Decision-making and euthanasia.
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Attitude to Health↗
Biomedical subjects
T Lindholm
Publications and source records attributed to T Lindholm.
Expression of tenascin R and J1 mRNA in motoneurons after a traumatic lesion in the spinal cord.
We demonstrate, using in situ hybridization, that mRNA for the anti-adhesive molecules tenascin R and J1 in the adult rat spinal motoneurons are down-regulated rapidly as a reaction after a ventral funiculus lesion. Tenascin-R was significantly down-regulated at day 1 and normalized after 3 weeks. Tenascin-J1 declined to its lowest value at day 3 and returned to the initial level after 3 weeks. In adjacent sections, the distribution of macrophages was studied with immuno histochemistry. The density of macrophages reached a maximum 3 days after the injury. Thus, the density of macrophages appeared to be inversely related to the level of tenascin mRNA. These data are compatible with the notion that neuronal tenascins may modulate the adhesion of perincurial inflammatory cells.
Animals↗
Expression of neuregulin and ErbB3 and ErbB4 after a traumatic lesion in the ventral funiculus of the spinal cord and in the intact primary olfactory system.
Neuron-derived neuregulins have been implicated in the regulation of glial cell function and survival. This factor family and its receptors may therefore be assumed to be of importance for the cellular response to traumatic injury. In this study we have examined the distribution of mRNA for neuregulin 1 (NRG1), ErbB3 and ErbB4-receptor tyrosine kinases after a ventral funiculus lesion in the lumbar spinal cord (VFL). The techniques used were in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry. The survival times were 1-21 days. The spinal cords from normal adult and embryonic rats were used as controls. For comparison, sections from the olfactory bulb of perinatal and adult rats were also included in the study. Expression of NRG1 mRNA was observed in motoneurons in the intact spinal cord. A decrease in the labeling for NRG1 mRNA was seen during the first 5 days after VFL but then became slightly upregulated at 3 weeks after the lesion. A high labeling signal for ErbB3-mRNA was observed in the ventral and dorsal roots of E16 and E18 embryos. Labeling for ErbB3-mRNA was strong in the affected ventral root at 3 days after the VFL, reached a maximum at 1 week and was still upregulated after 3 weeks. Increased labeling for ErbB3 was also noted in scattered cells in the scar tissue 1-3 weeks after the VFL. These findings were verified with immunohistochemistry for ErbB3. A strong labeling for ErbB3 in the olfactory nerve fiber layer and olfactory nerve bundles was observed in rats of all ages examined. ErbB4 had strong expression in the embryonic spinal cord, but no evidence for lesion-induced regulation of ErbB4 receptors could be found after the VFL. Our data show that ErbB3 in the ventral roots was upregulated after a VFL and that NRG1 mRNA was initially downregulated in the motoneurons. The lesion-induced changes in the expression of NRG1 and ErbB3 in the injured spinal cord and denervated ventral root can be assumed to be of importance for axonal growth and the regulation of glial cell survival.
Animals↗
Differential expression of tenascin-C, tenascin-R, tenascin/J1, and tenascin-X in spinal cord scar tissue and in the olfactory system.
The members of the tenascin family are involved in a number of developmental processes, mainly by their ability to regulate cell adhesion. We have here studied the distribution of mRNAs for tenascin-X, -C, and -R and the closely related molecule tenascin/J1 in the olfactory system and spinal cord. The olfactory bulb and nasal mucosa were studied during late embryonic and early postnatal development as well as in the adult. The spinal cord was studied during late embryonic development and after mechanical lesions. In the normal rat, the spinal cord and olfactory bulb displayed similar patterns of tenascin expression. Tenascin-C, tenascin-R, and tenascin/J1 were all expressed in the olfactory bulb and spinal cord during development, while tenascin/J1 was the only extensively expressed tenascin molecule in the adult. In both regions tenascin/J1 was expressed in both nonneuronal and neuronal cells. After a spinal cord lesion, mRNAs for tenascin-C, -X, -R, and/J1 were all upregulated and had their own specific spatial and temporal expression patterns. Thus, even if axonal outgrowth occurs to some extent both in the adult rat primary olfactory system and in spinal cord scar tissue after lesion, the tenascin expression patterns in these two situations are totally different.
Age Factors↗
Can reactive hyperemia be used instead of exercise test in assessment of mild intermittent claudication.
