University of Zurich

About: University of Zurich is a education organization based out in Zurich, Switzerland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Medicine. The organization has 50842 authors who have published 124042 publications receiving 5304521 citations. The organization is also known as: UZH & Uni Zurich.

General anesthetic actions in vivo strongly attenuated by a point mutation in the GABA(A) receptor beta3 subunit.

Abstract: General anesthetics are widely used in clinical practice. On the molecular level, these compounds have been shown to modulate the activity of various neuronal ion channels. However, the functional relevance of identified sites in mediating essential components of the general anesthetic state, such as immobility and hypnosis, is still unknown. Using gene-targeting technology, we generated mice harboring a subtle point mutation (N265M) in the second transmembrane region of the beta3 subunit of the GABA(A) receptor. In these mice, the suppression of noxious-evoked movements in response to the intravenous anesthetics etomidate and propofol is completely abolished, while only slightly decreased with the volatile anesthetics enflurane and halothane. beta3(N265M) mice also display a profound reduction in the loss of righting reflex duration in response to intravenous but not volatile anesthetics. In addition, electrophysiological recordings revealed that anesthetic agents were significantly less effective in enhancing GABA(A) receptor-mediated currents, and in decreasing spontaneous action potential firing in cortical brain slices derived from mutant mice. Taken together, our results demonstrate that a single molecular target, and indeed a specific residue (N265) located within the GABA(A) receptor beta3 subunit, is a major determinant of behavioral responses evoked by the intravenous anesthetics etomidate and propofol, whereas volatile anesthetics appear to act via a broader spectrum of molecular targets.

Viral escape by selection of cytotoxic T cell-resistant virus variants in vivo

Abstract: Viruses persist in an immune population, as in the case of influenza, or in an individual, as postulated for human immunodeficiency virus, when they are able to escape existent neutralizing antibody responses by changing their antigens. It is now shown that viruses can in principle escape the immunosurveillance of virus-specific cytotoxic T cells by mutations that alter the relevant T-cell epitope.

Smartphone use and smartphone addiction among young people in Switzerland

Abstract: Background and AimsSmartphone addiction, its association with smartphone use, and its predictors have not yet been studied in a European sample. This study investigated indicators of smartphone use, smartphone addiction, and their associations with demographic and health behaviour-related variables in young people.MethodsA convenience sample of 1,519 students from 127 Swiss vocational school classes participated in a survey assessing demographic and health-related characteristics as well as indicators of smartphone use and addiction. Smartphone addiction was assessed using a short version of the Smartphone Addiction Scale for Adolescents (SAS-SV). Logistic regression analyses were conducted to investigate demographic and health-related predictors of smartphone addiction.ResultsSmartphone addiction occurred in 256 (16.9%) of the 1,519 students. Longer duration of smartphone use on a typical day, a shorter time period until first smartphone use in the morning, and reporting that social networking was the mo...

The Physiological Ecology of Vertebrates: A View from Energetics

Abstract: B. K. McNab 2002. The Physiological Ecology of Vertebrates: A View from Energetics. Comstock Publishing Associates, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 576 pp. ISBN 0-8014-3913-2, price (cloth), $75.00. Brian McNab's work spans more than 40 years and covers a massive number of taxa. He is the author of more than 60 papers in the Institute for Scientific Information–listed journals, and a measure of the quality of his contribution is the number of citations some of these have received (at least 3 with more than 200 citations!). As most readers of the Journal of Mammalogy probably know, McNab has primarily worked on energetics, and this provides him with the ideal background to author his recent contribution to that field, which is monumental and timely. I say timely because ecologists, and evolutionary biologists in general have again become extremely interested in mechanisms, and now more than ever, students of higher levels of integration must understand the mechanistic underpinnings of their subject, be they molecular or physiological (although the reverse need not be true). It therefore seems that physiological ecology is becoming a field of wider importance, and this book will do much to define that field. Now having said all that, although I do not always agree with McNab, this is a good book, and as the frontispiece states, “the road to truth lies much through argument.” The book is divided into 5 parts, each containing 2–4 chapters. It covers a range of topics including energy budgets, water and gas exchange, diet and nutrition, and the energetics of locomotion. Importantly, the book is not just a review. McNab provides background, evidence for competing hypotheses, and usually makes his …