The basolateral nucleus of the amygdala (BLA) plays a key role in emotional arousal and anxiety, and expresses high levels of corticotropin-releasing factor receptor (CRFR)1. In rat brain slices, we have recently shown that afferent activation of the BLA is increased following application of exogenous corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF). Here we examined the impact of chronic unpredictable str...

Reductions in the number and size of neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) have been documented in many post-mortem studies of depressed patients and animals exposed to stress. Here, we examined the effect of chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) and chronic mild stress (CMS) on specific populations of neurons in the rat mPFC. Antibodies directed against parvalbumin (PV), calbindin D-28K ...

BACKGROUND There has been no study assessing cranial ultrasound (cUS) scans in newborn infants born in equatorial Africa. OBJECTIVE To assess the cUS scans of apparently well newborn term Ugandan infants and to correlate the findings with perinatal data. METHODS An observational study of apparently healthy postnatal ward term Ugandan infants at Mulago Hospital, Makerere University Hospital,...

Copper is essential but can be toxic even at low concentrations. Coping with this duality requires multiple pathways to control intracellular copper availability. Three copper-inducible promoters, controlling expression of six copper tolerance genes, were recently identified in Escherichia coli. The cue system employs an inner membrane copper transporter, whereas the cus system includes a tripa...

BACKGROUND Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a complex and serious condition, with high morbidity and mortality, especially in hospitalised patients. Yet its diagnosis remains challenging because of its unspecific clinical presentation. The objective of this study was to apply an algorithmic combination approach to diagnosing VTE by the addition of a D-dimer assay and Wells' criteria for our hosp...

Studies have shown that maternal chronic stress or depression is linked to an increased risk for affective disorders in progeny. However, the impact of maternal chronic stress before pregnancy on their progeny in animal models has not been well studied. We investigated the behaviors and the neurobiology in 60-day-old male progeny of maternal rats exposed to a 21-day chronic unpredictable stress...

Preclinical data indicate the antidepressant activity of zinc and the involvement of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in this mechanism. The present study investigates the effect of chronic (16 days) combined treatment with zinc (15 mg/kg zinc hydroaspartate) and imipramine (5 mg/kg) in chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) on the BDNF mRNA level in the rat brain. Moreover, serum zinc ...

METHODS Sprague-Dawley adult male rats (12-14 weeks old) were exposed to 14-day CUS and then subjected to partial hepatectomy 24 h after the last stress session. The rats were pretreated with an antagonist of the glucocorticoids (GCs) receptor RU486 (30 mg/kg, i.p.) 1 h prior to stress exposure. The behavioral changes were evaluated with open field test and elevated plus-maze test. The hippocam...

Running exercise is an effective method to improve depressive symptoms when combined with drugs. However, the underlying mechanisms are not fully clear. Cerebral blood flow perfusion in depressed patients is significantly lower in the hippocampus. Physical activity can achieve cerebrovascular benefits. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impacts of running exercise on capillaries in t...

Copper sulfide (CuS) concave polyhedral superstructures (CPSs) have been successfully prepared in an ethanolic solution by a simple solvothermal reaction without the use of surfactants or templates. Two typical well defined, high symmetry CuS concave polyhedrons, forming a concave truncated cuboctahedron and icosahedron were prepared. The effect of the reaction time, temperature and different C...