Gender differences in how physicians access and process information.

There is an absence of information on how physicians make surgical decisions, and on the effect of gender on the processing of information. A novel web based decision-matrix software was designed to trace experimentally the process of decision making in medical situations. The scenarios included a crisis and non-crisis simulation for endometrial cancer surgery. Gynecologic oncologists, fellows, and residents (42 male and 42 female) in Canada participated in this experiment. Overall, male physicians used more heuristics, whereas female physicians were more comprehensive in accessing clinical information (p < 0.03), utilized alternative-based acquisition processes in the non-crisis scenario (p = 0.01), were less likely to consider procedure-related costs (p = 0.04), and overall allocated more time to evaluate the information (p < 0.01). Further experiments leading to a better understanding of the cognitive processes involved in medical decision making could influence education and training and impact on patient outcome.

Chronic pain in pachyonychia congenita: evidence for neuropathic origin.

BACKGROUND: Pachyonychia congenita (PC) is a rare autosomal dominant skin disease, with chronic pain being the most prominent complaint. Histological studies showing alterations in sensory innervation, along with reports on alterations in mechanical sensitivity, suggest that PC may be a form of neuropathy. OBJECTIVES: Here, for the first time, we aim to evaluate systematically the sensory function of patients with PC vs. controls, in order to investigate the pathophysiology of PC. METHODS: Patients (n = 62) and controls (n = 45) completed the McGill and Douleur Neuropathique-4 (DN4) questionnaires. Sensory testing included detection and pain thresholds, pathological sensations, conditioned pain modulation (CPM) and temporal summation of pain. RESULTS: A moderate-to-severe chronic pain in the feet, throbbing and stabbing in quality, was highly prevalent among patients with PC (86%) and was especially debilitating during weight bearing. In addition, the majority of patients had a DN4 score ≥ 4 (62%), static allodynia (55%) and tingling (53%) in the feet. Compared with controls, patients with PC exhibited thermal and mechanical hypoaesthesia and mechanical hyperalgesia in the feet. CPM was reduced among the patients, and was associated with more enhanced mechanical hyperalgesia in the feet. The specific gene and nature of the causative mutation did not affect any of these features. CONCLUSIONS: Although thermal and mechanical hypoaesthesia may result from thicker skin, its presentation in painful regions, along with mechanical hyperalgesia and allodynia, point towards the possibility of neuropathic changes occurring in PC. The clinical features and DN4 scores support this possibility and therefore neuropathic pain medications may be beneficial for patients with PC.

Body mass index and infectious disease mortality in midlife in a cohort of 2.3 million adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Obesity was linked to altered immunity, but also to favorable outcomes among patients with infectious disease (ID) in some settings. We assessed the association between adolescent body mass index (BMI) and ID mortality. METHODS: BMI of 2 294 139 Israeli adolescents (60% men; age 17.4±0.3 years) was measured between 1967 and 2010. The outcome, obtained by linkage with official national records, was death due to ID as the underlying cause. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were applied. RESULTS: During 42 297 007 person-years of follow-up (median 18.4 years), there were 689 deaths from ID (mean age 44.1±10.5 years). Adjusted hazard ratios (HR) were 1.039 (1.011-1.068) and 1.146 (1.099-1.194) among men and women, respectively, per unit increment in BMI (P for sex interaction=4.4 × 10-5). Adjusted hazard ratios among men were 1.2 (1.0-1.5), 1.9 (1.4-2.5) and 2.5 (1.5-4.2) for those with high-normal BMI (22.0-24.9 kg m-2), overweight and obese, respectively, compared with the 18.5⩽BMI<22 kg m-2 reference group, and 1.7 (1.1-2.6), 2.6 (1.6-4.3) and 6.6 (3.3-13.1) among women, respectively. The increased risk among underweight (<18.5 kg m-2) boys was attenuated when the study sample was restricted to those with unimpaired health at baseline. A multivariable spline model indicated a minimum risk for total ID mortality at 20.7 and 18.0 kg m-2 for men and women, respectively, with significantly increased risk seen above adolescent BMI values of 23.6 and 24.0 kg m-2, respectively. The association with BMI was particularly evident for bacterial infections (predominantly sepsis), airways and central nervous system infections (63% of the ID deaths). CONCLUSIONS: Adolescent overweight and obesity were strongly associated with ID mortality, especially of bacterial origin and among women.

The role of donor-derived veto cells in nonmyeloablative haploidentical HSCT.

Allogeneic HSCT offers a route for achieving immune tolerance via mixed chimerism and remains the sole curative option for many nonmalignant, autoimmune and metabolic diseases. Present-day improvements of nonmyeloablative protocols are increasing the safety of HSCT, thereby widening the target population and resurrecting the interest of HSCT application as a platform for tolerance induction in organ transplantation. Using high cell doses of T-cell-depleted (TCD) grafts has been shown to circumvent graft-vs-host disease, leaving graft rejection as the main hindrance due to the robust host immunity that remains after mild conditioning. In this review we highlight the advantages of utilizing unique non-alloreactive 'veto' cells, such as anti-third party central memory CD8 T cells (Tcm), to enable induction of mixed chimerism after megadose HSCT under nonmyeloablative conditioning. Co-administration of HSCT with veto Tcm allows for induction of mixed chimerism that was successfully translated into immune tolerance, as demonstrated by engraftment of donor-type skin grafts. These veto Tcm cells have been shown to specifically eradicate anti-donor host T cells, through lymph-node sequestration and deletion, thus sparing host immunity and circumventing the need for life-long immunosuppression. Hence, data indicate that this treatment modality of combined TCD HSCT and adoptive transfer of Tcm veto cells under nonmyeloablative conditions may serve as a valuable tool for treatment of patients with a wide array of disorders such as hemoglobinopathies, autoimmune diseases and as a prelude for organ tolerance.

