Monoamine activity reflected in urine of young patients with obsessive compulsive disorder, psychosis with and without reality distortion and healthy subjects: an explorative analysis

Introduction: Positive psychotic symptoms are reported to be associated with high dopamine (DA), negative symptoms with low DA activity and serotonin (5-HT) activity may be altered in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Method: We analysed 24h urine samples in groups of patients with OCD, paranoid and non-paranoid schizophrenia and in healthy controls for supportive evidence. Results: Young unmedicated OCD subjects excreted more adrenaline (AD) and homovanillic acid (HVA) and showed a higher HVA/MHPG metabolite ratio and metabolic rate than healthy controls. Independent of general metabolic rate OCD patients showed higher HVA concentrations which suggests that the relative activity of catecholamine systems in OCD (HVA/MHPG) is due more to high DA than to low noradrenergic (NA) activity. Concentrations of 5-HT were also high in OCD patients. In psychotic patients low levels of DA, HVA, NA and MHPG probably resulted from neuroleptic medication. Conclusions: 1. Patients diagnosed with paranoid psychosis showed higher DA utilization than controls and those with few paranoid symptoms showed high 5-HT utilization. 2. These results support studies suggesting that paranoid psychosis is associated more with increased DA activity (discussed in the context of neuroleptic reactivity), that non-paranoid forms are associated more with increased 5-HT activity and that OCD patients are unusually aroused with high levels of Adrenaline, 5-HT and HVA

Von der Ostsee nach Thann im Oberelsass. Die Wallfahrt der Seeländer zum Heiligen Theobald im Spätmittelalter

Der Beitrag schließt sich der Auffassung an, dass eine wundertätige Reliquie des heiligen Bischofs Ubald von Gubbio (in Thann Theobald genannt, süddeutsch Thiebold, französisch Thiebault, im niederdeutschen Raum Ewald oder Enwold) die Thanner Wallfahrt auslöste. Das erhaltene Mirakelbuch aus dem Zeitraum 1405–1522 enthält erstaunlich viele Wunderberichte aus dem Ostseeraum. Hier werden die Berichte von der südlichen Ostseeküste untersucht, aus Mecklenburg, Pommern, Danzig und Ostpreußen unter Einbeziehung der Pilger, deren Herkunft als „aus Seeland“ oder „von der See“ bezeichnet wird – zusammen 46 der 215 Mirakel. Auffällig ist die relativ hohe Zahl von Pilgern aus Pommern.</p

Neuropsychological measures of attention and memory function in schizophrenia: relationships with symptom dimensions and serum monoamine activity

BACKGROUND: Some clinical symptoms or cognitive functions have been related to the overall state of monoamine activity in patients with schizophrenia, (e.g. inverse correlation of the dopamine metabolite HVA with delusions or visual-masking performance). However, profiles (as presented here) of the relations of the activity of dopamine, noradrenaline and serotonin to neuropsychologic (dys)functions in major patient sub-groups with their very different symptomatic and cognitive characteristics have not been reported. METHODS: Serum measures of dopamine, noradrenaline and serotonin turnover were examined by regression analyses for the prediction of performance on 10 neuropsychological measures reflecting left- and right-hemispheric and frontal-, parietal- and temporal-lobe function in 108 patients with schizophrenia and 63 matched controls. The neuropsychological battery included tests of verbal fluency, Stroop interference, trail-making, block-design, Mooney faces recognition, picture-completion, immediate and delayed visual and verbal recall. Paranoid and nonparanoid subgroups were based on ratings from the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Groups with high and low ratings of ideas-of-reference and thought-disorder were formed from a median split on the Scale for Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS). RESULTS: Verbal-fluency and Stroop-interference (left frontal and fronto-cingulate function) were negatively associated with noradrenergic turnover in nonparanoid and thought-disordered patients. High dopamine turnover related to speeded trail-making (frontal modulation of set switching) in those with many ideas-of-reference. In contrast, low dopamine turnover predicted poor recall in nonparanoid patients and those with little thought disorder. Serotonin metabolism did not independently contribute to the prediction any measure of cognitive performance. But, with regard to the relative activity between monoaminergic systems, increased HVA/5-HIAA ratios predicted visual-reproduction and Mooney's face-recognition performance (right-hemisphere functions) in highly symptomatic patients. Decreased HVA/MHPG predicted non-verbal recall. CONCLUSION: Clinical state and function are differentially sensitive to overall levels of monoamine activity. In particular, right-lateralised cerebral function was sensitive to the relative activities of the monoamines. Increased noradrenergic activity was associated with enhanced frontal but impaired temporal lobe function in nonparanoid syndromes. Low dopaminergic activity predicted poor attentional set control in those with ideas-of-reference, but poor recall in nonparanoid patients. These data, especially the HVA/5-HIAA ratios, provide a basis for planning the nature of antipsychotic treatment aimed at patient specific symptom dimensions and cognitive abilities

