Adverse childhood experiences and suicide attempts in morbidly obese adults

Introdução: As tentativas de suicídio surgem frequentemente associadas a problemas alimentares, tanto anorexia quanto bulimia. Do mesmo modo, tem-se verifi cado uma elevada ocorrência de suicídio entre obesos. Investigações têm mostrado que a adversidade na infância pode ser um fator de risco para as tentativas de suicídio. Objetivos: Caracterizar e compreender a relação entre experiências de adversidade na infância e tentativas de suicídio em 100 obesos mórbidos candidatos a cirurgia bariátrica. Métodos: Um total de 100 pacientes foram selecionados de setembro de 2007 a outubro de 2007 e de janeiro de 2008 a janeiro de 2009, sendo que 20 pacientes eram do sexo feminino. A média de idade era de 38,89±9,87 anos, e a média do peso máximo era de 136,43±14 kg. O Questionário da História de Adversidade na Infância foi utilizado para avaliar experiências adversas. Resultados: 88% dos pacientes relataram a existência de pelo menos uma experiência de adversidade na infância, e 25% relataram já ter realizado pelo menos uma tentativa de suicídio. A adversidade na infância esteve associada a um risco aumentado para realizar tentativas de suicídio (odds ratio = 2,026). Conclusão: Esses dados devem ser levados em consideração na avaliação e no acompanhamento desses pacientes.Introduction: Suicide attempts are often associated with eating disorders, both anorexia and bulimia. Likewise, a high incidence of suicide has been observed among obese patients. Previous studies have shown that adverse experiences in childhood may be a risk factor for suicide attempts. Objectives: To characterize and to understand the relationship between adverse experiences and suicide attempts in 100 morbidly obese patients referred for bariatric surgery. Methods: A total of 100 patients were selected from September 2007 to October 2007 and from January 2008 to January 2009. Of these, 20 patients were females. Mean age was 38.89±9.87 years, and mean maximum weight was 136.43±14 kg. The Portuguese version of the Family ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) Questionnaire was used to assess the occurrence of adverse events. Results: 88% of the patients reported the existence of at least one adverse experience in childhood, and 25% reported at least one previous suicide attempt. Adversity in childhood was associated with an increased risk for suicide attempts (odds ratio = 2.026). Conclusion: These data should be taken into account in the assessment and monitoring of these patients.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT); (SFRH/BD/37069/2007)

Association of childhood trauma with cognitive function in healthy adults: a pilot study

BACKGROUND: Animal and human studies suggest that stress experienced early in life has detrimental consequences on brain development, including brain regions involved in cognitive function. Cognitive changes are cardinal features of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. Early-life trauma is a major risk factor for these disorders. Only few studies have measured the long-term consequences of childhood trauma on cognitive function in healthy adults. METHODS: In this pilot study, we investigated the relationship between childhood trauma exposure and cognitive function in 47 healthy adults, who were identified as part of a larger study from the general population in Wichita, KS. We used the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) and the Wide-Range-Achievement-Test (WRAT-3) to examine cognitive function and individual achievement. Type and severity of childhood trauma was assessed by the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Data were analyzed using multiple linear regression on CANTAB measures with primary predictors (CTQ scales) and potential confounders (age, sex, education, income). RESULTS: Specific CTQ scales were significantly associated with measures of cognitive function. Emotional abuse was associated with impaired spatial working memory performance. Physical neglect correlated with impaired spatial working memory and pattern recognition memory. Sexual abuse and physical neglect were negatively associated with WRAT-3 scores. However, the association did not reach the significance level of p < 0.01. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that physical neglect and emotional abuse might be associated with memory deficits in adulthood, which in turn might pose a risk factor for the development of psychopathology

Co-Culturing Human Adipose Derived Stem Cells and Schwann Cells on Spider Silk—A New Approach as Prerequisite for Enhanced Nerve Regeneration

Fast recovery is crucial for a successful nerve repair and an optimal functional outcome after peripheral nerve injury. Regarding donor site morbidity, autologous transplantation shows great limitations, which urge the need for alternative options in nerve reconstruction. Spider silk was reported as an advantageous material for cell adhesion, migration and proliferation, and its use in conduits is of great interest, especially in combination with cells to improve nerve regeneration. We here described the behavior of a co-culture of human Schwann cells and human adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) on spider silk as a new approach. After characterized by immunostaining ADSCs and Schwann cells were seeded in the co-culture on a spider silk scaffold and observed for 21 days. Results showed that cells were attached to the silk and aligned along the silk fibers. With further culture time, cells migrated along the silk and increased in number and formed an almost confluent cell layer. In immunostaining, results suggest that the cell layer was equally composed of ADSCs and Schwann cells. In conclusion, we showed that by providing a guiding structure for directed growth and cells to support nerve regeneration and remyelination, a valid alternative to autologous nerve grafts could have been found

Automated image analysis of stained cytospins to quantify Schwann cell purity and proliferation.

In response to injury, adult Schwann cells (SCs) re-enter the cell cycle, change their expression profile, and exert repair functions important for wound healing and the re-growth of axons. While this phenotypical instability of SCs is essential for nerve regeneration, it has also been implicated in cancer progression and de-myelinating neuropathies. Thus, SCs became an important research tool to study the molecular mechanisms involved in repair and disease and to identify targets for therapeutic intervention. A high purity of isolated SC cultures used for experimentation must be demonstrated to exclude that novel findings are derived from a contaminating fibroblasts population. In addition, information about the SC proliferation status is an important parameter to be determined in response to different treatments. The evaluation of SC purity and proliferation, however, usually depends on the time consuming, manual assessment of immunofluorescence stainings or comes with the sacrifice of a large amount of SCs for flow cytometry analysis. We here show that rat SC culture derived cytospins stained for SC marker SOX10, proliferation marker EdU, intermediate filament vimentin and DAPI allowed the determination of SC identity and proliferation by requiring only a small number of cells. Furthermore, the CellProfiler software was used to develop an automated image analysis pipeline that quantified SCs and proliferating SCs from the obtained immunofluorescence images. By comparing the results of total cell count, SC purity and SC proliferation rate between manual counting and the CellProfiler output, we demonstrated applicability and reliability of the established pipeline. In conclusion, we here combined the cytospin technique, a multi-colour immunofluorescence staining panel, and an automated image analysis pipeline to enable the quantification of SC purity and SC proliferation from small cell aliquots. This procedure represents a solid read-out to simplify and standardize the quantification of primary SC culture purity and proliferation