ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The microbiological basis of diaper dermatitis is not clearly elucidated, although a better knowledge of microbial colonisation can be of importance with regard to an adequate treatment. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relevance of candida sp. and Staphylococcus aureus colonisation in diaper dermatitis and to determine the correlation between the extent of colonisation and the severity of disease. METHODS: Growth of candida sp. and S. aureus in the perianal, inguinal and oral regions was determined by positive/negative and semi-quantitative analysis in an open, multi-centre (n = 3) study. Forty-eight children with healthy skin and 28 with diaper dermatitis were analysed. The severity of diaper dermatitis was assessed using a total symptoms score. RESULTS: Colonisation by candida sp. was significantly more frequent in children with diaper dermatitis as compared to those with healthy skin (perianal 75 vs. 19%; inguinal 50 vs. 10%; oral 68 vs. 25%, p < 0.0003), whereas colonisation by S. aureus at the 3 swab locations was not different (p > 0.34). There was a highly significant, positive correlation between severity of disease and extent of candida sp. colonisation at all swab locations. CONCLUSIONS: Limited microbial colonisation in diaper dermatitis is of questionable relevance, but extensive colonisation seems to aggravate the symptoms; therefore, we suggest that semi-quantitative evaluation should be preferred to the positive/negative assessment for a differential diagnosis.
Subject(s)
Diaper Rash/microbiology , Skin/microbiology , Anal Canal/microbiology , Candida/isolation & purification , Female , Groin/microbiology , Humans , Infant , Male , Mouth/microbiology , Staphylococcus aureus/isolation & purificationABSTRACT
Two experiments investigated the effects of smoking status and schizotypy on the ability to gate out irrelevant information as assessed in auditory and visual latent inhibition (LI), Stroop effect and negative priming. The two experiments used 10 or 30 pre-exposures for auditory LI and a long or short interstimulus interval for the Stroop task, respectively, which included negative priming and served as masking task for the visual LI. Smoking status did not affect performance on any of the tasks, except for auditory LI after 30 pre-exposures, which was enhanced. The relationship between schizotypy and cognitive performance was complex. In Experiment 1, high schizotypals had smaller visual LI and negative priming than low schizotypals, whereas in Experiment 2 the reverse was observed, namely, larger LI and negative priming in high schizotypals.
Subject(s)
Reflex, Startle/physiology , Schizophrenic Psychology , Smoking/psychology , Acoustic Stimulation , Adult , Attention/physiology , Carbon Monoxide/metabolism , Cognition/physiology , Electroencephalography , Female , Humans , Male , Personality Tests , Photic StimulationABSTRACT
Latent inhibition (LI) refers to the slowing of learning about a stimulus after preexposure, i.e., previous presentation of the stimulus without any consequence. This report summarizes results of four studies investigating the effect of being a smoker or nonsmoker on auditory LI as a function of procedural parameters, namely number (10 vs. 30) and intensity (low vs. high) of preexposed stimuli. In general, the number of preexposures did not affect LI, whereas low-intensity stimuli led to greater LI than high-intensity stimuli. These findings underline the importance of automatic vs. controlled processing of the preexposed stimuli for the development of human LI. Smokers showed increased LI compared to nonsmokers in low-intensity task versions as well as compared to both smokers and nonsmokers in high-intensity versions. These findings may indicate that nicotinic effects on LI depend on the robustness of LI in the control group.
Subject(s)
Learning , Smoking/adverse effects , Acoustic Stimulation , Adult , Attention/drug effects , Female , Humans , Interpersonal Relations , Learning/drug effects , Male , Middle Aged , Neural Inhibition/drug effects , Nicotine/pharmacology , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
Acoustic prepulse inhibition (PPI) refers to the reduction of the startle reflex to an intense stimulus if it is preceded by a weak stimulus. Nicotine and smoking have been reported to enhance PPI in rats and in healthy men, respectively. We studied the influence of smoking on PPI in healthy men and women, comparing non-smokers, deprived smokers, and smokers smoking during the test session after deprivation or after ad libitum smoking. Smoking during the session enhanced PPI, without affecting startle reaction or habituation over time. In addition, the effect of smoking on PPI was gender dependent. In men, ad libitum smoking enhanced PPI compared with non-smokers, while, in women, deprivation reduced PPI and smoking restored PPI to the level of non-smokers.
