Chronic hypoxia induced ultrastructural changes in the rat adrenal zona glomerulosa

The adrenal cortex plays an important role in adaptation to various forms of stress, including hypoxia. While physiological changes in the aldosterone metabolism during hypoxia have been extensively described, few studies have focused on the morphological changes in the adrenal glands under chronic hypoxia. We studied the ultrastructure of the zona glomerulosa of 6-month-old Wistar rats exposed to chronic normobaric hypoxia. Animals were divided into two groups: control (n=12) and hypoxic (n=12). In this latter group, the animals were kept at 7% O2 concentration after a gradual adaptation (21, 15, 12, 10, 8, 7 vol% O2 ). The duration of the study was 112 days. In comparison with normoxic rats, body weight and adrenal gland weight of hypoxic animals was significantly reduced by 18.5% (p=0.006) and 14.7% (p=0.001) respectively. The thickness of the zona glomerulosa decreased due to atrophy of cells. The main ultrastructural changes observed were: 1) a decrease in, or complete limination of, lipid droplet content; 2) a marked increase in lysosome number; and 3) the presence of giant mitochondria. Our findings show that rats fail to adapt to severe chronic hypoxia. The ultrastructural changes in the zona glomerulosa found in the present study could reflect changes in the aldosterone pathway

Psychological wellbeing in survivors of cardiac arrest, and its relationship to neurocognitive function

© 2016 Objective To characterise psychological wellbeing in survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), and examine its relationship to cognitive function. Patients Forty-one highly functioning cardiac arrest survivors were drawn from the follow-up cohort of a randomised controlled trial of initial airway management in OHCA (ISRCTN:18528625). Design Psychological wellbeing was assessed with a self-report questionnaire (the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale; DASS) and cognitive function was examined using the Delayed Matching to Samples (DMS) test from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB). Results Mean anxiety levels were significantly higher in this patient group than normative data drawn from the general population (p=0.046). Multiple regression analyses showed that cognitive function, measured by the DMS, did not predict any of the DASS scales. Conclusions Anxiety plays an important role in determining perceived QoL in high functioning survivors, but psychological wellbeing is unrelated to cognitive function in this group. To achieve a comprehensive assessment of wellbeing, resuscitation research should consider outcomes beyond neurological function alone

Definición de la muerte cerebral

In this article the author places the ethical and scientific issue of death, as a social problem by which human life is considered to have biological en to be determined. At this moment, reflections made by philosophers, neurologians and theologians agree on the concept of brain as the organ in charge of integrating all vital functions. It also deals whit neurologists' criteria to determine brain death and the legality of organ transplant under these circustances.En este trabajo el autor sitúa el problema ético y científico de la muerte cerebral, como un problema también de orden social sobre el cual se considera que la vida humana tiene un fin biológico por determinar. Sobre este momento circunscrito a un evento biológico las reflexiones de los filósofos, los neurólogos, y los teólogos convergen en el cerebro como órgano integrador de todas las funciones vitales t  lugar para la determinación de la muerte del individuo. Hace referencia a los criterios neurológicos para la determinación de muerte cerebral, y comenta la licitud de los trasplantes de órganos en estas circunstancias

Consecuencias del reduccionismo psico-social de la conciencia

Despite the importance given to conscience nowadays, there is a large philosophical tradition derived from Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Freud’s thoughts which have made it relative from the point of view of psycho-social reductionism, weighing down its comprehension.The author proposes to recover the general principles that are worth guiding the ethical behaviors of all human beings, as participants of a common nature. In addition, he points out that conscience relativism has generated many problems that are immersed in the Bioethics field.A pesar de la importancia que se asigna hoy en día a la conciencia, pesa sobre su comprensión una larga tradición filosofía derivada de los pensamientos de Schopenhauer, Nietzsche y Freud que la relativizan a partir del reduccionismo psico-social. El autor propone rescatar los principios generales que son válidos para normar los comportamientos éticos de todos los hombres, como participes de una naturaleza común, además señala que esa relativización de la conciencia a generado muchos de los problemas que se presenta en el terreno de la bioética

Heredopathia atactica polyneuritiformis (Refsum's disease)

A female patient started to develop deafness and vertigo at the age of 29. In the following years she became atactic and retinitis pigmentosa was discovered. The diagnosis of Refsum's disease was reached on the grounds of the high concentration of phytanic acid in plasma. The patient died 23 years after onset of the first symptons. Liver, spleen and kidney showed lipofuscinosis and pigment-laden macrophages. The retina was atrophic and its pigment discontinuous. The meninges contained lipid-laden macrophages. The nerve cells in brain and spinal cord as well as the astrocytes and perivascular macrophages stored substances weakly PAS-positive and sudanophilic. The nerve cells accumulated lysosomes and residual bodies. In the astrocytes, the residual bodies were extremely polymorphous and contained inclusions with bilamellar ribbon-like structures. In the oligodendroglia the residual bodies displayed high electron density and finger print-like pattern. Peroxisomes were found in glial cells and microperoximes in neurons. The ultrastructural findings in the present case demonstrate that in terminal stages phytanic acid can reach the brain parenchyma passing through the BBB. Further autopsy studies will be necessary to determine whether these changes are consistent findings in Refsum's disease

Definition of brain death

10 páginasEn este trabajo el autor sitúa el problema ético y científico de la muerte cerebral, como un problema también de orden social sobre el cual se considera que la vida humana tiene un fin biológico por determinar. Sobre este momento circunscrito a un evento biológico las reflexiones de los filósofos, los neurólogos, y los teólogos convergen en el cerebro como órgano integrador de todas las funciones vitales t  lugar para la determinación de la muerte del individuo. Hace referencia a los criterios neurológicos para la determinación de muerte cerebral, y comenta la licitud de los trasplantes de órganos en estas circunstancias.In this article the author places the ethical and scientific issue of death, as a social problem by which human life is considered to have biological en to be determined. At this moment, reflections made by philosophers, neurologians and theologians agree on the concept of brain as the organ in charge of integrating all vital functions. It also deals whit neurologists' criteria to determine brain death and the legality of organ transplant under these circustances

Medicamentos - Abuso y dependencia - Origen- Curso - Tratamiento

La dependencia de medicamentos psicótropos se origina principalmente a través de las mismas estructuras cerebrales y sistemas transmisores que llevan a la dependencia del alcohol y drogas ilegales; pero se diferencia básicamente de otras «dependencias» como las del comer, la de la adición a los celos, del consumo, etc