The locust foraging gene.

Our knowledge of how genes act on the nervous system in response to the environment to generate behavioral plasticity is limited. A number of recent advancements in this area concern food-related behaviors and a specific gene family called foraging (for), which encodes a cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG). The desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) is notorious for its destructive feeding and long-term migratory behavior. Locust phase polyphenism is an extreme example of environmentally induced behavioral plasticity. In response to changes in population density, locusts dramatically alter their behavior, from solitary and relatively sedentary behavior to active aggregation and swarming. Very little is known about the molecular and genetic basis of this striking behavioral phenomenon. Here we initiated studies into the locust for gene by identifying, cloning, and studying expression of the gene in the locust brain. We determined the phylogenetic relationships between the locust PKG and other known PKG proteins in insects. FOR expression was found to be confined to neurons of the anterior midline of the brain, the pars intercerebralis. Our results suggest that differences in PKG enzyme activity are correlated to well-established phase-related behavioral differences. These results lay the groundwork for functional studies of the locust for gene and its possible relations to locust phase polyphenism.

Memoirs of a locust: density-dependent behavioral change as a model for learning and memory.

A locust outbreak is a stupendous natural phenomenon that remains in the memory of whoever has been lucky (or unlucky) enough to witness it. Recent years have provided novel and important insights into the neurobiology of locust swarming. However, the central nervous system processes that accompany and perhaps even lie at the basis of locust phase transformation are still far from being fully understood. Our current work deals with the memory of a locust outbreak from a new perspective: that of the individual locust. We take locust density-dependent phase transformation - a unique example of extreme behavioral plasticity, and place it within the context of the accepted scheme of learning and memory. We confirm that a short time period of exposure to a small crowd of locusts is sufficient to induce a significant behavioral change in a previously solitary locust. Our results suggest that part of the behavioral change is due to long-term habituation of evasive and escape responses. We further demonstrate that the memory of a crowding event lasts for at least 24h, and that this memory is sensitive to a protein synthesis blocker. These findings add much to our understanding of locust density-dependent phase polyphenism. Furthermore, they offer a novel and tractable model for the study of learning and memory-related processes in a very distinctive behavioral context.

Variability in Ribulose-1,5-Bisphosphate Carboxylase/Oxygenase Small Subunits and Carboxylation Activity in Fern Gametophytes Grown under Different Light Spectra.

Two distinct ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) small subunit (SSU) populations were observed in Pteris vittata gametophytes grown under different illumination conditions. Exposure of the fern gametophytes to continuous red light (R) resulted in Rubisco SSUs that were not recognized by polyclonal antibodies raised against SSUs from spinach. Unlike the R-induced SSUs, blue light (B) induced SSUs were well recognized. This difference in SSU composition also reflected in Rubisco activity. In vitro, B-induced Rubisco exhibits a significantly higher carboxylation activity as compared to the R-induced Rubisco. Approximately a two- to threefold increase in the V(max) value of the B-induced carboxylase as compared to the R-induced one was measured. It thus seems very likely that certain domains in the SSU molecule affect enzyme activity.

The use of dreams as a psychotherapeutic technique with brain injured patients.

Reports of dreams elicited from brain-injured patients at the Loewenstein Rehabilitation Hospital in Israel were incorporated into the psychotherapeutic process. Our experience indicated that: It is possible to increase and enrich dream activity in quantity and in substance in the course of the treatment; This approach can affect all of the components of the personality which have been in regression after injury; Dream analysis does not require complex cognitive abilities and surmounts the special difficulty these patients have in using language and abstract concepts; It is possible to bring to the surface inner and subconscious contents residing in the patient that were ignored before; and The residual content of the premorbid personality is also expressed, thus facilitating the patient's inner contact between his former identity and his new one. This permits a renewed consolidation of the personality while making use of the psychic forces and parts which remained intact.

Day Center experience in rehabilitation of craniocerebral injured patients.

The Day Center for head-injured patients specialises in treating patients at later stages following brain trauma. The goal of therapy is social reintegration as measured by the quality of family and social life and by actual occupational status. At this later stage, a year or more since injury, the cognitive and behavioral aspects of brain damage determine the outcome of rehabilitation. The therapy aims at preserving as well as improving patients' overall performance including family life and therefore their families are treated as well. As the patients are not hospitalised at this stage, the asset of this model is that it constitutes an arresting factor in preventing regressive attitudes acquired during hospitalisation which is a sheltered framework. The Day Center System encourages the patients to cope "in vivo" with reality, while the therapy given strives at providing them with the instruments needed for coping in actual life situations. We present here our experience in 38 patients admitted consecutively during the course of a year. The results show that the therapeutic milieu was of great help in preserving as well as improvement patients' performance; furthermore, it is evident that some improvement was achieved even after several years post trauma.