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ABSTRACTThis article presents analytical findings of an explorative, qualitative study of the understanding of the wedding ritual among couples in the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark, conducted in 2012. In a combination of ritual theories and theories from the sociology of religion, the analysis explores what kind of ritual understandings wedding couples express when talking about their wedding. Depending on the degree and way in which wedding couples express wishes to personalise ritual, two ideal types, traditionalistsand selective, are constructed. By the end, I discuss similarities between personalisation of established rituals and self-constructed ritualisation. Furthermore, I point to a need for understanding the meaning of established rituals as emerging in the meeting point between ritual order and participants.

The abnormal hyperphosphorylation of the microtubule-associated protein tau plays a crucial role in neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other tauopathies.

The question of interest groups influence is fundamental to our understanding and evaluation of political systems and processes. The definition and measurement of influence is however one of the most serious challenges to empirical studies of interest groups. Some argue that it is a mission impossible to observe the diffuse concept of influence. Nevertheless, more innovative methods have been developed to manage this challenge, but we do not know to what extent these different measurement methods agree, and therefore to what extent we can compare different studies and accumulate knowledge about which groups are influential and why. This article argues that, if different measures of influence correlate, we can have more faith in our measures and perhaps by triangulation come even closer to measuring at least important aspects of interest group influence. Therefore, the article is set out to test measurement agreement across different measures of interest groups’ influence. It focuses on studies of many cases (large-Nstudies) and uses measures based on (i) survey data and (ii) documentary data. The Danish Parliament is the empirical setting of the study. First, the article reviews different definitions of influence and outlines the definition of this study. Here, influence is understood as control over political outputs, such as bills or parliamentary debates. Second, the article discusses strengths and weaknesses of different measures of influence. Survey data can illuminate informal venues of influence but may be biased by strategic replies from the interest groups. Documentary data can track the impact of group activity on political outputs in a more unbiased manner but can only uncover formal venues of influence. Put together, these indicators may provide a more valid measure of influence. This, however, requires the indicators to correlate. The article tests the agreement between these two sources of data across three different measures: (i) group activity; (ii) agenda-setting influence; and (iii) legislative influence. Agreement is strongest with relation to activities and weakest with relation to legislative influence, which was also expected. In general, the analyses show that even though measurement agreement is low, it is promising for future studies that different measures of influence are strongly and significantly correlated. The article finds no clear indications of some group types being less ‘honest’ in their responses. We do not need to be very suspicious towards specific categories of groups, such as business for instance. The article does obtain results indicating that the formulation of response categories is very important to the answers we obtain and also important to the agreement between survey and documentary data. These findings implicate that measuring – aspects – of influence is not necessarily a mission impossible. As different measures correlate, we can compare different studies and thereby arrive at more general conclusions, and we may improve our studies by combining more measures of influence and also by paying even more attention to the design of the surveys we use.

Citalopram is a racemic mixture of two stereoisomers, (R)- and (S)-citalopram. Both enantiomers were radiolabelled and used for in vitroreceptor autoradiography in rat brain. High levels of specific 3H(S)-citalopram binding were observed in the amygdala complex, substantia nigra, superior colliculus and central grey. No specific binding of 3H(R)-citalopram was observed in any brain regions examined. S-citalopram induced a significant increase in c-Fos positive cells in central amygdala and in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST), compared to vehicle controls. A similar pattern of c-Fos activation was observed with (RS)-citalopram, sertraline and paroxetine, while (R)-citalopram did not increase c-Fos expression in these areas. The high affinity binding and apparent neuronal activation by (RS)-citalopram is thus confined to the (S)-enantiomer.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the time taken to reach a stable international normalized ratio (INR), as well as the incidence of overanticoagulation of an age-adjusted warfarin initiation protocol.METHODS: Inpatients and outpatients commencing warfarin therapy at 2 teaching hospitals were dosed according to the age-adjusted protocol. Data were collected prospectively.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Time to reach a stable INR of 2–3 and the number of patients experiencing an INR ≥4 during the first week of warfarin therapy.RESULTS: Seventy-three patients were assessed; at the completion of the 4-day titration protocol, 63% had achieved a stable INR. After an additional 2 days of empiric dosage adjustment by the attending physician, 86% of the subjects demonstrated a stable INR. Five patients (7%) experienced an INR ≥4. These patients had a nonsignificant trend toward a lower plasma albumin level compared with other patients (p = 0.057, Student's t-test). The INR-driven dose adjustments on days 3 and 4 of this protocol coped with other variables that have been shown to affect maintenance warfarin dosing. These included weight, gender, pharmacologic factors affecting clearance, and the presence of certain predesignated risk factors.CONCLUSIONS: The age-adjusted dosing protocol rapidly achieved a stable INR with minimal overanticoagulation. Patients with low serum albumin levels (<3.0 g/dL) may be sensitive to the effects of warfarin during the loading phase.

