[Contribution of equine therapy in the management of post-traumatic stress disorder]. / Apport de la thérapie équine dans la prise en charge du trouble de stress post-traumatique.

For several years, animal-mediated therapies have been used in the treatment of psychiatric patients. Post-traumatic stress disorder has the particularity of being generated by an external event in a person a priori free of mental pathology. In this disorder, various so-called targeted psychotherapies have proven to be effective, including equine therapy.

Type 0 Spinal Muscular Atrophy: Further Delineation of Prenatal and Postnatal Features in 16 Patients.

BACKGROUND: Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is caused by homozygous inactivation of the SMN1 gene. The SMN2 copy number modulates the severity of SMA. The 0SMN1/1SMN2 genotype, the most severe genotype compatible with life, is expected to be associated with the most severe form of the disease, called type 0 SMA, defined by prenatal onset. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to review clinical features and prenatal manifestations in this rare SMA subtype. METHODS: SMA patients with the 0SMN1/1SMN2 genotype were retrospectively collected using the UMD-SMN1 France database. RESULTS: Data from 16 patients were reviewed. These 16 patients displayed type 0 SMA. At birth, a vast majority had profound hypotonia, severe muscle weakness, severe respiratory distress, and cranial nerves involvement (inability to suck/swallow, facial muscles weakness). They showed characteristics of fetal akinesia deformation sequence and congenital heart defects. Recurrent episodes of bradycardia were observed. Death occurred within the first month. At prenatal stage, decreased fetal movements were frequently reported, mostly only by mothers, in late stages of pregnancy; increased nuchal translucency was reported in about half of the cases; congenital heart defects, abnormal amniotic fluid volume, or joint contractures were occasionally reported. CONCLUSION: Despite a prenatal onset attested by severity at birth and signs of fetal akinesia deformation sequence, prenatal manifestations of type 0 SMA are not specific and not constant. As illustrated by the frequent association with congenital heart defects, type 0 SMA physiopathology is not restricted to motor neuron, highlighting that SMN function is critical for organogenesis.

The French version of the autism-spectrum quotient in adolescents: a cross-cultural validation study.

We assessed the accuracy of the French version of the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) in adolescents with Asperger syndrome (AS) and high-functioning autism (HFA) compared to healthy controls and adolescents with psychiatric disorders (PDs). Three groups of adolescents, aged 11-18, were assessed: 116 with AS/HFA (93 with IQ ≥ 85 and 20 with 70 ≤ IQ < 85), 39 with other PDs, and 199 healthy controls. The AS/HFA group scored significantly higher than the healthy control and PD groups. A cut-off score of 26 was used to differentiate the autism group from healthy controls with 0.89 sensitivity and 0.98 specificity. Scores did not vary by age or sex.

Knowledge-based analysis of multi-potent G-protein coupled receptors ligands.

A large number of chemical structures that interact with G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) have been disclosed in patents or published papers. Most of these compounds are selective for a given protein target; however, it is well recognized that some GPCR-drugs interact with multiple targets. Using a literature database, we have identified compounds that act on different GPCRs. These protein targets are usually divided in three main classes, A, B and C, based on sequence similarity, but they can also be grouped pharmacologically based on endogenous ligand characteristics. In this paper, we specifically focus on compounds able to recognize two different classes or different pharmacological clusters within the same class. Despite the large number of GPCR ligands described in the literature, we identified a limited number of molecules acting on both classes A and B, only few acting on classes A and C and none acting on class B and C receptors. A search for bi- or multi-potent compounds exhibiting activities on different pharmacological clusters of class A receptors revealed cases of cross reactivity, the most frequent concerning amine and peptide receptor clusters.