Human studies, which focused on neuronal systems that store and control drug-conditioned memories, have found cerebellar activations during the retrieval of drug-associated cue memory. However, at the pre-clinical level,
almost no attention has been paid to a possible role of the cerebellum in drug-related memories. In the present study, we ought to fill this gap by aiming to investigate the pattern of neuronal activation (as revealed by cFos expression) in different regions of the prefrontal cortex and cerebellum of mice trained to develop conditioned preference for an olfactory stimulus (CS+) paired with cocaine. Our results indicate that CS+ preference was directly associated with cFos expression in cells at the apical region of the granule cell layer of the cerebellar vermis; this relationship being more prominent in some specific lobules. Conversely, cFos+ immunostaining in other cerebellar regions seems to be unrelated to CS+ preference but Belnacasan concentration to other aspects of the conditioning procedure. At the prefrontal cortex, cFos expression seemed to be related to cocaine administration rather than to its ability to establish conditioned preference. The present results suggest that as it has been observed in some clinical studies, the cerebellum
might be an important and largely overlooked part of the neural circuits involved in generating, maintaining and/or retrieving drug memories.”
“Objective: The study aimed to test the potential role BI-D1870 of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-I) and IGF-II as biomarkers for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA).
Methods and results: IGF-I and II levels were analysed in 115 patients with screening diagnosed AAA kept under annual surveillance for 10 years.
Serum IGF-I correlated positively with AAA size and growth rate (r = 0.23, P = 0.016 and r = 0.27, P = 0.004), persisting after adjustment for potential confounders.
Serum IGF-I level predicted cases needing later surgery (AOC: 0.63; 95% confidence interval: 0.52-0.73).
Conclusions: In this prospective, long-term study, baseline serum IGF-I correlated positively with AAA size and growth rate and predicted future need for preventive surgery.
(C) 2011 European Society for Vascular Surgery. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Superior vena cava obstruction (SVCO) FRAX597 mouse due to mitotic diseases is a serious condition with significant morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to examine the follow-up data and demographics of patients with SVCO admitted to the Department of Surgery, Queen Mary Hospital, over a 14-year period.
The prospectively entered clinical data of patients with SVCO in Queen Mary Hospital from October 1997 to September 2011 were retrospectively analysed. All patient records were electronically and manually searched. Survival was calculated using Kaplan-Meier survival curves analysis. The Mantel-Cox log-rank test was used to test for statistically significant differences.