Discriminative control of the vaginal vasomotor response

With use of a discriminative control procedure and operant techniques, women significantly increased their vaginal pulse amplitude (produced vaginal vasodilation) but did not significantly decrease vaginal pulse amplitude (produce vaginal vasoconstriction). Acquisition of vaginal pulse amplitude control was rapid with no significant improvement over trials or the 5 experimental days. Specificity of vaginal pulse amplitude control occurred in relation to the other vasomotor responses, including vaginal blood volume and digital pulse amplitude. Vaginal pulse amplitude changes were not related to somatic-muscular, respiratory, or heart-rate changes. Women who used oral contraceptives were better able to control vaginal pulse amplitude than women who used other forms of birth control. Although the sexual behavior of these two groups did not differ, women in the latter group tended to be more clitorally oriented.This work was supported in part by NIH grant MH 27098 awarded to C.A.S.     

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DSA-Based Quantitative Assessment of Cerebral Hypoperfusion in Patients with Asymmetric Carotid Stenosis

Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) is often used to evaluate the morphological and pathological changes of cerebral arteries in clinical practice. This study aims to explore the possibility of assessing cerebral hypoperfusion with DSA in patients with carotid stenosis. Thirty patients with a mild to severe stenosis on one side, and a mild stenosis on the other side of the carotid artery were recruited. Frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital lobes were chosen as regions of interest for measuring the quantitative perfusion parameters from their time-density curves (TDCs) of DSA images. The perfusion parameters were compared between the two hemispheres by using paired t-test. In addition, the bilateral asymmetry of these parameters was calculated and its correlation with the bilateral asymmetry in stenosis was analyzed. The parameters included mean transit time (MTT), time of contrast uptake (TU), time taken to the half peak value (1/2TMAX), area under the curve (AUC) were significantly prolonged at the severe stenosis side than those at the mild stenosis side in frontal lobe (P=0.013; P=0.041; P=0.009; P=0.027) and parietal lobe (P=0.008; P=0.041; P=0.002; P=0.012). The asymmetric ratios of MTT and AUC showed statistically significant correlations with stenosis asymmetry in all four lobes. MTT, TU, 1/2TMAX and AUC could reflect the bilateral asymmetry of the cerebral perfusion. These DSA parameters, therefore, may be used for the evaluation of cerebral hypoperfusion caused by carotid stenosis.     

An analog of MSH/ACTH 4–9 enhances interpersonal and environmental awareness in mentally retarded adults

In a double blind procedure, four doses (0, 5, 10 and 20 mg) of an orally active analog of ACTH/MSH 4–9 was administered to mentally retarded adults. Changes in behavior and in productivity were evaluated as subjects performed their job in a sheltered workshop. During the first week productivity suffered while behavior related to communication and sociability increased in clients receiving the peptide analog. During the second week, clients given the peptide were more productive and attentive to environmental events while differences in sociability stabilized. Five and 10 mg enhanced productivity of tasks requiring precision and concentration whereas 20 mg depressed performance of all tasks. Regression equations indicated that different doses of the peptide generated unique relationships between behavior and productivity with self-stimulation characterizing the clients given the peptide. The use of the peptide analog of ACTH/MSH as a potential treatment with the mentally retarded is encouraged by these findings.     

Characterization of DGAT1 Allelic Effects in a Sample of North American Holstein Cattle

A putative causative mutation underlying a QTL was identified as a lysine to alanine non-conservative substitution at amino acid 232 of the gene encoding the acylCoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT1) protein. Our goal was to characterize the allelic substitution effects of this DGAT1 mutation in a large sample of Holstein bulls from North America. Statistically significant effects were identified for all of the milk production traits and somatic cell scores. Estimated average effects of substituting the lysine allele for the alanine variant on Holstein bull daughter yield deviations were ?81 kg, 3.7 kg, ?1.1 kg, 0.063%, 0.012%, and ?0.023 units for milk yield, fat yield, protein yield, fat component, protein component, and SCS, respectively. These estimates were largely in agreement with previous studies; however, the magnitudes of the estimates were much smaller in this study. Impacts on economic indices for net merit, cheese merit, and fluid merit were modest. Because of the strong antagonism between fat and protein yield and how those traits influence economic indices, selection for DGAT1 genotypes will likely not find widespread application in the U.S.