Synthesis of thieno[2,3-d]oxazines and thieno[2,3-d]thiazines as subtype specific kainate receptor antagonists

For the development of new antiepileptics the kainate receptors GluR6 and GluR5 are important targets. Based on the anticonvulsant effects of chinazolines and thieno[2,3-d]pyrimidines that are known from the literature, thieno[2,3-d][1.3]oxazines were synthesized and studied for their inhibitory properties at GluR6 and GluR5 receptors. The strongest inhibitor activity was observed with 5-methyl-6-phenyl-thieno[2,3-d][1.3]oxazines with C1 or C3-substituents in position 2 (3b-f). The 2-trihalide-methyl-substituted compounds 3c and 3d were the most active inhibitors at the GluR5-receptor (IC50=23.4 micromol, 16 microl). The 2-isopropyl-substituted compound 3f displayed the strongest activity at the GluR6-receptor (IC(50)=8.7 micromol). A number of thieno[2,3-d][1.3]thiazines and thieno[2,3-d] pyrimidines that were synthesized from the thieno[2,3][1.3]oxazines did not show any activity.

Distribution of RF energy emitted by mobile phones in anatomical structures of the brain

The rapid worldwide increase in mobile phone use in the last decade has generated considerable interest in possible carcinogenic effects of radio frequency (RF). Because exposure to RF from phones is localized, if a risk exists it is likely to be greatest for tumours in regions with greatest energy absorption. The objective of the current paper was to characterize the spatial distribution of RF energy in the brain, using results of measurements made in two laboratories on 110 phones used in Europe or Japan. Most (97-99% depending on frequency) appears to be absorbed in the brain hemisphere on the side where the phone is used, mainly (50-60%) in the temporal lobe. The average relative SAR is highest in the temporal lobe (6-15%, depending on frequency, of the spatial peak SAR in the most exposed region of the brain) and the cerebellum (2-10%) and decreases very rapidly with increasing depth, particularly at higher frequencies. The SAR distribution appears to be fairly similar across phone models, between older and newer phones and between phones with different antenna types and positions. Analyses of risk by location of tumour are therefore important for the interpretation of results of studies of brain tumours in relation to mobile phone use.

Explaining trends in coronary heart disease hospitalisations in New Zealand: trend for admissions and incidence can be in opposite directions

BACKGROUND

A recent increase in the absolute number of hospitalisations for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in New Zealand may signal a new epidemic of coronary heart disease (CHD).

OBJECTIVE

To quantify the impact of factors other than incidence of disease on these national hospitalisation trends.

METHODS

A total of 324,663 electronic records of New Zealand public CHD hospitalisations from 1993 to 2005 were examined. Repeat admissions were identified by record linkage using a unique national health identifier for each patient.

RESULTS

Hospitalisations for AMI increased by about 8% a year throughout the 13-year study period. Interhospital transfers increased by 117% over the study period, while readmissions increased by 42%. By 2005 over 60% of all admissions for CHD were readmissions. After accounting for readmissions, hospital transfers and population changes, the age-standardised first AMI hospitalisation rate peaked in 1995 and has since declined by 15%. Reciprocal trends in AMI and angina hospitalisations were seen, indicating changing diagnostic criteria. Overall hospitalisation rates for first CHD events remained relatively steady at about 216.4 events per 100,000 between 1993 and 2000 and subsequently declined by 25% to 162.2 events per 100,000 in 2005.

CONCLUSION

Recent trends in hospitalisation rates for AMI are significantly influenced by factors other than underlying changes in CHD incidence. Increasing absolute numbers of admissions coded as AMI in New Zealand between 1993 and 2005 can be accounted for by increases in readmissions, increases in interhospital transfers, changes in diagnostic criteria for AMI and in demography.

An evaluation of two bonding questionnaires: a comparison of the Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale with the Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire in a sample of primiparous mothers

The emotions and attitudes of mothers towards their infants are crucial for the child's well-being and development. Some mothers experience a delay in the onset of maternal affection after childbirth and occasionally a longer lasting failure to bond will ensue. Little is known about the precise prevalence of these difficulties, how they relate to maternal mental health, how they develop over time and what their biological and psychosocial correlates are. In research studies the mother-infant relationship has traditionally been assessed using observational methods but these are time consuming and not suited for screening in clinical practice. Two self-rating instruments have recently been developed to assess maternal bonding. Both can be used in large samples of recently delivered mothers including those suspected to be at high risk of bonding disorders. In this study, the psychometric properties of the 8-item Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale (MIB) and the 25-item screening questionnaire for mother-infant bonding disorders, namely the Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire (PBQ), were examined in a sample of first-time mothers in order to establish their reliability and validity. Ninety-six women completed the MIB, PBQ and the Kennerley Blues Scale on day 2-4 postpartum. Both bonding instruments demonstrated acceptable reliability and reasonable validity, with the exception of the PBQ subscale of risk of abuse.

