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Caffeine is the most consumed stimulant worldwide, and there is great interest in understanding its neurophysiological effects. Resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) studies suggest that caffeine enhances arousal, which suppresses the spectral power of alpha frequencies associated with reduced alertness. However, it is unclear whether caffeine's neurophysiological effects vary across the human menstrual cycle.The objective of our study was to test whether caffeine's effect on EEG activity differs across the human menstrual cycle.Fifty-six female participants were randomly assigned to complete the experiment while in either their menstrual (n = 21), follicular (n = 19), or luteal (n = 16) phase. Each participant completed two study sessions in the same menstrual phase, approximately 1 month apart, during which they were administered either a caffeine pill (200 mg, oral) or a placebo pill in a counterbalanced order using a randomized double-blinded procedure. We measured their eyes-closed resting-state EEG approximately 30 min after pill administration and conducted a spectral power analysis at different frequency bands.Caffeine reduced EEG power in the alphaWe conclude that when studying caffeine's effects on resting-state EEG, participants' baseline caffeine consumption is more influential than their menstrual cycle phase. This study has important implications for the inclusion of menstruating individuals in neurophysiological studies of caffeine.

Women diagnosed with fibromyalgia face a wide range of challenges impacting multiple aspects of their lives, such as their relationship with their partner. This study aims to examine how women diagnosed with fibromyalgia manage stress in their own couple and to investigate the role of dyadic coping in anxiety and depression symptoms, and in life satisfaction. Seventy-three women diagnosed with fibromyalgia and 73 matched women filled questionnaires to examine dyadic coping, anxiety and depression symptoms, and life satisfaction. Results show that women diagnosed with fibromyalgia perceived themselves and their partner as using more negative dyadic coping, more delegated dyadic coping and less common dyadic coping. Moreover, negative dyadic coping predicted higher anxiety symptoms and poorer life satisfaction. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of dyadic stress management in understanding psychological adjustment better in women diagnosed with fibromyalgia and the need to develop better-adapted interventions to support them effectively.

Anxiety and obesity are prevalent health concerns that are affected by diet in rodents and humans. How diet influences the development and maintenance of anxiety and obesity has been challenging to characterize, in part, due to methodological differences in chosen experimental and control diets. Within the same experiment, anxiety- and obesity-related effects were characterized in rats fed a Western diet (WD) relative to two control diets. Sixty Long-Evans rats split equally by sex were given standard diet (SD), control (i.e., high-carbohydrate) diet (HCD), or WD from weaning until sacrifice in early adulthood. Anxiety-related behavior was characterized in a modified open field test (mOFT) that allowed for the measurement of defensive behaviors (e.g., hiding within a refuge area), in addition to traditional OF measures (e.g., time in center). Both anxiety-related behaviors and hippocampal CA3 BDNF revealed specific sex differences. Neither adolescent weight gain of male and female rats, nor total body weight in early adulthood, were dependent on administration of HCD or WD, although the WD group consumed the most calories. In males only, administration of either WD or HCD resulted in elevated leptin levels relative to administration of the SD. Results indicate that SDs and HCDs are two distinct types of control diets that can affect comparability of studies and that using an SD might reveal more subtle metabolic changes. Control diet choice should be strongly considered during study design and interpretation, depending on specific research goals. Such studies should include both males and females as these effects are sex-specific.

