ACL injury and by discussions with patients. After item analysis and item reduction, based on the results from 88 patients, the final 22-item version of the Knee Self-Efficacy Scale (K-SES) was evaluated in 18 patients for test-retest reliability and in 104 patients for internal consistency and validity. The K-SES was compared with the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC), Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CSQ), SF-36 and Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) instruments. A factor analysis was also performed on the K-SES. The test-retest revealed a correlation of r(s)=0.73 between test-days and an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.75. No significant difference between test-days was found. The internal consistency was 0.94, as calculated with Cronbach's alpha. There were low correlations between the K-SES and MHLC and the K-SES and CSQ, respectively. A strong correlation was found between the K-SES and physical functioning, as measured by the SF-36 (r(s)=0.8). All the sub-scales in the KOOS correlated moderately to strongly (r(s)=0.4-0.7) to the K-SES. The factor analysis produced two factors of importance. Factor one was related to how patients perceived their present physical performance/function, while factor two was related to how patients perceived the future physical performance/prognosis of their knee. Good reliability and good face, content, construct and convergent validity were demonstrated for this new instrument (K-SES) for measuring perceived self-efficacy in patients with an ACL injury. The K-SES is recommended for studies designed to evaluate prognostic and outcome expectations of perceived self-efficacy in patients with an ACL-insufficient knee.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2005

Determination of the expression pattern of the dual promoter of zebrafish fushi tarazu factor-1a following microinjections into zebrafish one cell stage embryos.

The zebrafish fushi tarazu factor-1a (ff1a) is a transcription factor belonging to the NR5A subgroup of nuclear receptors. The NR5A receptors bind DNA as monomers and are considered to be orphans due to their ability to promote transcription of downstream genes without ligands. In zebrafish, four ff1 homologues (Ff1a, Ff1b, Ff1c, and Ff1d) have been identified so far. The gene coding for Ff1a is driven by two separate promoters, and give rise to four splice variants. Ff1a is expressed in the somites and pronephric ducts during somitogenesis and in the brain, liver, and mandibular arch during later embryonic stages. In adults the gene is highly expressed in gonads, liver, and intestine, but can be detected in most tissues. The broad variety of embryonic expression domains indicates several important developmental features. One of the mammalian fushi tarazu factor-1 genes, steroidogenic factor-1 (SF-1), is essential for the development of gonads and adrenals. SF-1 is together with Sox9, WT1, and GATA4 a positive transcriptional regulator of human anti-mullerian hormone (AMH) and thereby linked to the male sex-determining pathway. The zebrafish ff1a dual promoter contains several GATA binding sites and E-boxes, a site for DR4, XFD2, MyoD, Snail, HNF3, S8, and an HMG-box recognition site for Sox9. In a first attempt to dissect the ff1a promoter in vivo we have produced first generation transgenes in order to determine the correlation between the expression of the endogenous ff1a gene and the microinjected ff1a dual promoter coupled to the pEGFP reporter vector. Our results show that the microinjected constructs are expressed in the correct tissues.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Trigeminal uptake and clearance of inhaled manganese chloride in rats and mice.

Inhaled manganese (Mn) can enter the olfactory bulbs via the olfactory epithelium, and can then be further transported trans-synaptically to deeper brain structures. In addition to olfactory neurons, the nasal cavity is innervated by the maxillary division of the trigeminal nerve that projects to the spinal trigeminal nucleus. Direct uptake and transport of inhaled metal particles in the trigeminal system has not been investigated previously. We studied the uptake, deposition, and clearance of soluble Mn in the trigeminal system following nose-only inhalation of environmentally relevant concentrations. Rats and mice were exposed for 10-days (6 h/day, 5 days/week) to air or MnCl2 aerosols containing 2.3 +/- 1.3 mg/m3 Mn with mass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD) of 3.1 +/- 1.4 microm for rats and 2.0 +/- 0.09 mg/m3 Mn MnCl2 with MMAD of 1.98 +/- 0.12 microm for mice. Mn concentrations in the trigeminal ganglia and spinal trigeminal nucleus were measured 2 h (0-day), 7-, 14-, or 30-days post-exposure using proton induced X-ray emission (PIXE). Manganese-exposed rats and mice showed statistically elevated levels of Mn in trigeminal ganglia 0-, 7- and 14-days after the 10-days exposure period when compared to control animals. The Mn concentration gradually decreased over time with a clearance rate (t1/2) of 7-8-days. Rats and mice were similar in both average accumulated Mn levels in trigeminal ganglia and in rates of clearance. We also found a small but significant elevation of Mn in the spinal trigeminal nucleus of mice 7-days post-exposure and in rats 0- and 7-days post-exposure. Our data demonstrate that the trigeminal nerve can serve as a pathway for entry of inhaled Mn to the brain in rodents following nose-only exposure and raise the question of whether entry of toxicants via this pathway may contribute to development of neurodegenerative diseases.

