Sex and Age-Related Differences in Neuroticism and Allostatic Load Index in Urban Patients with General Anxiety Disorder Treated with Alprazolam

Introduction: Allostatic Load (AL) index proposes indicators for the functioningof the main potentially stress-affected systems. Sex differences instress response and stress-related diseases susceptibility have been describedfor the general population. In this observational study we describe the effectsof sex and age on allostatic load variables, in a cohort of patients with generalanxiety disorders and neuroticism treated with alprazolam during 12 weeks,before and after treatment. Methods: Patients with general (DSM IV) anxietydisorders with >6 in Hamilton scale, Allostatic load (>1 Crimmins and SeemanAL modified criteria) and neuroticism >18 (NEO-FFI inventory), wereincluded. All patients completed psychiatric assessment, allostatic load indexdetermination before (−1 week) and after 12 weeks of treatment with alprazolam(0.25 - 1 mg/t.i.d). Allostatic load parameters comprised cardiovascular,metabolic and inflammatory variables. Univariate analysis (two-wayANOVA), Student?s t-test (related variables) and Pearson correlations weredetermined. Results: Fifty-four patients, 35 females (48.6 ± 11.7 years) and 19males (44.2 ± 12.8 years) with general anxiety disorder were included; 28 patientswith <50 years (60.7% females), and 26 with ≥50 years (69.2% females).Younger patients (<50 years) (two-way ANOVA, p = 0.02) were significantlyassociated with lower allostatic load index after treatment. However, womenshowed higher anxiety levels in both, before (Two-way ANOVA, p = 0.059)and after treatment (two-way ANOVA, p = 0.005), with a significantly betterprofile than men in many individual AL variables, particularly cardiovascular(systolic blood pressure), obesity (body mass index), and lipids (higher HDLlevels). After treatment a higher reduction of fibrinogen levels was found inmen (two-way ANOVA, p = 0.02). Conclusions: In this preliminary analysiswe described sex and age differences in psychiatry aspects and allostatic loadindexes in patients with general anxiety disorders in the short-term treatmentwith alprazolam. These considerations remark the need of pondering sex andage differences during the use of drugs for protracted periods.Fil: D`Alessio, Luciana. Universidad Nacional Arturo Jauretche. Unidad Ejecutora de Estudios en Neurociencias y Sistemas Complejos. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Ministerio de Salud. Hospital Alta Complejidad en Red El Cruce Dr. Néstor Carlos Kirchner Samic. Unidad Ejecutora de Estudios en Neurociencias y Sistemas Complejos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Unidad Ejecutora de Estudios en Neurociencias y Sistemas Complejos; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Soria, Carlos A.. Henri Laborit Institute Of Biosciences; ArgentinaFil: Remedi, Carolina. Henri Laborit Institute Of Biosciences; Argentina; ArgentinaFil: Roldán, Emilio J. A.. Instituto de Neurobiología IDNEU; Argentin

Non-critically squeezed light via spontaneous rotational symmetry breaking

We theoretically address squeezed light generation through the spontaneous breaking of the rotational invariance occuring in a type I degenerate optical parametric oscillator (DOPO) pumped above threshold. We show that a DOPO with spherical mirrors, in which the signal and idler fields correspond to first order Laguerre-Gauss modes, produces a perfectly squeezed vacuum with the shape of a Hermite-Gauss mode, within the linearized theory. This occurs at any pumping level above threshold, hence the phenomenon is non-critical. Imperfections of the rotational symmetry, due e.g. to cavity anisotropy, are shown to have a small impact, hence the result is not singular.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, replaced with resubmitted versio

Semantic and Phonemic Verbal Fluency Performance in Patients with General Anxiety Disorders and Allostatic Load under Alprazolam Treatment

