A genomic study on mammary gland acclimatization to tropical environment in the Holstein cattle.

This study aims at identifying mammary gland genes expressed in Brazilian Holstein cattle produced under tropical conditions, as compared to the Portuguese Holstein cattle produced in a temperate region. For this purpose, cDNA microarrays and real-time (RT) PCR transcriptomic techniques were utilized in 12 Holstein cows from the same lactating phase and management systems divided into two groups: Holstein Brazil (HB) originated from Brazil and Holstein Portugal (HP) from Portugal. The genomic results show that from a total of 4608 genes available from the microarray slide (Bovine Long Oligo (BLO) library), 65 transcripts were identified as differentially expressed in mammary glands. The genes associated with mammary gland development and heat stress responses showed greater expression in HB animals. In the HP group, upregulated genes related with apoptosis and vascular development and downregulated genes related with resistance to heat stress were observed. Validation of microarray results was done using RT-PCR. HB animals had higher blood levels of growth hormone than HP animals. Blood levels of prolactin and T3 were similar for both groups and GH levels were increased in the HB group. The results suggest a gene change towards long-term acclimatization of Brazilian Holstein cattle to cope with tropical heat stress conditions.

[Association between the violence in the community and the aggressive behaviors of psychotics during their hospitalizations]. / Relation entre la violence intra-hospitalière des patients avec psychoses et la violence dans la communauté.

BACKGROUND: Violence is a common issue in psychiatry and has multiple determiners. The aim of this study is to assess the psychotic inpatients' violence in association with the violence of the neighborhood from which the patients are drawn and to estimate the impact of this environmental factor with regard to other factors. METHOD: A prospective multicenter study was led in nine French cities. Eligible patients were psychotic involuntary patients hospitalized in the cities' psychiatric wards. During their treatments, any kind of aggressive behavior by the patients has been reported by the Overt Aggression Scale (OAS). RESULTS: From June 2010 to May 2011, 95 patients have been included. Seventy-nine per cent of the patients were violent during their hospitalizations. In a bivariate analysis, inpatient violence was significantly associated with different factors: male gender, patient violence history, substance abuse, manic or mixed disorder, the symptoms severity measured by the BPRS, the insight degree and the city crime rate. In a multivariate analysis, the only significant factors associated with the patients' violence were substance abuse, the symptoms severity and the crime rates from the different patients' cities. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that violence within the psychotic patients' neighborhood could represent a risk of violence during their treatments.

[Long-term impact of the diagnostic announcement on the insight of patients suffering from schizophrenic disorders]. / Impact à long terme de l'annonce diagnostique sur l'insight de patients atteints de troubles schizophréniques.

INTRODUCTION: The importance of insight in patients with schizophrenia is linked to the notion that few subjects are conscious of their pathology and that some treatments fail due to a lack of consciousness of the necessity of medication. Since then, studies have been frequently undertaken into the insight of schizophrenic patients. It is believed that a good degree of insight could influence the quality of acceptance by the patient of the disease. This would facilitate closer medicinal supervision, resulting in fewer relapses and thus a decrease in the number of hospitalizations and subsequent improved quality of life for the patients. In 2002, a protocol of diagnostic announcement was set up for schizophrenic patients in the Ville-Evrard Hospital. Two years later, we observed a high level of compliance in these patients (70 %). AIM OF THE STUDY: The aim of our new study is therefore to assess insight in stabilized schizophrenic patients having benefited from the protocol of diagnostic announcement and to compare their degree of insight with a control population. METHOD: Two scales of insight were used: the hetero-questionnaire Scale to Assess Unawareness of Mental Disorder (SUMD, Schizophr Bull 17 (1991) 113-32), and the self-questionnaire: Self Appraisal of Ilness Questionnaire (SAIQ, Schizophr Res 45 (2000) 203-11). The clinical symptom of psychosis was assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). The Man and Whitney Test was used for the quantitative data and the exact Fisher test for qualitative data. RESULTS: A total of 31 patients were included, 15 in the group having received the diagnostic announcement - population with protocol (P) and 16 in the control group without protocol (SP). The socio-demographic data analysis of the population P (having received the diagnostic announcement) showed a younger population with a shorter evolution of the disease compared to the population "SP". The P group is in demand as regards information on their disorders. In addition, in patients having lived with this disease for many years, these episodes have taken on a taboo status compared to patients in the early stage of the disease. One can consider that the psychiatrists proposed this psycho-informative protocol to younger patients. The results obtained with the SUMD scale were improved in the population "P" as regards development of insight (significantly with the factor 5). Attribution (factor 5) is the factor which the patients had the greatest difficulty estimating. Attribution is the result of external training, rather than awareness which solicits greater introspection. Therefore, psycho-education support played the role of "apprenticeship". Degree of insight was globally of good quality in this questionnaire (compared with the self-questionnaire). Results of the self-questionnaire: SAIQ shows that the degree of insight is quite low in both populations. Few authentic and reflected answers were possible in either of the two groups. However, the presence of a correlation between the overall two scores confirms that we did assess the same phenomenon. The PANSS clinical evaluation shows that the population "P" has symptoms of lesser intensity overall and significantly fewer positive symptoms than the population "SP". The limits of our study are linked to the small number of patients included, despite a homogeneous sample. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the protocol of diagnostic announcement and psycho-education have helped stabilize schizophrenic patients in order to improve their insight, without increasing the intensity of this disease in the short- or long-term. Work on insight should allow a new understanding of the patient's relation with the disease along with the medical team and his close relations.