Reply to Witthöft et al. Comment on “Wardzinski et al. Mobile Phone Radiation Deflects Brain Energy Homeostasis and Prompts Human Food Ingestion. Nutrients 2022, 14, 339”

We are somewhat surprised about the extent of the feedback that we received upon our publication [1], in terms of the not entirely new connection between mobile phone radiation, brain activity, and food intake, being previously explored by EEG, association studies, and animal experiments (as outlined in the introduction of our paper). Ten years ago, scientists found “alarming” evidence of a long-term association between mobile phone radiation and obesity in humans [2]. Specifically, we are perplexed by the partly emotional character of the discussion among our readers. However, back to the facts: We thank our scientific colleagues for their detailed analyses and considerations [3] regarding our study and are pleased to explain the open points for more clarity

Does Human Experimental Endotoxemia Impact Negative Cognitions Related to the Self?

A role of inflammatory processes in the pathophysiology of depression is increasingly recognized. Experimental endotoxemia offers an established model to induce transient systemic inflammation in healthy humans, and has been proposed as an experimental paradigm of depression. Indeed, different symptoms of depression can be observed during experimental endotoxemia, including negative mood or dysthymia as key symptoms of depression. Hopelessness and low self-esteem constitute common cognitive symptoms in depression, but have not been specifically assessed during endotoxemia. Thus, we pooled data from healthy volunteers who received low-dose endotoxin (i.e., 0.4 or 0.8 ng/kg lipopolysaccharide, LPS) or placebo in three randomized, controlled studies to investigate the effects of LPS on cognitive schemata related to depression. Validated questionnaires were used to assess self-esteem, hopelessness and the vulnerability factor intolerance of uncertainty after intravenous injection of LPS or placebo. Plasma tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-6 were repeatedly assessed, along with self-reported mood. Because not all questionnaires were available from primary studies, data were analyzed in two separate data sets: In data set 1, self-esteem and intolerance of uncertainty were assessed in N = 87 healthy volunteers, who randomly received either 0.4 or 0.8 ng/kg LPS or placebo. In data set 2, hopelessness was measured in N = 59 volunteers who randomly received either LPS (0.8 ng/kg) or placebo. In both data sets, LPS-application led to significant increases in TNF-α and IL-6, reflecting systemic inflammation. Positive mood was significantly decreased in response to LPS, in line with inflammation-induced mood impairment. General self-esteem, intolerance of uncertainty and hopelessness did not differ between LPS- and placebo groups, suggesting that these negative cognitive schemata are not responsive to acute LPS-induced systemic inflammation. Interestingly, LPS-treated volunteers reported significantly lower body-related self-esteem, which was associated with increased TNF-α concentration. Thus, certain aspects of self-esteem related to physical attractiveness and sportiness were reduced. It is conceivable that this effect is primarily related to physical sickness symptoms and reduced physical ability during experimental endotoxemia. With respect to cognitive symptoms of depression, it is conceivable that LPS affects cognitive processes, but not negative cognitive schemata, which are rather based on learning and repeated experiences

Технология сборки и дуговой сварки пластин из титанового сплава

Цель работы – является разработка технологии дуговой сварки пластин из сплава ВТ5-1. В процессе исследования проводился анализ повышения эффективности и сравнение способов сварки, ручной аргонодуговой сварки неплавящимся электродом и механизированной сварки плавящимся электродом в среде защитного газа. В результате работы были рассчитаны параметры и выбран наиболее производительный способ для сварки сплава ВТ5-1.The purpose of the work is to develop a technology for arc welding of plates made of VT5-1 alloy. In the course of the study, the analysis of efficiency improvement and comparison of welding methods, manual argon arc welding with a non-melting electrode and mechanized welding with a melting electrode in a protective gas environment were carried out. As a result of the work, the parameters were calculated and the most productive method for welding the VT5-1 alloy was selected

Dose-Dependent Effects of Endotoxin on Neurobehavioral Functions in Humans

Clinical and experimental evidence document that inflammation and increased peripheral cytokine levels are associated with depression-like symptoms and neuropsychological disturbances in humans. However, it remains unclear whether and to what extent cognitive functions like memory and attention are affected by and related to the dose of the inflammatory stimulus. Thus, in a cross-over, double-blind, experimental approach, healthy male volunteers were administered with either placebo or bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) at doses of 0.4 (n = 18) or 0.8 ng/kg of body weight (n = 16). Pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, norephinephrine and cortisol concentrations were analyzed before and 1, 1.75, 3, 4, 6, and 24 h after injection. In addition, changes in mood and anxiety levels were determined together with working memory (n-back task) and long term memory performance (recall of emotional and neutral pictures of the International Affective Picture System). Endotoxin administration caused a profound transient physiological response with dose-related elevations in body temperature and heart rate, increases in plasma interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra), salivary and plasma cortisol, and plasma norepinephrine. These changes were accompanied by dose-related decreased mood and increased anxiety levels. LPS administration did not affect accuracy in working memory performance but improved reaction time in the high-dose LPS condition compared to the control conditon. In contrast, long-term memory performance was impaired selectively for emotional stimuli after administration of the lower but not of the higher dose of LPS. These data suggest the existence of at least two counter-acting mechanisms, one promoting and one inhibiting cognitive performance during acute systemic inflammation

Retrieval-induced forgetting under psychosocial stress: No reduction by delayed stress and beta-adrenergic blockade

