Aim: To determine the health status of the patients of the Q feve

Aim: To determine the health status of the patients of the Q fever outbreak in The Netherlands in 2007, 1 year after primary infection.

Design: Cross-sectional case-control study.

Methods: Health status of the patients from the 2007

Dutch Q fever outbreak was compared to age-, sex- and geographically matched and Q fever seronegative controls. Health status of both patients and controls was assessed with the Nijmegen Clinical Screening Instrument (NCSI).

Results: Fifty-four Q fever patients provided 34 years of age-and AZD8055 cost sex-matched controls from the same neighbourhood. Eleven controls had positive Q fever serology and were excluded. Q fever patients had significantly more problems on the subdomains of symptoms and functional impairment. Overall quality of life was decreased in both patients and controls, 59% vs. 39%, respectively, ns). Severe Selleckchem LDC000067 fatigue levels were present in 52% of patients vs. 26% in controls (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: These data support a sustained decrease in many aspects of health status in Q fever patients in The Netherlands, 1 year after primary infection.”
“Social play behavior is a characteristic, vigorous form of social interaction in young mammals. It is highly rewarding

and thought to be of major importance for social and cognitive development. The neural substrates of social play are incompletely understood, but there is evidence to support a role for the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and striatum in this behavior. Using pharmacological inactivation methods, ie, infusions of GABA receptor agonists (baclofen and muscimol; B&M) or the AMPA/kainate receptor antagonist 6,7-dinitroquinoxaline-2,3(1H,4H)-dione (DNQX), we investigated the involvement of several subregions of the medial PFC and striatum in social play. Inactivation

of the prelimbic cortex, infralimbic cortex, and medial/ventral orbitofrontal cortex using B&M markedly reduced frequency and duration of social play behavior. Local administration of DNQX into the dorsomedial striatum increased the frequency and duration of social play, medroxyprogesterone whereas infusion of B&M tended to have the same effect. Inactivation of the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) core using B&M increased duration but not frequency of social play, whereas B&M infusion into the NAcc shell did not influence social play behavior. Thus, functional integrity of the medial PFC is important for the expression of social play behavior. Glutamatergic inputs into the dorsomedial striatum exert an inhibitory influence on social play, and functional activity in the NAcc core acts to limit the length of playful interactions. These results highlight the importance of prefrontal and striatal circuits implicated in cognitive control, decision making, behavioral inhibition, and reward-associated processes in social play behavior.

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