Purpose: Anxiety disorders are frequently associated with chronic stress with possible cognitive consequences. The aim of this study was to determine the verbal fluency performance in a cohort of patients with anxiety disorders and allostatic load, treated with alprazolam during 12 weeks. Methods: Patients with GAD (general anxiety disorders, DSM IV), with >6 in Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A), neuroticism > 18 (NEO-FFI inventory), and normal Mini-Mental State Examination were included. Clinical and Psychiatric examination, Allostatic Load Index and cognitive assessment were analyzed before and after 12 weeks of treatment. The phonemic and semantic verbal fluency tests were determined in all patients. The scoring for each fluency task was determined by counting the number of correct words. The total score from each semantic and phonemic verbal task was analyzed comparing the individual score with normal data controlled by age and sex. Patients with scores > −2 standard deviation (SD) from normative data were considered impaired. Results: Fifty-four patients completed the semantic verbal fluency test before treatment and fifty patients completed after treatment. According to the z-scores before treatment 7 patients of 54 (12.9%) had verbal fluency impairments. After treatment none patients showed semantic verbal fluency deficits but 3 patients of 50 (6%) showed phonemic impairments. Impaired group was significantly associated with an older age before treatment (p = 0.033) and with a similar tendency but not significant (p = 0.09) after treatment (Student t test). Conclusion: In this study older age factor was associated with verbal fluency impairment in GAD patients. Stratified treatments.Fil: Soria, Carlos Alberto. Institute of Biosciences Henri Laborit; ArgentinaFil: Remedi, Carolina. Institute of Biosciences Henri Laborit; ArgentinaFil: D`alessio, Luciana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Roldán, Emilio J. A.. Dirección Científica Gador S. A.; Argentin

Generating highly squeezed Hybrid Laguerre-Gauss modes in large-Fresnel-number Degenerate Optical Parametric Oscillators

We theoretically describe the quantum properties of a large Fresnel number degenerate optical parametric oscillator with spherical mirrors that is pumped by a Gaussian beam. The resonator is tuned so that the resonance frequency of a given transverse mode family coincides with the down-converted frequency. After demonstrating that only the lower orbital angular momentum (OAM) Laguerre-Gauss modes are amplified above threshold, we focus on the quantum properties of the rest of (classically empty) modes. We find that combinations of opposite OAM (Hybrid Laguerre-Gauss modes) can exhibit arbitrary large quadrature squeezing for the lower OAM non amplified modes.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures and 2 table

Risk Factors for Sporadic Shiga Toxin–producing Escherichia coli Infections in Children, Argentina1

These infections can be prevented by avoiding known risk factors

Butterfly-parasitoid-hostplant interactions in Western Palaearctic Hesperiidae: a DNA barcoding reference library

The study of ecological interactions between plants, phytophagous insects and their natural enemies is an essential but challenging component for understanding ecosystem dynamics. Molecular methods such as DNA barcoding can help elucidate these interactions. In this study, we employed DNA barcoding to establish hostplant and parasitoid interactions with hesperiid butterflies, using a complete reference library for Hesperiidae of continental Europe and north-western Africa (53 species, 100% of those recorded) based on 2934 sequences from 38 countries. A total of 233 hostplant and parasitoid interactions are presented, some recovered by DNA barcoding larval remains or parasitoid cocoons. Combining DNA barcode results with other lines of evidence allowed 94% species-level identification for Hesperiidae, but success was lower for parasitoids, in part due to unresolved taxonomy. Potential cases of cryptic diversity, both in Hesperiidae and Microgastrinae, are discussed. We briefly analyse the resulting interaction networks. Future DNA barcoding initiatives in this region should focus attention on north-western Africa and on parasitoids, because in these cases barcode reference libraries and taxonomy are less well developed.Support for this research was provided by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) with a JAE-Intro fellowship for the introduction to research to ETD (reference numbers JAEINT_20_00248 and JAEINT20_EX_0638) and by projects PID2019-107078GB-I00/MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and 2017-SGR-991 (Generalitat de Catalunya) to RV, and PID2020-117739GA-I00/MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 to GT. We thank the Rachadaphiseksomphot Fund, Graduate School, Chulalongkorn University, for the award of a Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship to DLJQ. Further support for this research was provided by the Academy of Finland (Academy Research Fellow, decision no. 328895) to VD. PDNH acknowledges support from Genome Canada through Ontario Genomics. BV has been funded by the CERCA Programme of the Generalitat de Catalunya and by the Grant RYC-22243-2017, whose PI is Josep Sardanyés. SV was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, grant PID2020-117822GB-I00 MINEICO/AEI/ FEDER and the European Union.INTRODUCTION MATERIAL AND METHODS RESULTS DISCUSSION CONCLUSION SUPPORTING INFORMATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS DATA AVAILABILITY REFERENCES Supplementary dat

Thrombopoietin Receptor Agonists for Severe Thrombocytopenia after Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation : Experience of the Spanish Group of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant

Persistent thrombocytopenia is a common complication after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT). Romiplostim and eltrombopag are the currently available thrombopoietin receptor agonists (TPO-RAs), and some studies with very small numbers of cases have reported their potential efficacy in the allo-SCT setting. The present retrospective study evaluated the safety and efficacy of TPO-RAs in 86 patients with persistent thrombocytopenia after allo-HSCT. Sixteen patients (19%) had isolated thrombocytopenia (PT), and 71 (82%) had secondary failure of platelet recovery (SFPR). TPO-RA therapy was started at a median of 127 days (range, 27 to 1177 days) after allo-SCT. The median initial and maximum administered doses were 50 mg/day (range, 25 to 150 mg/day) and 75 mg/day (range, 25 to 150 mg/day), respectively, for eltrombopag and 1 µg/kg (range, 1 to 7 µg/kg) and 5 µg/kg (range, 1 to 10 µg/kg), respectively, for romiplostin. The median platelet count before initiation of TPO-RA therapy was 14,000/µL (range, 1000 to 57,000/µL). Platelet recovery to ≥50,000/µL without transfusion support was achieved in 72% of patients at a median time of 66 days (range, 2 to 247 days). Eighty-one percent of the patients had a decreased number of megakaryocytes before treatment, showing a slower response to therapy (P =.011). The median duration of treatment was 62 days (range, 7 to 700 days). Grade 3-4 adverse events (hepatic and asthenia) were observed in only 2% of the patients. At last follow-up, 81% of patients had discontinued TPO-RAs and maintained response, and 71% were alive. To our knowledge, this is the largest series analyzing the use of TPO-RAs after allo-SCT reported to date. Our results support the efficacy and safety in this new setting. Further prospective trials are needed to increase the level of evidence and to identify predictors of response

One-step nucleic acid amplification (Osna) of sentinel lymph node in early-stage endometrial cancer: Spanish multicenter study (endo-osna)

The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of one-step nucleic acid amplification (OSNA) for the detection of sentinel lymph node (SLN) metastasis compared to standard pathological ultrastaging in patients with early-stage endometrial cancer (EC). A total of 526 SLNs from 191 patients with EC were included in the study, and 379 SLNs (147 patients) were evaluated by both methods, OSNA and standard pathological ultrastaging. The central 1 mm portion of each lymph node was subjected to semi-serial sectioning at 200 µm intervals and examined by hematoxylin–eosin and immunohistochemistry with CK19; the remaining tissue was analyzed by OSNA for CK19 mRNA. The OSNA assay detected metastases in 19.7% of patients (14.9% micrometastasis and 4.8% macrometastasis), whereas pathological ultrastaging detected metastasis in 8.8% of patients (3.4% micrometastasis and 5.4% macrometastasis). Using the established cut-off value for detecting SLN metastasis by OSNA in EC (250 copies/µL), the sensitivity of the OSNA assay was 92%, specificity was 82%, diagnostic accuracy was 83%, and the negative predictive value was 99%. Discordant results between both methods were recorded in 20 patients (13.6%). OSNA resulted in an upstaging in 12 patients (8.2%). OSNA could aid in the identification of patients requiring adjuvant treatment at the time of diagnosis. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) Guidelines - 2016 Revision

BACKGROUND: Allergic rhinitis (AR) affects 10% to 40% of the population. It reduces quality of life and school and work performance and is a frequent reason for office visits in general practice. Medical costs are large, but avoidable costs associated with lost work productivity are even larger than those incurred by asthma. New evidence has accumulated since the last revision of the Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) guidelines in 2010, prompting its update. OBJECTIVE: We sought to provide a targeted update of the ARIA guidelines. METHODS: The ARIA guideline panel identified new clinical questions and selected questions requiring an update. We performed systematic reviews of health effects and the evidence about patients' values and preferences and resource requirements (up to June 2016). We followed the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) evidence-to-decision frameworks to develop recommendations. RESULTS: The 2016 revision of the ARIA guidelines provides both updated and new recommendations about the pharmacologic treatment of AR. Specifically, it addresses the relative merits of using oral H1-antihistamines, intranasal H1-antihistamines, intranasal corticosteroids, and leukotriene receptor antagonists either alone or in combination. The ARIA guideline panel provides specific recommendations for the choice of treatment and the rationale for the choice and discusses specific considerations that clinicians and patients might want to review to choose the management most appropriate for an individual patient. CONCLUSIONS: Appropriate treatment of AR might improve patients' quality of life and school and work productivity. ARIA recommendations support patients, their caregivers, and health care providers in choosing the optimal treatment