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The amygdala is a medial temporal lobe structure implicated in social and emotional regulation. In typical development (TD), the amygdala continues to increase volumetrically throughout childhood and into adulthood, while other brain structures are stable or decreasing in volume. In autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the amygdala undergoes rapid early growth, making it volumetrically larger in children with ASD compared to TD children. Here we explore: (a) if dendritic arborization in the amygdala follows the pattern of protracted growth in TD and early overgrowth in ASD and (b), if spine density in the amygdala in ASD cases differs from TD from youth to adulthood. The amygdala from 32 postmortem human brains (7-46 years of age) were stained using a Golgi-Kopsch impregnation. Ten principal neurons per case were selected in the lateral nucleus and traced using Neurolucida software in their entirety. We found that both ASD and TD individuals show a similar pattern of increasing dendritic length with age well into adulthood. However, spine density is (a) greater in young ASD cases compared to age-matched TD controls (<18 years old) and (b) decreases in the amygdala as people with ASD age into adulthood, a phenomenon not found in TD. Therefore, by adulthood, there is no observable difference in spine density in the amygdala between ASD and TD age-matched adults (≥18 years old). Our findings highlight the unique growth trajectory of the amygdala and suggest that spine density may contribute to aberrant development and function of the amygdala in children with ASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The potential tissue replication sites and specific cell types that support in vivo virus survival beyond the acute phase of bovine ephemeral fever virus ( BEFV) infection have not been fully defined in cattle. To clarify the knowledge gap, tissue specimens were tested after collection from an adult steer necropsied 1 week after acute BEF. Case report Significant necropsy findings included fibrinoproliferative synovitis in the stifle joints and fibrin clot-laden fluid in serous body cavities. Moderate numbers of infiltrating neutrophils were demonstrated in sections of the prefemoral lymph nodes and haemal node, and lymphoid hyperplasia in the spleen, haemal node and prefemoral lymph nodes. Viral RNA was detected by qRT-PCR in fresh spleen, haemal node, prefemoral lymph node, synovial fluid and in several spleen-derived cell cultures. BEFV was isolated from autogenously derived splenic primary cell cultures 6 days after cessation of viraemia, and characteristic bullet-shaped virions were confirmed by electron microscopy of an ultrathin haemal node section. In sections of the spleen, haemal node and other tissues, immunohistochemistry demonstrated BEFV antigens that were intracellularly associated with probable histiocytic cells. Conclusion BEFV has preferential tropism for bovine lymphoid tissues and the spleen and haemal node may be potential sites for post-viraemic virus replication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective This study assessed the neurotropism of bovine ephemeral fever (BEF) virus (BEFV) and described histomorphological abnormalities of the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves that may causally contribute to paresis or paralysis in BEF. Methods Four paralysed and six asymptomatic but virusinfected cattle were monitored, and blood and serum samples screened by qRT-PCR, virus isolation and neutralisation tests. Fresh brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerve and other tissues were qRT-PCR-tested for viral RNA, while formalin-fixed specimens were processed routinely and immunohistochemically evaluated for histomorphological abnormalities and viral antigen distribution, respectively. Results The neurotropism of BEFV was immunohistochemically confirmed in the brain and peripheral nerves and peripheral neuropathy was demonstrated in three paralysed but not the six aneurological but virus-infected animals. Wallerian degeneration (WD) was present in the ventral funicular white matter of the lumbar spinal cord of a paralysed steer and in cervical and thoracic spinal cord segments of three paralysed animals. Although no spinal cord lesions were seen in the steer euthanased within 7 days of illness, peripheral neuropathy was present and more severe in nerves of the brachial plexuses than in the gluteal or fibular nerves. The only steer with WD in the lumbar spinal cord also showed intrahistiocytic cell viral antigen that was spatially distributed within areas of moderate brain stem encephalitis. Conclusion The data confirmed neurotropism of BEFV in cattle and documented histomorphological abnormalities in peripheral nerves and brain which, together with spinal cord lesions, may contribute to chronic paralysis in BEFV-infected downer cattle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Dietary sources of vitamin D (both natural and fortified) are increasingly contributing to consumers' vitamin D intake and status. Therefore, the present study aimed to validate a vitamin D food frequency questionnaire ( FFQ) for the assessment of habitual vitamin D intake. Methods A total of 49 apparently healthy consenting adults (aged 18-64 years) from the local community were sampled at the end of winter. Dietary intakes were recorded using a 4-day weighed food record (4d- WFR) and a 17-item FFQ based on foods known to contribute to dietary vitamin D intake. Fasting vitamin D status was quantified by serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25( OH)D] using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The method of triads was applied using