“
“A-wave is a late motor response that maintains the same characteristics of latency, amplitude and shape with every electrical stimuli at a proper given intensity. The presence of A-waves was reported both in chronic (CIDP) and acute (AIDP) forms of inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy. It is attributed to the effect of either sprouting phenomena or ephaptic/ectopic discharge. In the first condition it could be a sign of functional JNJ-26481585 research buy recovery, while in the second it could
represent an early indicator of demyelination. Aims of our research were to investigate retrospectively the presence of the A-waves, establishing whether its frequency is more MEK activation common in CIDP or AIDP. Data from 77 patients, 57 male and 20 female, mean age 60.7 years (SD 15.4), were recovered from clinical records and their neurophysiological tests retrieved for reanalysis. Our results seem to indicate that A-waves can represent an early sign of acute pathology of peripheral nervous system.”
“Background: ‘Enjoyment’ and ‘addiction’ have
been proposed as opposing reasons why people continue to smoke despite the manifest dangers. This study examined the roles of these as barriers to smoking cessation.
Methods: 2257 smokers taking part in a national household survey completed postal-follow-up questionnaires 6 months later. Enjoyment of smoking was measured at baseline as was strength of urges to smoke during a normal smoking day as a subjective marker of addiction. Smoking status, quit attempts and quit success were assessed at follow-up. Data on age, sex, social grade and method of cessation support used were also collected. Associations between baseline measures and smoking outcomes were assessed using logistic regression.
Results: Only enjoyment of smoking predicted whether a quit attempt was
made (OR = 0.70, p < 0.001, 95% CI = 0.62-0.78) and only strength of urges to smoke predicted whether a quit attempt was successful (OR = 0.70, HDAC inhibitors list p < 0.001, 95% CI = 0.57-0.87). This pattern of results remained when controlling for sociodemographic factors and method of support used.
Conclusions: Both enjoyment of smoking and strength of urges to smoke are important in the smoking cessation process, but in different ways. Interventions to promote cessation need to address both in order to maximise the rate of quit attempts and their chances of success. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic liver disease which is normally recognized during late stage of the disease. Due to limited knowledge about the onset and course of disease and need for chronic immunosuppression with significant side-effects there is a requirement for a good preclinical animal model, mirroring main characteristics of AIH.