Use of neuroleptics in a general hospital

BACKGROUND: This study investigates the clinical use of neuroleptics within a general hospital in acutely ill medical or surgical patients and its relation with dementia three months after admission compared with control subjects. METHODS: Cases were defined as every adult patient to whom a neuroleptic medication was prescribed during their hospitalization in our Hospital from February 1(st), to June 30(th), 1998. A control matched by age and sex was randomly selected among patients who had been admitted in the same period, in the same department, and had not received neuroleptics drugs (205 cases and 200 controls). Demographic, clinical and complementary data were compared between cases and controls. Crude odds ratios estimating the risk of dementia in non previously demented subjects compared with the risk in non-demented control subjects were calculated. RESULTS: 205 of 2665 patients (7.7%) received a neuroleptic drug. The mean age was 80.0 ± 13.6 years and 52% were females. They were older and stayed longer than the rest of the population. Only 11% received a psychological evaluation before the prescription. Fifty two percent were agitated while 40% had no reason justifying the use of neuroleptic drug. Three months after neuroleptic use 27% of the surviving cases and 2.6% of the surviving controls who were judged non-demented at admission were identified as demented. CONCLUSIONS: The most common reason for neuroleptic treatment was to manage agitation symptomatically in hospitalised patients. Organic mental syndromes were rarely investigated, and mental status exams were generally absent. Most of neuroleptic recipients had either recognised or unrecognised dementia

A new extract of the plant calendula officinalis produces a dual in vitro effect: cytotoxic anti-tumor activity and lymphocyte activation

BACKGROUND: Phytopharmacological studies of different Calendula extracts have shown anti-inflamatory, anti-viral and anti-genotoxic properties of therapeutic interest. In this study, we evaluated the in vitro cytotoxic anti-tumor and immunomodulatory activities and in vivo anti-tumor effect of Laser Activated Calendula Extract (LACE), a novel extract of the plant Calendula Officinalis (Asteraceae). METHODS: An aqueous extract of Calendula Officinalis was obtained by a novel extraction method in order to measure its anti-tumor and immunomodulatory activities in vitro. Tumor cell lines derived from leukemias, melanomas, fibrosarcomas and cancers of breast, prostate, cervix, lung, pancreas and colorectal were used and tumor cell proliferation in vitro was measured by BrdU incorporation and viable cell count. Effect of LACE on human peripheral blood lymphocyte (PBL) proliferation in vitro was also analyzed. Studies of cell cycle and apoptosis were performed in LACE-treated cells. In vivo anti-tumor activity was evaluated in nude mice bearing subcutaneously human Ando-2 melanoma cells. RESULTS: The LACE extract showed a potent in vitro inhibition of tumor cell proliferation when tested on a wide variety of human and murine tumor cell lines. The inhibition ranged from 70 to 100%. Mechanisms of inhibition were identified as cell cycle arrest in G0/G1 phase and Caspase-3-induced apoptosis. Interestingly, the same extract showed an opposite effect when tested on PBLs and NKL cell line, in which in vitro induction of proliferation and activation of these cells was observed. The intraperitoneal injection or oral administration of LACE extract in nude mice inhibits in vivo tumor growth of Ando-2 melanoma cells and prolongs the survival day of the mice. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that LACE aqueous extract has two complementary activities in vitro with potential anti-tumor therapeutic effect: cytotoxic tumor cell activity and lymphocyte activation. The LACE extract presented in vivo anti-tumoral activity in nude mice against tumor growth of Ando-2 melanoma cells

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns

Phosphorylation of Kif26b Promotes Its Polyubiquitination and Subsequent Proteasomal Degradation during Kidney Development