L’automédication par des médicaments à prescription médicale facultative (PMF) est une situation fréquente, avec un impact socioéconomique positif lié à l’épargne de consultations médicales non justifiées et au renforcement de l’autonomie des patients. La prévention des risques de l’automédication associés à un mésusage est un enjeu majeur qui repose notamment sur la confiance et le rôle accordés au pharmacien. Cet article propose un état des lieux de l’automédication de la douleur à l’appui des données les plus récentes et une discussion sur le rôle attendu du pharmacien dans le parcours de soins du patient douloureux. Les complications associées à un mésusage involontaire des antalgiques à PMF sont faibles. Les données françaises en « vie réelle » indiquent une connaissance relativement bonne par les consommateurs de leur usage, particulièrement du paracétamol, et la mention quasi systématique par les équipes officinales des indications et posologies. Les précautions d’emploi sont en revanche moins fréquemment évoquées. Cet aspect, couplé à la nécessité d’évaluer si la demande justifie un avis médical, implique la capacité des pharmaciens à identifier des situations à risque. Le concept émergeant de pharmacist-led medication est limité par le temps court alloué à la délivrance et à l’hétérogénéité du niveau de formation au sein des équipes officinales concernant la prise en charge d’une plainte douloureuse. La faisabilité d’un rôle accru du pharmacien dans le parcours de soins du patient douloureux implique des investissements à la hauteur d’une formation adaptée et continue des équipes officinales dont les acteurs et la méthodologie restent à définir.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Reported rates of cannabis use among Canadian females are increasing. Female cannabis users progress to cannabis use disorder more rapidly than males (telescoping) and have higher rates of emotional disorder comorbidity. Addictive behaviors may change, along with mood and motivations, across the menstrual cycle (MC), particularly for females with pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). This study aimed to determine whether increases in depressed mood and coping motives would predict increased cannabis use pre-menstrually/menstrually, particularly among females with PMDD. We also assessed positive mood and enhancement motive ratings to establish specificity of predicted depressed mood and coping motive results. DESIGN Observational study using data collected across 32 days using electronic daily diary methods. SETTING Nova Scotia, Canada. PARTICIPANTS Sixty-nine naturally cycling female cannabis users (Mean (M) age = 29.25, Standard Deviation (SD) = 5.66) with and without retrospectively identified PMDD (via structured clinical interview) and prospectively identified PMDD (via elevated pre-menstrual depressed mood). Self-reported MC phase was validated using salivary progesterone concentrations. MEASUREMENTS Depressed/positive mood, coping-/enhancement-motivated cannabis use, and cannabis use quantity. FINDINGS Coping motives explained heightened cannabis use pre-menstrually/menstrually in those with retrospectively identified PMDD. Depressed mood explained increased cannabis use menstrually in those with retrospectively/prospectively identified PMDD. Moreover, prospectively identified PMDD significantly moderated the relationship between depressed mood and cannabis use quantity menstrually. In those with prospectively identified PMDD, positive mood and enhancement motives were associated with decreased cannabis use during the follicular/ovulatory phases. Females with versus without retrospectively identified PMDD also displayed greater overall cannabis use quantity (M [SD] = 3.44[2.84] standard joint equivalents versus 1.85[1.82], respectively; U = 277.50, P = 0.008). CONCLUSIONS Depressed mood may explain heightened cannabis use menstrually in females with pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder. Coping motives may explain heightened cannabis use pre-menstrually/menstrually in females with retrospectively identified with pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder.

Self-critical perfectionism confers vulnerability for depressive symptoms, but research suggests vulnerability persists after treatment. Dysregulation of physiological stress systems is a potential mechanism for depression vulnerability, and yet it remains under-studied in research on perfectionism, stress, and depression. We aimed to address this gap by testing the influence of self-critical perfectionism, stress generation, and stress reactivity on depressive symptoms and on diurnal cortisol. A sample of undergraduates (N = 127) completed questionnaires and provided samples of salivary cortisol twice daily (morning and evening) over three days. Data were analyzed using path analysis with diurnal cortisol activity modeled using latent growth modeling. People high in self-critical perfectionism showed a greater propensity toward depressive symptoms through stress generation and stress reactivity processes. Although self-critical perfectionism did not directly predict diurnal cortisol, results supported physiological stress reactivity. Specifically, people high in self-critical perfectionism showed increased waking cortisol in high and low stress conditions, whereas people low in this trait showed higher cortisol only in the context of high daily hassles. Results suggest prolonged physiological activity may be an important factor to consider in future research and points toward the development of bio-psycho-social models when understanding how self-critical perfectionism confers vulnerability to depressive symptoms in the context of stress generation and reactivity.

Exposing a male rat to an obesogenic high-fat diet (HFD) influences attractiveness to potential female mates, the subsequent interaction of female mates with infant offspring, and the development of stress-related behavioral and neural responses in offspring. To examine the stomach and fecal microbiome’s potential roles, fecal samples from 44 offspring and stomach samples from offspring and their fathers were collected and bacterial community composition was studied by 16 small subunit ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) gene sequencing. Paternal diet (control, high-fat), maternal housing conditions (standard or semi-naturalistic housing), and maternal care (quality of nursing and other maternal behaviors) affected the within-subjects alpha-diversity of the offspring stomach and fecal microbiomes. We provide evidence from beta-diversity analyses that paternal diet and maternal behavior induced community-wide shifts to the adult offspring gut microbiome. Additionally, we show that paternal HFD significantly altered the adult offspring Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio, an indicator of obesogenic potential in the gut microbiome. Additional machine-learning analyses indicated that microbial species driving these differences converged on Bifidobacterium pseudolongum. These results suggest that differences in early-life care induced by paternal diet and maternal care significantly influence the microbiota composition of offspring through the microbiota-gut-brain axis, having implications for adult stress reactivity.

Un nombre croissant de pays autorisent l’utilisation du cannabis à visée thérapeutique dans la prise en charge de la douleur. Les preuves de l’efficacité du cannabis médical, dans la prise en charge antalgique, sont aujourd’hui contradictoires. Les effets indésirables sont connus en population générale chez les personnes utilisant le cannabis de façon récréative ; cependant, les effets indésirables du cannabis médical chez des patients douloureux chroniques sont encore en cours d’exploration, en particulier le risque de mésusage et le risque d’addiction.

