A Characterization of Infinite LSP Words

G. Fici proved that a finite word has a minimal suffix automaton if and only if all its left special factors occur as prefixes. He called LSP all finite and infinite words having this latter property. We characterize here infinite LSP words in terms of $S$-adicity. More precisely we provide a finite set of morphisms $S$ and an automaton ${\cal A}$ such that an infinite word is LSP if and only if it is $S$-adic and all its directive words are recognizable by ${\cal A}$

Systemic inflammatory challenges compromise survival after experimental stroke via augmenting brain inflammation, blood- brain barrier damage and brain oedema independently of infarct size

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Systemic inflammation impairs outcome in stroke patients and experimental animals via mechanisms which are poorly understood. Circulating inflammatory mediators can activate cerebrovascular endothelium or glial cells in the brain and impact on ischaemic brain injury. One of the most serious early clinical complications of cerebral ischaemia is brain oedema, which compromises survival in the first 24-48 h. It is not understood whether systemic inflammatory challenges impair outcome after stroke by increasing brain injury only or whether they have direct effects on brain oedema, cerebrovascular inflammation and blood-brain barrier damage.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used two different systemic inflammatory stimuli, acute endotoxin treatment and anaphylaxis to study mechanisms of brain injury after middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo). Ischaemic brain injury, blood-brain barrier damage and oedema were analysed by histological techniques. Systemic cytokine responses and inflammatory changes in the brain were analysed by cytometric bead array, immunofluorescence, <it>in situ </it>hibridization and quantitative real-time PCR.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Systemic inflammatory challenges profoundly impaired survival in the first 24 h after experimental stroke in mice, independently of an increase in infarct size. Systemic lipopolysaccharide (LPS) dose-dependently increased mortality (50-100%) minutes to hours after cerebral ischaemia. Acute anaphylactic challenge in ovalbumin-sensitised mice affected stroke more seriously when induced via intraperitoneal administration compared to intravenous. Both LPS and anaphylaxis induced inflammatory changes in the blood and in the brain prior to experimental stroke. Plasma cytokine levels were significantly higher after LPS, while increased IL-10 levels were seen after anaphylaxis. After MCAo, both LPS and anaphylaxis increased microglial interleukin-1α (IL-1α) expression and blood-brain barrier breakdown. LPS caused marked granulocyte recruitment throughout the ipsilateral hemisphere. To investigate whether reduction of ischaemic damage can improve outcome in systemic inflammation, controlled hypothermia was performed. Hypothermia reduced infarct size in all treatment groups and moderately improved survival, but failed to reduce excess oedema formation after anaphylaxis and LPS-induced neuroinflammation.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results suggest that systemic inflammatory conditions induce cerebrovascular inflammation via diverse mechanisms. Increased brain inflammation, blood-brain barrier injury and brain oedema formation can be major contributors to impaired outcome in mice after experimental stroke with systemic inflammatory stimuli, independently of infarct size.</p

Differential Changes in Expression of Stress- and Metabolic-related Neuropeptides in the Rat Hypothalamus during Morphine Dependence and Withdrawal

Chronic morphine treatment and naloxone precipitated morphine withdrawal activates stress-related brain circuit and results in significant changes in food intake, body weight gain and energy metabolism. The present study aimed to reveal hypothalamic mechanisms underlying these effects. Adult male rats were made dependent on morphine by subcutaneous implantation of constant release drug pellets. Pair feeding revealed significantly smaller weight loss of morphine treated rats compared to placebo implanted animals whose food consumption was limited to that eaten by morphine implanted pairs. These results suggest reduced energy expenditure of morphine-treated animals. Chronic morphine exposure or pair feeding did not significantly affect hypothalamic expression of selected stress- and metabolic related neuropeptides - corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), urocortin 2 (UCN2) and proopiomelanocortin (POMC) compared to placebo implanted and pair fed animals. Naloxone precipitated morphine withdrawal resulted in a dramatic weight loss starting as early as 15-30 min after naloxone injection and increased adrenocorticotrophic hormone, prolactin and corticosterone plasma levels in morphine dependent rats. Using real-time quantitative PCR to monitor the time course of relative expression of neuropeptide mRNAs in the hypothalamus we found elevated CRH and UCN2 mRNA and dramatically reduced POMC expression. Neuropeptide Y (NPY) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) mRNA levels were transiently increased during opiate withdrawal. These data highlight that morphine withdrawal differentially affects expression of stress- and metabolic-related neuropeptides in the rat hypothalamus, while relative mRNA levels of these neuropeptides remain unchanged either in rats chronically treated with morphine or in their pair-fed controls

Regression and the Maternal in the History of Psychoanalysis, 1900-1957

This paper examines the history of the concept of ‘regression’ as it was perceived by Sandor Ferenczi and some of his followers in the first half of the twentieth century. The first part provides a short history of the notion of ‘regression’ from the late nineteenth century to Ferenczi's work in the 1920s and 1930s. The second and third parts of the paper focus on two other thinkers on regression, who worked in Britain, under the influence of the Ferenczian paradigm – the interwar Scottish psychiatrist, Ian D. Suttie; and the British-Hungarian psychoanalyst, and Ferenczi's most important pupil, Michael Balint. Rather than a descriptive term which comes to designate a pathological mental stage, Ferenczi understood ‘regression’ as a much more literal phenomenon. For him, the mental desire to go backwards in time is a universal one, and a consequence of an inevitable traumatic separation from the mother in early childhood, which has some deep personal and cultural implications. The paper aims to show some close affinities between the preoccupation of some psychoanalysts with ‘regression’, and the growing interest in social and cultural aspects of ‘motherhood’ and ‘the maternal role’ in mid-twentieth-century British society

Meeting the Expectations of Your Heritage Culture: Links between Attachment Style, Intragroup Marginalisation, and Psychological Adjustment

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Do insecurely-attached individuals perceive greater rejection from their heritage culture? Few studies have examined the antecedents and outcomes of this perceived rejection – termed intragroup marginalisation – in spite of its implications for the adjustment of cultural migrants to the mainstream culture. The present study investigated whether anxious and avoidant attachment orientations among cultural migrants were associated with greater intragroup marginalisation and, in turn, with lower subjective well-being and flourishing, and higher acculturative stress. Anxious attachment was associated with heightened intragroup marginalisation from friends and, in turn, with increased acculturative stress; anxious attachment was also associated with increased intragroup marginalisation from family. Avoidant attachment was linked with increased intragroup marginalisation from family and, in turn, with decreased subjective well-being

Linking Recent Discrimination-Related Experiences and Wellbeing via Social Cohesion and Resilience

The current study examined the relationship between recent experiences of discrimination and wellbeing and the mediating effects that social cohesion and resilience had on this relationship. Using online sampling, participants (N =255) from a South London community rated the levels of discrimination related experiences in the past 6 months, alongside measures of social cohesion, resilience, and wellbeing (happiness and depressive symptoms). Results revealed a negative relationship between recent experiences of discrimination and wellbeing which was explained by a serial mediation relationship between social cohesion and resilience, and singly by resilience alone. The study highlights how recent experiences of discrimination can lead to a depletion of personal resources and social resources (which in turn also lead to reduced personal resources) and in turn, to lower levels of wellbeing