Diabetic Neuroarthropathy: Report of Four Cases

Diabetic neuroarthropathy was observed in four patients; these are the first cases of this nature reported in the Canadian medical literature. The criteria for this diagnosis included: (1) long-standing diabetes; (2) arthropathy, most frequently involving the foot, which shows deformity, shortening and ulceration without evidence of infection or peripheral circulatory failure; (3) abolition or diminution of pain on weight-bearing; (4) diabetic peripheral neuropathy with impaired sense of position or vibration and weak or absent deep tendon reflexes. Radiographic findings were similar to those in patients with Charcot''s arthropathy from any cause.Tabes dorsalis, leprosy, syringomyelia, myelodysplasia and the arthropathies of corticosteroid therapy were ruled out in these cases. In addition to conventional medical therapy the patients were treated by means of walking-casts for several months.Diabetic neuroarthropathy is probably more common than the medical literature would indicate. Diminished sensation in the lower limbs in diabetics of long standing appears to be the major factor contributing to this disorder.     

Neurogenic (Hysteroid) Motor Disorders in Hamadryas Baboons

Pavlov's teaching on experimental neuroses is of prime importance for gaining insight into human neurosis. Pavlov devoted special attention to hysteria (1). His concept of the possibility of creating a model of this human neurosis in dogs was not constant, although the reproduction of individual symptoms of hysteria, especially of paralytic motor disorders, is an indisputable experimental fact, and can be explained within the framework of the principles of higher nervous activity established with respect to dogs.     

Functional Overlay: An Illegitimate Diagnosis?

Functional overlay is not a recognized psychiatric diagnosis. Evaluating functional overlay and differentiating between this concept and organic conditions is important in medicolegal areas in which financial values are placed on pain and disability. Functional overlay is not malingering: the former is based on preconscious or unconscious mechanisms, the latter is consciously induced.In considering psychologic reactions to pain and disability, a gradient of simulation, malingering, symptom exaggeration, overvaluation, functional overlay and hysteria is useful. The dynamics of overlay are a combination of anxiety from body-image distortion and depression from decreased efficiency of the body, as well as the resulting psychosocial disruption in a patient''s life.     

A Study of Remitted and Treatment-Resistant Depression Using MMPI and Including Pessimism and Optimism Scales

Background

The psychological aspects of treatment-resistant and remitted depression are not well documented.

Methods

We administered the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) to patients with treatment-resistant depression (n = 34), remitted depression (n = 25), acute depression (n = 21), and healthy controls (n = 64). Pessimism and optimism were also evaluated by MMPI.

Results

ANOVA and post-hoc tests demonstrated that patients with treatment-resistant and acute depression showed similarly high scores for frequent scale (F), hypochondriasis, depression, conversion hysteria, psychopathic device, paranoia, psychasthenia and schizophrenia on the MMPI compared with normal controls. Patients with treatment-resistant depression, but not acute depression registered high on the scale for cannot say answer. Using Student''s t-test, patients with remitted depression registered higher on depression and social introversion scales, compared with normal controls. For pessimism and optimism, patients with treatment-resistant depression demonstrated similar changes to acutely depressed patients. Remitted depression patients showed lower optimism than normal controls by Student''s t-test, even though these patients were deemed recovered from depression using HAM-D.

Conclusions

The patients with remitted depression and treatment-resistant depression showed subtle alterations on the MMPI, which may explain the hidden psychological features in these cohorts.     

Revisiting the wandering womb: Oxytocin in endometriosis and bipolar disorder

Hippocrates attributed women's high emotionality – hysteria - to a ‘wandering womb’. Although hysteria diagnoses were abandoned along with the notion that displaced wombs cause emotional disturbance, recent research suggests that elevated levels of oxytocin occur in both bipolar disorder and endometriosis, a gynecological condition involving migration of endometrial tissue beyond the uterus. We propose and evaluate the hypothesis that elevated oxytocinergic system activity jointly contributes to bipolar disorder and endometriosis. First, we provide relevant background on endometriosis and bipolar disorder, and then we examine evidence for comorbidity between these conditions. We next: (1) review oxytocin's associations with personality traits, especially extraversion and openness, and how they overlap with bipolar spectrum traits; (2) describe evidence for higher oxytocinergic activity in both endometriosis and bipolar disorder; (3) examine altered hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis functioning in both conditions; (4) describe data showing that medications that treat one condition can improve symptoms of the other; (5) discuss fitness-related impacts of endometriosis and bipolar disorder; and (6) review a pair of conditions, polycystic ovary syndrome and autism, that show evidence of involving reduced oxytocinergic activity, in direct contrast to endometriosis and bipolar disorder. Considered together, the bipolar spectrum and endometriosis appear to involve dysregulated high extremes of normally adaptive pleiotropy in the female oxytocin system, whereby elevated levels of oxytocinergic activity coordinate outgoing sociality with heightened fertility, apparently characterizing, overall, a faster life history. These findings should prompt a re-examination of how mind-body interactions, and the pleiotropic endocrine systems that underlie them, contribute to health and disease.     