Administration, Inhalation↗

PubMed2005

Identification of epistasis through a partial advanced intercross reveals three arthritis loci within the Cia5 QTL in mice.

Identification of genes controlling complex diseases has proven to be difficult; however, animal models may pave the way to determine how low penetrant genes interact to promote disease development. We have dissected the Cia5/Eae3 susceptibility locus on mouse chromosome 3 previously identified to control disease in experimental models of multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. Congenic strains showed significant but small effects on severity of both diseases. To improve the penetrance, we have now used a new strategy that defines the genetic interactions. The QTL interacted with another locus on chromosome 15 and a partial advanced intercross breeding of the two congenic strains for eight generations accumulated enough statistical power to identify interactions with several loci on chromosome 15. Thereby, three separate loci within the original QTL could be identified; Cia5 affected the onset of arthritis by an additive interaction with Cia31 on chromosome 15, whereas the Cia21 and Cia22 affected severity during the chronic phase of the disease through an epistatic interaction with Cia32 on chromosome 15. The definition of genetic interactions was a prerequisite to dissect the Cia5 QTL and we suggest the partial advanced intercross strategy to be helpful also for dissecting other QTL controlling complex phenotypes.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Gender-specific association between preproendothelin-1 genotype and reduction of systolic blood pressure during antihypertensive treatment--results from the Swedish Irbesartan Left Ventricular Hypertrophy Investigation versus Atenolol (SILVHIA).

BACKGROUND: Studies suggest that endothelin-1 contributes to the pathogenesis of hypertension. A G5665T gene polymorphism of preproendothelin-1 has been shown to be associated with higher blood pressure in overweight patients. No study has yet determined the effect of this polymorphism on the change in blood pressure during antihypertensive treatment. HYPOTHESIS: This study aimed to determine this effect in hypertensive patients with left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy during antihypertensive treatment with either irbesartan or atenolol. METHODS: We determined the preproendothelin-1 genotype using minisequencing in 102 patients with essential hypertension and LV hypertrophy verified by echocardiography, randomized in a double-blind fashion to treatment with either the AT1-receptor antagonist irbesartan or the beta1-adrenoceptor antagonist atenolol. RESULTS: The change in systolic blood pressure (SBP) after 12 weeks of treatment was related to the preproendothelin-1 genotype in men; after adjustment for potential covariates (age, blood pressure, and LV mass index at study entry, dose of irbesartan/atenolol, and type of treatment), those carrying the T-allele responded on average with a more than two-fold greater reduction than those with the G/G genotype (-21.9 mmHg 13.9] vs. -8.9 [2.3], p = 0.007). No significant differences in blood pressure change between G/G and carriers of the T-allele were seen among women. CONCLUSIONS: Our finding suggests a gender-specific relationship between the G5665T preproendothelin-1 polymorphism and change in SBP in response to antihypertensive treatment with irbesartan or atenolol, suggesting the endothelin pathway to be a common mechanism included in the hypertensive action of the drugs.

Antihypertensive Agents↗

PubMed2004

Beta1-adrenergic receptor gene polymorphisms and response to beta1-adrenergic receptor blockade in patients with essential hypertension.

BACKGROUND: Studies suggest that the Ser49Gly and Arg389Gly polymorphisms in the beta1-adrenergic receptor might be of functional importance for the cardiovascular system. Both have been associated with altered receptor activity in vitro, and with hypertension and cardiac failure in vivo. HYPOTHESIS: The aim of this study was to test whether these polymorphisms were associated with the change in heart rate or blood pressure in patients with essential hypertension and left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy treated with the beta1-adrenergic receptor blocker atenolol. METHODS: Blood pressure and heart rate were measured in 101 hypertensive patients with echocardiographically verified LV hypertrophy, randomized in a double-blind study to treatment with either the beta1-adrenergic receptor blocker atenolol or the angiotensin II type I receptor antagonist irbesartan. Changes in blood pressure and heart rate were evaluated after 12 weeks. Beta1-adrenergic receptor genotyping was performed using polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism. RESULTS: We found no significant associations between the changes in the measured variables and either of the two polymorphisms. However, carriers of the 49Gly allele showed a tendency toward a greater reduction in heart rate compared with patients with the Ser/Ser49 genotype (p = 0.06). CONCLUSIONS: The Ser49Gly and Arg389Gly beta1-adrenergic receptor polymorphisms do not seem to exert a major effect on the changes in heart rate and blood pressure during 12 weeks of treatment with atenolol in patients with essential hypertension and LV hypertrophy.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗

PubMed2004

Predictors of treatment outcome in intermittent claudication.