these three measurements to determine the overall validity of the FFQ. Results Vitamin D intakes from 4d- WFR ranged between 0.42 and 31.65 μg day−1, whereas intakes determined from the FFQ ranged from 1.03 to 36.08 μg day−1. Serum 25( OH)D concentrations ranged between 12.89 and 279.00 nmol L−1. The mean ( SD) difference between the FFQ and 4d- WFR was +1.62 ( 3.86). There were strong correlations between the vitamin D intake estimated by the FFQ and that from the 4d- WFR ( r = 0.562) and also with serum 25( OH)D concentrations ( r = 0.567). Vitamin D intake estimated from the 4d- WFR was also strongly correlated with serum 25( OH)D concentrations ( r = 0.411). The overall validity coefficient calculated using the method of triads was high (0.881). Conclusions The vitamin D FFQ has been validated for use in future studies aiming to assess habitual vitamin D intake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on relaxation and distraction in experimental desensitization. It compares experimental desensitization with a procedure that replaced relaxation with a distraction task and with an approach that combined both relaxation and distraction (N = 50). Attentional analyses of desensitization therapy suggest that relaxation functions as either a distractor that "shuts out" fear or as an activity that allows attention to be switched away from the fearful stimuli. Fifty female undergraduates who showed marked fear of a harmless 8-foot boa constrictor were allocated from stratified blocks to one of five groups on the basis of their behavioral approach responses and subjective indices of anxiety.

Intense competition and low profitability in the home market provided a strong incentive for Scotch whisky producers to develop exports. By 1914 a world-wide network of agencies existed. Exports developed without government assistance and faced few legislative impediments in recipient countries. Religious belief was a more potent barrier than tariffs. After 1918 the international spread of alcohol controls and tariffs forced the Scotch whisky industry to develop a collective response. The industry's response to prohibition in the United States, 'the scheduled area', reflected a concentrated industrial structure, lowered the risk of conducting business and simultaneously safeguarded quality. Scotch enhanced its reputation for quality and with repeal the industry was in a position to expand its market share, with government assistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinical, radiographic and microscopic features of 8 ossifying fibromas diagnosed in 7 patients and measuring more than 8 cm in greatest diameter, were reviewed. The tumors occurred in both juvenile and middle aged patients and all lesions in women involved the maxilla. The abundance of fibrous connective tissue and resorption of mineralized deposits are indicative of altered cellular differentiation and proliferative activities in large ossifying fibromas. Focal areas of aneurysmal bone cyst formation were identified in the majority of lesions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of 12 studies (five historic cohort and seven randomized trials) examined clients in community settings in Southern Ontario suffering from a variety of chronic physical and mental health conditions. These studies are appraised using a framework for evaluating possible outcomes of economic evaluation. In the 12 studies, sample composition and size varied. Each study was designed to quantify the well-being outcomes and expenditures associated with different community-based approaches to care provided in the context of a system of national health insurance. As a collective, these studies represent increasing methodological rigour. Multiple-perspective client well-being outcome measures were used. In two studies, caregiver burden also was analysed. A common approach to quantification and evaluation of expenditures for service consumption was used in all 12 studies. The nature of community-based health services (health vs. disease care orientation) was found to have direct and measurable impact on total expenditures for health service utilization and client well-being outcomes. In most cases, a recurring pattern of equal or better client outcomes, yet lower expenditures for use of community based health services, was associated with well-integrated health oriented services. Integrated services aimed at factors which determine health are superior when compared to individual, fragmented, disease oriented, and focused approaches to care. The main lessons from the 12 studies are that it is as or more effective and as or less expensive to offer complete, proactive, community health services to persons living with chronic circumstance than to provide focused, on-demand, piecemeal services. Complete services would have a psychosocial and mental health focus included with the physical care approach. Furthermore, people with coexisting risk factors (age, living arrangements, mental distress and problem-solving ability) are the ones who most benefit at lower expense from health oriented, proactive interventions.

Adolescents who are critically, chronically, and terminally ill traditionally have been given little voice in their health care treatment. But over the last three decades attitudes have begun to shift. The legal and medical professions as well as parents and children's advocates have started to recognize that cognitively normal adolescents have decisionmaking capacity and believe these patients ought to have the opportunity to participate in even the toughest of health treatment decisions. Advances directives, if used with sensitivity and care, could prove a valuable means of giving these older pediatric patients a say in their care.