A 61-year-old man was found to have an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) during follow-up for ischemic heart disease. On admission, ultrasonograms and computed tomograms revealed a thickened aortic wall surrounded by a soft tissue (so-called mantle). The obstructive right anterior brain artery and stenotic right internal carotid artery were also detected by angiography. Coronary angiography demonstrated multiple stenotic lesions of the coronary arteries. The excised AAA was replaced with an prosthetic graft. The mobilization of the adjacent viscera was kept as little as possible in order to prevent injury to them. We reported a case of “inflammatory” abdominal aneurysm associated with various atherosclerotic lesions.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Although studies using conventional animal models have shown that specific stressors cause irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), it is unclear whether depression itself causes IBS. Our aim was to establish a rat model to determine if depression itself promotes the onset of IBS and to elucidate the role of gut microbiota in brain-gut axis pathogenesis during coincident depression and IBS. METHODS: Rat models of depression were induced using our shuttle box method of learned helplessness. Visceral hypersensitivity was evaluated by colorectal distension (CRD) to diagnose IBS. Gut microbiota compositions were analyzed using high-throughput sequencing. In the subanalysis of rats without depression-like symptoms, rats with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were also examined. RESULTS: The threshold value of CRD in depressed rats was significantly lower than that in control rats. Microbial community analysis of cecal microbiota showed that the relative abundance of Clostridiales incertae sedis, the most prevalent microbe, was significantly lower in depressed rats than in control rats. The distribution pattern of the microbiota clearly differed between depressed rats and control rats. Neither visceral hypersensitivity nor the composition of gut microbiota was altered in rats with PTSD-like phenotypes. CONCLUSIONS: Our rat model of depression is useful for clarifying the effect of depression on IBS and suggests that depression itself, rather than specific stressors, promotes the onset of IBS. Further, we provided evidence that various psychiatric diseases, viz., depression and PTSD, are associated with unique gut microbiota profiles, which could differentially affect the onset and progression of coincident IBS.
Animals ; Clostridiales ; Depression ; Dysbiosis ; Gastrointestinal Microbiome ; Helplessness, Learned ; Hypersensitivity ; Irritable Bowel Syndrome ; Methods ; Microbiota ; Models, Animal ; Phenotype ; Rats ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic

We investigated the effect of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (anodal tDCS) on the performance of full-effort box stepping exercises in athletes and non-athletes. Twenty-one subjects (athletes: five men and six women, non-athletes: four men and six women) participated in this study. tDCS was applied through two electrodes placed on the vertex (anode) and the forehead (cathode). A 2-mA anodal stimulation was applied for 15 minutes, while sham stimulation was applied on different days with similar electrodes. Participants were asked to apply a maximal effort while stepping up and down a 10-cm tall box for 20 s following termination of the tDCS. The 20 s box stepping was repeated three times with 15 s of rest. The number of total steps was significantly increased following anodal tDCS compared to sham tDCS. The degree of increase in performance was more prominent in non-athletes than in athletes. In non-athletes, a differential pattern of fatigue in performance between stimulus conditions was observed. In contrast, this significant performance modulation between stimulus conditions was not detected in athletes. Our findings of improved stepping performance following anodal tDCS depended on the training level of the subject group; this implies modulation of descending command from CNS to active muscles by tDCS. It is suggested that the degree of neural modulation for controlling complex and full-effort leg movements due to tDCS is higher in non-athletes than in athletes.