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Purpose of the study was to find out if reactive hyperemia stress test could serve as an alternative for treadmill exercise test in assessment of mild intermittent claudication (IC). MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 22 claudicants with resting ankle brachial index (ABI) ranging from 0.61 to 1.23 were stressed with progressive treadmill exercise test and suprasystolic thigh occlusion test to provoke reactive hyperemia. Immediate pressure measurements were obtained after the test. RESULTS: ABI drop after progressive exercise test was in average 0.29 and after reactive hyperemia 0.16. The pressures indices after these stress tests correlated well (r = 0.82). The tests were equally good in detecting mild arteriosclerotic disease. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, although postexercise ABI was able to detect mild atherosclerotic disease as the reason for IC with a better marginal than hyperemia test both methods are useful. In circumstances where the patient is for some reason unable to carry out treadmill test reactive hyperemia test is an alternative for differential diagnosis. This enables vascular surgeons to improve their diagnostics without vascular laboratory.
Arteriosclerosis↗
Sex differences in the association between childhood experiences and adult depression.
BACKGROUND: In the present paper, sex differences in the association between adult depression and childhood experiences were examined. METHODS: The study series of the Finnish UKKI Study consisted of a population sample of 501 men and 499 women. Information concerning childhood experiences was gathered retrospectively in a baseline survey carried out in 1969-72. After the initial phase, the mental health of the subjects was evaluated by interviews, questionnaires and register data at the 5-year follow-up (1974-6) and at the 16-year follow-up (1985-7). RESULTS: Twelve per cent of men and 21% of women had suffered from depression during the 16-year follow-up period. A disturbed mother-child relationship and neurotic symptoms in childhood were associated with depression in women but not in men in the logistic model that included gender interaction. In separate analyses by gender several childhood factors showed statistically significant associations with depression in women but only a few in men. CONCLUSIONS: The finding suggests that childhood experiences are more highly predisposing factors to depression in women than in men.
Adolescent↗
The fate of traumatic memories in childhood and adulthood.
The present article addresses issues concerning the complex relation between memory and trauma in childhood and adult life. Research findings showing how children and adults remember public and personal emotional events are presented, and mechanisms functioning to hold traumatic memories back from awareness are discussed. In the final section, developmental aspects are addressed by considering the interplay between child and adult trauma. Several cases are described that show how childhood trauma may be represented in memory and influence later development and adult memory processes.
Adult↗
Intergroup biases and eyewitness testimony.
The study examined how the in-group/out-group status of a perpetrator of a distinctly violent crime might influence an eyewitness's evaluation of his behavior and a witness's performance in an identification task. Immigrant and Swedish students saw a film showing a simulated robbery, with an immigrant or a Swede as the perpetrator. Results showed that both groups evaluated an ethnically dissimilar perpetrator as more culpable than an ethnically similar perpetrator. In a line-up task, both immigrant and Swedish participants mistakenly identified an innocent immigrant more often than an innocent Swede. Participants' biased evaluations of the perpetrator are discussed in terms of cognitive and motivational mechanisms. Expectations regarding the typical ethnicity of a perpetrator of this type of crime are suggested to account for the findings of the line-up task.
Crime↗
Neonatal sciatic nerve transection induces TUNEL labeling of neurons in the rat spinal cord and DRG.
Transection of a peripheral nerve in neonatal rats induces an extensive death of axotomized neurons. We demonstrate here that spinal motoneurons and sensory dorsal root ganglia neurons become TUNEL-labeled after sciatic nerve transection in neonatal rats, thus indicating that apoptotic mechanisms are involved in the death process. Interestingly, there is also a profound increase of TUNEL-labeled interneurons in the deep dorsal horn. This location suggests that an intact afferent input and/or contact with target cells is essential for interneuronal survival. Death of motoneurons and sensory neurons could be a result of the injury per se and/or the deprivation of neurotrophic substances, secondary to the loss of contact with target cells.
Animals↗
Plasma concentrations of vitamin C, vitamin E and/or malondialdehyde as markers of oxygen free radical production during hemodialysis.
