			Home About us Contact

Basic Scientists (basic + scientists)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	83%

Selected Abstracts

Wagging the dog-moving closer to features defined by basic scientists, the protection of prodromal transient ischaemic attacks reveals itself

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY, Issue 8 2008
B. A. McLaughlin
No abstract is available for this article. [source]

Psychiatric endophenotypes and the development of valid animal models

GENES, BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR, Issue 2 2006
T. D. Gould
Endophenotypes are quantifiable components in the genes-to-behaviors pathways, distinct from psychiatric symptoms, which make genetic and biological studies of etiologies for disease categories more manageable. The endophenotype concept has emerged as a strategic tool in neuropsychiatric research. This emergence is due to many factors, including the modest reproducibility of results from studies directed toward etiologies and appreciation for the complex relationships between genes and behavior. Disease heterogeneity is often guaranteed, rather than simplified, through the current diagnostic system; inherent benefits of endophenotypes include more specific disease concepts and process definitions. Endophenotypes can be neurophysiological, biochemical, endocrine, neuroanatomical, cognitive or neuropsychological. Heritability and stability (state independence) represent key components of any useful endophenotype. Importantly, they characterize an approach that reduces the complexity of symptoms and multifaceted behaviors, resulting in units of analysis that are more amenable to being modeled in animals. We discuss the benefits of more direct interpretation of clinical endophenotypes by basic behavioral scientists. With the advent of important findings regarding the genes that predispose to psychiatric illness, we are at an important crossroads where, without anthropomorphizing, animal models may provide homologous components of psychiatric illness, rather than simply equating to similar (loosely analogized) behaviors, validators of the efficacy of current medications or models of symptoms. We conclude that there exists a need for increased collaboration between clinicians and basic scientists, the result of which should be to improve diagnosis, classification and treatment on one end and to increase the construct relevance of model organisms on the other. [source]

Contrasts in cortical magnesium, phospholipid and energy metabolism between migraine syndromes.

HEADACHE, Issue 4 2003
MD Boska
Neurology. 2002;58:1227-1233. BACKGROUND: Previous single voxel (31)P MRS pilot studies of migraine patients have suggested that disordered energy metabolism or Mg(2+) deficiencies may be responsible for hyperexcitability of neuronal tissue in migraine patients. These studies were extended to include multiple brain regions and larger numbers of patients by multislice (31)P MR spectroscopic imaging. METHODS: Migraine with aura (MWA), migraine without aura (MwoA), and hemiplegic migraine patients were studied between attacks by (31)P MRS imaging using a 3-T scanner. RESULTS: Results were compared with those in healthy control subjects without headache. In MwoA, consistent increases in phosphodiester concentration [PDE] were measured in most brain regions, with a trend toward increase in [Mg(2+)] in posterior brain. In MWA, phosphocreatine concentration ([PCr]) was decreased to a minor degree in anterior brain regions and a trend toward decreased [Mg(2+)] was observed in posterior slice 1, but no consistent changes were found in phosphomonoester concentration [PME], [PDE], inorganic phosphate concentration ([Pi]), or pH. In hemiplegic migraine patients, [PCr] had a tendency to be lower, and [Mg(2+)] was significantly lower than in the posterior brain regions of control subjects. Trend analysis showed a significant decrease of brain [Mg(2+)] and [PDE] in posterior brain regions with increasing severity of neurologic symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the results support no substantial or consistent abnormalities of energy metabolism, but it is hypothesized that disturbances in magnesium ion homeostasis may contribute to brain cortex hyperexcitability and the pathogenesis of migraine syndromes associated with neurologic symptoms. In contrast, migraine patients without a neurologic aura may exhibit compensatory changes in [Mg(2+)] and membrane phospholipids that counteract cortical excitability. Comment: If the theory of hyperexcitability of migraine brain is correct, basic scientists will need to find clear markers for the neuronal abnormalities that underlie this excitability. Using their techniques, these researchers could not find such markers. SJT [source]