The relationship between school system characteristics and students\u27 attitudes to their school: an empirical investigation in comprehensive and tri-partite schools

Bisherige Vergleichsuntersuchungen zwischen Gesamtschulen und Regelschulen deuten darauf hin, daß zwischen den einzelnen Schulen auch unabhängig von der Schulform zum Teil erhebliche Lernerfolgs- und Persönlichkeitsunterschiede bei den Schülern auftreten. Es stellt sich die Frage, ob sich unabhängig von der Differenzierungsform Zusammenhänge finden lassen zwischen solchen Unterschieden und den Organisationsmerkmalen einzelner Schulen. Am Beispiel der Einstellungen von Schülern zu ihrer Schule, wie sie sich aus einer Befragung im 10. Schuljahr an insgesamt 23 Gesamtschulen, Realschulen und Gymnasien in Schleswig-Holstein ergeben, werden diese Unterschiede aufgezeigt und zu einigen Organisationsmerkmalen dieser Schulen in Beziehung gesetzt. Durch eine gemeinsame Faktorenanalyse von Schülereinstellungen und Schulmerkmalen werden entsprechende Zusammenhänge dargestellt. Eine multiple lineare Regression prüft darüber hinaus, welche Items am besten zwischen Gesamt- und Regelschulen trennen. (DIPF/Orig.

Applying Quantum Cascade Laser Spectroscopy in Plasma Diagnostics

The considerably higher power and wider frequency coverage available from quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) in comparison to lead salt diode lasers has led to substantial advances when QCLs are used in pure and applied infrared spectroscopy. Furthermore, they can be used in both pulsed and continuous wave (cw) operation, opening up new possibilities in quantitative time resolved applications in plasmas both in the laboratory and in industry as shown in this article. However, in order to determine absolute concentrations accurately using pulsed QCLs, careful attention has to be paid to features like power saturation phenomena. Hence, we begin with a discussion of the non-linear effects which must be considered when using short or long pulse mode operation. More recently, cw QCLs have been introduced which have the advantage of higher power, better spectral resolution and lower fluctuations in light intensity compared to pulsed devices. They have proved particularly useful in sensing applications in plasmas when very low concentrations have to be monitored. Finally, the use of cw external cavity QCLs (EC-QCLs) for multi species detection is described, using a diagnostics study of a methane/nitrogen plasma as an example. The wide frequency coverage of this type of QCL laser, which is significantly broader than from a distributed feedback QCL (DFB-QCL), is a substantial advantage for multi species detection. Therefore, cw EC-QCLs are state of the art devices and have enormous potential for future plasma diagnostic studies

Influence of the active screen plasma power during afterglow nitrocarburizing on the surface modification of aisi 316l

Active screen plasma nitrocarburizing (ASPNC) increases the surface hardness and lifetime of austenitic stainless steel without deteriorating its corrosion resistance. Using an active screen made of carbon opens up new technological possibilities that have not been exploited to date. In this study, the effect of screen power variation without bias application on resulting concentrations of process gas species and surface modification of AISI 316L steel was studied. The concentrations of gas species (e.g., HCN, NH3, CH4, C2 H2) were measured as functions of the active screen power and the feed gas composition at constant temperature using in situ infrared laser absorption spectroscopy. At constant precursor gas composition, the decrease in active screen power led to a decrease in both the concentrations of the detected molecules and the diffusion depths of nitrogen and carbon. Depending on the gas mixture, a threshold of the active screen power was found above which no changes in the expanded austenite layer thickness were measured. The use of a heating independent of the screen power offers an additional parameter for optimizing the ASPNC process in addition to changes in the feed gas composition and the bias power. In this way, an advanced process control can be established. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

