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The ex vivo release of leukotrienes B4 (LTB4) and C4 (LTC4) from the leukocytes of children with atopic dermatitis (AD) was evaluated after stimulation with Ca-ionophore and opsonized zymosan and compared with that of control children of similar ages. The blood eosinophil counts and total serum IgE levels in AD children were significantly higher than those in control children. The production of LTC4, but not LTB4, was significantly higher in AD children than in control children. There was a significant correlation between the relative blood eosinophil count and LTC4 generation after stimulation with both Ca-ionophore and opsonized zymosan in all subjects. Calculations of the amount of LTC4 produced per eosinophilic cell showed that there was no significant difference between cells from AD children and control children in terms of their ability to produce LTC4. These findings suggest that the enhanced LTC4 generation is due to increased numbers of eosinophils rather than to enhanced releasability of these cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective : "Electrode migration is an underrecognized complication of cochlear implant (CI) surgery." Connell et al. (2008).Rader et al. (2016) examined electrode migration and suggested a flowchart for clinical management of suspected electrode migration where the investigation would start after loss of sound-quality or decreased speech perception despite not finding a significant change in speech perception scores. Extra-cochlear electrodes might be present without noticeable decrement in speech perception since migration might occur gradually and effects on sound quality might go unnoticed. This study examined the audiological indications of the presence of extra-cochlear electrodes (EE)s which are not usually examined in routine clinical practice with radiological confirmation in case of suspicion. Methods and materials :150 CI device for 122 uni- or bilaterally recipients implanted between 1995 and 2015 went under evaluation for the presence of (EE)s during routine CI clinical programming sessions. 23 adults and 99 implanted as children, Devices included: 90 Cochlea; 40 AB; 8 Med-El and 7 Oticon-Neurelec. All devices were evaluated for a set of possible audiological indications of EEs which included impedance telemetry, T & M/C/MCL levels, Electric compound action potential (ECAP)s and performance with the CI. Radiological confirmation was done in the presence of any suspicion. Results : 18 (12.5%) CI recipients had EEs which were previously undetected based on routine clinical practice with an average of 2.7 extra-cochlear electrodes (± 1.7) per recipient. Pain was reported by two out of 18 CI recipients only. The most prevalent indications of EEs were elevated or absent ECAPs, elevated T levels at the basal end, limited DR/ abnormal loudness growth at the basal end and fluctuating impedances. Conclusion : Present clinical practice must be modified to uncover any hidden extra-cochlear electrodes to improve out-come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Forms of childhood trauma tend to co-occur and are associated with increased risk for psychiatric and substance use disorders. Commonly used binary measures of trauma exposure have substantial limitations., Methods: We performed multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), separately by sex, using data from the Childhood Trauma (CT) Study's sample of twins and siblings (N = 2594) to derive three first-order factors (childhood physical abuse, childhood sexual abuse, and parental partner abuse) and, as hypothesized, one higher order, childhood trauma factor (CTF) representing a measure of their common variance., Results: CFA produced a good-fitting model in the CT Study; we replicated the model in the Comorbidity and Trauma (CAT) Study's sample (N = 1981) of opioid-dependent cases and controls. In both samples, first-order factors are moderately correlated (indicating they measure largely unique, but related constructs) and their loadings on the CTF suggest it provides a reasonable measure of their common variance. We examined the association of CTF score with risk for psychiatric and substance use disorders in these samples and the OZ-ALC GWAS sample (N = 1538) in which CT Study factor loadings were applied. We found that CTF scores are strongly associated with liability for psychiatric and substance use disorders in all three samples; estimates of risk are extremely consistent across samples., Conclusions: The CTF is a continuous, robust measure that captures the common variance across forms of childhood trauma and provides a means to estimate shared liability while avoiding multicollinearity.

Background: Genetic risk for alcohol dependence has been shown to overlap with genetic factors contributing to variation in dimensions of personality. Although drinking motives have been posited as important mediators of the alcohol-personality relation, the extent to which the genetic covariance between alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms (i.e., abuse and dependence criteria) and personality is explained by genetic factors contributing to variation in drinking motives remains unclear., Methods: Using data from 2,904 young adult female twins, the phenotypic and genetic associations between personality dimensions (constraint [measured by the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire; Tellegen A, 1982 unpublished data], conscientiousness, neuroticism, and agreeableness [measured by the NEO-PI; Costa and McCrae, 1985]), internal drinking motives (enhancement and coping motives [measured by the Drinking Motive Questionnaire; Cooper, 1994]), and AUD symptoms were tested., Results: Significant genetic associations were found between all personality measures and AUD symptoms. Coping motives showed significant genetic overlap with AUD symptoms and most personality measures, whereas enhancement motives were not significantly heritable. Adjusting for coping motives, genetic correlations between AUD symptoms and traits of neuroticism and agreeableness were no longer statistically significant., Conclusions: Findings suggest that genetic variation in drinking to cope might account for a considerable proportion of the genetic covariance between specific personality dimensions and AUD symptoms., (Copyright © 2011 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.)