Characterization of both neurochemical phenotype of G protein‐coupled receptor (GPCR)‐expressing cells and receptor compartmentalization is a prerequisite for the elucidation of receptor functions in the central nervous system. However, it is often prevented by the diffuse and homogeneous distribution of receptor immunoreactivity. This is particularly true for the somatostatin (SRIF) sst2A receptor, which is largely distributed in the mammalian brain. By using this receptor as a model, we investigated whether receptor internalization, a biochemical property shared by numerous GPCRs, would reveal sst2A‐expressing cell populations in the rat dorsolateral septum (LSD), a region in which SRIF might play an important modulatory role. Thirty minutes to 1 hour after intracerebroventricular injection of the sst2A receptor agonist octreotide, numerous sst2A‐immunoreactive neurons and processes became apparent due to intracytoplasmic accumulation of intensely stained granules. Double‐immunolabeling experiments with synaptophysin and MAP2 provided evidence that internalized sst2A receptors are predominantly localized in the somatodendritic compartment. Revealing sst2A receptor‐expressing cell bodies permitted to analyze their neurotransmitter content. Quantitative analysis demonstrated an extensive overlap (∼85%) between SRIF‐ and sst2A‐expressing neuronal populations. Additionally, numerous SRIF‐immunoreactive axon‐like terminals were found in close apposition with sst2A‐positive cell bodies and dendrites. Taken together, these data suggest that the sst2A receptor is predominantly expressed in LSD neurons as a postsynaptic autoreceptor, thus providing novel neuroanatomic clues to elucidate SRIF neurotransmission in this region. More generally, in vivo agonist‐induced internalization appears as a rapid and powerful tool for the neurochemical characterization of GPCR‐expressing cell populations in the mammalian brain. J. Comp. Neurol. 454:192–199, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

To determine whether cellular compartmentalization of somatostatin receptors can be regulated in vivo,we examined the immunocytochemical distribution of the sst2A receptor (sst2AR) after stereotaxical injections of somatostatin analogs into the rat parietal cortex. Whereas CH-275, a sst1R agonist, failed to induce changes in the diffuse sst2AR immunostaining pattern characteristic of control animals, somatodendritic profiles displaying intracytoplasmic immunoreactive granules became apparent short-term after injection of either somatostatin or the sst2R agonist octreotide. Confocal microscopy revealed that 90% of sst2AR-immunoreactive endosome-like organelles displayed transferrin receptor immunoreactivity. At the electron microscopic level, the percentage of sst2AR immunoparticles dramatically decreased at the plasmalemma of perikarya and dendrites after octreotide injection. Conversely, it significantly increased in endosomes-like organelles. These results demonstrate that sst2ARs undergo, in vivo,rapid and massive internalization into the endocytic recycling compartment in response to acute agonist stimulation and provide important clues toward elucidating somatostatin receptor signaling in the mammalian brain.

An immunohistochemical study of the pineal gland of the domestic pig was carried out using rabbit antisera raised against synthetic peptide fragments corresponding to different amino acid sequences of the prosomatostatin, the somatostatin-14, and the somatostatin-28 molecule. The study was supplemented by immunohistochemical staining with rabbit antisera raised against five subtypes of somatostatin receptors. The pineal glands were taken from the newborn, 21-day-old and 7-month-old pigs. Immunoreactive nerve fibers and cells were observed in the pineal gland with all the antisera against somatostatin and prosomatostatin. The nerve fibers were located throughout the pineal gland—in the capsule, connective septa, and parenchyma—with the highest density in proximo-ventral part of the gland. The somatostatin positive fibers were also found in the habenular and posterior commissurae areas. Somatostatin-immunoreactive cell bodies were observed mostly in the central part of the gland. These results point to the existence of two somatostatin sources in the pig pineal gland: 1) nerve fibers, probably of central origin; and 2) cells that may represent intrapineal neurons or specialised pinealocytes. A clear difference in the immunoreactivity between newborn, 21-day-old, and 7-month-old pigs was found. Generally, the density of nerve fibers was lower in adult than young animals. The number of the cells also decreased with age. By using the antisera against the five somatostatin receptors, only sst3 - receptor immunoreactivity could be detected. The receptor-immunoreactivity was confined to varicose and smooth fibers and some cells. The sst3-receptor positive structures were localised in all parts of the gland and their number was higher in younger pigs. Anat Rec 259:141–149, 2000. © 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Somatostatin mediates its multiple biological effects via specific plasma membrane receptors belonging to the family of G-protein coupled receptors with seven putative membrane-spanning domains. Five somatostatin receptor subtypes (sst1-sst5) have been cloned in human, mouse, and rat.

