Neuroendocrinol Lett
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Neuroendocrinol Lett · Feb 2008
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyProspective randomised comparative study of the effect of buprenorphine, methadone and heroin on the course of pregnancy, birthweight of newborns, early postpartum adaptation and course of the neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) in women followed up in the outpatient department.
The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of substitution therapy in heroin addicted pregnant women on the course of pregnancy, perinatal outcomes and course of the neonatal abstinence syndrome. ⋯ Comparison of the groups of outpatients is in many ways questionable because of the restricted possibility of the patients' control. The lifestyle of addicted women has the same impact as the drug use alone. This is probably the main reason for differences in some of the monitored parameters between individual groups. Based on our results we can state that substitution therapy provides pregnant women with the possibility of social stabilization and adequate prenatal care. substitution therapy decreases the street heroin consumption. Methadone notably protracts the newborn's abstinence syndrome. With regard to this fact, attention has been recently focused on substitution with buprenorphine that seems to be from this viewpoint a more considerate option.
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Neuroendocrinol Lett · Dec 2007
The immune effects of TRYCATs (tryptophan catabolites along the IDO pathway): relevance for depression - and other conditions characterized by tryptophan depletion induced by inflammation.
Immune activation is accompanied by induction of indoleamine (2,3)-dioxygenase (IDO), an enzyme which degrades tryptophan, a phenomenon which plays a role in the pathophysiology of major depression and post-natal depression and anxiety states. TRYCATs - tryptophan catabolites along the IDO pathway - such as kynurenine, kynurenic acid, xanthurenic acid, and quinolinic acid, have multiple effects, e.g. apoptotic, anti- versus pro-oxidant, neurotoxic versus neuroprotective, and anxiolytic versus anxiogenic effects. The aim of the present study was to study the immune effects of the above TRYCATS. ⋯ Kynurenic acid significantly reduced the stimulated production of TNFalpha. It is concluded that kynurenine, kynurenic acid, and xanthurenic acid have anti-inflammatory effects trough a reduction of IFNgamma, whereas quinolinic acid has pro-inflammatory effects in particular via significant decreases in IL-10. Following inflammation-induced IDO activation, some TRYCATs, i.e. kynurenine, kynurenic acid, and xanthurenic acid, exert a negative feedback control over IFNgamma production thus downregulating the initial inflammation, whereas an excess of quinolinic acid further aggravates the initial inflammation.
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Neuroendocrinol Lett · Nov 2007
Comparative StudyPneumococcal meningitis in community is frequent after craniocerebral trauma and in alcohol abusers.
Aim of this short communication was to assess risk factors and outcome of community acquired pneumococcal meningitis and compare it to all cases of community acquired meningitis. Univariate analysis was used for comparison of 68 pneumococcal to 201 CBM within a Slovak nationwide database of CBM. ⋯ Concerning outcome, mortality was similar (8,8% and 12,4%, NS), proportion of those with neurologic sequellae after CBM due to Str. pneumoniae was insignificantly higher (20.6% vs. 15.4%, NS) in comparison to all CBM. All but 2 strains Str. pneumoniae were susceptible to penicillin and macrolides (3.3% resistance).
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Neuroendocrinol Lett · Aug 2007
Not in the mind of neurasthenic lazybones but in the cell nucleus: patients with chronic fatigue syndrome have increased production of nuclear factor kappa beta.
There is now some evidence that chronic fatigue syndrome is accompanied by an activation of the inflammatory response system and by increased oxidative and nitrosative stress. Nuclear factor kappa beta (NFkappabeta) is the major upstream, intracellular mechanism which regulates inflammatory and oxidative stress mediators. In order to examine the role of NFkappabeta in the pathophysiology of CFS, this study examines the production of NFkappabeta p50 in unstimulated, 10 ng/mL TNF-alpha (tumor necrosis factor alpha) and 50 ng/mL PMA (phorbolmyristate acetate) stimulated peripheral blood lymphocytes of 18 unmedicated patients with CFS and 18 age-sex matched controls. ⋯ The results show that an intracellular inflammatory response in the white blood cells plays an important role in the pathophysiology of CFS and that previous findings on increased oxidative stress and inflammation in CFS may be attributed to an increased production of NFkappabeta. The results suggest that the symptoms of CFS, such as fatigue, muscular tension, depressive symptoms and the feeling of infection reflect a genuine inflammatory response in those patients. It is suggested that CFS patients should be treated with antioxidants, which inhibit the production of NFkappabeta, such as curcumin, N-Acetyl-Cysteine, quercitin, silimarin, lipoic acid and omega-3 fatty acids.