RESUMO
We previously observed that social instability stress (SS: daily 1 h isolation and change of cage partners for 16 days) in adolescence, but not in adulthood, decreased context and cue memory after fear conditioning in male rats. Effects of stress are typically sex-specific, and so here we investigated adolescent and adult SS effects in females on the strength of acquired contextual and cued fear conditioning, as well as extinction learning, beginning either the day after the stress procedure or four weeks later. For SS in adolescence, SS females spent more time freezing (fear measure) during extinction than did controls, whereas SS in adulthood had no effect on any measure of fear conditioning. The results also indicated an effect of age: females in late adolescence show more rapid extinction of cue and better memory of extinction of context compared to adult females, which may indicate resilience to acute footshock in adolescence. Thus fear circuitry continues to mature into late adolescence, which may underlie the heightened plasticity in response to chronic stressors of adolescents compared to adults.
Assuntos
Envelhecimento , Extinção Psicológica/fisiologia , Medo/fisiologia , Reação de Congelamento Cataléptica , Estresse Psicológico , Animais , Comportamento Animal , Condicionamento Psicológico/fisiologia , Sinais (Psicologia) , Estimulação Elétrica , Ciclo Estral , Feminino , Pé , Memória/fisiologia , Ratos , Isolamento SocialRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Ethanol consumption during pregnancy can lead to a range of adverse developmental outcomes in children, termed fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Central nervous system injury is a debilitating and widely studied manifestation of chronic prenatal ethanol exposure (CPEE). However, CPEE can also cause structural and functional deficits in metabolic pathways in offspring. OBJECTIVES AND METHODS: This study tested the hypothesis that CPEE increases whole-body adiposity and disrupts pancreatic structure in guinea pig offspring. Pregnant guinea pigs received ethanol (4 g kg(-1) maternal body weight per day) or isocaloric-sucrose/pair-feeding (control) for 5 days per week throughout gestation. RESULTS: Male and female CPEE offspring demonstrated growth restriction at birth, followed by a rapid period of catch-up growth before weaning (postnatal day (PD) 1-7). Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in young adult offspring (PD100-140) revealed increased visceral and subcutaneous adiposity produced by CPEE. At the time of killing (PD150-200), CPEE offspring also had increased pancreatic adipocyte area and decreased ß-cell insulin-like immunopositive area, suggesting reduced insulin production and/or secretion from pancreatic islets. CONCLUSION: CPEE causes increased adiposity and pancreatic dysmorphology in offspring, which may signify increased risk for the development of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes mellitus.
RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: This study formed part of a larger prospective population-based survey on cerebrovascular diseases and aimed to provide reliable and comparable results on TIA incidence and on related risk factors, which could supply investigation objectives and support information for primary and secondary prevention. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We undertook a prospective population-based study in the province of Belluno, an area located in the North-East of Italy where 211,389 people live, utilizing all the possible case-collection sources available in the territory. RESULTS: In the first year of the study (June 1, 1992 to May 31, 1993) 271 patients with a diagnosis of transient ischemic attack were recruited. Among these, we recorded 171 cases of new TIAs. The crude annual incidence rate for new TIAs was 0.80 per 1000, 0.73 per 1000 for men and 0.87 per 1000 for women. After adjustment to the European population, the overall incidence rate decreased to 0.58 per 1000 inhabitants per year. The mean age of new TIA patients was 73.91 years and females were significantly older than males (p < 0.001). A CT scan disclosed an infarct in 21 new TIA patients. CONCLUSION: Our first-year results on new TIAs incidence did not differ from the findings reported in previous population-based studies performed throughout the world and support data as to risk factors for TIA.
Assuntos
Comparação Transcultural , Ataque Isquêmico Transitório/epidemiologia , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Infarto Cerebral/diagnóstico por imagem , Infarto Cerebral/epidemiologia , Infarto Cerebral/prevenção & controle , Estudos Transversais , Feminino , Humanos , Incidência , Ataque Isquêmico Transitório/diagnóstico por imagem , Ataque Isquêmico Transitório/prevenção & controle , Itália/epidemiologia , Masculino , Programas de Rastreamento , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Estudos Prospectivos , Fatores de Risco , Tomografia Computadorizada por Raios XRESUMO
The suffering of children with congenital heart disease, or with other clinical conditions, inquires people and urges us to face and solve many problems. It makes us to reflect on the life's secrets and bring us to consider that every condition can be or became negative if accepted with indifference, inertia, fear or convenience. The clinicians must always fight the disease, not passing by with indifference to those who live and suffer. The physicians, the researchers should not surrender to what is unknown. They must always be looking to the not-yet of the human possibilities, to the not-yet of research. Human problems become difficult to solve it we do not enter in one echosystem of solidarity. The ABC (Association of families with children suffering of congenital heart disease) represents an answer to many problems related to the presence of a heart condition in infants and children.