The PIPP score was significantly lower in infants given sucrose than in those given sterile water (mean 5.8, 95% CI 3.7-7.8 vs 8.5, 7.3-9.8; p=0.02) and significantly more infants had no change in facial expression after sucrose administration (seven of 20 [35%] vs none of 24; p<0.0001).

Interpretation Our data suggest that oral sucrose does not significantly affect activity in neonatal brain or spinal cord nociceptive circuits, and therefore might not be an effective analgesic drug. The ability of sucrose to

reduce clinical observational scores after noxious events in newborn infants should not be interpreted as pain relief.”
“Basal ganglia, an ensemble of interconnected subcortical

nuclei, are involved in adaptive motor planning and procedural learning. Striatum, the primary input nucleus selleck screening library of basal ganglia, extracts the pertinent cortical and thalamic information from background noise in relation with the environmental stimuli and motivation. The striatum comprises different neuronal populations: the GABAergic striatal output neurons, three classes of GABAergic interneurons and the cholinergic cells. Striatal learn more interneurons exert a powerful control of striatal output neuron excitability and therefore shape the cortico-basal ganglia information processing. Besides output neurons, striatal interneurons also receive directly cortical information and are able to adapt their behavior depending on the level of cortical and striatal activation. In this review, we focus on the corticostriatal long-term synaptic efficacy changes occurring in interneurons, and especially the spike-timing dependent plasticity

(STDP), as a Hebbian synaptic learning rule. Combined with the striatal local interactions between interneurons and output neurons, we will consider the functional consequences of the interneuron plasticity on the striatal output.

This article is part of a Special Issue entitled ‘Synaptic Plasticity & Interneurons’. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Background Clopidogrel and aspirin are the most commonly used antiplatelet therapies for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). We assessed the effect of various clopidogrel and aspirin regimens in prevention AZD8055 purchase of major cardiovascular events and stent thrombosis in patients undergoing PCI.

Methods The CURRENT-OASIS 7 trial was undertaken in 597 centres in 39 countries. 25 086 individuals with acute coronary syndromes and intended early PCI were randomly assigned to double-dose (600 mg on day 1, 150 mg on days 2-7, then 75 mg daily) versus standard-dose (300 mg on day 1 then 75 mg daily) clopidogrel, and high-dose (300-325 mg daily) versus low-dose (75-100 mg daily) aspirin. Randomisation was done with a 24 h computerised central automated voice response system.