The NEWMEDS rodent touchscreen test battery for cognition relevant to schizophrenia.

RATIONALE: The NEWMEDS initiative (Novel Methods leading to New Medications in Depression and Schizophrenia, http://www.newmeds-europe.com ) is a large industrial-academic collaborative project aimed at developing new methods for drug discovery for schizophrenia. As part of this project, Work package 2 (WP02) has developed and validated a comprehensive battery of novel touchscreen tasks for rats and mice for assessing cognitive domains relevant to schizophrenia. OBJECTIVES: This article provides a review of the touchscreen battery of tasks for rats and mice for assessing cognitive domains relevant to schizophrenia and highlights validation data presented in several primary articles in this issue and elsewhere. METHODS: The battery consists of the five-choice serial reaction time task and a novel rodent continuous performance task for measuring attention, a three-stimulus visual reversal and the serial visual reversal task for measuring cognitive flexibility, novel non-matching to sample-based tasks for measuring spatial working memory and paired-associates learning for measuring long-term memory. RESULTS: The rodent (i.e. both rats and mice) touchscreen operant chamber and battery has high translational value across species due to its emphasis on construct as well as face validity. In addition, it offers cognitive profiling of models of diseases with cognitive symptoms (not limited to schizophrenia) through a battery approach, whereby multiple cognitive constructs can be measured using the same apparatus, enabling comparisons of performance across tasks. CONCLUSION: This battery of tests constitutes an extensive tool package for both model characterisation and pre-clinical drug discovery.This work was supported by the Innovative Medicine Initiative Joint Undertaking under grant agreement no. 115008 of which resources are composed of EFPIA in-kind contribution and financial contribution from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013). The authors thank Charlotte Oomen for valuable comments on the manuscript.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-015-4007-

Doctor can I buy a new kidney? I've heard it isn't forbidden: what is the role of the nephrologist when dealing with a patient who wants to buy a kidney?

Organ trafficking is officially banned in several countries and by the main Nephrology Societies. However, this practice is widespread and is allowed or tolerated in many countries, hence, in the absence of a universal law, the caregiver may be asked for advice, placing him/her in a difficult balance between legal aspects, moral principles and ethical judgments. In spite of the Istanbul declaration, which is a widely shared position statement against organ trafficking, the controversy on mercenary organ donation is still open and some experts argue against taking a negative stance. In the absence of clear evidence showing the clinical disadvantages of mercenary transplantation compared to chronic dialysis, self-determination of the patient (and, with several caveats, of the donor) may conflict with other ethical principles, first of all non-maleficence. The present paper was drawn up with the participation of the students, as part of the ethics course at our medical school. It discusses the situation in which the physician acts as a counselor for the patient in the way of a sort of “reverse” informed consent, in which the patient asks advice regarding a complex personal decision, and includes a peculiar application of the four principles (beneficence, non-maleficence, justice and autonomy) to the donor and recipient parties

Comparison of the Effects of Lavender Essential Oil and Sesame Oil on Sleep Quality of Nurses

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Sleep disorders in nurses due to rotational shiftwork and diversity of the working time are highly prevalent, which can be improved by aromatherapy. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of aromatherapy with lavender essential oil on sleep quality of nurses covered by social security. METHODS: This clinical trial study was conducted in 78 nurses randomly divided into two groups of lavender and sesame oil (placebo). The participants used lavender essential oil and sesame oil for two hours in early hours of their shift for four weeks. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was employed to evaluate sleep quality of both groups pre-intervention and at the end of the second and fourth weeks of the intervention (IRCT: 201407176342N4). FINDINGS: According to the results, mean ages of the lavender and placebo groups were 34.87±4.85 and 36.49±5.38 years, respectively. Moreover, there was no significant difference between the two groups regarding anthropometric variables (i.e., the mean height, weight, and overtime working hours). In addition, the groups were homogenous in terms of gender, marital status, work shift, department, and educational level. The results indicated no significant difference between the lavender and sesame groups regarding the mean scores of sleep quality (7.79±3.78 vs. 7.44±4.24); this mean was not significantly different between the groups at the end of the second and fourth weeks, as well. CONCLUSION: In this study, lavender essential oil had no significant impact on sleep quality of the nurse