Background and aims Despite increases in female gambling, little research investigates female-specific factors affecting gambling behavior (GB). Although research suggests that some addictive behaviors may fluctuate across menstrual cycle phase (MCP), gambling requires further investigation. In two studies, we examined associations between MCP and three risky GBs: time spent gambling, money spent gambling, and the probability of consuming alcohol while gambling. Associations between MCP and negative affect were also examined in Study 2. We predicted that, consistent with self-medication theory, increases in negative affect (Study 2) and risky GBs (Studies 1 and 2) would occur premenstrually/menstrually relative to other phases. Methods Data were obtained from 33 female gamblers using a retrospective timeline followback procedure (Study 1) and from 20 female gamblers using a prospective 32-day, daily diary method (Study 2). In Study 2, salivary progesterone levels verified self-reported MCP validity. Results Findings revealed significant, but somewhat inconsistent, MCP effects on GBs across studies. The self-medication hypothesis was partially supported. Increases relative to another MCP(s) were found for alcohol consumption while gambling premenstrually, time spent gambling menstrually/premenstrually, money spent gambling menstrually, and negative affect premenstrually. Unexpectedly, findings more consistently indicated that GBs increased during ovulation, suggestive of enhanced reward sensitivity. Progesterone assays validated self-reported MCP (Study 2). Discussion and conclusions The results suggest a role of ovarian hormones on negative affect and GBs in females. This research could lead to the identification of female-specific factors affecting gambling and the development of more effective interventions for females with, or at risk for, problematic gambling.

A previous version of this article has been peer-reviewed and recommended by Peer Community In Evolutionary Biology (https://doi.org/10.24072/pci.evolbiol.100132); International audience; Understanding the relationships between host range and pathogenicity for parasites, and between the efficiency and scope of immunity for hosts are essential to implement efficient disease control strategies. In the case of plant parasites, most studies have focused on describing qualitative interactions and a variety of genetic and evolutionary models has been proposed in this context. Although plant quantitative resistance benefits from advantages in terms of durability, we presently lack models that account for quantitative interactions between plants and their parasites and the evolution of these interactions. Nestedness and modularity are important features to unravel the overall structure of host-parasite interaction matrices. Here, we analysed these two features on 32 matrices of quantitative pathogenicity trait data gathered from 15 plant-parasite pathosystems consisting of either annual or perennial plants along with fungi or oomycetes, bacteria, nematodes, insects and viruses. The performance of several nestedness and modularity algorithms was evaluated through a simulation approach, which helped interpretation of the results. We observed significant modularity in only six of the 32 matrices, with two or three modules detected. For three of these matrices, modules could be related to resistance quantitative trait loci present in the host. In contrast, we found high and significant nestedness in 30 of the 32 matrices. Nestedness was linked to other properties of plant-parasite interactions. First, pathogenicity trait values were explained in majority by a parasite strain effect and a plant accession effect, with no or minor parasite-plant interaction term. Second, correlations between the efficiency and scope of the resistance of plant genotypes, and between the host range breadth and pathogenicity level of parasite strains were overall positive. This latter result questions the efficiency of strategies based on the deployment of several genetically-differentiated cultivars of a given crop species in the case of quantitative plant immunity.

BackgroundIn rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondyloarthritis (Spa), persistent pain remains challenging. It is thought to result from central pain sensitisation, which can be measured by quantitative sensory testing (QST) and conditioned pain modulation (CPM).ObjectivesThe main objective of the RAPID (Rheumatism Pain Inhibitory Descending pathways) study, was to assess descending pain modulation (through CPM paradigms) in patients with RA or Spa, comparing these patients with healthy sex- and age-matched controls. The secondary objectives were the measurement pain thresholds (heat and cold) in a non-articular, non-painful area in patients and controls as a means of detecting possible widespread hyperalgesia as another index of central sensitisation in our patients.MethodsWe included 50 RA and 50 Spa patients and 100 age- and sex-matched controls. We assessed clinical disease variables for patients, together with responses to various psychological questionnaires. All participants underwent QST with the determination of heat and cold pain thresholds (HPT-CPT) and CPM. In CPM, a conditioning stimulus was applied to a foot and the non-dominant hand in a randomised sequence. Descending pain control was assessed as the change in HPT (in °C) following a conditioning stimulus: the higher the CPM effect, the more efficient the inhibitory control.ResultsHPT and CPT were similar in patients and controls. Mean CPM effect was significantly weaker in patients than controls: 0.25°C (±2.57) and 2.79°C (±2.31) for patients and controls, respectively (pConclusionDiffuse noxious inhibitory control is weaker in patients with active chronic inflammatory rheumatism than in healthy subjects, supporting the hypothesis of central sensitisation.Figure 1.Disclosure of InterestsNone declared

The gut microbiome affects various physiological and psychological processes in animals and humans, and environmental influences profoundly impact its composition. Disorders such as anxiety, obesity, and inflammation have been associated with certain microbiome compositions, which may be modulated in early life. In 62 Long&ndash, Evans rats, we characterised the effects of lifelong Bifidobacterium longum R0175 and Lactobacillus helveticus R0052 administration&mdash, along with Western diet exposure&mdash, on later anxiety, metabolic consequences, and inflammation. We found that the probiotic formulation altered specific anxiety-like behaviours in adulthood. We further show distinct sex differences in metabolic measures. In females, probiotic treatment increased calorie intake and leptin levels without affecting body weight. In males, the probiotic seemed to mitigate the effects of Western diet on adult weight gain and calorie intake, without altering leptin levels. The greatest inflammatory response was seen in male, Western-diet-exposed, and probiotic-treated rats, which may be related to levels of specific steroid hormones in these groups. These results suggest that early-life probiotic supplementation and diet exposure can have particular implications on adult health in a sex-dependent manner, and highlight the need for further studies to examine the health outcomes of probiotic treatment in both sexes.

