Sensorimotor effects on central space representation: prism adaptation influences haptic and visual representations in normal subjects

Prism adaptation improves visual and haptic manifestations of left neglect, and can induce a small but reliable simulation of left visual neglect in normal individuals. Here, we present two experiments in which the effects of prism adaptation on the representation of space were explored. In Experiment 1, normal subjects were required to locate the centre of a haptically explored circle, before and after adaptation to leftward displacing prisms. In Experiment 2, a visual circle centring task was used. In both tasks, prism adaptation induced a significant rightward shift of performance. In addition, in both experiments, three classical measures of visuo-manual adaptation were taken: the visual shift, the proprioceptive shift and the total shift. The effects found on the haptic and visual tasks did not correlate with any of these measures. This suggests that the effects of prism adaptation on the circle centring tasks did not depend directly on the sensorimotor consequences of the adaptation. These results imply that prism adaptation can affect noetic levels of space representation in normal subjects, supporting the hypothesis that this low-level sensorimotor intervention can exert a bottom-up structuring influence on higher levels of cognitive integration.     

Cervico-vaginal infections. Study of a population in the Turin area

BACKGROUND: Aim of this study is to determine the prevalence, in the Turin area, of the pathogens chiefly involved in the genesis of the most common infections of the female genitalia. METHODS: This is a retrospective study. During the period of time beginning from January 1, 1997 and ending December 31, 1999, we examined 10,249 women from 14 years to 54 years of age, who were seen at the out-patient diagnosis service of the Sant'Anna Hospital. The patients' cervical specimens were screened for common germs, Candida spp., Trichomonas vaginalis, Bact. Vaginosis, Chlamydia trachomatis, Microplasms, and Neisseria gonorrhea. The prevalence of each micro-organism was found. The obtained data were cross-referenced with the risk factors in the clinical history of each patient. The chi(2) test with a C.I. of 95% was used for the statistical evaluations. RESULTS: It is shown by a detailed analysis of the data in our possession that an anamnesis oriented mainly for the evaluation of the various risk factors would be more effective than one oriented for the presence of a subjective symptomatology, since many of these infections are either weakly symptomatic or totally asymptomatic (especially in the case of C. trachomatis), as has been many times underlined in the international literature. CONCLUSIONS: Greater attention should be given to the collection of anamnestic information in order to more precisely target for examination those subjects at greater risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection.     

Activation of complement mediates antiphospholipid antibody-induced pregnancy loss

Although it is clear that the specific antigenic reactivity of antiphospholipid (aPL) antibodies is critical to their effect, the pathogenic mechanisms that result in injury in vivo are incompletely understood. We hyphothesized that aPL antibodies targeted to the placenta activate complement locally, generating split products that mediate placental injury and lead to foetal loss and growth retardation. To test this hypothesis, we used a murine model of APS in which pregnant mice are injected with human IgG containing aPL antibodies. Mice treated with inhibitors of complement activation and mice deficient in complement components were protected from aPL antibody-induced foetal damage. Although the cause of tissue injury in this disease is probably multifactoral, we have shown that complement activation is an absolute requirement for foetal loss and growth restriction and, therefore, thatthis pathway acts upstream of other important effector mechanisms. Identification of complement activation as a mechanism that is necessary for aPL-induced tissue damage and definition ofthe complement components necessary to trigger such injury is likely to lead to a better understanding of the pathogenesis of vascular and tissue injury in SLE and to new and improved treatments.     

Characterization of plasmid MIP233 (IncHI3) of the H complex

Plasmid MIP233, the unique member of the IncHI3 subgroup of the H incompatibility complex, is a large self-transferable plasmid encoding for sucrose utilization, the PacB character and resistance to tellurite. The current study examined whether pMIP233 conferred other putatively advantageous plasmid-encoded functions. Heavy metal studies revealed pMIP233 phenotypes of resistance to cadmium, cobalt, lead, zinc and nickel. Sequencing of random clones from a pMIP233 library revealed extensive homology with IS elements and genes involved in the metabolic processes demonstrated. Interestingly, pMIP233 did not appear to code for resistance to a wide range of antibiotics. pMIP233 is considered to be a metabolic plasmid.     