The many actions of somatostatin in the central nervous system are mediated through specific membrane receptors of which five have been cloned. In this study, we have investigated the distribution of one of these receptors, the sst2subtype, in the brain and spinal cord of the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus). Immunohistochemistry was carried out by using polyclonal antibodies raised against the C‐terminal part of the human sst2receptor. sst2 immunoreactivity was found in the forebrain, brainstem, cerebellum, and spinal cord. In the forebrain, strong immunoreactivity was observed in the deep layers of the neocortex as well as in the endopiriform cortex, claustrum, and basolateral amygdaloid nucleus. Immunoreactivity was also found in the CA1 area of the hippocampus and in the subiculum. In the diencephalon, staining was observed in the periventricular area, the dorsomedial and arcuate nuclei of the hypothalamus, and the medial habenular nucleus. Other areas such as the thalamus, striatum, and globus pallidus were almost devoid of staining. In the brainstem, strong immunoreactivity was observed in the locus coeruleus and the parabrachial nucleus. In addition, immunostaining was observed in the cortex of the cerebellum. In the spinal cord, intense immunoreactivity was seen in lamina I and II of the dorsal horn. Finally, immunoreactive cells were widely distributed in the anterior pituitary. The localization of the sst2receptor in many brain regions suggests that this receptor subtype is involved in different neuromodulatory actions of somatostatin such as somatosensory, motor, memory, and neuroendocrine functions. J. Comp. Neurol. 405:247–261, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Stability testing on the finished product forms an important part of the quality dossier when documentation is presented to the licensing authorities in an application for marketing authorization. In most guidelines on stability investigations, it is required that not less than three batches of a finished product is investigated. If the product exists in various strengths, and if furthermore, several types of packaging materials have to be considered, an enormous number of analyses have to be performed. Therefore, very large resources in both personnel and equipment are required to run such program. Is it possible to reduce the workload by using an appropriate design of the stability program? Various forms of factorial designs have been proposed, such as matrix design and bracketing. Such designs are constructed with the view of reducing the number of tests performed during the investigational period, ie, that not all samples are carried through all test procedures at each testing point. Reduced testing, using specially designed programs, are not mentioned in any of the official stability guidelines. Therefore, in the European Community (EC) the authorities of the individual member states may well take different views on such proposals from an applicant. The possibilities of achieving a harmonized view within the EC or even an international harmonization is discussed.

Guidelines recommend re‐initiating post‐operative warfarin at the previous maintenance dose. This results in prolonged re‐establishment of a therapeutic international normalised ratio (INR). Modelling warfarin initiation and subsequent INR response using previously published data indicated that re‐initiation with twice the maintenance dose for 3 days may provide a rapid alternative. To compare the time to a stable therapeutic INR for conventional maintenance dose re‐initiation of warfarin with a loading dose strategy. Warfarin maintenance doses were adjusted by using the standardised maintenance dose – a theoretical dose resulting in an INR of 2.5. The test group was re‐initiated on warfarin doses twice their standardised maintenance dose on Days 1, 2 and 3 and on Day 4 reverted to their maintenance dose. The guideline group was re‐initiated on warfarin doses equivalent to their standardised maintenance dose on these days. The test group (n = 17) achieved a therapeutic INR more rapidly than the guideline group (n = 23; p < 0.001) with median times to therapeutic INR of 3 and 6 days respectively. After 3 doses the test group INR on Day 4 was in the therapeutic range (2.1±0.4) and significantly higher than the guideline group (1.7±0.5; p = 0.002). No patient in the test group experienced an elevated INR (maximum INR 3.3). INR response to the warfarin re‐initiation dose was dependent on the magnitude of the induction dose relative to the maintenance dose. The loading dose strategy achieved a stable therapeutic INR more rapidly than conventional practice. Prospective investigation in surgical patients is needed to confirm its clinical applicability.