Sex- or gender-specific medicine in hepatology

HEPATOLOGY RESEARCH, Issue 3 2008
Sumiko Nagoshi
Sex- or gender-specific medicine is an up-to-date medical science in recent medical care. Medical doctors must offer better medical care and should understand and elucidate the mechanisms underlying the sex or gender differences regarding the incidence or etiology, clinical features, and natural history or response to therapies. Sex or gender differences are frequently seen among liver diseases, such as viral hepatitis, alcoholic liver disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, autoimmune hepatitis, primary biliary cirrhosis, primary sclerosing cholangitis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The mechanisms of sex or gender differences, however, are still unclear. Clinicians and basic scientists are required to cooperatively contribute to the development of sex- or gender-specific medicine to establish an accurate diagnosis and prophylaxis. [source]

Research Agenda for Frailty in Older Adults: Toward a Better Understanding of Physiology and Etiology: Summary from the American Geriatrics Society/National Institute on Aging Research Conference on Frailty in Older Adults

JOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 6 2006
Jeremy Walston MD
Evolving definitions of frailty, and improved understanding of molecular and physiological declines in multiple systems that may increase vulnerability in frail, older adults has encouraged investigators from many disciplines to contribute to this emerging field of research. This article reports on the results of the 2004 American Geriatrics Society/National Institute on Aging conference on a Research Agenda on Frailty in Older Adults, which brought together a diverse group of clinical and basic scientists to encourage further investigation in this area. This conference was primarily focused on physical and physiological aspects of frailty. Although social and psychological aspects of frailty are critically important and merit future research, these topics were largely beyond the scope of this meeting. Included in this article are sections on the evolving conceptualization and definitions of frailty; physiological underpinnings of frailty, including the potential contributions of inflammatory, endocrine, skeletal muscle, and neurologic system changes; potential molecular and genetic contributors; proposed animal models; and integrative, system biology approaches that may help to facilitate future frailty research. In addition, several specific recommendations as to future directions were developed from suggestions put forth by participants, including recommendations on definition and phenotype development, methodological development to perform clinical studies of individual-system and multiple-system vulnerability to stressors, development of animal and cellular models, application of population-based studies to frailty research, and the development of large collaborative networks in which populations and resources can be shared. This meeting and subsequent article were not meant to be a comprehensive review of frailty research; instead, they were and are meant to provide a more-targeted research agenda-setting process. [source]

Lung function in infants and young children with chronic lung disease of infancy: The next steps?

PEDIATRIC PULMONOLOGY, Issue 1 2007
Janet Stocks PhD
Abstract Over the past year, a series of papers have reviewed the literature concerning assessment and interpretation of lung function in infants and young children with chronic lung disease of infancy. This manuscript, which represents the final paper in that series, summarizes the findings to date and highlights key areas for future research. Despite the huge literature in this field, interpretation of results and their use in guiding clinical management are still limited by difficulties in ,normalizing data' according to body size and maturation and selection of appropriate control groups. Furthermore, sensitive tests that more closely reflect the underlying pathophysiology of ,new' bronchopulmonary dysplasia, together with simple and reliable methods of assessing lung maturity at birth and true oxygen requirements at specified time points are urgently required. Research in this field is also challenged by the need to separate the independent effects of genetic predisposition, gene,environment interactions, preterm delivery, neonatal respiratory disorders and various treatment strategies on the growing lung. The extent to which disruption of lung growth following premature exposure to the extra-uterine environment leads to an earlier or more aggravated decline in respiratory function in later adult life remains to be elucidated. Whatever its origin, given the increasing survival of smaller and more immature infants, the long term sequelae of neonatal lung disease, are likely to continue to change, requiring ongoing, carefully designed longitudinal studies. Future research strategies need to encompass a multicenter, multi-disciplinary, collaborative approach with closer links between clinicians and basic scientists, to ensure that the most relevant research questions are addressed using appropriate methodology and that findings are implemented into clinical practice in a more timely fashion. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2007; 42:3,9. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]