Emotional adjustment post-stroke: A qualitative study of an online stroke community.

Understanding of emotional adjustment after stroke is limited. Under one-third of stroke survivors reporting emotional problems receive support. The aim of this study was to explore the process of emotional adjustment post-stroke and investigate the role played by participation in an online stroke community. We applied thematic analysis to 124 relevant posts within 114 discussion threads, written by 39 survivors and 29 carers. The contribution of online community engagement to emotional adjustment was explored using the Social Support Behaviour Code. Stroke survivors share common experiences of emotional adjustment and may not necessarily reach complete acceptance. Positive and negative trajectories of emotional adjustment were identified. Survivors progressed along, or moved between, positive and negative pathways not in a time-dependent manner but in response to "trigger events," such as physical setbacks or anti-depressant treatment, which may occur at any chronological time. An adapted version of Suhr's 1990 Social Support Behaviour Code showed that support provided through the online community took many forms, including advice, teaching, empathy and normalization of concerns. Participation in the stroke community was itself deemed to be a positive "trigger event." There is need to improve awareness of emotional adjustment and their "triggers" amongst stroke survivors, carers and clinicians.

The voltage-dependent nonselective cation current in human red blood cells studied by means of whole-cell and nystatin-perforated patch-clamp techniques.

Human red blood cells (RBC) can be studied by means of whole-cell and nystatin-perforated patch-clamp techniques. In 85% of the whole-cell experiments (n=86) and 69% of the perforated-patch recordings (n=13), steps to positive potentials, from a holding potential of 0 mV, induced a slow-activating non-inactivating persistent outward current which reverted at about 0 mV. The current activation phase fitted well with a two-component exponential curve. Half-maximal conductance was reached at about 42 mV. Na+ and K+ carried this current, which was not affected by 20 nM charybdotoxin or 20 mM TEA, but was reduced following a partial substitution of extracellular Cl- by tartrate. This current has characteristics similar to the single-channel currents already described in RBC and may be involved in the rapid adaptations of these cells in the circulation.

Changes in extracellular Ca2+ can affect the pattern of discharge in rat thalamic neurons.

1. The aim of this study was to investigate some of the cellular mechanisms involved in the effects caused by changes in extracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+](o)). 2. Current- and voltage-clamp experiments were carried out on acutely isolated thalamic neurons of rats. 3. Increasing [Ca2+](o) alone induced a transition of the discharge from single spike to burst mode in isolated current-clamped neurons. 4. Increasing [Ca(2+)](o) caused the voltage-dependent characteristics of the low voltage-activated (LVA) transient Ca2+ currents to shift towards positive values on the voltage axis. Changing [Ca2+](o) from 0.5 to 5 mM caused the inactivation curve to shift by 21 mV. 5. Extracellular Ca2+ blocked a steady cationic current. This current reversed at -35 mV, was scarcely affected by Mg2+ and was completely blocked by the non-selective cation channel inhibitor gadolinium (10 microM). The effect of [Ca2+](o) was mimicked by 500 microM spermine, a polyamine which acts as an agonist for the Ca(2+)-sensing receptor, and was modulated by intracellular GTP-gamma-S. 6. At the resting potential, both the voltage shift and the block of the inward current removed the inactivation of LVA calcium channels and, together with the increase in the Ca2+ driving force, favoured a rise in the low threshold Ca2+ spikes, causing the thalamic firing to change to the oscillatory mode. 7. Our data indicate that [Ca2+](o) is involved in multiple mechanisms of control of the thalamic relay and pacemaker activity. These findings shed light on the correlation between hypercalcaemia, low frequency EEG activity and symptoms such as sleepiness and lethargy described in many clinical papers.

Effects of extracellular Ca2+ on membrane and seal resistance in patch-clamped rat thalamic and sensory ganglion neurons.

We studied the effects of [Ca2+]ext changes on seal resistance in patch-clamp experiments. Recordings were made on rat peripheral and thalamic neurons. Increasing [Ca2+]ext from 0.5 to 4.5 mM, reduced the ionic currents evoked at potentials from -100 to +50 mV, in cell-attached recordings, in all the neurons tested. The effect was greater at negative potentials. The change in seal conductance (deltaG) decreased with higher resistance seals and became very low over 1 Gohm (<0.5 nS). However, the ratio deltaG/G(0.5 Ca2+) rose from close to 0 up to 0.6, indicating that Ca2+ has a stronger effect when the microelectrode and the membrane are sealed more tightly. These findings suggest that changes in seal resistance may be misleading in experiments in which extracellular Ca2+ changes are used.

Different bindings of the minor groove ligands DAPI and Hoechst 33258 to multimers of the curved (CA4T4G) and noncurved (CT4A4G) DNA sequences.

Equilibrium binding properties of DAPI and Hoechst for prototype curved (CA4T4G)n and straight (CT4A4G)n DNAs were derived from fluorescence intensity. Both decamers display a single strong binding site for each ligand. Hoechst binds seven times stronger to curved than to straight DNA. An additional cooperative, much weaker binding site is found for DAPI.

[Concise measures of period fertility by birth order. An application to Italian data]. / Misure di sintesi della fecondita del momento per ordine di nascita. Applicazione al caso italiano.

"In recent studies several authors have shown how fertility tables and concise measures by birth order, strictly and exclusively related to the period fertility conditions, can be derived on the basis of parity progression rates.... The many indicators derivable from the fertility tables compiled as stated above are described systematically and completely in relation to their different features. On the basis of a 'complementary' model [I show] a further category of concise measures referring to fertility tables which are formally identical to the classical life tables with regard to each order of birth. The study includes applications to concrete data concerning North Central and Southern divisions of Italy (1980-1982 and 1988-1990)." (SUMMARY IN ENG AND FRE)

[The recent evolution of fertility in Italy. An analysis of parity-specific fertility tables]. / L'evolution recente de la fecondite italienne. Une analyse des tables de fecondite par rang de naissance.

Using age- and parity-specific fertility tables, the author analyzes the evolution of fertility change in Italy. "The application of this 'multidimensional' (age and parity) approach shows how profound the fertility decline has been, the intensity of the decline being in some way 'hidden' by the impact of past evolution when traditional measures are used." (SUMMARY IN ENG AND SPA)

[A pattern of age-specific fertility and its use in estimating the total fertility rate].

PIP: This paper is divided into 2 distinct parts. In the 1st, a method to construct a pattern of age-specific fertility is illustrated, which individuates model schedules corresponding to different levels of total fertility. The particular pattern proposed is based on a mathematical law--essentially consisting of 7 logistic functions--which relates the % age-specific schedules to the value of the total fertility rate. An application of this model is described in order to construct such a pattern, using age-specific fertility rates observed in the Italian regions in the years from 1965 to 1979. In the 2nd part, a particular use of the above pattern is proposed, concerning a method to estimate the age-specific rates and the index synthetizing them. This method needs known data regarding the annual number of births and the numbers of women in the childbearing age groups. It can be seen, in fact, that the whole of the above data individuates in the pattern a well-defined fertility schedule, exactly representing the estimated figures. As the calculation of these figures is formally connected with the solution of a system of equations, it is shown--also through a numerical example--how that solution can be easily obtained by an iterative procedure. Finally, the actual pattern built in the 1st part of this paper is employed to carry out some applications--on the national as well as on the regional level--of the proposed method of estimation. (author's modified)^ieng