Dreifus L, Engler H, Kißler J. Retrieval-induced forgetting under psychosocial stress: No reduction by delayed stress and beta-adrenergic blockade. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. 2014;110:35-46.Retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) is the phenomenon that 'retrieval-practice', the repeated retrieval of a subset of initially learned material, can impair the recall of episodically related memories. Previous studies showed that RIF is eliminated when retrieval-practice is carried out under psycho-social stress, anxiety, or in negative mood. However, pharmacological manipulation by hydrocortisone did not eliminate the effect. This study investigated the effect of beta-adrenergic blockade on stress-induced modulations of RIF, addressing possible interactive effects of the glucocorticoid and sympatho-adrenomedullary systems. Participants learned categorized word lists and then received either 60 mg propranolol or a placebo. After 90 min they were exposed to the TSST. A third group did not receive any medication and performed a non-stressful control task with the same timing as the other two groups. Finally, all participants underwent retrieval-practice and final recall. Both TSST groups exhibited a stress-induced increase in cortisol-levels, and the placebo group also exhibited large increases in markers of sympathetic nervous system activity and more psychological distress at the time of retrieval-practice. Although, overall recall was poorer under stress, an overall RIF effect emerged irrespective of group and showed no clear modulation by stress with or without beta-adrenergic blockade. In previous demonstrations of RIF elimination by negative emotion, state induction and retrieval-practice followed very briefly after initial learning. Given that both the previous study of hydrocortisone effects on RIF and the present study used longer delays between learning and retrieval-practice, the possibility that stress effects on retrieval-practice eliminate RIF only relatively briefly after learning is discussed. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Stress eliminates retrieval-induced forgetting-Does the oral application of cortisol?

Koessler S, Steidle L, Engler H, Kißler J. Stress eliminates retrieval-induced forgetting-Does the oral application of cortisol? Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2013;38(1):94-106.It is well established that stress and glucocorticoids can affect memory. Psychosocial stress has been reported to eliminate retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF), the phenomenon that repeated retrieval of a subset of previously learned material impairs later recall of related, but non-retrieved information. The stress-related reduction of RIF has been found correlated with an increase in salivary cortisol levels. Based on these findings, the current placebo-controlled study examined the effect of an oral dose of 25 mg hydrocortisone on the RIF effect in 37 healthy men. Even though participants in the hydrocortisone group showed a marked increase in salivary cortisol, retrieval-induced forgetting was not affected by the pharmacological treatment. Thus, cortisol administration alone in contrast to stress experience does not impair the RIF effect. However, participants with high state anxiety during retrieval practice did not show RIF, whereas participants with low state anxiety did. This finding suggests a role for state anxiety in stress-related elimination of retrieval-induced forgetting, perhaps indicative of a memory-modulating sympathetic nervous system effect. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Comparative Genome Analysis of Spiroplasma Melliferum IPMB4A, a Honeybee-Associated Bacterium

Background: The genus Spiroplasma contains a group of helical, motile, and wall-less bacteria in the classMollicutes. Similar to other members of this class, such as the animal-pathogenic Mycoplasma and theplant-pathogenic ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma’, all characterized Spiroplasma species were found to be associated witheukaryotic hosts. While most of the Spiroplasma species appeared to be harmless commensals of insects, a smallnumber of species have evolved pathogenicity toward various arthropods and plants. In this study, we isolated anovel strain of honeybee-associated S. melliferum and investigated its genetic composition and evolutionary historyby whole-genome shotgun sequencing and comparative analysis with other Mollicutes genomes.Results: The whole-genome shotgun sequencing of S. melliferum IPMB4A produced a draft assembly that was ~1.1Mb in size and covered ~80% of the chromosome. Similar to other Spiroplasma genomes that have been studiedto date, we found that this genome contains abundant repetitive sequences that originated from plectrovirusinsertions. These phage fragments represented a major obstacle in obtaining a complete genome sequence ofSpiroplasma with the current sequencing technology. Comparative analysis of S. melliferum IPMB4A with otherSpiroplasma genomes revealed that these phages may have facilitated extensive genome rearrangements in thesebacteria and contributed to horizontal gene transfers that led to species-specific adaptation to different eukaryotichosts. In addition, comparison of gene content with other Mollicutes suggested that the common ancestor of theSEM (Spiroplasma, Entomoplasma, and Mycoplasma) clade may have had a relatively large genome and flexiblemetabolic capacity; the extremely reduced genomes of present day Mycoplasma and ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma’species are likely to be the result of independent gene losses in these lineages.Conclusions: The findings in this study highlighted the significance of phage insertions and horizontal genetransfer in the evolution of bacterial genomes and acquisition of pathogenicity. Furthermore, the inclusion ofSpiroplasma in comparative analysis has improved our understanding of genome evolution in Mollicutes. Futureimprovements in the taxon sampling of available genome sequences in this group are required to provide furtherinsights into the evolution of these important pathogens of humans, animals, and plants

Behavioural conditioning of immune functions: how the central nervous system controls peripheral immune responses by evoking associative learning processes

During the last 30 years of psychoneuroimmunology research the intense bi-directional communication between the central nervous system (CNS) and the immune system has been demonstrated in studies on the interaction between the nervous-endocrine-immune systems. One of the most intriguing examples of such interaction is the capability of the CNS to associate an immune status with specific environmental stimuli. In this review, we systematically summarize experimental evidence demonstrating the behavioural conditioning of peripheral immune functions. In particular, we focus on the mechanisms underlying the behavioural conditioning process and provide a theoretical framework that indicates the potential feasibility of behaviourally conditioned immune changes in clinical situations