Neural changes associated with appetite information processing in schizophrenic patients after 16 weeks of olanzapine treatment

There is evidence that some atypical antipsychotics, including olanzapine, can produce unwanted metabolic side effects, weight gain and diabetes. However, neuronal correlates of change related to food information processing have not been investigated with these medications. We studied the effect of a pharmacological manipulation with an antipsychotic known to cause weight gain on metabolites, cognitive tasks and neural correlates related to food regulation. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging in conjunction with a task requiring visual processing of appetitive stimuli in schizophrenic patients and healthy controls before and after 16 weeks of antipsychotic medication with olanzapine. In patients, the psychological and neuronal changes associated following the treatment correlated with appetite control measures and metabolite levels in fasting blood samples. After 16 weeks of olanzapine treatment, the patients gained weight, increased their waist circumference, had fewer positive schizophrenia symptoms, a reduced ghrelin plasma concentration and an increased concentration of triglycerides, insulin and leptin. In premotor area, somatosensory cortices as well as bilaterally in the fusiform gyri, the olanzapine treatment increased the neural activity related to appetitive information in schizophrenic patients to similar levels relative to healthy individuals. However, a higher increase in sensitivity to appetitive stimuli after the treatment was observed in insular cortices, amygdala and cerebellum in schizophrenic patients as compared with healthy controls. Furthermore, these changes in neuronal activity correlated with changes in some metabolites and cognitive measurements related to appetite regulation

Coherent millennial-scale patterns in Uk'37 and TEX86H temperature records during the penultimate interglacial-to-glacial cycle in the western Mediterranean

The TEX86H temperature proxy is a relatively new proxy based on crenarchaeotal lipids and has rarely been applied together with other temperature proxies. In this study, we applied the TEX86H on a sediment core from the Alboran Sea (western Mediterranean, core ODP-977A) covering the penultimate climate cycle, that is, from 244 to 130 ka, and compared this with previously published sea surface temperatures derived from the U37k' of alkenones of haptophyta and Mg/Ca records of planktonic foraminifera. The TEX86H temperature record shows remarkably similar stadial-interstadial patterns and abrupt temperature changes to those observed with the U37k' palaeothermometer. Absolute TEX86H temperature estimates are generally higher than those of U37k', though this difference (<3°C in 81% of the data points) is mainly within the temperature calibration error for both proxies, suggesting that crenarchaeota and haptophyta experienced similar temperature variations. During occasional events (<5% of the analyzed time span), however, the TEX86H exhibits considerably higher absolute temperature estimates than the U37k'. Comparison with Mg/Ca records of planktonic foraminifera as well as other Mediterranean TEX86 and U37k' records suggests that part of this divergence may be attributed to seasonal differences, that is, with TEX86H reflecting mainly the warm summer season while U37k' would show annual mean. Biases in the global calibration of both proxies or specific biases in the Mediterranean are an alternative, though less likely, explanation. Despite differences between absolute TEX86H and U37k' temperatures, the correlation between the two proxies (r2 = 0.59, 95% significance) provides support for the occurrence of abrupt temperature variations in the western Mediterranean during the penultimate interglacial-to-glacial cycle

Variability of the western Mediterranean Sea surface temperature during the last 25,000 years and its connection with the Northern Hemisphere climatic changes

Sea surface temperature (SST) profiles over the last 25 kyr derived from alkenone measurements are studied in four cores from a W-E latitudinal transect encompassing the Gulf of Cadiz (Atlantic Ocean), the Alboran Sea, and the southern Tyrrhenian Sea (western Mediterranean). The results document the sensitivity of the Mediterranean region to the short climatic changes of the North Atlantic Ocean, particularly those involving the latitudinal position of the polar front. The amplitude of the SST oscillations increases toward the Tyrrhenian Sea, indicating an amplification effect of the Atlantic signal by the climatic regime of the Mediterranean region. All studied cores show a shorter cooling phase (700 years) for the Younger Dryas (YD) than that observed in the North Atlantic region (1200 years). This time diachroneity is related to an intra-YD climatic change documented in the European continent. Minor oscillations in the southward displacement of the North Atlantic polar front may also have driven this early warming in the studied area. During the Holocene a regional diachroneity propagating west to east is observed for the SST maxima, 11.5-10.2 kyr B.P. in the Gulf of Cadiz, 10-9 kyr B.P. in the Alboran Sea, and 8.9-8.4 kyr B.P. in the Thyrrenian Sea. A general cooling trend from these SST maxima to present day is observed during this stage, which is marked by short cooling oscillations with a periodicity of 730±40 years and its harmonics