To investigate the effects of neutrophil activation during hemodialysis (HD), blood markers of oxygen free radical (OFR) activity were studied. Two groups of HD patients on standard cuprophane treatment were investigated after an overnight fast. In the first group (mean age 68 +/- 8 years; n = 6) vitamin supplementation was withdrawn two weeks prior to the study, whereas the second group (mean age 73 +/- 3 years; n = 7) continued their normal vitamin intake. The two control groups, one consisting of age-matched subjects (mean age 72 +/- 2 years; n = 21), the other of younger subjects (mean age 36 +/- 7 years; n = 11), were asked to cease vitamin supplementation two weeks before the study and to fast overnight before blood sampling. Serial blood and dialysate samples were collected during HD in the vitamin-deprived patient group, and a single blood sample was collected in the other three groups. Plasma concentrations of vitamin C (total and reduced form), vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were determined with newly adopted and validated HPLC methods. Basal plasma vitamin C concentrations were lower among vitamin-deprived HD patients than among age-matched controls or vitamin-supplemented HD patients (22 +/- 6 microM versus 39 +/- 19 microM and 34 +/- 10 microM, respectively). During a 3-hour HD session, the mean decrease in total vitamin C was 40%. Basal alpha-tocopherol concentrations did not differ significantly between vitamin-deprived HD patients and vitamin-supplemented HD patients or age-matched controls (39 +/- 5 microM versus 40 +/- 11 microM and 38 +/- 6 microM, respectively), but were lower in younger controls (33 +/- 4 microM). No alpha-tocopherol was detected in the dialysate, and its plasma concentration did not change significantly during a single HD session. Basal plasma MDA concentrations were higher in vitamin-supplemented HD patients than in vitamin-deprived HD patients or age-matched controls (1.5 +/- 0.2 microM versus 0.9 +/- 0.2 microM and 1.1 +/- 0.2 microM, respectively). No MDA was detected in the dialysate, and its plasma concentration did not change significantly during a single HD session. Our results indicate an increased need of vitamin C supplementation in HD patients. The concentration of oxidized vitamin C seems to peak early during HD and may be of value as a marker of OFR production. alpha-tocopherol concentrations do not change during HD and do not differ from those in control subjects. MDA may increase over a longer period of time on dialysis, but does not change during a single HD treatment.
Adult↗
Incidence of mental disorders in the Finnish UKKI Study.
BACKGROUND: The aim was to give estimates of the incidence of different mental disorders from a Finnish prospective epidemiological follow-up study, the UKKI Study. METHOD: The original probability sample consisted of 1000 persons, aged 15-64 years. The baseline survey took place in 1969-71, and follow-up surveys were conducted 5 and 16 years after the baseline survey. The research methods included a personal psychiatric interview and data collection from different registers. The diagnostic system was based on the ICD-8 classification. RESULTS: The estimated annual incidence of all mental disorders was close to 15 per 1000 both between baseline and the 5-year follow-up as well as between the 5-year and the 16-year follow-up. During the entire 16-year follow-up period the annual incidence of all disorders was 14 per 1000 in men and 17 per 1000 in women. The annual income of neurotic disorders was 10 per 1000 in men and 14 per 1000 in women, and that of psychotic disorders 2 per 1000. CONCLUSIONS: In the literature, there are huge differences in the results concerning incidence of mental disorders. The results of the present study were rather close to those of the Swedish Lundby Study, but nowhere near the results of the American ECA Study.
Adolescent↗
Intensive hemodialysis and hemoperfusion treatment of Amanita mushroom poisoning.
Over a period of fifteen years, 41 patients including 23 males and 18 females with Amanita mushroom poisoning were treated at the University Hospital of Lund, Sweden. The intensity of poisoning was graded according to serum transaminase elevations and prothrombin time reductions. Severity was mild in 16 patients (Group A), moderate in 14 (Group B) and severe in 11 (Group C). Members of Group C reported shorter latency periods before the onset of symptoms, (10 +/- 1 hours, P < 0.05) and longer delays in treatment, (34 +/- 4 hours), than did the other patients. Intensive treatment was begun before the results of urine amatoxin assay were reported. Treatment consisted of: fluid and electrolyte replacement, oral activated charcoal and lactulose, i.v. penicillin, combined hemodialysis and hemoperfusion in two 8 hour sessions, some received i.v. thioctic acid, other i.v. silibinin, all received a special diet. This combination of treatment modalities was used to accelerate the elimination of amatoxin from the patients' bodies. The longest period of hospitalization, 13 +/- 2 days, was required by the patients of Group C (p < 0.01). All patients improved and were discharged from the hospital asymptomatic. No sequelae were later reported for the majority of those moderately and severely poisoned. We have concluded that intensive combined treatment applied in these cases is effective in relieving patients with both moderate and severe amanitin poisoning.
Adult↗
Cardiovascular functional disorder and stress among patients having neck-shoulder symptoms.
