Cerebrospinal fluid neurophysins in affective illness and in schizophrenia

We studied the concentration of neurophysin I (hNPI) and II (hNPII), the hypothalamo-pituitary carriers of vasopressin and oxytocin, in CSF of depressed and schizophrenic patients and age matched controls. Mean hNPI values were lower and mean hNPII values greater in schizophrenics than in controls. Lower hNPI values were observed in unipolar patients than in controls. In bipolar patients however, higher hNPI values were present. Significantly higher hNPII values were observed in bipolar patients than in controls; no difference was present between unipolars and controls. A positive correlation was observed with age in controls and bipolars for hNPII. These data emphasize the interest of studying the neurohypophysal function in affective illness and in schizophrenia.Journal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Magmatic and amagmatic seafloor generation at the ultraslow-spreading Gakkel ridge, Arctic Ocean

A high-resolution mapping and sampling study of the Gakkel ridge was accomplished during an international ice-breakerexpedition to the high Arctic and North Pole in summer 2001. For this slowest-spreading endmember of the global mid-ocean-ridgesystem, predictions were that magmatism should progressively diminish as the spreading rate decreases along the ridge, and thathydrothermal activity should be rare. Instead, it was found that magmatic variations are irregular, and that hydrothermal activity isabundant. A 300-kilometre-long central amagmatic zone, where mantle peridotites are emplaced directly in the ridge axis, liesbetween abundant, continuous volcanism in the west, and large, widely spaced volcanic centres in the east. These observationsdemonstrate that the extent of mantle melting is not a simple function of spreading rate: mantle temperatures at depth or mantlechemistry (or both) must vary significantly along-axis. Highly punctuated volcanism in the absence of ridge offsets suggests thatfirst-order ridge segmentation is controlled by mantle processes of melting and melt segregation. The strong focusing of magmaticactivity coupled with faulting may account for the unexpectedly high levels of hydrothermal activity observed