Insulin Sensitivity of Heifers on Different Diets

The hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp technique was used to investigate the effect on insulin sensitivity of 2 different diets used in practical cattle feeding in calves. Ten 4 to 5-month-old heifer calves were allocated to 2 feeding groups, LO or HI, to obtain growth rates of 400 g/day or 900 g/day. The heifers were fed and housed individually for 5 weeks. Growth rates close to calculated rates were obtained with the diets used. Weekly blood samples were collected from the jugular vein for analysis of glucose, insulin, cortisol, total serum protein, urea, cholesterol and nonesterified fatty acids. During week 5, insulin sensitivity was estimated using the hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp technique. Insulin sensitivity did not differ between the groups, but the plasma glucose levels were higher during weeks 3 and 4 for the HI group compared to the LO group. It may be concluded that the amount of concentrate in the diet was too low to induce changes in either the basal plasma insulin levels or the insulin sensitivity in the HI group

Transdiagnostic subgroups of cognitive impairment in early affective and psychotic illness

Abstract: Cognitively impaired and spared patient subgroups were identified in psychosis and depression, and in clinical high-risk for psychosis (CHR). Studies suggest differences in underlying brain structural and functional characteristics. It is unclear whether cognitive subgroups are transdiagnostic phenomena in early stages of psychotic and affective disorder which can be validated on the neural level. Patients with recent-onset psychosis (ROP; N = 140; female = 54), recent-onset depression (ROD; N = 130; female = 73), CHR (N = 128; female = 61) and healthy controls (HC; N = 270; female = 165) were recruited through the multi-site study PRONIA. The transdiagnostic sample and individual study groups were clustered into subgroups based on their performance in eight cognitive domains and characterized by gray matter volume (sMRI) and resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) using support vector machine (SVM) classification. We identified an impaired subgroup (N ROP = 79, N ROD = 30, N CHR = 37) showing cognitive impairment in executive functioning, working memory, processing speed and verbal learning (all p < 0.001). A spared subgroup (N ROP = 61, N ROD = 100, N CHR = 91) performed comparable to HC. Single-disease subgroups indicated that cognitive impairment is stronger pronounced in impaired ROP compared to impaired ROD and CHR. Subgroups in ROP and ROD showed specific symptom- and functioning-patterns. rsFC showed superior accuracy compared to sMRI in differentiating transdiagnostic subgroups from HC (BACimpaired = 58.5%; BACspared = 61.7%, both: p < 0.01). Cognitive findings were validated in the PRONIA replication sample (N = 409). Individual cognitive subgroups in ROP, ROD and CHR are more informative than transdiagnostic subgroups as they map onto individual cognitive impairment and specific functioning- and symptom-patterns which show limited overlap in sMRI and rsFC. Clinical trial registry name: German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS). Clinical trial registry URL: https://www.drks.de/drks_web/ . Clinical trial registry number: DRKS00005042

Association between age of cannabis initiation and gray matter covariance networks in recent onset psychosis

Cannabis use during adolescence is associated with an increased risk of developing psychosis. According to a current hypothesis, this results from detrimental effects of early cannabis use on brain maturation during this vulnerable period. However, studies investigating the interaction between early cannabis use and brain structural alterations hitherto reported inconclusive findings. We investigated effects of age of cannabis initiation on psychosis using data from the multicentric Personalized Prognostic Tools for Early Psychosis Management (PRONIA) and the Cannabis Induced Psychosis (CIP) studies, yielding a total sample of 102 clinically-relevant cannabis users with recent onset psychosis. GM covariance underlies shared maturational processes. Therefore, we performed source-based morphometry analysis with spatial constraints on structural brain networks showing significant alterations in schizophrenia in a previous multisite study, thus testing associations of these networks with the age of cannabis initiation and with confounding factors. Earlier cannabis initiation was associated with more severe positive symptoms in our cohort. Greater gray matter volume (GMV) in the previously identified cerebellar schizophrenia-related network had a significant association with early cannabis use, independent of several possibly confounding factors. Moreover, GMV in the cerebellar network was associated with lower volume in another network previously associated with schizophrenia, comprising the insula, superior temporal, and inferior frontal gyrus. These findings are in line with previous investigations in healthy cannabis users, and suggest that early initiation of cannabis perturbs the developmental trajectory of certain structural brain networks in a manner imparting risk for psychosis later in life

Traces of trauma – a multivariate pattern analysis of childhood trauma, brain structure and clinical phenotypes