OBJECTIVE: To derive formulae to predict the likely 12-month health-related quality of life outcome following different treatments for intermittent claudication (IC). DESIGN: A prospective, randomized, controlled study. MATERIALS: One hundred and seventy-one unselected patients with stable IC were sequentially randomized to invasive therapy, supervised physical training or observation. Hierarchical analysis was used to identify significant predictors of outcome. RESULTS: The strongest outcome predictors were baseline values of the respective outcome variables in all groups. No more than two significant secondary predictors were identified for each outcome variable and no outcome variable was a predictor of any other outcome variable. Resulting prediction equations achieved between 61 and 90% concordance with improvement (75% considered adequate), with best prediction for invasive therapy and poorest for observation. Suggested cutpoints for the various endpoints in the three groups had sensitivities ranging between 65 and 100% and false positive rates between 5 and 50%. CONCLUSIONS: The derived equations adequately predicted improvement on the various outcome variables in invasive therapy and supervised physical training, and may serve as aids in selecting patients likely to benefit most from a particular treatment strategy. The uniqueness of the outcome variables underscores the importance of implementing a comprehensive set of endpoints relevant to the impacts of the condition.

Aged↗

PubMed2004

A comparative controlled study of personality in severe obesity: a 2-y follow-up after intervention.

OBJECTIVE: The primary purpose was to examine 2-y effects of weight change on personality traits in severely obese subjects treated conventionally or surgically. We also assessed differences between the severely obese patients and a primarily normal-weight reference group. METHOD: Personality traits were assessed using 7 of 15 scales from the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP): Somatic Anxiety, Muscular Tension, Psychasthenia, Psychic Anxiety, Monotony Avoidance, Impulsiveness, and Irritability. A total of 1380 surgical candidates, 1241 conventionally treated patients and 1135 subjects from the SOS (Swedish Obese Subjects) reference study, representing the general population, completed the KSP. Data presented in this study were gathered twice from the patients (prior to treatment and after 2 y) and once from the reference subjects. Significance tests and effect sizes (ES) were calculated. RESULTS: At baseline, the obese were characterised as more anxiety prone, impulsive, irritable and less monotony avoiding than the reference group; surgery patients more so than the conventionally treated. At follow-up, it was found that anxiety proneness decreased and Monotony Avoidance increased with increasing weight loss. The conventionally treated were, on average, weight stable and, hence, only a small decrease was noted regarding Somatic Anxiety. The surgery group lost on average 28 kg, and differences between surgically treated and the reference group decreased on all scales except Impulsiveness, which remained unchanged. The largest improvement was in relation to Psychasthenia. CONCLUSIONS: Weight reduction maintained for 2 y was associated with changes on practically all personality traits in proportion to the magnitude of weight loss. In particular, Psychasthenia seemed to be alleviated, while Impulsiveness was unaffected.

Anxiety↗

PubMed2004

Warfarin sensitivity related to CYP2C9, CYP3A5, ABCB1 (MDR1) and other factors.

The required dose of the oral anticoagulant warfarin varies greatly, and overdosing often leads to bleeding. Warfarin is metabolised by cytochrome P450 enzymes CYP2C9, CYP1A2 and CYP3A. The target cell level of warfarin may be dependent on the efflux pump P-glycoprotein, encoded by the adenosine triphosphate-binding cassette gene ABCB1 (multidrug resistance gene 1). Genetic variability in CYP2C9, CYP3A5 and ABCB1 was analysed in 201 stable warfarin-treated patients using solid-phase minisequencing, pyrosequencing and SNaPshot. CYP2C9 variants, age, weight, concurrent drug treatment and indication for treatment significantly influenced warfarin dosing in these patients, explaining 29% of the variation in dose. CYP3A5 did not affect warfarin dosing. An ABCB1 haplotype containing the exon 26 3435T variant was over-represented among low-dose patients. Thirty-six patients with serious bleeding complications had higher prothrombin time international normalised ratios than 189 warfarin-treated patients without serious bleeding, but there were no significant differences in CYP2C9, CYP3A5 or ABCB1 genotypes and allelic variants.

ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Mem↗

PubMed2003

Hamstring injury occurrence in elite soccer players after preseason strength training with eccentric overload.

The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a preseason strength training programme for the hamstring muscle group - emphasising eccentric overloading - could affect the occurrence and severity of hamstring injuries during the subsequent competition season in elite male soccer players. Thirty players from two of the best premier-league division teams in Sweden were divided into two groups; one group received additional specific hamstring training, whereas the other did not. The extra training was performed 1-2 times a week for 10 weeks by using a special device aiming at specific eccentric overloading of the hamstrings. Isokinetic hamstring strength and maximal running speed were measured in both groups before and after the training period and all hamstring injuries were registered during the total observational period of 10 months. The results showed that the occurrence of hamstring strain injuries was clearly lower in the training group (3/15) than in the control group (10/15). In addition, there were significant increases in strength and speed in the training group. However, there were no obvious coupling between performance parameters and injury occurrence. These results indicate that addition of specific preseason strength training for the hamstrings - including eccentric overloading - would be beneficial for elite soccer players, both from an injury prevention and from performance enhancement point of view.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Psychosocial functioning in the obese before and after weight reduction: construct validity and responsiveness of the Obesity-related Problems scale.

OBJECTIVE: The Obesity-related Problems scale (OP) is a self-assessment module developed to measure the impacts of obesity on psychosocial functioning. Our principal aim was to evaluate the construct validity and responsiveness of the OP scale. Our specific aims were to test: (1). the psychometric performance of OP; (2). if OP scores differed by gender and weight category; (3). if OP scores are inversely related to mental well-being; (4). if weight reduction in the obese is accompanied by improvements in psychosocial functioning (OP). SUBJECTS: Four samples were used: 6863 subjects in the SOS cross-sectional study; 2128 in the SOS intervention study; 1017 nonobese in the SOS reference study; and 3305 obese subjects in the XENDOS study. MEASUREMENTS: Psychosocial functioning was measured by OP. Overall mood was measured by MACL. Anxiety and depression symptoms were measured by HAD. RESULTS: Psychometric testing provided strong support for the construct validity of OP. Factor analysis confirmed the homogeneity of the construct and multitrait/multi-item scaling analysis demonstrated strong item-convergent/discriminant validity. Reliability coefficients were high and floor and ceiling effects were small. Psychometric results were cross-validated and replicated in subgroups by gender, age and body mass index (BMI). As expected, large differences in OP were observed between obese and nonobese (P<0.0001). Obese women reported more weight-related psychosocial problems than obese men (P<0.0001). Psychosocial disturbances (OP) among the obese were significantly related to poor mood (MACL; P<0.0001) and anxiety and depression symptoms (HAD; P<0.0001). Change in OP over time was strongly correlated with weight loss (P<0.0001). A distinct dose-response effect between weight reduction and improvements in OP was demonstrated. Scores on psychosocial functioning (OP) and mental well-being (MACL, HAD) in nonobese (BMI<30) surgical patients at 4-y follow-up were equal to scores observed in nonobese reference subjects (NS). CONCLUSION: OP is a psychometrically valid obesity-specific measure suitable for evaluating HRQL effects of obesity interventions. The negative impact of obesity on psychosocial functioning is considerable and disturbances are connected with poor mental well-being. Weight reduction in the obese is followed by improvements in both psychosocial functioning and mental well-being.

Affect↗

PubMed2003

Severe obesity and personality: a comparative controlled study of personality traits.