Cues to deception and ability to detect lies as a function of police interview styles

In Experiment 1, we examined whether three interview styles used by the police, accusatory, information-gathering and behaviour analysis, reveal verbal cues to deceit, measured with the Criteria-Based Content Analysis (CBCA) and Reality Monitoring (RM) methods. A total of 120 mock suspects told the truth or lied about a staged event and were interviewed by a police officer employing one of these three interview styles. The results showed that accusatory interviews, which typically result in suspects making short denials, contained the fewest verbal cues to deceit. Moreover, RM distinguished between truth tellers and liars better than CBCA. Finally, manual RM coding resulted in more verbal cues to deception than automatic coding of the RM criteria utilising the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software programme. In Experiment 2, we examined the effects of the three police interview styles on the ability to detect deception. Sixty-eight police officers watched some of the videotaped interviews of Experiment 1 and made veracity and confidence judgements. Accuracy scores did not differ between the three interview styles; however, watching accusatory interviews resulted in more false accusations (accusing truth tellers of lying) than watching information-gathering interviews. Furthermore, only in accusatory interviews, judgements of mendacity were associated with higher confidence. We discuss the possible danger of conducting accusatory interviews.

Structural aspects of biogenic silica

The objectives of this paper are to discuss the characterization of biogenic silica in terms of structural properties, and to elucidate the mechanisms of structural organization within biological systems. The scale of organization is a critical factor in the characterization of biosilicification processes, and order at the nanometre, micrometre and macroscopic levels is described. Molecular order is discussed in the light of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and solid-state NMR results obtained from samples of biogenic silica. Microscopic organization is expressed in a range of structural motifs, e.g. gels, sheets, fibres, tubes and globular assemblies, and reflects the infinitely adaptive morphology of biogenic silica. Macroscopic structures such as curved rods, spicules, perforated plates, teeth and reticular frameworks can be assembled from these microscopic motifs. The mechanisms of structural organization involve spatial (scalar and vectorial) constraints, ordered particle aggregation and chemical regulation. The possible importance of organic surfaces is discussed.

Options for screening colonoscopy without sedation: a pilot study in United States veterans

BACKGROUND

The direct and indirect costs of sedation limit access to screening colonoscopy amongst United States veterans.

AIM

To determine if offering the option of sedation on-demand reduces the need for sedation. Design A retrospective review of prospectively collected performance improvement data in an open access screening colonoscopy programme.

SETTING

Performance improvement programme to minimize the burden of sedation at a single VA Medical Center. Subjects 44 consecutive veterans who accepted the option of sedation on-demand. They could choose to have premedications before the start of colonoscopy, or to begin colonoscopy without premedications and receive the medications upon their request during the examination.

METHOD

Two experienced endoscopists assisted by experienced nurse assistants performed all of the examinations. Insertion of the colonoscope was aided by infusion of warm water through the colonoscope without air insufflation. Medications were administered at the veterans' request.

RESULTS

Offering the option of sedation on-demand to 44 consecutive veterans permitted 52% (N = 23) of the veterans to complete screening colonoscopy without any sedation.

CONCLUSIONS

This novel approach of sedation on-demand and water infusion for screening colonoscopy deserves to be further evaluated in a randomized-controlled study amongst patients undergoing colorectal cancer screening.

[Patellar instability]

We report a retrospective study of patients with patellar instability, all treated by operation and followed up for 3 years. Patients with recurrent dislocation of the patella, lateral displacement and primary patella dislocation were treated by a Elmslie-Trillat reconstruction combined with a soft tissue intervention. Preoperative and follow-up radiographic evaluation included weight bearing anteroposterior view and merchant view. Evaluation was done using the Insall-Salvati index, sulcus and congruence angle. The operation was performed on 23 patients. The clinical evaluation at follow-up was performed using the Knee-Society- and Tegner-Score. Subjective results of the operation were excellent or good in 22 of the 23 at three years with a redislocation rate of only 1 out of 26. Most patients were able to return to the same level of sporting activity as before the injury. The technique described in this paper tries to correct as much as possible of the abnormal parameters in patellar instability to achieve a dynamic stability of the patella through the full range of motion. The excellent results are presumable explained by the use of the combined technique.

Time-frequency analysis of visual evoked potentials by means of matching pursuit with chirplet atoms

Detection of visual evoked potentials (VEP) elicited by repetitive stimuli is valuable in both laboratorial research and clinical practice. Therefore, knowing the characteristics of VEPs is of fundamental importance for adequate design of a signal detector. Usually, the signal is modeled as a steady-state VEP (ssVEP) consisting of the fundamental frequency and the higher harmonics, while ignoring the information contained in its transients (tVEP). We propose here to characterize both tVEP and ssVEP by chirplet time-frequency representation of VEP signal using a matching pursuit (MP) algorithm. Compared to the time-frequency analysis with short-time-Fourier-transform (STFT) and linear-prediction-coding (LPC) method, MP with chirplet shows not only clear characteristics of ssVEP, but a clear spindle-like time-frequency component of tVEP as well, which is not obvious in the other two methods.

