Methods: 37 PD patients were included in the study. We measured (1) carotid IMT, (2) PWV and augmentation index (Alx), and (3) CFR. Simultaneous measurements of serum NT-pro-BNP, cTnT, uric acid and hs-CRP were also performed. Associations among these variables were analyzed. Results: cTnT was significantly associated with carotid IMT (r = 0.747, p < 0.001), PWV (r = 0.431, p = 0.035) and CFR (r = -0.439, p = 0.007). In multivariate analysis, cTnT was a significant independent predictor of carotid IMT (beta = 4.446, p < 0.001) and CFR (beta = -2.272, p = 0.013). Patients with high cTnT levels (>= 0.01 ng/ml) significantly had higher carotid IMT and PWV values.

Only the aortic PWV significantly correlated with residual renal function (r = -0.574, p = 0.004). Conclusions: Serum cTnT appeared find more to be a useful clinical biomarker for evaluating noninvasive predictors

of atherosclerosis in chronic PD patients. Arterial stiffness as determined by PWV is also correlated with residual renal function. Copyright (c) 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel”
“Growing evidence suggests schizophrenia may arise from abnormalities in early brain development. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) stands out as one of the main regions affected in schizophrenia. Latent inhibition, an interesting cognitive marker for schizophrenia, https://www.selleckchem.com/products/PHA-739358(Danusertib).html has been found in some studies to be reduced in acute patients. It is generally widely accepted that there is a dopaminergic dysfunctioning in schizophrenia. Moreover, several authors have reported that the psychostimulant, D-amphetamine (D-AMP), exacerbates symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. We explored in rats the effects in adulthood of neonatal transient inactivation of the PFC on behavioral and neurochemical anomalies associated with schizophrenia. Following

tetrodotoxin (TTX) inactivation of the left PFC at postnatal day 8, latent inhibition-related dopaminergic responses and dopaminergic reactivity to D-AMP were monitored using in vivo voltammetry in the left core part of the nucleus accumbens in adult freely moving rats. Dopaminergic PLEKHO1 responses and behavioral responses were followed in parallel. Prefrontal neonatal inactivation resulted in disrupted behavioral responses of latent inhibition and latent inhibition-related dopaminergic responses in the core subregion. After D-AMP challenge, the highest dose (1.5 mg/kg i.p.) induced a greater dopamine increase in the core in rats microinjected with TTX, and a parallel increase in locomotor activity, suggesting that following prefrontal neonatal TTX inactivation animals display a greater behavioral and dopaminergic reactivity to D-AMP. Transitory inactivation of the PFC early in the postnatal developmental period leads to behavioral and neurochemical changes in adulthood that are meaningful for schizophrenia modeling.