The gut microbiome affects various physiological and psychological processes in animals and humans, and environmental influences profoundly impact its composition. Disorders such as anxiety, obesity, and inflammation have been associated with certain microbiome compositions, which may be modulated in early life. In 62 Long–Evans rats, we characterised the effects of lifelong Bifidobacterium longum R0175 and Lactobacillus helveticus R0052 administration—along with Western diet exposure—on later anxiety, metabolic consequences, and inflammation. We found that the probiotic formulation altered specific anxiety-like behaviours in adulthood. We further show distinct sex differences in metabolic measures. In females, probiotic treatment increased calorie intake and leptin levels without affecting body weight. In males, the probiotic seemed to mitigate the effects of Western diet on adult weight gain and calorie intake, without altering leptin levels. The greatest inflammatory response was seen in male, Western-diet-exposed, and probiotic-treated rats, which may be related to levels of specific steroid hormones in these groups. These results suggest that early-life probiotic supplementation and diet exposure can have particular implications on adult health in a sex-dependent manner, and highlight the need for further studies to examine the health outcomes of probiotic treatment in both sexes.

Extemporaneous compounding in veterinary practice sometimes represents the only possibility for treating animals in the absence of appropriate commercial formulations, especially for particular species. This method involves manipulating pharmaceutical active ingredients to a suitable dosage and formulation for administration to humans or animals. However, veterinarians and pharmacists should focus on the risk of potential incompatibilities and instability of their preparations. To help practitioners in drug compounding, we investigated the stability of oral suspensions of tramadol, fluoxetine, and doxycycline in a commercial ready-to-use vehicle (SyrSpend). A validated high-performance liquid chromatography method was developed to assay these active pharmaceutical ingredients. The oral suspensions were prepared at two concentration ranges and were stored in amber glass bottles under refrigerated conditions and at room temperature. After 90 days, the average recovery rates were between 90% and 110% for tramadol (5 mg/mL to 30 mg/mL) and doxycycline (2 mg/mL to 10 mg/mL) without organoleptic modification. For fluoxetine, only the formulation at 2 mg/mL was stable; at higher concentrations, the uniformity of the suspension was compromised.

In the absence of established best practice standards in the probiotic field for reducing the risk of bacterial transfer between experimental groups, we developed protocols and methods to ensure the highest quality and interpretability of results from animal studies, even when performed in non-conventional animal care facilities. We describe easily implementable methods for reducing cross-contamination during animal housing, behavioural testing, and euthanasia, along with highlighting protocols for contamination detection in experimental subjects and laboratory areas using qPCR. In light of the high cross-contamination risks between animals during experiments involving probiotics, constant vigilance in animal care and research protocols is critical to ensure valid and reliable research findings.

La fibromyalgie (FM), pathologie douloureuse chronique fréquente, nécessite une prise en charge globale incluant les comorbidités psychologiques (CP) selon les recommandations internationales. Afin d’évaluer le retentissement de ces CP, nous avons étudié les données d’une enquête en ligne menée auprès de 4 516 patients en 2014. Notre objectif principal était d’évaluer la prévalence du sentiment d’injustice perçu (SIP) et son impact chez le sujet fibromyalgique. Il s’agit d’une étude déclarative descriptive fondée sur un autoquestionnaire comprenant 103 questions dont deux concernant précisément le SIP, réalisé sur une plateforme Internet dédiée (Association française de lutte antirhumatismale et fibromyalgie SOS). Parmi les répondants, 76 % rapportent un SIP. Il est lié à la FM pour 71,3 % d’entre eux. Il est significativement plus fréquent chez les patients souffrant de dépression (p < 0,0001) sans corrélation avec la préexistence de la dépression. Il est plus fréquent en cas d’envies suicidaires (p < 0,0001) sans différence avec le passage à l’acte. La fréquence du SIP est plus importante en cas de demande de prestations sociales (p < 0,0001), de dépenses liées à la FM (p < 0,0001) et en cas de non-reconnaissance par l’employeur (< 0,0001). Le SIP est plus important en cas de retentissement sur la vie quotidienne (p < 0,0001), et ce, dans tous les domaines. Aucune caractéristique démographique n’est associée au SIP (p = 0,1). La prévalence du SIP est importante chez les patients fibromyalgiques de notre enquête et a un fort impact. Il est donc nécessaire d’évaluer les comorbidités psychologiques et de les prendre en charge.