Sociopathy as an adaptation

Sociopathy in males and hysteria (Briquet's syndrome) in females very closely fit predictions from a model of characteristics of cheaters or nonreciprocators in a complex social system. Such a model is discussed and characteristics of sociopaths and hysterics are described. Since a successful cheating adaptation should require, above all else, concealment of the trait, recognition and diagnosis of these traits in humans will always be difficult and ambiguous at the level of language and interpersonal interaction.     

Effects of increasing the number of players and memory size in the iterated Prisoner's Dilemma: a numerical approach

The Prisoner''s Dilemma has become a paradigm for the evolution of altruistic behaviour. Here we present results of numerical simulations of the infinitely iterated stochastic simultaneous Prisoner''s Dilemma considering players with longer memory, encounters of more than two players as well as different pay-off values. This provides us with a better foundation to compare theoretical results to experimental data. We show that the success of the strategy Pavlov, regardless of its simplicity, is far more general by having an outstanding role in the iterated N-player N-memory Prisoner''s Dilemma. Besides, we study influences of increased memory sizes in the iterated two-player Prisoner''s Dilemma, and present comparisons to results of experiments with first-year students.     

Crohn's disease of the appendix

Granulomatous inflammation typifying Crohn''s disease was centred within or confined to appendices in six patients, two of whom developed lesions attributable to Crohn''s disease elsewhere in the gut. The remaining four patients have remained symptom-free for periods varying from two to six years. Histological evidence of Crohn''s disease was also present in five of 46 appendices available for re-examination in a survey of 63 cases of Crohn''s enterocolitis. It is adduced that appendiceal involvement in Crohn''s disease is not uncommon.     

Coalescent Modelling Suggests Recent Secondary-Contact of Cryptic Penguin Species

Molecular genetic analyses present powerful tools for elucidating demographic and biogeographic histories of taxa. Here we present genetic evidence showing a dynamic history for two cryptic lineages within Eudyptula, the world''s smallest penguin. Specifically, we use a suite of genetic markers to reveal that two congeneric taxa (''Australia'' and ''New Zealand'') co-occur in southern New Zealand, with only low levels of hybridization. Coalescent modelling suggests that the Australian little penguin only recently expanded into southern New Zealand. Analyses conducted under time-dependent molecular evolutionary rates lend support to the hypothesis of recent anthropogenic turnover, consistent with shifts detected in several other New Zealand coastal vertebrate taxa. This apparent turnover event highlights the dynamic nature of the region’s coastal ecosystem.     

Androgen receptor gene sequence and basal cortisol concentrations predict men's hormonal responses to potential mates

Exposure to potential mates triggers rapid elevations of testosterone and glucocorticoid concentrations in males of many non-human species, and preliminary studies support similar effects in human males. The human studies have all reported large individual differences in these responses, however, and the present study tested whether specific biological variables may help explain these differences. Replicating past research, the present study found that men''s salivary testosterone and cortisol concentrations increased after a brief conversation with a young woman, but did not change (or slightly decreased) after a conversation with a young man. In addition, smaller numbers of CAG repeats in men''s androgen receptor gene, and lower baseline cortisol concentrations, each predicted larger testosterone responses to the interactions with women. The CAG repeat finding demonstrates that a specific genetic polymorphism predicts physiological responses to social interactions that may in turn have important downstream consequences on men''s mating behaviour. The effects of cortisol are consistent with past demonstrations of glucocorticoid inhibition of testosterone production and show that such inhibition also affects testosterone responses to social stimuli. In sum, the present study both confirms men''s hormonal reactions to potential mates and identifies novel biological variables that predict individual differences in these responses.     