Rapporteur's report

An international workshop was hosted by the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) on 25-26 July 2006 at its headquarters in Munich. Around 40 expert scientists attended in order to discuss the dosimetry work being carried out within the framework of the German Mobile Telecommunication Research Programme (DMF). There were three presentation sessions in the workshop, the first considering numerical models and computations, the second considering dosimetry in biological studies and the third considering exposure of the general public. The attendees discussed the projects in the context of four over-arching questions: what has been achieved by the projects, where do we still have gaps in knowledge, can minimum standards be defined for future work and do any of the findings impact on the setting of standards and guidelines. This report summarises the workshop outcomes under the four headings.

Image Transfer by Mobile Phones in Neurosurgery

Image transfer by mobile phones with built-in cameras (1 Megapixel CCD digital camera, 7 stage digital zoom, max. picture size 858 x 1 144 pixels, display resolution 240 x 320 dots, 262 K colour system CGS LCD) was introduced into clinical practice in the author's department in July 2004 to improve communication between neurosurgeons. During the first 12 months of use 13-72 images per month with an average of 1.4 images/case were transmitted via the regular German mobile phone net (GRPS standard, 40 KBit/s) among all neurosurgeons. Most images were transferred from the resident on call to the senior neurosurgeon backing him up. Overall, the system was extremely reliable, quick, and enabled immediate decisions in all emergency situations. In conclusion, image transfer by mobile phones has significantly improved communication within our department.

General versus locoregional anesthesia in carotid surgery: A prospective randomised trial

Background: To evaluate the influence of anesthetic technique on perioperative neurological and cardiopulmonary complication rates in patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy. Patients and methods: 186 patients with symptomatic internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis > 70% or asymptomatic ICA stenosis > 80% were prospectively randomized for either locoregional (LA) or general anesthesia (GA). Results: Neurological complication rates were similar in both groups (GA 2% vs. LA 2%). Cardiopulmonary complication rates were not significantly different (GA 4% vs LA 1%).There were no stroke-related deaths, but one patient from the GA group died from severe postoperative pneumonia. Thus, a significant difference in combined stroke / cardiopulmonary related death between the two groups (GA 1% vs LA 0%) could not be found. However, perioperative cardiopulmonary monitoring showed that significantly more patients operated under general anesthesia had hypertensive events, with systolic blood pressure values greater than 180 mmHg on postoperative day one. There were no differences in the number of postoperatively hypotensive episodes (systolic blood pressure values < 100 mmHg) between the two groups. Conclusions: Significant differences in the perioperative neurological and cardiopulmonary complication rates between general and locoregional anesthesia in patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy could not be observed.

An empirical test of the behaviour analysis interview

The present experiment is the first empirical test of the Behaviour Analysis Interview (BAI), an interview technique developed by F. E. Inbau, J. E. Reid, J. P. Buckley, & B. C. Jayne (2001) designed to evoke different verbal and non-verbal responses from liars and truth-tellers. Inbau et al. expect liars to be less helpful than truth-tellers in investigations and to exhibit more nervous behaviours. Just the opposite predictions, however, follow from the deception literature, which notes that liars take their credibility less for granted and are therefore more aware of their responses and their impact on others. This suggests that liars' answers should be more helpful than truth-tellers' answers, and liars' non-verbal responses should appear more relaxed than truth-tellers' non-verbal responses. In the present experiment, 40 participants (undergraduate students) lied or told the truth about an event during a BAI interview. The interviews were coded according to Inbau et al.'s guidelines. The results showed that, compared to liars, truth-tellers (a) were more naive and evasive when explaining the purpose of the interview, and (b) were less likely to name someone who they felt certain did not commit the crime. Truth-tellers also exhibited more nervous behaviours. The results were consistent with the predictions of the deception literature, and directly opposed to the predictions of BAI.

Extended flexible sigmoidoscopy performed by colonoscopists for colorectal cancer screening: a pilot study

BACKGROUND

Caecal intubation can be achieved by extended flexible sigmoidoscopy in 32% of patients.

AIM

To assess the feasibility of extended flexible sigmoidoscopy performed by colonoscopists for colorectal cancer screening.

METHODS

We enrolled 41 patients referred for screening flexible sigmoidoscopy. After purging, examination was performed with a colonoscope. All patients completed sigmoidoscopy (success in meeting referral goal); 93% and 71% had examination to the transverse or ascending colon, and caecum, respectively. Overall yield and right-sided polyps was 56% and 27%, respectively. Caecal intubation and complete examination with polypectomy took 6.0 +/- 2.5 and 18.3 +/- 5.1 min, respectively; with no complications. Twelve patients requested colonoscope withdrawal because of discomfort. Although 46% reported moderate to severe discomfort, 39% and 36%, respectively, were definitely or probably willing to repeat flexible sigmoidoscopy.

RESULTS

Unsedated colonoscopy introduced as extended flexible sigmoidoscopy emphasizes the benefits of added yield rather than the negative image of withholding of discomfort relief. The patient can choose to accept the equivalent of an unsedated colonoscopy or reject the option based on perceived discomfort during extended flexible sigmoidoscopy performed by the colonoscopist.

CONCLUSION

Extended flexible sigmoidoscopy is a feasible option in carefully selected patients, fully prepared and by an experienced colonoscopist.