Paternal preconception risk factors (e.g. stress, diet, drug use) correlate with metabolic dysfunction in offspring, which is often comorbid with depressive and anxiety-like phenotypes. Detection of these risk factors or deleterious phenotypes informs a female about prevailing ecological demands, in addition to potential adverse environment-induced phenotypes that may be disseminated to her offspring. We examined whether a F0 male rat's prior exposure to an obesogenic high-fat diet (HFD) influences a female's attraction towards a male, subsequent mother-infant interactions and the development of defensive (emotional) responses in the F1 offspring. Females displayed less interest in the HFD exposed F0 males relative to control diet-exposed F0 males. Dams that reared F1 offspring in larger, semi-naturalistic housing provided more licking and grooming and active arched-back-nursing behavior. However, some of these effects interacted with paternal experience. F0 HFD and maternal rearing environment revealed sex-dependent, between group differences in F1 offspring wean weight, juvenile social interactions and anxiety-like behavior in adolescence. Our results show for the first time in mammals that male exposure to HFD may contribute to stable behavioral variation among females in courtship, maternal care, even when the females are not directly exposed to a HFD, and anxiety-like behavior in F1 offspring. Furthermore, when offspring were exposed to a predatory threat, hypothalamic Crf gene regulation was influenced by early housing. These results, together with our previous findings, suggest that paternal experience and maternal rearing conditions can influence maternal behavior and development of defensive responses of offspring.

Introduction Le GRAINS, groupe de réflexion sur les AINS, est composé d’experts pluridisciplinaire hospitalier et de ville qui regroupe plusieurs médecins spécialistes. Il s’est constitué en vue de réfléchir sur le bon usage des anti-inflammatoires non-stéroïdiens (AINS) dans le contexte de la pandémie de COVID-19, et est soutenu par GlaxoSmithKline Santé Grand Public. Les travaux effectués par le GRAINS ont été publiés dans une revue de littérature exhaustive. L’objectif du GRAINS est d’avoir une discussion ouverte sur l’utilisation des AINS dans la gestion de la douleur dans le contexte de la COVID-19 et des infections en général, considérant les progrès réalisés dans la production de connaissances et les preuves de la littérature scientifique. Matériels et méthodes Ce groupe pluridisciplinaire d’experts constitué de rhumatologues, infectiologues, pédiatre, médecin généraliste, pharmacologue et pharmaciens, a pointé l’inquiétude et le manque d’informations énoncés par les patients à leur pharmacien. Les experts du GRAINS se sont réunis au travers de différentes assemblées et se sont accordés sur la nécessité de mettre à disposition des professionnels de santé une information synthétique de la littérature scientifique et des outils pour vulgariser cette information pour le grand public. La revue de littérature réalisée par les experts du GRAINS porte sur plus de 40 études internationales récentes concernant l’utilisation des AINS dans un contexte de la COVID-19. Résultats Le recours aux anti-inflammatoires non stéroïdiens (AINS) en général, et à l’ibuprofène en particulier, n’expose pas à un risque accru de la Covid-19 ni à des formes grave de cette infection. Discussion Encourager la discussion sur le bon usage des AINS en automédication. Les experts pointent l’inquiétude et le manque d’information énoncés par les patients à leur pharmacien. Par leur action ils souhaitent alerter sur les risques liés au surdosage d’alternatives aux AINS en particulier dans le traitement de la fièvre et de la douleur. Ils encouragent à ne pas se priver davantage de l’arsenal thérapeutique des AINS et militent pour une utilisation raisonnée de ces traitements. Conclusion Il n’existe actuellement aucune preuve scientifique établissant un lien entre l’ibuprofène et l’aggravation de l’infection due au SARS-CoV-2.

Additional file 1: Figure S1. Histogram of the number of days of sick leave in the studied sample

In this work, thermal diffusion of titanium, vanadium and zirconium through a thin capping gold layer has been investigated and compared in terms of oxygen gettering ability after activation at low temperature. The films were characterized by means of sheet resistance measurements, high resolution Scanning Electron Microscopy, Ion Beam Etching coupled with Secondary Ions Mass Spectrometry, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectrometry and mechanical stress measurements. Results show that, among investigated bilayers, gold/zirconium system is the best candidate to get low temperature getter film as its activation temperature is below 200 °C for 1 h annealing time.