Suicide in the Italian military environment (1986-1998)

OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to provide data about suicide and attempted suicide in the Italian military environment from 1986 to 1998. METHODS: Italian data were gathered from the clinical documentation archived by the Epidemiological Observatory. These data were collected in a Case Report Form and subsequently sorted into the statistical program database, SPSS, and then processed. RESULTS: From 1986 to 1998, there were 122 suicides and 136 attempted suicides. The most frequently involved ranks were military troops. Subject age range varied from 17 to 60 years. The most frequent ages for both suicides and attempted suicides were 19, 20, 21, and 22 years old. DISCUSSION: The authors assume that the lower predominance of suicide in the military population is mainly attributable to the following factors: screening procedures of military personnel aim to exclude mentally disturbed and the military service provides a young individual with the possibility to belong and to identify himself with a group.     

Decrease in the hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence in hemodialysis patients in Spain: effect of time, initiating HCV prevalence studies and adoption of isolation measures

The effectiveness of isolation measures to prevent hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in hemodialysis units is a controversial issue. Strict adherence to the universal infection control precautions has been deemed adequate to prevent nosocomial transmission of HCV. Subsequently, however, select isolation measures, such as the clustering of HCV positive patients in a defined sector of the unit, have been adopted, specially for those units with a high HCV prevalence and when the personnel-patient ratio was such that it could involuntary favor the break of the universal precautions. In this Multicenter Spanish Study on HCV in Dialysis, the importance of both time and isolation measures led to a decrease of HCV prevalence. Time was the most important factor (although interacting with the isolation measures) and was independent of the initial HCV prevalence.     

Switching mechanisms of cell death in mdm2- and mdm4-null mice by deletion of p53 downstream targets

The p53 tumor suppressor ensures maintenance of genome integrity by initiating either apoptosis or cell cycle arrest in response to DNA damage. Deletion of either mdm2 or mdm4 genes, which encode p53 inhibitors, results in embryonic lethality. The lethal phenotypes are rescued in the absence of p53, which indicates that increased activity of p53 is the cause of lethality in the mdm2- and mdm4-null embryos. Here we show that mdm2-null embryos die because of apoptosis initiated at 3.5 days postcoitum (dpc). Partial rescue of mdm2-null embryos by deletion of bax allows survival to 6.5 dpc and alters the mechanism of death from apoptosis to cell cycle arrest, indicating that bax is a critical component of the p53 pathway in early embryogenesis. The death of mdm4-null embryos is due to p53-initiated cell cycle arrest at 7.5 dpc. Deletion of p21(p21(waf1/cip1)), a p53 downstream target partially responsible for cell cycle arrest, does not rescue this phenotype; however, deletion of p21 alters the mechanism of cell death from lack of proliferation to apoptosis. Thus, in both examples, deletion of a p53 downstream target gene allows p53 to redirect its efforts, highlighting a high degree of plasticity in p53 function.     

Choreography of early thalamocortical development

Thalamic axons, which carry most of the information from the sensory environment, are amongst the first projections to reach the cerebral cortex during embryonic development. It has been proposed that the scaffold of early generated cells in the ventral thalamus, internal capsule and preplate play a pivotal role in their deployment through sharp gene expression boundaries. These ideas were recently evaluated in various strains of mutant mice. In Tbr1, Gbx2, Pax6 KO both thalamic and corticofugal projections fail to traverse the striatocortical junction. In both Emx2 and Pax6 KO brains, the misrouted thalamic afferents are accompanied by displacements of the pioneering projections from the internal capsule. Regardless of their altered route, thalamic afferents in the reeler and L1 KO mice seem to be able to redistribute themselves on the cortical sheet and establish normal periphery-related representation in the somatosensory cortex. Early neural activity delivered through the thalamic projections is thought to be involved in the realignment process of thalamic axons at the time of their accumulation in the subplate layer. However, axonal growth and the early topographic arrangement of thalamocortical fiber pathways appear normal in the Snap25 KO, where action potential mediated synaptic vesicle release is disrupted. We therefore suggest that intercellular communication mediated by constitutive secretion of transmitters or growth factors might play a dominant role during early thalamocortical development.