Significant association of a M129V independent polymorphism in the 5\prime UTR of the PRNP gene with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in a large German case-control study

Background: A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the coding region of the prion protein gene (PRNP) at codon 129 has been repeatedly shown to be an associated factor to sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD), but additional major predisposing DNA variants for sCJD are still unknown. Several previous studies focused on the characterisation of polymorphisms in PRNP and the prion-like doppel gene (PRND), generating contradictory results on relatively small sample sets. Thus, extensive studies are required for validation of the polymorphisms in PRNP and PRND.Methods: We evaluated a set of nine SNPs of PRNP and one SNP of PRND in 593 German sCJD patients and 748 German healthy controls. Genotyping was performed using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry.Results: In addition to PRNP 129, we detected a significant association between sCJD and allele frequencies of six further PRNP SNPs. No significant association of PRND T174M with sCJD was shown. We observed strong linkage disequilibrium within eight adjacent PRNP SNPs, including PRNP 129. However, the association of sCJD with PRNP 1368 and PRNP 34296 appeared to be independent on the genotype of PRNP 129. We additionally identified the most common haplotypes of PRNP to be over-represented or under-represented in our cohort of patients with sCJD.Conclusion: Our study evaluated previous findings of the association of SNPs in the PRNP and PRND genes in the largest cohorts for association study in sCJD to date, and extends previous findings by defining for the first time the haplotypes associated with sCJD in a large population of the German CJD surveillance study

A New Species of the Neopterygian Fish Enchodus from the Duwi Formation, Campanian, Late Cretaceous, Western Desert, Central Egypt

The neopterygian fish Enchodus was a widespread, speciose genus consisting of approximately 30 recognized species that were temporally distributed from the late Early Cretaceous through the Paleocene. Many Enchodus specimens are fragmentary cranial remains or isolated dental elements, as is the case for previously reported occurrences in Egypt. Here, we present the most complete specimen of Enchodus recovered from the Late Cretaceous of northeast Africa. The specimen was collected from the upper Campanian Duwi Formation, near the village of Tineida (Dakhla Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt). The new species, Enchodus tineidae sp. nov., consists of right and left dentaries, a partial ectopterygoid, and other cranial bones. The size of the specimen places it into the upper body-size range for the genus. The palatine tooth, an element often useful for diagnosing Enchodus to the species level, is not preserved, but a combination of other cranial characters supports the referral of this specimen to Enchodus. In particular, the dentary preserves three symphysial rostroventral prongs and two tooth rows, the lateral of which consists of small denticles, whereas the medial row comprises large, mediolaterally-compressed teeth. The rostral-most tooth exhibits the highest crown, whereas the rest of the teeth are of lower, variable crown heights. The eight robust, caudal-most medial-row teeth are distributed in a cluster pattern never before observed in Enchodus. Additionally, the dentary and preopercle are both without dermal ornamentation, and the mandibular sensory canal is closed. Phylogenetic analysis recovers this new species as the sister species to E. dirus from North America. Along with previously described materials from Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Italy, Morocco, and Libya, this specimen represents a thirteenth species from the northwestern Tethyan geographic distribution of Enchodus

Controlled lithium discontinuation in bipolar patients with good response to long-term lithium prophylaxis

Background: This study aims to investigate whether the risk of recurrence following lithium discontinuation is less than reported in discontinuation of a successful, long-term prophylaxis in bipolar patients. Methods: A total of 32 bipolar patients discontinued lithium according to the controlled lithium discontinuation (CLD) protocol following a definite good response to lithium maintenance of at least 5 years. Subjects were followed for up to 9 years. Results: The total rate of recurrence was 7% in the first week, 32% in the first month, 62% in the first year, and 81% at the end of the 9th year following discontinuation. Only six of the 32 patients (19%) did not have a recurrence during the follow-up period. Conclusions: Discontinuation of lithium seems to be followed by a high rate of recurrence in bipolar patients even after good response to a long-duration illness-free period. A controlled discontinuation protocol can reduce the risks of morbidity. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

MOTIVATIONAL PROFILE OF SOCIALLY CREATIVE STUDENTS

This article touches upon the problem of activity motivation of socially creative students. It reveals the meaning of social creativity as an individual social integrative capacity. The paper describes the component fullness of the person’s social creativity, which includes the following components: cognitive, motivational, communicative individual. It analyses in details the structure of the motivational component of social creativity, confirmed by factorial study. The study reveals the essence of the motivational component of social creativity in the unity of the internal and external motives, namely the desire for self-actualization and selfdevelopment, focusing on communication and interaction. It analyses the concept of "motivational profile of an individual". The article depicts the procedure of the empirical study organization which was held in two stages, on the basis of the Amur State University, The first step is the selection of students with the upperintermediate level of social creativity. As a result, after the selection of the respondents with an appropriate level of social creativity 62 subjects were taken into account for further study. During the second phase of the study it was carried out an analysis of ordinary (everyday) and educational profiles in the "ideal" and "real" state of the social motives of creative students on the basis of Milman V.E. methods. The results of the profiles comparative analysis in the "ideal" and "real" state of motives let us talk about the dominating motive of communication in ordinary (everyday) and educational spheres. Differentiation of motivational factors is characteristic for socially creative personality: supporting and consuming motives are shown in everyday sphere and developing motives dominate in educational sphere. The generalization of the empirical research results has revealed an impulsive type of a profile, which is characteristic for the motivational structure of a socially creative person