Plos One
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Comparative Study
The combined dexamethasone/TSST paradigm--a new method for psychoneuroendocrinology.
The two main physiological systems involved in the regulation of the stress response are the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). However, the interaction of these systems on the stress response remains poorly understood. To better understand the cross-regulatory effects of the different systems involved in stress regulation, we developed a new stress paradigm that keeps the activity of the HPA constant when exposing subjects to psychosocial stress. ⋯ The SNS activity was found to be elevated in the presence of a suppressed HPA axis, with some further effects on subjective levels of stress. The method to suppress the HPA prior to inducing stress was found to completely reliable, without any adverse side effects. Therefore, we propose this paradigm as a new method to investigate the interaction of the two major stress systems in the regulation of the stress response.
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Risk-taking behavior is a leading cause of injury and death amongst young people. ⋯ Participation in an injury education program involving real-life trauma scenarios was associated with a reduced subsequent risk of committing violence- or traffic-related offences, injuries, and death for juvenille justice offenders.
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Controlled Clinical Trial
Pain ratings, psychological functioning and quantitative EEG in a controlled study of chronic back pain patients.
Several recent studies report the presence of a specific EEG pattern named Thalamocortical Dysrhythmia (TCD) in patients with severe chronic neurogenic pain. This is of major interest since so far no neuroscientific indicator of chronic pain could be identified. We investigated whether a TCD-like pattern could be found in patients with moderate chronic back pain, and we compared patients with neuropathic and non-neuropathic pain components. We furthermore assessed the presence of psychopathology and the degree of psychological functioning and examined whether the strength of the TCD-related EEG markers is correlated with psychological symptoms and pain ratings. ⋯ Out of several possible interpretations the most likely conclusion is that only patients with severe pain as well as root lesions with consecutive thalamic deafferentation develop the typical TCD pattern. Our primary method of defining 'neuropathic pain' could not reliably determine if such a deafferentation was present. Nevertheless the analysis of a specific subsample as well as correlations between pain ratings, psychopathology and EEG power and peak frequency give some support to the TCD concept.
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Leukoaraiosis and cerebral microbleeds (CMB), which represent cerebral microangiopathy, commonly coexist in patients with acute lacunar stroke. Since they may have different impacts on stroke prognosis and treatment, it is important to know the factors associated with leukoaraiosis-predominant vs. CMB-predominant microangiopathies. ⋯ Patients with acute lacunar infarction have a different risk factor profile depending on microangiopathic findings. Our results indicate that diabetes may be an one of determinants of white (leukoaraiosis-predominant) microangiopathy, whereas smoking and alcohol habits in relatively young people may be a determinants of mild microangiopahic changes in patients with lacunar infarction.
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Multicenter Study
A multicentre study of acute kidney injury in severe sepsis and septic shock: association with inflammatory phenotype and HLA genotype.
To investigate the association between severity of acute kidney injury (AKI) and outcome, systemic inflammatory phenotype and HLA genotype in severe sepsis. ⋯ AKI severity is independently associated with mortality and plasma IL-10, MIF or IL-6 levels. Presence of 4 alleles of HLA-DRB in severe AKI patients seems associated with a lower need of RRT.