Dimensions of postpartum psychiatric distress: preliminary evidence for broadening clinical scope.

BACKGROUND: Perinatal psychiatric disturbances afflict a significant number of women sometimes with tragic consequence. Yet, the range and characteristics of these disturbances are poorly understood. The goals of this research were to characterize a broader range of postpartum psychiatric symptoms and to identify their inherent structure using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). METHODS: An Internet-based survey with 142 Likert-type questions, covering nine dimensions of postpartum mental health was constructed and posted on women's health websites. Data collected from 215 respondents was analyzed in three steps: (1) inter-item correlations were used to reduce the total number of variables by eliminating items that provided redundant information; (2) an EFA using a principal components extraction and VARIMAX rotation was performed and factors loading with Eigenvalues >1.0 were retained; (3) internal consistency was measured with Cronbach's alpha. RESULTS: The 10 factors retained accounted for 58% of the variance and included: mental status (28%), psychoticism/morbid thoughts (6%), generalized anxiety (6%), panic (3%), guilt/self-criticism (3%), compulsive behavior (3%), hyper-vigilance (2%), contentment (2%), negative body-image (2%), and manic behavior (2%). There was strong (>0.8) internal consistency in all but the mania factor (0.6). LIMITATIONS: The study was retrospective and respondent demographics were homogeneous. CONCLUSION: Postpartum psychiatric disturbances are not limited to depressive symptoms. In the current study, cognitive difficulties, psychotic-morbid thoughts and anxiety symptoms accounted for the preponderance of variance while depressive symptoms did not form a cohesive factor and accounted for minimal variance. These results suggest postpartum screening tools should assess a broader array of symptoms.

Assessment of mercury concentrations in small mammals collected near Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Mercury concentrations in liver and hair tissue were determined for five species of small mammals captured near Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. These data were then used to evaluate the suitability of using hair as a noninvasive technique for determining body burdens of mercury. A total of 104 small mammals were captured and analyzed; four main species were examined and included: Dipodomys merriami, Chaetodipus penicillatus, Peromyscus eremicus, and Neotoma lepida. Mean mercury concentrations were highest in N. lepida, followed by D. merriami, C. penicillatus, and P. eremicus respectively. Positive associations were found between hair and liver taken from D. merriami (r = 0.647) and C. penicillatus (r = 0.533) indicating that hair may be a suitable indicator of body burdens in these two species.

Motor learning processes in a movement-scaling task in olivopontocerebellar atrophy and Parkinson's disease.

Nine Parkinson's disease (PD), seven olivopontocerebellar atrophy (OPCA) patients and two age-matched control groups learned a linear arm movement-scaling task over 2 days, requiring movements proportional in length to visually presented target-bars. Scaling was acquired through knowledge of results (KR concerning the direction and magnitude of errors) following every second acquisition trial. Initial acquisition of both groups was significantly worse than their respective controls (poorer movement scaling), but rapidly improved to nearly identical levels. Retention for the PD group's movement scaling was as good as controls initially, but markedly poorer after 24 h. The OPCA group did not show this deficit. Both patient groups extrapolated accurately to longer, previously unpracticed target distances (no KR provided), suggesting an unimpaired capacity to generate and use an internal representation of the movement scaling. They also rapidly learned a new scaling relationship when the gain was changed. Overall, the learning of this movement-scaling task was not adversely affected in OPCA, and the impairment was restricted primarily to longer-term retention in PD. The study suggests that: (1) the ability to acquire movement scaling in a task that requires conscious use of error feedback and no new coordination may depend little on the cerebellum, and (2) the basal ganglia may participate in longer-term storage of scaling information.

Mercury concentrations in fish from Lake Mead, USA, related to fish size, condition, trophic level, location, and consumption risk.

Total mercury (Hg) concentrations were determined in the skeletal muscle of 339 fish collected during the fall of 1998 and spring of 1999 from Lake Mead, USA, the nation's largest human-made reservoir. Five species of fish representing a range of trophic levels and the lake's principal game fishes were studied. Hg generally increased with trophic level and fish size. Median Hg concentrations (ng/g wet mass) were 277 in striped bass, 168 in channel catfish, 160 in largemouth bass, 75 in bluegill, and 8 in blue tilapia. Overall, fish from Las Vegas Bay and Boulder Basin had the lowest Hg concentrations, possibly a result of biodilution in this biologically productive area. In general, fish-mercury advisories might include a warning about consuming fillet from emaciated fish, based on the finding that Hg concentrations in 59 striped bass (captured during a scarce-food season) correlated inversely ( r = -0.89, p < 0.001) with a fish nutritional-status factor. This is consistent with starvation-concentration, whereby Hg in fish muscle is lost at a slower rate than the muscle mass. The median concentration found for 139 striped bass corresponds to a recommended risk-based consumption limit of three 8-oz. (227-g) meals per month for a 70-kg adult. Finally, this paper serves as a useful archive for future research and long-term studies of Hg in Lake Mead fish.

Association between the level of ERCC-1 expression and the repair of cisplatin-induced DNA damage in human ovarian cancer cells.

Nucleotide excision repair (NER) is responsible for the repair of platinum-DNA lesions. ERCC-1 is a critical gene within the NER pathway, and cells without a functional ERCC-1 do not repair cisplatin-caused DNA damage. The present study was therefore designed to evaluate the relationship between the expression of ERCC-1 and the repair of cisplatin-induced DNA adducts in human ovarian cancer cells in vitro. One hour exposure of MCAS cells to cisplatin yielded an approximately two-fold increment in the levels of ERCC-1 mRNA and ERCC-1 protein, as determined, respectively, by Northern and Western blottings. In addition, nuclear run-on assay showed that ERCC-1 gene transcription rate was increased to about the same extent as steady-state ERCC-1 mRNA and protein, in response to cisplatin treatment. However, the levels of ERCC-1 mRNA, ERCC-1 protein, and ERCC-1 transcript in MCAS cells are two-fold lower than those in A2780/CP70 cells, as previously reported. Furthermore, the repair of cisplatin-DNA adducts in MCAS cells, as measured by atomic absorption spectrometry, is also nearly two-fold less than that in A2780/CP70 cells, indicating a strong association between the level of ERCC-1 expression and the activity of excision repair in these two human ovarian tumor cell lines. These results suggest that ERCC-1 may be a useful marker to monitor the repair of platinum-DNA damage in tumor cells, and further highlight that potential pharmacological approaches which specifically inhibit ERCC-1 expression may increase cellular sensitivity to cisplatin.