OBJECTIVES: To investigate if autonomic nervous system function, reflected in cardiovascular variables, among patients with neck-shoulder symptoms (tension neck group (T)) differed from that in a symptom free control group (C), and to establish its relation with pain and psychological stress. METHODS: Twelve women with tension neck and nine controls in secretarial jobs were studied. They underwent an orthostatic test, deep breathing test, Valsalva manoeuvre, isometric handgrip test, and muscular endurance test. Pain was measured using visual analogue scales, and psychological stress by the Modified Somatic Perception Questionnaire (MSPQ). Plasma endothelin-1 (ET-1) was measured using high pressure liquid chromatography and radioimmunoassay. RESULTS: Signs of psychological stress were significantly (p < 0.001) more common in group T than in group C. Mean resting heart rate in group T (77.8 (SE 2.9) beats/min; range 64-100) was significantly greater than that in group C (63.8 (3.1) beats/min; range 52-80) (p < 0.01). In the orthostatic test, the overall changes in R-R intervals during the first 40 heart beats after standing up and during seven minutes of testing differed significantly between the groups (p < 0.001, < 0.05, respectively). The increase in diastolic blood pressure in the three minute isometric handgrip test was significantly less in group T (19.4 (3.5) mm Hg; range -5 to 35) than in group C (30 (3.4) mm Hg; range 15-50) (p < 0.05). The MSPQ score in the study group (n = 21) correlated positively with resting heart rate (r = 0.462, p < 0.05) and negatively with increase in diastolic blood pressure (r = -0.514, p < 0.05). Plasma concentrations of ET-1 did not differ between the groups. CONCLUSION: Increased sympathetic activity was found among patients having neck-shoulder symptoms. Local mechanisms may have influenced the cardiovascular changes observed during isometric testing in these patients.
Adult↗
Intensified dialysis treatment of ethylene glycol intoxication.
During a period of 10 years 18 men were treated for severe ethylene glycol (EG) intoxication. All patients received supportive measures and ethanol infusion. Hemodialysis (HD) was applied in 11 patients (Group I) whereas 7 patients, who exhibited more advanced toxicity symptoms, received peritoneal dialysis (PD) simultaneously with HD (Group II). Patients in Group II showed more advanced acidosis on admission than in Group I (Base excess -27.1 mmol/l versus -16.8 mmol/l, p < 0.0075). The results of treatment in these two groups of patients were compared. All patients in Group I survived and one patient in Group II died. The patients in Group II were discharged with higher serum creatinine and follow up time to improve renal function was longer than in Group I (252 versus 149 mumol/l, p < 0.015 and 23 versus 7.9 weeks, p < 0.05 respectively). No correlations were found between serum EG and grade of acidosis on admission or serum EG and subsequent increase of serum creatinine but acidosis on admission was highly correlated to the rise of serum creatinine after the 72 hours of observation time (p < 0.0001). It is concluded, that combined HD and PD treatment was beneficial in the presented patients as it corrected acidosis earlier and could eliminate EG and its toxic metabolites faster, improving prognosis.
Acid-Base Equilibrium↗
[Has the prevalence of mental health problems increased during the recession?].
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Adolescent↗
trkC expression in the injured rat spinal cord.
Reactive non-neuronal cells express high levels of low-affinity neurotrophin receptor and truncated trkB receptors after spinal cord injury. Here we report that descending nerve fibres in the rat lateral spinal cord column show strong trkC-like immunoreactivity after traumatic spinal cord lesions in the adult rat. No change in trkC expression by glial cells could be detected by immunohistochemistry or in situ hybridization at the lesion site. The data suggest that regeneration of descending spinal cord axons could be encouraged by the trkC ligand, neurotrophin 3.
Animals↗
Self-perceived fatigue and cortisol secretion in a community sample.
The possible relation of cortisol secretion to self-perceived fatigue was examined in an adult community sample. Serum cortisol levels measured after the dexamethasone suppression test (DST) did not predict fatigue whereas depression assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and current medical treatment were significant and independent predictors. Confounding variables such as age, gender, body mass and social status were not predictive of fatigue. Of putative hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal abnormalities hypersecretion of cortisol does not typify subjects with self-perceived fatigue.
Adolescent↗
Prevalence of antibodies against hepatitis B and C viruses among different groups of medical staff.
The prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) among the medical staff of a department of infectious diseases and a dialysis unit was studied (n = 80). Among medical staff from some selected emergency and operating units at elevated risk for blood exposure (n = 231) the prevalence of antibodies to both hepatitis B and C viruses was determined. Three out of 311 staff members tested (0.96%) were positive for anti-HCV, 1 from an emergency unit and 2 from surgery departments. 14/231 tested for anti-HBc (6.1%) were positive. None of these was positive for HBsAg. Thus, the prevalence of anti-HCV among medical staff frequently dealing with anti-HCV positive patients or at elevated risk for blood exposure was low and did not differ considerably from what has been found among healthy blood donors. The prevalence of markers for passed hepatitis B was only slightly augmented compared to what has been reported from the general population.
Hepacivirus↗