Vascular and blood-brain barrier-related changes underlie stress responses and resilience in female mice and depression in human tissue

Prevalence, symptoms, and treatment of depression suggest that major depressive disorders (MDD) present sex differences. Social stress-induced neurovascular pathology is associated with depressive symptoms in male mice; however, this association is unclear in females. Here, we report that chronic social and subchronic variable stress promotes blood-brain barrier (BBB) alterations in mood-related brain regions of female mice. Targeted disruption of the BBB in the female prefrontal cortex (PFC) induces anxiety- and depression-like behaviours. By comparing the endothelium cell-specific transcriptomic profiling of the mouse male and female PFC, we identify several pathways and genes involved in maladaptive stress responses and resilience to stress. Furthermore, we confirm that the BBB in the PFC of stressed female mice is leaky. Then, we identify circulating vascular biomarkers of chronic stress, such as soluble E-selectin. Similar changes in circulating soluble E-selectin, BBB gene expression and morphology can be found in blood serum and postmortem brain samples from women diagnosed with MDD. Altogether, we propose that BBB dysfunction plays an important role in modulating stress responses in female mice and possibly MDD

Pakistan mammal tooth stable isotopes show paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental changes since the early Oligocene

International audienc

Long chain n-alkyl diols, hydroxy ketones and sterols in a marine eustigmatophyte, Nannochloropsis gaditana, and in Brachionus plicatilis feeding on the algae

12 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables.-- Printed version published Apr 2003.Base-hydrolyzed sterols and long-chain alcohols of a marine eustigmatophyte, Nannochloropsis gaditana have been studied. Sterol composition of N. gaditana is similar to that of other member of this genus, with predominance of cholest-5-en-3β-ol and 24-ethylcholest-5-en-3β-ol. The C29:2 and C30:1 unsaturated aliphatic alcohols were predominant. Saturated and monounsaturated C28 to C36 n-alkyl diols occurred as a mixture of positional isomers with ω16 predominating among the C28 alkyl diols, ω18 among C30, C32, C34 and C36 alkyl diols and ω17 for the odd chain alkyl diols. C28–C32 hydroxy ketones were identified for the first time in a marine organism, with a distribution parallelling the alkyl diol mixtures and suggesting a biosynthetic relation between both alcohol classes. N. gaditana was fed to Brachionus plicatilis and the distribution of alkyl diol positional isomers remained the same in the algae and the rotifer fecal pellets. However, digestion resulted in an increase in C30 diols relative to C32 diols and in an enrichment of unsaturated long-chain alcohols relative to alkyl diols.Peer reviewe

Using GPS tracking and stable multi-isotopes for estimating habitat use and winter range in Palearctic ospreys

We used both satellite tracking and carbon, nitrogen and sulphur stable isotopic analysis (SIA) to infer wintering ecology and habitat use of the Corsican osprey Pandion haliaetus population. A control sample of feathers from 75 individuals was collected within the osprey’s northern hemisphere breeding range, to assess the SIA variability across habitat types. An experimental set of SIA on feathers of 18 Corsican adults was examined to infer wintering ground locations and habitat types used during the non-breeding period. We calibrated the SIA using GPS/GSM tracks of 12 Mediterranean adults’ movements as wintering site references. We found 50% of individuals were resident and the other half migrated. Ospreys spent the winter at temperate latitudes and showed a high plasticity in habitat selection spread over the Mediterranean basin (marine bays, coastal lagoons/marshland, inland freshwater sites). Complementary to GPS tracking, SIA is, at a broad geographical scale, a reliable method to determine whether ospreys overwinter in a habitat different from that of their breeding area. This study proved that the integration of SIA and GPS/GSM tracking techniques was effective at overcoming the intrinsic limits of each method and achieving greater information for basic ecological studies of migratory birds in aquatic environments