Hamilton's rule meets the Hamiltonian: kin selection on dynamic characters

Many biological characters of interest are temporal sequences of decisions. The evolution of such characters is often modelled using dynamic optimization methods such as the maximum principle. A quantity central to these analyses is the ''Hamiltonian'' function, named after the mathematician William R. Hamilton. On the other hand, evolutionary models in which individuals interact with relatives are usually based on Hamilton''s rule, named after the evolutionary biologist William D. Hamilton. In this article we present a generalized maximum principle that includes the effects of interactions among relatives and we show that a time-dependent (dynamic) version of Hamilton''s rule holds involving the Hamiltonian. This result brings together the power and generality of both the maximum principle and Hamilton''s rule thereby providing a natural framework for understanding the evolution of ''dynamic'' characters under kin selection.     

Smoker's face: an underrated clinical sign?

In a prospective survey of patients attending a general medical outpatient clinic roughly half the current cigarette smokers who had smoked for 10 years or more were identified, using defined criteria, by their facial features alone. These facial features, designated "smoker''s face," were present in three (8%) of those who had smoked cigarettes for 10 years or more in the past and in none of the non-smokers. The association of smoker''s face with current smoking that had continued for 10 years or more was significant (p less than 0.001) and remained after the patient''s age, social class, exposure to sunlight, recent change of weight, and estimated lifetime consumption of cigarettes were controlled for. Smoker''s face may be a helpful indicator in antismoking campaigns.     

Pleiotropic Functions of Tumor Suppressor WWOX in Normal and Cancer Cells

WW domain-containing oxidoreductase (WWOX), originally marked as a likely tumor suppressor gene, has over the years become recognized for its role in a much wider range of cellular activities. Phenotypic effects displayed in animal studies, along with resolution of WWOX''s architecture, fold, and binding partners, point to the protein''s multifaceted biological functions. Results from a series of complementary experiments seem to indicate WWOX''s involvement in metabolic regulation. More recently, clinical studies involving cases of severe encephalopathy suggest that WWOX also plays a part in controlling CNS development, further expanding our understanding of the breadth and complexity of WWOX behavior. Here we present a short overview of the various approaches taken to study this dynamic gene, emphasizing the most recent findings regarding WWOX''s metabolic- and CNS-associated functions and their underlying molecular basis.     

Hypothyroidism after Thyroidectomy for Graves's Disease: A Search for an Explanation

Out of 38 patients who had undergone subtotal thyroidectomy for Graves''s disease seven to 20 years previously 15 developed hypothyroidism. In these 15 patients autoantibodies against thyroid cytoplasm were significantly more frequent than in the 23 euthyroid patients, though there was no difference in the prevalence of autoantibodies against thyroglobulin. Histological examination of the thyroid tissue removed at operation showed that significantly more plasma cells and lymphoid follicles with germinal centres were present in patients who subsequently developed hypothyroidism than in those who remained euthyroid. No differences in the amount of lymphocytic infiltration were seen in hypothyroid and euthyroid patients.The results suggest that B lymphocytes play a part in the development of postoperative hypothyroidism in Graves''s disease. It is proposed that Graves''s disease and Hashimoto''s disease are different aspects of the same basic autoimmune process.     

Men's Preferences for Women's Femininity in Dynamic Cross-Modal Stimuli

Men generally prefer feminine women''s faces and voices over masculine women''s faces and voices, and these cross-modal preferences are positively correlated. Men''s preferences for female facial and vocal femininity have typically been investigated independently by presenting soundless still images separately from audio-only vocal recordings. For the first time ever, we presented men with short video clips in which dynamic faces and voices were simultaneously manipulated in femininity/masculinity. Men preferred feminine men''s faces over masculine men''s faces, and preferred masculine men''s voices over feminine men''s voices. We found that men preferred feminine women''s faces and voices over masculine women''s faces and voices. Men''s attractiveness ratings of both feminine and masculine faces were increased by the addition of vocal femininity. Also, men''s attractiveness ratings of feminine and masculine voices were increased by the addition of facial femininity present in the video. Men''s preferences for vocal and facial femininity were significantly and positively correlated when stimuli were female, but not when they were male. Our findings complement other evidence for cross-modal femininity preferences among male raters, and show that preferences observed in studies using still images and/or independently presented vocal stimuli are also observed when dynamic faces and voices are displayed simultaneously in video format.     