Background: Childhood trauma (CT) is a major yet elusive psychiatric risk factor, whose multidimensional conceptualization and heterogeneous effects on brain morphology might demand advanced mathematical modeling. Therefore, we present an unsupervised machine learning approach to characterize the clinical and neuroanatomical complexity of CT in a larger, transdiagnostic context. Methods: We used a multicenter European cohort of 1076 female and male individuals (discovery: n = 649; replication: n = 427) comprising young, minimally medicated patients with clinical high-risk states for psychosis; patients with recent-onset depression or psychosis; and healthy volunteers. We employed multivariate sparse partial least squares analysis to detect parsimonious associations between combinations of items from the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and gray matter volume and tested their generalizability via nested cross-validation as well as via external validation. We investigated the associations of these CT signatures with state (functioning, depressivity, quality of life), trait (personality), and sociodemographic levels. Results: We discovered signatures of age-dependent sexual abuse and sex-dependent physical and sexual abuse, as well as emotional trauma, which projected onto gray matter volume patterns in prefronto-cerebellar, limbic, and sensory networks. These signatures were associated with predominantly impaired clinical state- and trait-level phenotypes, while pointing toward an interaction between sexual abuse, age, urbanicity, and education. We validated the clinical profiles for all three CT signatures in the replication sample. Conclusions: Our results suggest distinct multilayered associations between partially age- and sex-dependent patterns of CT, distributed neuroanatomical networks, and clinical profiles. Hence, our study highlights how machine learning approaches can shape future, more fine-grained CT research

Metabolic studies in cattle using the hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp technique

Hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp, HEC, originally developed for determing insulin-mediated glucose disposal and insulin sensitivity in humans, was used and evaluated in cattle. In the present study the following investigations were performed: the bovine physiological responses during drug-induced insulin resistance, the influence of liberal or restricted concentrate feeding on insulin sensitivity, the impact of two different physical activity levels on insulin sensitivity and muscle characteristics, and finally the expression of abomasal efflux rates in relation to different blood glucose levels. Clenbuterol and flumethasone treatment induced insulin resistance in calves lasting less than 17 hrs and 3 days post-treatment, respectively. The effect of flumethasone was more manifest than that of clenbuterol. Insulin sensitivity and muscle characteristics did not differ between one group of calves exposed to light exercise and another group of calves not exercised for 4 to 5 weeks. The results indicated that growth may have an influence on insulin sensitivity. The blood glucose levels of heifers fed concentrate at the upper limit, according to Swedish feeding standards, were higher than in heifers fed quantities at the lower limit. There was no change in insulin sensitivity or insulin levels between the two groups. A high plasma glucose level was shown to reduce the abomasal efflux rate and increase the abomasal pH in non-pregnant, non-lactating cows. The results show that the HEC technique may be a useful means for investigating drug-induced insulin resistance and can also be used to create specific experimental conditions. Ruminant gluconeogenesis may still occur to some extent during HEC application, especially in lactating cows, and therefore this must be considered in future studies

En vaggvisa om oss ‐ sången om kärleken till dig

Theoretically  the  report  revolves  around  the  British  child  psychologist  D.W.  Winnicott  and  his  theory  on  transitional  objects.  He  talks  about  the  comforter  as  an  object  that  serves  as  a  transition  between  the  mother’s  secure  embrace  and  the  sourrounding  world.  The  comforter  functions  as  a  step  towards  buildning  up  the  child’s  own  internal  security.  The  report  also  highlights  partial  reinforcement,  which  is  a  learning  mechanism  that  can  be  very  efficient  to  create  a  dependency  and  maintain  a  destructive  behaviour  for  the  person  being  exposed  to  the  mechanism.  Through  my  ceramic  work  I  have  investigated  the  relationship  between  the  two  theories.  I  ask:  are  the  inherent  feelings  of  safety  and  belonging  things  that  we  are  born  into  or  inherit,  or  are  they  created  later  through  experience  and  cultivation?  If  one  lacks  the  inherent  feeling  of  safety  does  that  cast  them  as  an  easier  target  for  destructive  emotional  dependency?  If  so,  can  a  foundation  of  safety  and  confidence  be  built  up  by  the  work  of  clay,  can  clay  function  as  a  comforter? In  the  report  i  discuss  how,  with  the  help  of  clay,  I  approach  and  explore  these  subjects.  I  go  further  to  illustrate  my  therapeutic  beliefs  on  clay,  and  its  ability  to  build  self  esteem  and  confidence.

Genetic components in contemporary Faroe Islands cattle as revealed by microsatellite analysis

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Estimating the admixture proportions of extant Faroe Island Cattle using microsatellite DNA

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