[The analysis of the clinical symptoms and social conditionings of the tic disorder in children]

A tic is a rapid, involuntary and stereotypical motor movement or vocalization. The exact cause of tic disorder is unknown, but it is well established that both genetic and environmental factors are involved. Tic occurence in population was estimated on 5-100/10 000.

AIM

The purpose of the research was to analyze the clinical symptoms and social conditionings of tic disorder in children.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

The analysis was conducted on a group of 42 patients (8 girls, 34 boys) at the age of 3 to 15 years, admitted to Department of Neuropediatric of Medical University of Silesia to diagnose and treatment of tic disorder. The children's family history was analyzed. The patients were physically, neurogically, radiologically and psychologically examined.

RESULTS

The majority group were boys and the time of the symptoms appearance was an early school age. The tics were associated with emotional and anxiety disorders, compulsive behavior, psychological obsession. 9% of patients had family history of tic disorder. Pregnancy-birth history was complicated in 24% of cases. There were not abnormalities in physical, neurological and radiological examination in most cases. The majority group (83%) lives in the cities. The most parents have vocational training.

CONCLUSION

In case of appearance of twitching during suspicious behavior of child, we need to carry out a inquiring research targeted to widely understated social issues.

Cloning and characterization of SDF-1gamma, a novel SDF-1 chemokine transcript with developmentally regulated expression in the nervous system

The cytokines SDF-1alpha and -1beta are two alternatively spliced variants of the CXC (alpha) chemokines that are highly conserved among species. SDF-1alpha was shown to function as a B-cell maturation factor, a ligand for the CXCR4 (LESTR/fusin) chemokine receptor, thereby inhibiting replication of T cell-tropic HIV-1 strains and inducing cell death in human neuronal cell lines. In this report the cloning of the rat SDF-1beta cDNA and a new SDF-1 isoform, SDF-1gamma, are presented. Using Northern blot analysis, the expression pattern of both isoforms was studied in different tissues and it is shown that during postnatal development of the central and peripheral nervous system SDF-1beta- and SDF-1gamma-mRNA expression is inversely regulated. Whilst SDF-1beta-mRNA is the predominant isoform in embryonic and early postnatal nerve tissue, SDF-1gamma-mRNA is expressed at higher levels in adulthood. After peripheral nerve lesion a transient increase in SDF-1beta-mRNA expression is observed. As revealed by in situ hybridization, neurons and Schwann cells are the main cellular sources of both SDF-1beta and SDF-1gamma mRNAs in the nervous system. Computer-assisted analysis revealed that both transcripts encode secreted peptides with putative proteolytic cleavage sites which might generate novel neuropeptides.

Differential regulation of chromogranin B and synapsin I gene promoter activity by cAMP and cAMP-dependent protein kinase

cAMP has neutrotrophic effects in the nervous system. We have investigated whether there is a correlation between cAMP-induced neurite outgrowth and induction of chromogranin B and synapsin I gene expression. These genes encode marker proteins of distinct populations of vesicles in neurons, neuroendocrine and endocrine cells, and in addition, they contain a cAMP response element (CRE) in their upstream regions, making it likely that cAMP-induced neuronal differentiation might be accompanied by increased transcription of these genes. We increased intracellular cAMP levels in neuronal and neuroendocrine cells and analyzed the levels of chromogranin B and synapsin I mRNA. Our data revealed that, while chromogranin B mRNA was in fact induced following cAMP stimulation, synapsin I mRNA was not affected. To analyze the cis-acting sequences, we constructed hybrid genes containing the upstream region of the mouse chromogranin B gene fused to a reporter gene. Similar plasmids containing the synapsin I or the glucagon promoter were constructed. Transfections of neuronal and endocrine cells, together with deletion mutagenesis, revealed that the CRE of the chromogranin B gene mediated the effect of cAMP upon transcription. This effect was mimicked by overexpression of the catalytic subunit of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase. In addition, overexpression of the negative-acting CRE-binding protein CREB-2 revealed that the chromogranin B CRE functions as a bifunctional genetic regulatory element in that it mediates basal as well as cAMP-stimulated transcription. Synapsin I gene expression, however, was not induced by either elevated intracellular cAMP concentration or by overexpression of protein kinase A, although a similar pattern of proteins, including CREB, bound to the synapsin I and chromogranin B CRE in vitro. Thus while the CRE element in the chromogranin B gene promoter is responsive to cAMP, the same element, when present in the synapsin I promoter, does not confer cAMP inducibility.