This effect was observed in both mate and female rats. No differences between strains or the effects of R121919 were observed for spontaneous ambulation or in the elevated plus maze test. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Olfactory function has been shown to be affected in chronic kidney disease; however, studies are contradictory and little is known on the effects of dialysis. To resolve these issues we tested olfactory function in 24 healthy controls and in 28 patients with chronic kidney disease receiving
hemodialysis (20 patients) or peritoneal dialysis (the other 8). As assays for olfactory function we measured smell identification, n-butanol and acetic acid thresholds, LGK-974 cell line Kt/V urea, percentage reduced urea, and weights before and after dialysis. Olfactory function was also self-rated by the participants. Compared to healthy controls, predialysis olfactory function was moderately but significantly decreased in the two dialysis groups, with hemodialysis patients being more affected. Patients self-rated olfactory function
similar to that of healthy controls, suggesting that patients are unaware of the olfactory decrease. Olfactory function was significantly improved by one hemodialysis session. Neither body mass index, total volume loss, nor any other dialysis parameter Elacridar correlated with olfactory function or its restitution following hemodialysis. The observed pattern of improvement suggests underlying mixed peripheral and central mechanisms. Thus, olfactory dysfunction in patients with chronic kidney disease is readily reversible by hemodialysis. Kidney International (2011) 80, 886-893; doi: 10.1038/ki.2011.189; published online 22 June 2011″
“Multisensory integration has often been characterized many as an automatic process. Recent findings
indicate that multisensory integration can occur across various stages of stimulus processing that are linked to, and can be modulated by, attention. Stimulus-driven, bottom-up mechanisms induced by crossmodal interactions can automatically capture attention towards multisensory events, particularly when competition to focus elsewhere is relatively low. Conversely, top-down attention can facilitate the integration of multisensory inputs and lead to a spread of attention across sensory modalities. These findings point to a more intimate and multifaceted interplay between attention and multisensory integration than was previously thought. We review developments in the current understanding of the interactions between attention and multisensory processing, and propose a framework that unifies previous, apparently discordant, findings.