中国征收碳税应对碳关税的经济分析——以美国为例

碳税和碳关税作为一种价格调整机制,长期而言会对经济系统中各主体产生较强的约束力。通过GTAP-E模型的模拟分析,得出以下结论:在目前的发展阶段,碳关税并非有效的低碳经济发展政策,尤其是美国对中国征收碳关税对降低世界碳排放量的影响有限;美国针对中国采取的碳关税政策将在一定程度上对我国出口贸易产生负向影响,尤其是对中国的高碳产业影响较大;当中美采取相同的碳税政策时,碳税的征收对中国GDP造成较大的负面影响,且中国自主采取节能减排方案不足以应对美国碳关税的负面效应;而当两者采取差异化政策时,中国主动采取节能减排行动可以有效应对美国碳关税的威胁。     

口腔微生态与干燥综合征相关性研究进展

干燥综合征是一种炎性细胞侵犯外分泌腺体的慢性自身免疫疾病,口干是其最常见的症状。伴随着干燥综合征患者口腔内微环境的改变,口腔各种微生物之间及微生物与宿主之间的平衡被打破,进而出现口腔微生态失调。口腔微生态失调与自身免疫疾病关系密切,其不仅是疾病所导致的结果,也可能是疾病进一步发展的原因。目前研究认为干燥综合征患者口腔微生态失调与唾液微环境的改变及口腔黏膜免疫受损存在密切的关系,本文对口腔微生态与干燥综合征关系的新近研究进展进行综述。     

Zipf's law leads to Heaps' law: analyzing their relation in finite-size systems

Background

Zipf''s law and Heaps'' law are observed in disparate complex systems. Of particular interests, these two laws often appear together. Many theoretical models and analyses are performed to understand their co-occurrence in real systems, but it still lacks a clear picture about their relation.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We show that the Heaps'' law can be considered as a derivative phenomenon if the system obeys the Zipf''s law. Furthermore, we refine the known approximate solution of the Heaps'' exponent provided the Zipf''s exponent. We show that the approximate solution is indeed an asymptotic solution for infinite systems, while in the finite-size system the Heaps'' exponent is sensitive to the system size. Extensive empirical analysis on tens of disparate systems demonstrates that our refined results can better capture the relation between the Zipf''s and Heaps'' exponents.

Conclusions/Significance

The present analysis provides a clear picture about the relation between the Zipf''s law and Heaps'' law without the help of any specific stochastic model, namely the Heaps'' law is indeed a derivative phenomenon from the Zipf''s law. The presented numerical method gives considerably better estimation of the Heaps'' exponent given the Zipf''s exponent and the system size. Our analysis provides some insights and implications of real complex systems. For example, one can naturally obtained a better explanation of the accelerated growth of scale-free networks.     

我国农户生计转型的生态效应研究综述

生计作为人类最主要的行为方式,对人地系统的演化起着主导驱动作用,探讨人类生计与生态环境的相互关系成为当前人地系统科学的研究热点,农户作为广大农村最主要的经济活动主体与最基本的决策单位,其所采取的生计策略对生态环境产生着深远影响。在阐释农户生计转型及其驱动因素的基础上,建立了农户生计转型的生态效应分析框架,梳理了近年来国内农户生计转型的生态效应研究主要进展,指出未来研究中需关注农户的生计演变规律及其调控机制、农户生计策略对生态环境的作用机制、农户生计转型的生态效应评估与监测、农户的可持续生计方式塑建等关键问题。     

Finger clubbing in inflammatory bowel disease: its prevalence and pathogenesis.

Finger clubbing, measured objectively by using the hyponychial angle, was present in 75 out of 200 (38%) patients with Crohn''s disease, 15 out of 103 (15%) with ulcerative colitis, and two out of 24 (8%) with proctitis. In Crohn''s disease and ulcerative colitis the hyponychial angle was significantly correlated with both disease activity and the extent of fibrosis in the resected specimens from 47 surgically treated patients. The prevalence of finger clubbing in patients with macroscopic disease within the area of the gut innervated by the vagus nerve was significantly higher than that in patients in whom the disease was confined to the distal colon and rectum. Finger clubbing in patients with Crohn''s disease tended to regress after resection of macroscopic disease. It is concluded that finger clubbing is significantly commoner in Crohn''s disease than ulcerative colitis. The focal stimuli for finger clubbing include mucosal inflammatory change and fibrosis mediated by the vagus and possibly other autonomic pathways acting as the afferent arc of a finger-clubbing reflex.