RES-Q-Trace: A Mobile CEAS-Based Demonstrator for Multi-Component Trace Gas Detection in the MIR

Sensitive trace gas detection plays an important role in current challenges occurring in areas such as industrial process control and environmental monitoring. In particular, for medical breath analysis and for the detection of illegal substances, e.g., drugs and explosives, a selective and sensitive detection of trace gases in real-time is required. We report on a compact and transportable multi-component system (RES-Q-Trace) for molecular trace gas detection based on cavity-enhanced techniques in the mid-infrared (MIR). The RES-Q-Trace system can operate four independent continuous wave quantum or interband cascade lasers each combined with an optical cavity. Twice the method of off-axis cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy (OA-CEAS) was used, twice the method of optical feedback cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy (OF-CEAS), respectively. Multi-functional software has been implemented (i) for the general system control; (ii) to drive the four different laser sources and (iii) to analyze the detector signals for concentration determination of several molecular species. For the validation of the versatility and the performance of the RES-Q-Trace instrument the species NO, N2O, CH4, C2H4 and C3H6O, with relevance in the fields of breath gas analysis and the detection of explosives have been monitored in the MIR with detection limits at atmospheric pressure in the ppb and ppt range

UV continuum emission and diagnostics of hydrogen-containing non-equilibrium plasmas

For the first time the emission of the radiative dissociation continuum of the hydrogen molecule ($a^{3}\Sigma_{g}^{+} \to b^{3}\Sigma_{u}^{+}$ electronic transition) is proposed to be used as a source of information for the spectroscopic diagnostics of non-equilibrium plasmas. The detailed analysis of excitation-deactivation kinetics, rate constants of various collisional and radiative transitions and fitting procedures made it possible to develop two new methods of diagnostics of: (1) the ground $X^{1}\Sigma_{g}^{+}$ state vibrational temperature $T_{\text{vib}}$ from the relative intensity distribution, and (2) the rate of electron impact dissociation (d[\mbox{H_{2}}]/dt)_{\text{diss}} from the absolute intensity of the continuum. A known method of determination of $T_{\text{vib}}$ from relative intensities of Fulcher-$\alpha$ bands was seriously corrected and simplified due to the revision of $d \to a$ transition probabilities and cross sections of $d \gets X$ electron impact excitation. General considerations are illustrated with examples of experiments in pure hydrogen capillary-arc and H$_{2}$+Ar microwave discharges.Comment: REVTeX, 25 pages + 12 figures + 9 tables. Phys. Rev. E, eprint replaced because of resubmission to journal after referee's 2nd repor

Comparative promoter region analysis powered by CORG

BACKGROUND: Promoters are key players in gene regulation. They receive signals from various sources (e.g. cell surface receptors) and control the level of transcription initiation, which largely determines gene expression. In vertebrates, transcription start sites and surrounding regulatory elements are often poorly defined. To support promoter analysis, we present CORG , a framework for studying upstream regions including untranslated exons (5' UTR). DESCRIPTION: The automated annotation of promoter regions integrates information of two kinds. First, statistically significant cross-species conservation within upstream regions of orthologous genes is detected. Pairwise as well as multiple sequence comparisons are computed. Second, binding site descriptions (position-weight matrices) are employed to predict conserved regulatory elements with a novel approach. Assembled EST sequences and verified transcription start sites are incorporated to distinguish exonic from other sequences. As of now, we have included 5 species in our analysis pipeline (man, mouse, rat, fugu and zebrafish). We characterized promoter regions of 16,127 groups of orthologous genes. All data are presented in an intuitive way via our web site. Users are free to export data for single genes or access larger data sets via our DAS server . The benefits of our framework are exemplarily shown in the context of phylogenetic profiling of transcription factor binding sites and detection of microRNAs close to transcription start sites of our gene set. CONCLUSION: The CORG platform is a versatile tool to support analyses of gene regulation in vertebrate promoter regions. Applications for CORG cover a broad range from studying evolution of DNA binding sites and promoter constitution to the discovery of new regulatory sequence elements (e.g. microRNAs and binding sites)