Pedophilic sex offender show reduced actiation in the right dlpfc during integration of emotion and cognition – preliminary results

Introduction

The pedophilic disorder is characterized by a sexual preference for children and leads to child sexual abuse (CSA) in half of the patients. Studies showed that pedophiles with a history of CSA (CSA+) are inferior, in inhibitory control, to those without (CSA-).

Objectives

Inhibitory control may be influenced by negative affectivity, which was shown to be a state factor facilitating sexual abuse. Nevertheless, it is not known if distress influence CSA+ and CSA- equally.

Methods

We recruited three groups of participants: healthy controls (HC) CSA+ and CSA- who performed an emotional Go-NoGo block task. The task was design specifically to correspond to a situation in which an indivisual is opposed by a negative life event. In each trial, participants were presented with photographs, either of neutral or negative valence, which did not require reaction. After the photographs, a circle (Go stimuli) or a square (NoGo stimuli) was presented.

Results

We found that HC and CSA- had slower reaction time in negative compared to neutral condition (regardless of the block type), while CSA+ did not. Consequently, HC and CSA- showed increased activation in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in negative compared to the neutral condition, what was not observed in CSA+.

Conclusions

DLPFC is crucial for cognitive control, however, the activity of this region is modulated by emotional valence. Reduced engagement of dlPFC in CSA+ in negative condition (irrespectively of the task instructions), suggest that negative emotions in CSA+ disrupt also other aspects of cognitive control, rather than inhibition specifically.

[Hydrophobic properties of Enterobacter spp. rods]

Enterobacter sp. is one of the important factors of hospital infections, especially at patients in intensive care, surgical and transplant units and cell surface hydrophobicity (CSH) plays an important role in the pathogenicity of many bacterial. Because of the increase of these bacteria in the infections, the aims of this study were the assessment of CSH of Enterobacter sp. strains on the basis of two methods: salt aggregation test (SAT) and bacterial adhesion to hydrocarbons (BATH). 175 strains of Enterobacter sp. were examinated in the study. The CSH was detected in 19.4% to 22.8% strains analysed by SAT method and in 41.1% to 42.3% strains analysed by BATH method, depending on culture media used. Hydrophobic properties were more often observed in case of strains from urine (41.6% and 44.6% depending on culture media used), wound swabs (24.3% and 25.0%) and from tracheal secretions (12.1% and 13.8%) which came from patients of clinics: Intensive Care Unit, Urology Clinic, General Surgery and Endocrinology Clinic, General and Vascular Surgery Clinic and Nephrology Clinic.

[Imipenem resistance in Gram-negative rods and its consumption between 1999 and 2005]

Multidrug resistant Gram-negative rods are increasingly isolated from clinical specimens, especially from hospitalized patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of imipenem resistant strains of Gram-negative rods isolated in dr. A. Jurasz University Hospital in Bydgoszcz between 1999 and 2005 and imipenem consumption in this period. Out of 109614 isolated microorganisms, Gram-negative rods were 28,5%, 637 (2,0%) of strains were resistant to imipenem. These strains were isolated mostly from patients hospitalized in intensive care and rehabilitation clinics. Among imipenem-resistant strains Pseudomonas aeruginosa prevailed (88,9%). P. aeruginosa strains were sensitive to colistin, 45,5% of them to aztreonam and 44,0% to ceftazidime. The imipenem consumption in the appropriate years included in this study was: 805,00; 1201,25; 940,00; 1390,00; 1660,00; 1341,25; 1841,25 DDD respectively, and was strictly connected with increasing imipenem-resistant Gram-negative rods isolation.

Identification of plasmid OXA and other β-lactamase genes among carbapenem-resistant isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from the Clinical University Hospital in northeastern Poland

The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of OXA and other β-lactamase genes, antibiotic susceptibility, and the genetic relatedness among clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa resistant to carbapenems. The presence of bla- OXA genes was demonstrated in 48% of isolates belonging to four PFGE profiles. Most of them contained the blaOXA-2 gene (88.3%). Other blaOXA genes (Ps1310 with blaOXA-30 and Ps1309 with blaOXA-10) were found in only two isolates. The tested isolates also contained other β-lactamase genes such as blaVIM-2, blaVIM-4, blaSHV-5, and blaTEM-1. All isolates were susceptible only to colistin (100%).