Kif26b, a member of the kinesin superfamily proteins (KIFs), is essential for kidney development. Kif26b expression is restricted to the metanephric mesenchyme, and its transcription is regulated by a zinc finger transcriptional regulator Sall1. However, the mechanism(s) by which Kif26b protein is regulated remain unknown. Here, we demonstrate phosphorylation and subsequent polyubiquitination of Kif26b in the developing kidney. We find that Kif26b interacts with an E3 ubiquitin ligase, neural precursor cell expressed developmentally down-regulated protein 4 (Nedd4) in developing kidney. Phosphorylation of Kif26b at Thr-1859 and Ser-1962 by the cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) enhances the interaction of Kif26b with Nedd4. Nedd4 polyubiquitinates Kif26b and thereby promotes degradation of Kif26b via the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. Furthermore, Kif26b lacks ATPase activity but does associate with microtubules. Nocodazole treatment not only disrupts the localization of Kif26b to microtubules but also promotes phosphorylation and polyubiquitination of Kif26b. These results suggest that the function of Kif26b is microtubule-based and that Kif26b degradation in the metanephric mesenchyme via the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway may be important for proper kidney development

Promotion of plasma membrane repair by vitamin E

Severe vitamin E deficiency results in lethal myopathy in animal models. Membrane repair is an important myocyte response to plasma membrane disruption injury as when repair fails, myocytes die and muscular dystrophy ensues. Here we show that supplementation of cultured cells with α-tocopherol, the most common form of vitamin E, promotes plasma membrane repair. Conversely, in the absence of α-tocopherol supplementation, exposure of cultured cells to an oxidant challenge strikingly inhibits repair. Comparative measurements reveal that, to promote repair, an anti-oxidant must associate with membranes, as α-tocopherol does, or be capable of α-tocopherol regeneration. Finally, we show that myocytes in intact muscle cannot repair membranes when exposed to an oxidant challenge, but show enhanced repair when supplemented with vitamin E. Our work suggests a novel biological function for vitamin E in promoting myocyte plasma membrane repair. We propose that this function is essential for maintenance of skeletal muscle homeostasis

Gender differences in the use of cardiovascular interventions in HIV-positive persons; the D:A:D Study

Peer reviewe

CMS Data Processing Workflows during an Extended Cosmic Ray Run

Peer reviewe

Aligning the CMS Muon Chambers with the Muon Alignment System during an Extended Cosmic Ray Run

Peer reviewe

Commissioning of the CMS high-level trigger with cosmic rays

This is the Pre-print version of the Article. The official published version of the paper can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2010 IOPThe CMS High-Level Trigger (HLT) is responsible for ensuring that data samples with potentially interesting events are recorded with high efficiency and good quality. This paper gives an overview of the HLT and focuses on its commissioning using cosmic rays. The selection of triggers that were deployed is presented and the online grouping of triggered events into streams and primary datasets is discussed. Tools for online and offline data quality monitoring for the HLT are described, and the operational performance of the muon HLT algorithms is reviewed. The average time taken for the HLT selection and its dependence on detector and operating conditions are presented. The HLT performed reliably and helped provide a large dataset. This dataset has proven to be invaluable for understanding the performance of the trigger and the CMS experiment as a whole.This work is supported by FMSR (Austria); FNRS and FWO (Belgium); CNPq, CAPES, FAPERJ, and FAPESP (Brazil); MES (Bulgaria); CERN; CAS, MoST, and NSFC (China); COLCIENCIAS (Colombia); MSES (Croatia); RPF (Cyprus); Academy of Sciences and NICPB (Estonia); Academy of Finland, ME, and HIP (Finland); CEA and CNRS/IN2P3 (France); BMBF, DFG, and HGF (Germany); GSRT (Greece); OTKA and NKTH (Hungary); DAE and DST (India); IPM (Iran); SFI (Ireland); INFN (Italy); NRF (Korea); LAS (Lithuania); CINVESTAV, CONACYT, SEP, and UASLP-FAI (Mexico); PAEC (Pakistan); SCSR (Poland); FCT (Portugal); JINR (Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan); MST and MAE (Russia); MSTDS (Serbia); MICINN and CPAN (Spain); Swiss Funding Agencies (Switzerland); NSC (Taipei); TUBITAK and TAEK (Turkey); STFC (United Kingdom); DOE and NSF (USA)