Pre and postnatal environments can have a profound impact on offspring development. This is especially true when considering the origin of neurological diseases, including epilepsy, a relatively common and chronic neurological condition, affecting 1–2% of the population. Previously, we have used maternal stress and an enhanced home cage (EHC) in an effort to identify potential factors in the early environment that may increase the risk for experiencing seizures. First, pregnant Long-Evans rats were exposed to a predator stress (PS). Then, at birth, litters were divided into standard cage (SC) and EHC groups until postnatal Day 14 (PD14) when a model of febrile convulsions was used to determine convulsion susceptibility of the various groups. Twenty-four hours later, pup brains were processed for immunohistochemical detection of corticotrophic releasing hormone (CRH) in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus. Analysis of CRH immunoreactive (-ir) patterns revealed a buffering of CRH-ir in EHC reared offspring. Further, experiencing convulsions led to decreased CRH-ir. Our results support the concept that postnatal environmental influences affect neonatal programming and neurodevelopment of processes that could underlie seizure susceptibility, and that these effects can be modulated by EHC conditions. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 57: 374–381, 2015.

El dolor es el motivo de consulta principal en reumatologia. Mas del 50% de los dolores cronicos afectan al aparato musculoesqueletico. La evaluacion es una etapa fundamental de la atencion de cualquier paciente con dolor. Ante un dolor agudo, se basa en la autoevaluacion unidimensional de la intensidad dolorosa, que debe repetirse para poder adaptar rapidamente el tratamiento. En caso de dolor cronico, sintomatico de una afeccion cronica o autonomizada (dolor como enfermedad), la evaluacion es mas compleja y pluridimensional. Intervienen los componentes sensorial, emocional, cognitivo y conductual; de igual manera, intervienen el contexto familiar y el sociolaboral. La evaluacion bien conducida y precisa permite establecer una relacion empatica con el paciente. En el dolor cronico, guia el tratamiento al separar los diversos componentes del dolor y estimar el valor de cada uno. Asi, orientara hacia algunos tratamientos medicamentosos o hacia tecnicas antalgicas no medicamentosas. La evaluacion debe repetirse para ajustar el tratamiento, con mayor frecuencia en un dolor agudo y con regularidad en un dolor cronico, en el que el valor de los componentes puede modificarse con el paso del tiempo.

La evolucion de los conocimientos sobre las bases neurofisiologicas del dolor ha permitido captar mejor la complejidad del fenomeno doloroso, muy frecuente en reumatologia. La fisiopatologia del dolor conduce a distinguir clasicamente tres tipos principales: los dolores nociceptivos, caracterizados por una estimulacion anormal de los nociceptores perifericos en un sistema nervioso normal; los dolores neuropaticos, caracterizados por una lesion del sistema nervioso, central o periferico, que induce los fenomenos dolorosos, y los dolores no clasificados o disfuncionales, que no dependen de una estimulacion periferica de los nociceptores ni de una lesion definida del sistema nervioso. Por otra parte, las lesiones perifericas, por ejemplo articulares, pueden producir una hiperexcitabilidad de los nociceptores y, de forma secundaria, una hiperexcitabilidad central medular. Ademas, la dicotomia entre estos tipos de dolor no siempre es real, y buena parte de ellos, sobre todo en reumatologia, son mixtos; pueden asociar, por ejemplo, un componente nociceptivo y otro neuropatico. Un mejor conocimiento de la fisiopatologia de los dolores permite determinar dianas terapeuticas y adaptar mejor el tratamiento.

Stressful events during gestation can have sex-specific effects on brain and behaviour, and may contribute to some of the differences observed in adult stress responding and psychopathology. We investigated the impact of a novel repeated prenatal psychological stress (prenatal predator exposure - PPS) during the last week of gestation in rats on offspring behaviours related to social interaction (play behaviour), open field test (OFT), forced swim test (FST) and sucrose preference test (SP) during the juvenile period and in adulthood. We further examined the role of postnatal environmental, using an enhanced housing condition (EHC), to prevent/rescue any changes. Some effects on anxiety, anhedonia, and stress-related coping behaviours (e.g., OFT, SP and OFT) did not emerge until adulthood. PPS increased OFT anxiety behaviours in adult males, and some OFT and SP behaviours in adult females. Contrary to this, EHC had few independent effects; most were apparent only when combined with PPS. In keeping with age-group differences, juvenile behaviours did not necessarily predict the same adult behaviours although juvenile OFT rearing and freezing, and juvenile FST immobility did predict adult FST immobility and sucrose preference, suggesting that some aspects of depressive behaviours may emerge early and predict adult vulnerability or coping behaviours. Together, these results suggest an important, though complex, role for early life psychological stressors and early life behaviours in creating an adult vulnerability to anxiety or depressive disorders and that environmental factors further modulate the effects of the prenatal stressors.

