OBJECTIVE: To evaluate reproduction among patients with bipolar I disorder (BP1) or schizophrenia (SZ) in Egypt. METHODS: BP1 patients (n=113) were compared with community based, demographically balanced controls (n=124) and SZ patients (n=79, DSM-IV). All participants were evaluated using structured interviews and corroborative data were obtained from relatives. Standard indices of procreation were included in multivariate analyses that incorporated key demographic variables. RESULTS: Control individuals were significantly more likely to have children than BP1 or SZ patients (controls 46.8%, BP1 15.9%, SZ 17.7%), but the BP1-SZ differences were non-significant. The average number of children for BP1 patients (0.37+/-0.9) and SZ patients (0.38+/-0.9) was significantly lower than for controls (1.04+/-1.48) (BP1 vs controls, p<0.001; SZ vs controls, p<0.001). The frequency of marriages among BP1 patients was nominally higher than the SZ group, but was significantly lower than controls (BP1: 31.9% SZ: 27.8% control: 57.3%). Even among married individuals, BP1 (but not SZ) patients were childless more often than controls (p=0.001). The marital fertility, i.e., the average number of children among patients with conjugal relationships for controls (1.8+/-1.57) was significantly higher than BP1 patients (1.14+/-1.31, p=0.02), but not significantly different from SZ patients (1.36+/-1.32, p=0.2). CONCLUSION: Selected reproductive measures are significantly and substantially reduced among Egyptian BP1 patients. The reproductive indices are similar among BP1 and SZ patients, suggesting a role for general illness related variables. Regardless of the cause/s, the impairment constitutes important, under-investigated disability.
Bipolar Disorder ; Child ; Egypt ; Fertility ; Humans ; Marriage ; Multivariate Analysis ; Reproduction ; Schizophrenia

Cardiac hypertrophy contributes an increased risk to major cerebrovascular events. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying cerebrovascular dysfunction during cardiac hypertrophy have not yet been characterized. In the present study, we examined the molecular mechanism of isoproterenol (ISO) -evoked activation of Ras/Raf/MAPK pathways as well as PKA activity in cerebral artery of rabbits, and we also studied whether the activations of these signaling pathways were altered in cerebral artery, during ISO-induced cardiac hypertrophy compared to heart itself. The results show that the mRNA level of c-fos (not c-jun and c-myc) in heart and these genes in cerebral artery were considerably increased during cardiac hypertrophy. These results that the PKA activity and activations of Ras/Raf/ERK cascade as well as c-fos expression in rabbit heart during cardiac hypertrophy were consistent with previous reports. Interestingly, however, we also showed a novel finding that the decreased PKA activity might have differential effects on Ras and Raf expression in cerebral artery during cardiac hypertrophy. In conclusion, there are differences in molecular mechanisms between heart and cerebral artery during cardiac hypertrophy when stimulated with beta2 adrenoreceptor (AR), suggesting a possible mechanism underlying cerebrovascular dysfunction during cardiac hypertrophy.
Cardiomegaly* ; Cerebral Arteries* ; Heart* ; Isoproterenol ; Rabbits ; RNA, Messenger

To characterize cytosolic Ca2+ fluctuations under metabolic inhibition, rat ventricular myocytes were exposed to 200microM 2, 4-dinitrophenol (DNP), and mitochondrial Ca2+, mitochondrial membrane potential (delta psi m), and cytosolic Ca2+ were measured, using Rhod-2 AM, TMRE, and Fluo-4 AM fluorescent dyes, respectively, by Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy (LSCM). Furthermore, the role of sarcolemmal Na+/Ca2+ exchange (NCX) in cytosolic Ca2+ efflux was studied in KB-R7943 and Na+-free normal Tyrode's solution (143 mM LiCl ). When DNP was applied to cells loaded with Fluo-4 AM, Fluo-4 AM fluorescence intensity initially increased by 70+/-10% within 70+/-10 s, and later by 400+/-200% at 850+/-46 s. Fluorescence intensity of both Rhod-2 AM and TMRE were initially decreased by DNP, coincident with the initial increase of Fluo-4 AM fluorescence intensity. When sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+ was depleted by 1microM thapsigargin plus 10microM ryanodine, the initial increase of Fluo-4 AM fluorescence intensity was unaffected, however, the subsequent progressive increase was abolished. KB-R7943 delayed both the first and the second phases of cytosolic Ca2+ overload, while Na+-free solution accelerated the second. The above results suggest that: 1) the initial rise in cytosolic Ca2+ under DNP results from mitochondrial depolarization; 2) the secondary increase is caused by progressive Ca2+ release from SR; 3) NCX plays an important role in transient cytosolic Ca2+ shifts under metabolic inhibition with DNP.
Animals ; Caffeine ; Cytosol* ; Fluorescence ; Fluorescent Dyes ; Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial ; Microscopy, Confocal ; Mitochondria ; Muscle Cells* ; Rats* ; Ryanodine ; Sarcoplasmic Reticulum ; Thapsigargin