OBJECTIVE: The primary purpose was to assess personality trait differences between the severely obese seeking treatment and a mainly non-obese reference group. We also investigated gender differences and differences between obese patients and obese not seeking treatment. METHOD: Personality traits were assessed using 7 of 15 scales from the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP): Somatic Anxiety, Muscular Tension, Psychastenia, Psychic Anxiety, Monotony Avoidance, Impulsiveness, and Irritability. Patients from the Swedish Obese Subjects (SOS) intervention study (n=3270, ages 37-57, 71% women) and the SOS reference study (n=1135, 54% women) completed the survey. Data presented in this study were gathered prior to treatment. Significance tests and effects sizes were calculated. RESULTS: Although statistically significant differences were found between obese patients and reference subjects on nearly all personality traits, effect sizes were at most moderate. Of the three scales with moderate effects sizes, differences on Somatic Anxiety and Psychastenia could be traced to items tapping condition-specific symptoms, e.g., problems with sweating and breathing as indicators of Somatic Anxiety. Moderate differences on the Impulsiveness scale (men alone) could not be explained by item composition. Further, the obese patients differed from obese in the reference group, and both obese and reference women reported significantly higher levels on Somatic Anxiety, Muscular Tension and Psychic Anxiety compared to men (effect size: small). CONCLUSIONS: Our results provided no evidence of a general obese personality profile, instead considerable heterogeneity in personality traits was observed across our obese samples (treatment seekers vs non-seekers, men vs women) and generally only small differences were noted compared to a reference study population. Further research is needed to investigate if the somewhat elevated levels of Impulsiveness, particularly among male obese patients, is affected by weight loss. When assessing personality traits in diseased groups consideration should be given to possible confounding from, e.g., somatic symptoms.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Both apoptosis and necrosis occur early after intracerebral grafting of ventral mesencephalic tissue: a role for protease activation.

Neural transplantation is an experimental treatment for Parkinson's disease. Widespread clinical application of the grafting technique is hampered by a relatively poor survival (around 10%) of implanted embryonic dopamine neurones. Earlier animal studies have indicated that a large proportion of the grafted cells die during graft tissue preparation and within the first few days after intracerebral implantation. The present study was designed to reveal the prevalence of cell death in rat intrastriatal grafts at 90 min, 1, 3, 6 and 42 days after implantation. We examined apoptotic cell death using semi-thin and paraffin sections stained with methylene blue and an antibody against activated caspase 3, respectively. We identified abundant apoptotic cell death up to 3 days after transplantation. In addition, we studied calpain activation using an antibody specific for calpain-cleaved fodrin. We report a peak in calpain activity 90 min after grafting. Surprisingly, we did not observe any significant difference in the number of dopaminergic neurones over time. The present results imply that grafted cells may be victims of either an early necrotic or a later apoptotic cell death and that there is substantial cell death as early as 90 min after implantation.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Iontophoresis with or without dexamethazone in the treatment of acute Achilles tendon pain.

The purpose of this double-blind study was to evaluate the effects of iontophoresis with dexamethazone to iontophoresis with saline solution on patients who had acute (less than 3 months) pain from the Achilles tendon, in terms of range of motion, muscular endurance, pain and symptoms. Twenty-five patients (15 men and 10 women), aged between 18 and 76 years (mean=38), were evaluated before and after 2 weeks of treatment with iontophoresis, as well as after 6 weeks, 3 and 6 months and 1 year. Two groups were treated for 2 weeks with iontophoresis for each treatment. Three ml of dexamethazone were used for the experiment group (n=14) and 3 ml of saline solution for the control group (n=11). Both groups then followed the same rehabilitation programme for 10 weeks. Good reliability was found for the toe-raise and range of motion tests. Poor reliability was, however, found for the pain on palpation test, which was therefore excluded. No difference was found between or within groups for the toe-raise test. Several significant improvements were seen in the experiment group but not in the control group, in the range of motion test, pain during and after physical activity, pain during walking and walking up and down stairs, morning stiffness and tendon swelling. Even though the small sample size limits the possibilities to draw definite conclusions, we conclude from the present study, using a double-blind, randomised approach and a 1-year follow-up period, that positive effects from using iontophoresis with dexamethazone were found in the treatment of patients with acute Achilles tendon pain.

Achilles Tendon↗

PubMed2002

A prolonged outbreak of Norwalk-like calicivirus (NLV) gastroenteritis in a rehabilitation centre due to environmental contamination.

An outbreak of Norwalk-like calicivirus (NLV) gastroenteritis occurred in a rehabilitation centre in southern Finland between December 1999 and February 2000. An epidemiological investigation was conducted to determine the source and extent of the outbreak. More than 300 guests and staff members became ill during the outbreak. No food or activity in the centre could be linked epidemiologically to illness. NLV genogroup II was detected by RT-PCR in stool samples of symptomatic guests and employees. All strains reacted similarly with the microplate hybridization probe panel and showed the same nucleotide sequence, indicating that they represented the same NLV strain. Food and water samples were negative for NLV, whereas NLV was detected in three environmental specimens. The strains from patients and environment were identical based on microplate hybridization probes, suggesting that environmental contamination may have been important for the spread of calicivirus and the protracted course of the outbreak.

Adult↗