Background Alcohol use has been reported to fluctuate over women's menstrual cycles (MCs), with increased intake occurring premenstrually/menstrually (phases characterized by heightened negative affect) and during the ovulatory phase (a phase characterized by positive affect). This suggests women may drink for particular emotion-focused reasons at specific points in their cycles. However, no research had yet examined MC variability in drinking motives, or links between cycle-related changes in drinking motives and alcohol consumption. Methods Ninety-four normally cycling women (Mage = 22.9 years old, SDage = 4.7) completed daily diary measures (via Smartphone surveys), with questions pertaining to state drinking motives and quantity of alcohol consumed for the course of a full MC. Results Drinking motives differed by cycle phase. Women reported a slight increase in drinking to self-medicate for negative affect premenstrually, with drinking to cope peaking in the menstrual phase and declining mid-cycle. Women reported a slight increasing trend across the cycle in social motives for drinking, while enhancement motives remained relatively stable across the cycle. Cycle-related changes in drinking motives predicted increases in the quantity of alcohol consumed. Drinking to cope with negative affect predicted a greater number of drinks menstrually (days 1-5). While social motives predicted a greater number of drinks during the follicular and ovulatory phases (days 5-16), enhancement motives were unrelated to drinking quantity across cycle phase. Conclusions Clinicians should be attentive to cycle phase when treating reproductive-aged women with alcohol disorders (e.g., encouraging the use of healthier means of coping with negative affect during menses).

As the incidence of obesity continues to grow, more children are exposed to less than optimal nutritional fetal environments. This has serious implications for the developing brain and the incidence stress-related disorders such as anxiety and depression, in addition to other neurodevelopmental disorders. Adult stress responding is programmed during developmental periods, resulting in individual variability in our responses to situations that threaten homeostasis. Under conditions of poor coping or excess exposure to stress, some individuals will be susceptible to developing stress-related mental health disorders. A poor prenatal metabolic/nutritional environment leads to altered programming of neural circuitry that supports adult stress responding, putting individuals at risk for stress-related disorders. More work is needed to manage obesity rates and to better understand the mechanisms underlying altered neural development as a result of parental diet.

Past work has established that levels of maternal care provided to rat pups during the postpartum period plays an important role in shaping development of the stress response system, such that high levels of pup licking and grooming and active nursing behaviors are associated with more efficient hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal responses to stressors in adulthood. Furthermore, a prior study from our laboratory has demonstrated facilitation of maternal care for five days following a one-hour predator odor exposure on the day of giving birth. The present study was an investigation of the effects on maternal care during a one-hour predator odor exposure administered on the day of giving birth, with or without the addition of transport stress immediately prior to the odor exposure. Stress-induced activation of the medial preoptic area (MPOA) and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), two brain regions involved in regulating maternal behaviors, were also quantified using c-Fos immunohistochemistry. Our results show that predator odor exposure soon after birth does not significantly alter expression of maternal behaviors during the hour-long exposure period, unless the dams are also exposed to transport stress, in which case maternal behaviors are reduced during the first 10 min of the exposure but not significantly different during the final 10 min. Predator odor exposure (with or without additional transport stress) increased c-Fos immunoreactivity in the BNST, but not the MPOA, relative to control odor exposure, suggesting that the BNST may play an important role in integration of threat cues and transduction of their meaning into long-term effects on expression of maternal care. Future experiments should be designed to test the effects of temporary inactivation of the BNST during postpartum predator odor exposure.

Endocarditis due to Legionella spp. is uncommon but presumably underestimated given the prevalence of Legionellae in the environment. We report a first and unusual case of chronic native valve endocarditis due to L. anisa and advocate that the diagnosis of endocarditis be made collaboratively between the cardiologist, surgeon, microbiologist and pathologist.

Epilepsy is a heterogeneous and chronic neurological condition of undefined etiology in the majority of cases. Similarly, the pathogenesis of the unprovoked seizures that lead to epilepsy is not known. We are interested in the factors that modify inherent seizure susceptibility, with a particular focus on those occurring during the prenatal and early postnatal periods. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were bred in-house or transported during pregnancy at one of two gestational days (G9 or G16). The effects of transport stress, maternal behavior, and offspring sex were then examined in terms of how they were related to provoked seizure susceptibility to kainic acid (KA) or a model of febrile convulsions (FCs) on postnatal day 14 (P14). We also examined the pattern of neuronal activation in the hippocampus and amygdala as indicated by the density of FosB protein immunoreactivity (FosB-ir). Results demonstrated only a small and inconsistent effect of transport alone, suggesting that the groups differed slightly prior to experimental manipulations. However, the influence of maternal behaviors such as licking and grooming (LG), arched back nursing (ABN), and dam-off time (DO) exerted a much stronger effect on the offspring. Dams designated as high LG gave birth to smaller litters, had pups that weighed less, had greater seizure susceptibility and severity, and had more FosB-ir neurons predominantly in the ventral hippocampus and the medial subnucleus of the amygdala (MeA). We also found a sex-dependent effect such that P14 males were smaller than their female littermates and had a greater seizure susceptibility and severity. Taken together, these results suggest an impact of prenatal and postnatal factors, as well as sex, on seizure susceptibility in young animals.