Production and Purification of Anti-Rhombomys opimus Immunoglobulins

Background: Zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) is an increasing public health problem in some endemic re­gions. Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) conjugated rabbit anti-Rhombomys opimus (R. opimus) Ig is needed for im­munoblotting and ELISA tests used to explore the immune response of the rodents against the sand fly saliva. In this study, the production of HRP conjugated rabbit anti-R. opimus Ig was conducted for the first time.Methods: Rhombomys opimus Ig was purified from serum by protein G affinity chromatography column and in­jected into rabbit to produce anti-R. opimus Ig antibody. The titration of antibody against R. opimus Ig in rabbit se­rum was checked using indirect ELISA. Rabbit anti-R. opimus Ig was purified by Sepharose-4B-R. opimus Ig column. Re­activity of this antibody was assessed by indirect ELISA and was conjugated to HRP by periodate method. Results: Approximately 3.5 mg Ig was purified from 1 ml R. opimus serum using protein G affinity chromatography col­umn. The molecular weight of purified R. opimus Ig was estimated about 150 kDa by SDS-PAGE. Nearly 2.3 mg rab­bit anti-R. opimus Ig was purified from 1 ml immunized rabbit serum. The purified antibody was conjugated to HRP and the optimum titer of HRP conjugated rabbit anti-R. opimus Ig was determined as 1:8000 using direct ELISA. Conclusion: HRP conjugated rabbit anti-Gerbil IgG has been produced by a few companies, but to our knowledge HRP conjugated rabbit anti-R. opimus Ig is not commercially available. Production of HRP conjugated rabbit anti-R. opimus Ig is considerably helpful for immunological studies of R. opimus, the main reservoir host of ZCL in Iran as well as some other countries

The preventive effects of posterior pericardiotomy on atrial fibrillation after elective coronary artery bypass grafting

"n 800x600 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE AR-SA MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} Background: Atrial fibrillation is the most common but benign arrhythmia following cardiac surgery. Although this arrhythmia is often self-limited and vanishes in about 24 hours upon surgery; a number of arrhythmias might ensue among which some might be really life-threatening. A multitude of therapeutic modalities have been proposed for the prevention of this arrhythmia and one of them is posterior pericardiotomy. This method has not been fully accepted by the peers yet and more studies are needed to prove its efficacy and benefits to the patients."n"nMethods: In this single-blind randomized clinical trial, done over a 2-year period from February 2009 to January 2011, the effects of posterior pericardiotomy were evaluated in 174 patients (87 the case and 87 the control groups) undergoing elective coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). The case group underwent CABG with posterior pericardiotomy while the control group underwent CABG-only operation. The post-operative incidence of arrhythmia, especially atrial fibrillation, was assessed for a week using statistical methods."n"nResults: The prevalence of postoperative atrial fibrillations were fewer in the group undergoing CABG with posterior pericardiotomy compared with the CABG-only group (P<0.004)."n"nConclusion: Posterior pericardiotomy seems to reduce the incidence of atrial fibrillation following elective CABG; therefore, its application is suggested for elective CABGs

Monoclonal Antibody Production against Human Spermatozoal Surface Antigens

Introduction: As monoclonal antibodies are potential tools for characterization of soluble or cellular surface antigens, use of these proteins has always been considered in infertility and reproduction research. Therefore, in this study, monoclonal antibodies against human sperm surface antigens were produced. Material and Methods: To produce specific clones against human sperm surface antigens, proteins were extracted using solubilization methods. Balb/c mice were immunized intraperitoneally with the proteins using complete Freund’s adjuvant in the first injection and incomplete Adjuvant in the following booster injections. Hybridoma cells producing ASA were cloned by limiting dilution. Results: Five stable ASA producing hybridoma clones were achieved and their antibody isotypes were determined by ELISA. All the isotypes were of IgG class. Their cross reactivity with rat and mice spermatozoa was examined but they did not have any cross reactivity. Conclusion: The produced antibodies can be used in further studies to characterize and evaluate each of the antigens present on human sperm surface and determining their role in fertilization

Transformation of the peripheral intravenous catheter placement experience in pediatrics

Background: “Needle pokes” are the most frequent cause of pain encountered by pediatric patients in the hospital setting. Poor control of pain during needle pokes leads to short- and long-term adverse outcomes for both patients and hospitals. J-Tips are a needle-free injection system that use pressurized gas to inject lidocaine in a fine stream of fluid that penetrates the skin. This study undertook an evaluation of their effectiveness at decreasing the pain of the needle poke that takes place with IV insertion. Methods: Participation was limited to patients between the ages of 3 and 16 who received an IV during a 3-week period at an academic pediatric hospital. Furthermore, patients requiring more than one attempt to place the IV were not included. Participants were recruited within 24 hours after having received their IV. The 10-point, Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale was the tool used to collect pain scores. Patients were recruited to the study by convenience sampling. Results: Pain scores were collected from 85 patients. There were 41 patients who received needle-free injected lidocaine prior to IV insertion. There were 44 patients who received an IV without previous lidocaine injection. Mean pain scores for the two groups were 2.45 for the patients who received the needle-free injected lidocaine and 5.8 for the patients who did not (p value \u3c0.001). Conclusions: Results were consistent with the hypothesis that needle-free injection of lidocaine is an effective therapy for the management of pain in children between the ages of 3-16 years who receive an IV