There is a strong clinical relationship between stress and stress-related disorders and the incidence of alcohol abuse and alcoholism, and this relationship appears to be partly genetic in origin. There are marked strain differences in ethanol (EtOH)-related behaviors and reactivity to stress, but little investigation of the interaction between the two. The present study assessed the effects of chronic exposure to swim stress on EtOH-related behavior in three common inbred strains of mice, C57BL/ 6J, DBA/2J and BALB/cByJ. After establishing baseline (10%) EtOH self-administration in a twobottle free choice test, mice were exposed to daily swim stress for 14 consecutive days and EtOH consumption measured as a percent of baseline both during stress and for 10 days afterwards. A separate experiment examined the effects of 14 days of swim stress on sensitivity to the sedative/ hypnotic effects of an acute injection of 4 g/kg EtOH. Results showed that stress produced a marked and prolonged decrease in EtOH consumption in DBA/2J and BALB/cByJ, but not C57BL/6J mice. By contrast, stress increased sensitivity to the sedative/hypnotic effects of EtOH across all 3 strains. These findings demonstrate that chronic swim stress produces reductions in EtOH self-administration in a strain-dependent manner, and that these effects may be restricted to low-consuming strains. Present data also indicate a dissociation between effects of this stressor on EtOH self-administration and sensitivity to EtOH's sedative/hypnotic effects. In conclusion, strain differences, that are likely in large part genetic in nature, modify the effects of this stressor on EtOH's effects in a behaviorspecific manner. Keywords mouse; strain; ethanol; sedation; gene; drinking; swim stress; preference; two-bottle choice There is a strong epidemiological link between stress-related psychiatric disorders and alcoholism. Individuals suffering from depression or anxiety disorders, conditions often associated with stress, are more likely to abuse alcohol and become alcoholic, and tend to respond less well to therapeutic interventions [8,9,29,54]. Moreover, a history of adverse life events positively correlates with increased rates of alcoholism; although, interestingly, a proportion of individuals become abstinent following stress [19,35,46,51]. These clinic data lend support to the influential hypothesis that stress represent a significant risk factor for alcoholism [12,28]. *Corresponding author: R4N5 AP9A-L018, Abbott Laboratories, 100 Abbott Park Rd, Abbott Park, IL 60064, Ph. +1-847-937-2559, Fax +1-847-938-0072, E-mail: janel.boyce-rustay@abbott.com. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered wh...
BackgroundThis study examines the effect of initiating medications with anticholinergic activity on the cognitive functions of older persons.MethodsParticipants were 896 older community-dwelling, Catholic clergy without baseline dementia. Medication data was collected annually. The Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden Scale was utilized to identify use of a medication with probable or definite anticholinergic activity. Participants had at least two annual cognitive evaluations.ResultsOver a mean follow-up of 10 years, the annual rate of global cognitive function decline for never users, prevalent users, and incident users was −0.062 (SE = 0.005), −0.081(SE = 0.011), and −0.096 (SE = 0.007) z-score units/year, respectively. Compared to never users, incident users had a more rapid decline (difference = −0.034 z-score units/year, SE = 0.008, p<0.001) while prevalent users did not have a significantly more rapid decline (p = 0.1).ConclusionsOlder persons initiating a medication with anticholinergic activity have a steeper annual decline in cognitive functioning than those who are not taking these medications.
Objective Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a hereditary metabolic disorder that often results in neuropsychological impairment, even in individuals treated early and continuously. This study was conducted to examine processing speed, variability in processing speed, and the relationship between processing speed variables and executive abilities in children with early- and continuously-treated PKU. Method Participants were 42 children with PKU and 81 typically-developing children from 7 to 18 years of age. Children completed three computerized reaction time (RT) tasks (simple reaction time, go/no-go, stimulus-response compatibility) and seven tasks assessing executive abilities (working memory, inhibitory control, strategic processing). Results Performance of children with PKU was significantly slower and more variable than that of controls across the three tasks administered. When age was considered, it was shown that processing speed improved with age to a comparable degree for both groups. Variability in processing speed, however, decreased more with age for the PKU than control group, reflecting the fact that variability in younger, but not older, children with PKU was greater than that of controls. With regard to executive abilities, processing speed and variability contributed to performance on most, but not all, executive tasks; and after controlling for processing speed and variability, executive impairments were still identified in working memory and inhibitory control (not strategic processing). Conclusions These findings indicate that information processing is slower and less efficient in children with PKU. In addition, processing speed and variability contribute to some, but not all, of the impairments in executive abilities observed in children with PKU.
Service members who have had a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in a war theatre [Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)] may have associated injuries far different and/or more complex (i.e., polytrauma) than injuries obtained outside the theatre of operation. This article expands on what has been learned from monitoring patients injured during peacetime to the newly injured war veterans being monitored in the home setting via routine telephonic follow-up. As Tanielian et al. state TBI, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depression may occur during and following deployment/s which then pose a significant health risk to these veterans. This is particularly important as veterans of these two conflicts may incur these "invisible wounds of war." Thus, safe and effective monitoring of these veterans by nurses/case managers in the home/ community setting becomes important in the recovery process.
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