The present study was designed to systematically assess the control experience routinely used in our laboratory as part of studies on predator odour stress. Specifically, we examined effects of the physical and social components of this control experience on measures of anxiety-like behaviour in adolescent rats. Adolescent animals are at increased susceptibility to environmental perturbations and have been used for such studies much less often. Long-Evans rats of both sexes were subjected to physical stimulation (Exposed or Unexposed) and social stimulation (Single-Housed or Pair-Housed), resulting in four groups. Exposed rats received six 30-min exposures to an enclosed arena containing an unscented piece of cat collar occurring between adolescence and early adulthood, while Unexposed remained in the home cage. Groups of Exposed and Unexposed animals were housed singly (Single-Housed) from early adolescence to early adulthood or Pair-Housed during this time. Experimental procedures began in adolescence and involved repeated assessment of startle amplitude (measure of anxiety-like behaviour) and prepulse inhibition (PPI; a measure of sensorimotor gating) to gauge the short-term impact of social and/or physical stimulation. All animals were re-paired in adulthood prior to a final startle/PPI session to assess if isolation limited to adolescence could impose long-term effects that were not reversible. We also measured anxiety-like behaviour in adulthood using an extended open field test (EOFT; addition of novel objects to the open field on later days), and the elevated plus maze task (EPM), as well as a sucrose preference test (SPT) to measure anhedonia. An absence of social or physical stimulation resulted in increased startle amplitude and some measures of anxiety-like behaviour in the EOFT, but a reduction in such anxiety-like behaviour in the EPM task. These results suggest common neural substrates for the physical and social experiences. Performance in the SPT was unaltered by any experimental treatments. Sensorimotor gating, as measured by PPI, was increased in the absence of physical stimulation with no short-term effect of isolation, or of re-pairing. These results indicate the importance of considering individual components of the rearing environment of rats, while showing the need to use multiple assays of anxiety-like behaviour.

Un programme d’education therapeutique pour les patients (ETP) atteints de fibromyalgie a ete mis en place au CETD de l’Hotel-Dieu a Paris, afin d’induire un changement dans la gestion de leur maladie, d’accroitre leur autonomie et de renforcer leur motivation. Une fois le diagnostic educatif etabli et apres une evaluation initiale, l’equipe pedagogique multidisciplinaire reunit six a huit patients pendant cinq seances hebdomadaires de trois heures. Le deroulement du programme permet de developper des capacites d’autosoins (gestion des traitements medicamenteux, planification et fractionnement des activites quotidiennes, resolution de problemes, implication de l’entourage, pratique reguliere d’activite physique) et d’autoadaptation (gestion des emotions et du stress, developpement d’une reflexion critique, prise de decision, auto-observation et autoevaluation). Une evaluation a moyen et long termes est mise en place. Une revue de la litterature montre que l’evaluation de l’efficacite des programmes d’ETP se heurte a plusieurs ecueils: la disparite de la formation des equipes pedagogiques et des techniques utilisees, la diversite des criteres de jugement, l’absence frequente de groupe temoin, l’association aux techniques de reeducation, et la duree variable de la periode d’evaluation.

Development of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is influenced by external factors during early life in mammals, which optimizes adult function for predicted conditions. We have hypothesized that adolescence represents a sensitive period for the development of some aspects of adult stress response regulation. This was based on prior work showing that repeated exposure of rats to a stressor across an adolescent period increases fearfulness in a novel environment in adulthood and results in lower levels of dopamine receptor subtype-2 protein in prefrontal cortex. Here, we further our investigation of both acute and long-term effects of repeated adolescent stressor exposure on physiological (i.e., corticosterone) and behavioral (i.e., defensive behavior) measures of stress responding in male and female rats. Furthermore, we compared outcomes with those following identical manipulations administered in early adulthood and found that animals exposed to cues of predation threat during adolescence showed the most robust defensive responses to a homotypic stressor encountered in adulthood. Peer interaction during control manipulation in adolescence was identified as an important individual characteristic mediating development of adult defensive strategies. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 54:47–69, 2012.

Radial and longitudinal strain assessment in the carotid artery wall using speckle tracking

Differences in the rate of maternal behaviours received by rodent offspring are associated with differential programming of molecular and behavioural components of anxiety and stress-related functions. To determine the degree to which maternal behaviours are sensitive to environmental conditions, Long-Evans rat dams were exposed to the odour of a predator (cat) at two different time points during the first week postpartum. Exposure on the day of birth (DOB), but not the third day following birth, increased levels of maternal care in predator-exposed dams relative to dams exposed to a control condition across the first 5 days post-partum. As adults, female offspring of dams exposed on DOB exhibited a less-anxious phenotype in a novel open-field, spending more time in the center and less time displaying thigmotaxis. In contrast, under the same conditions, male offspring showed the opposite behavioural response, consistent with an increasingly anxious phenotype. Results from a subsequent stressor test (response to a predator odour) were consistent with the notion that the rearing effects were specific to anxiety-related behaviours in offspring. Accordingly, we showed that rearing conditions did not affect GR mRNA or NGFI-A expression in the hippocampus of offspring or cross-fostered offspring. The dissociation between stress and anxiety, as well as the sex-specific alterations in behaviour, may reflect the specificity inherent to neural programming in the face of naturalistic early life conditions.