- September 28, 2016
- 01:51 PM
- 213 views
Research team may have observed building blocks of memories in the brain
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
A team of researchers has observed what they believe are the building blocks of memories in a mouse brain. In their paper, the researchers describe how they caused certain neurons to become illuminated when they fired, allowing them to watch in real time as memories were made and then later as they were replayed while the mouse was sitting idle.
... Read more »
Malvache, A., Reichinnek, S., Villette, V., Haimerl, C., & Cossart, R. (2016) Awake hippocampal reactivations project onto orthogonal neuronal assemblies. Science, 353(6305), 1280-1283. DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf3319
- September 28, 2016
- 11:10 AM
- 213 views
Lewy Body Versus Alzheimer's Dementias and Parkinson's
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
One clinical challenge is making an accurate diagnosis in patients with dementia.Alzheimer's disease is typically the predominant diagnosis in dementia. However a significant number of patients will present with dementia due to Lewy Body disease, Parkinson's dementia, frontotemporal dementia or vascular dementia.A recent study helps clinicians to distinguish Lewy Body from Alzheimer's dementia and Parkinson's disease.Douglas Scharre and collegues from Ohio State University conducted ........ Read more »
Scharre, D., Chang, S., Nagaraja, H., Park, A., Adeli, A., Agrawal, P., Kloos, A., Kegelmeyer, D., Linder, S., Fritz, N.... (2016) Paired Studies Comparing Clinical Profiles of Lewy Body Dementia with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 1-10. DOI: 10.3233/JAD-160384
- September 28, 2016
- 11:10 AM
- 185 views
When the writing is wrong: PRMT5 histone arginine methylation promotes invasivity and metastasis in a range of human cancers
by David Schecter in EpiBeat
Cancer metastasis occurs when cancer cells leave a primary tumor and invade other tissues. Generally, this leads to a poor prognosis for patients. Underlying epigenetic mechanisms of tumor progression are poorly understood but are of great interest for developing new approaches of treatment in the clinic. Cancer etiology is highly correlated with alterations in the histone code1-5 and protein methyltransferases are frequently dysregulated in cancer, implicating them as compelling novel targets f........ Read more »
Chen H, Lorton B, Gupta V, & Shechter D. (2016) A TGFβ-PRMT5-MEP50 axis regulates cancer cell invasion through histone H3 and H4 arginine methylation coupled transcriptional activation and repression. Oncogene. PMID: 27270440
Chi P, Allis CD, & Wang GG. (2010) Covalent histone modifications--miswritten, misinterpreted and mis-erased in human cancers. Nature reviews. Cancer, 10(7), 457-69. PMID: 20574448
Sawan, Carla. (2010) Histone Modifications and Cancer. Adv Genet, 57-85. DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-380866-0.60003-4
Stopa N, Krebs JE, & Shechter D. (2015) The PRMT5 arginine methyltransferase: many roles in development, cancer and beyond. Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS, 72(11), 2041-59. PMID: 25662273
Cha B, & Jho EH. (2012) Protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs) as therapeutic targets. Expert opinion on therapeutic targets, 16(7), 651-64. PMID: 22621686
Sebova K, & Fridrichova I. (2010) Epigenetic tools in potential anticancer therapy. Anti-cancer drugs, 21(6), 565-77. PMID: 20436342
Yang, Y., & Bedford, M. (2012) Protein arginine methyltransferases and cancer. Nature Reviews Cancer, 13(1), 37-50. DOI: 10.1038/nrc3409
Yang XJ, & Seto E. (2008) Lysine acetylation: codified crosstalk with other posttranslational modifications. Molecular cell, 31(4), 449-61. PMID: 18722172
Greenblatt SM, Liu F, & Nimer SD. (2016) Arginine methyltransferases in normal and malignant hematopoiesis. Experimental hematology, 44(6), 435-41. PMID: 27026282
Wilczek C, Chitta R, Woo E, Shabanowitz J, Chait BT, Hunt DF, & Shechter D. (2011) Protein arginine methyltransferase Prmt5-Mep50 methylates histones H2A and H4 and the histone chaperone nucleoplasmin in Xenopus laevis eggs. The Journal of biological chemistry, 286(49), 42221-31. PMID: 22009756
Ho MC, Wilczek C, Bonanno JB, Xing L, Seznec J, Matsui T, Carter LG, Onikubo T, Kumar PR, Chan MK.... (2013) Structure of the arginine methyltransferase PRMT5-MEP50 reveals a mechanism for substrate specificity. PloS one, 8(2). PMID: 23451136
Burgos ES, Wilczek C, Onikubo T, Bonanno JB, Jansong J, Reimer U, & Shechter D. (2015) Histone H2A and H4 N-terminal tails are positioned by the MEP50 WD repeat protein for efficient methylation by the PRMT5 arginine methyltransferase. The Journal of biological chemistry, 290(15), 9674-89. PMID: 25713080
Chan-Penebre E, Kuplast KG, Majer CR, Boriack-Sjodin PA, Wigle TJ, Johnston LD, Rioux N, Munchhof MJ, Jin L, Jacques SL.... (2015) A selective inhibitor of PRMT5 with in vivo and in vitro potency in MCL models. Nature chemical biology, 11(6), 432-7. PMID: 25915199
Liu F, Cheng G, Hamard PJ, Greenblatt S, Wang L, Man N, Perna F, Xu H, Tadi M, Luciani L.... (2015) Arginine methyltransferase PRMT5 is essential for sustaining normal adult hematopoiesis. The Journal of clinical investigation, 125(9), 3532-44. PMID: 26258414
Ikushima H, & Miyazono K. (2010) TGFbeta signalling: a complex web in cancer progression. Nature reviews. Cancer, 10(6), 415-24. PMID: 20495575
Lamouille, S., Xu, J., & Derynck, R. (2014) Molecular mechanisms of epithelial–mesenchymal transition. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 15(3), 178-196. DOI: 10.1038/nrm3758
- September 28, 2016
- 10:20 AM
- 211 views
A New Hope For Alzheimer’s Disease Immunotherapy
by Agnese Mariotti in United Academics
For the first time, an antibody was able to target and disrupt the Aβ plaques in the brain.... Read more »
Sevigny, J., Chiao, P., Bussière, T., Weinreb, P., Williams, L., Maier, M., Dunstan, R., Salloway, S., Chen, T., Ling, Y.... (2016) The antibody aducanumab reduces Aβ plaques in Alzheimer’s disease. Nature, 537(7618), 50-56. DOI: 10.1038/nature19323
- September 28, 2016
- 04:30 AM
- 240 views
No Need to Supplement What You Don’t Need
by Nicole Cattano in Sports Medicine Research (SMR): In the Lab & In the Field
Dietary intake in young athletes seem to meet most recommendations, therefore supplementing may only be necessary for a few select micronutrients based on age and gender. ... Read more »
Parnell, J., Wiens, K., & Erdman, K. (2016) Dietary Intakes and Supplement Use in Pre-Adolescent and Adolescent Canadian Athletes. Nutrients, 8(9), 526. DOI: 10.3390/nu8090526
- September 28, 2016
- 02:55 AM
- 211 views
Postural tachycardia syndrome and gluten?
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
Please use your full stops wisely.I believe that this is the first time that I've talked about postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS) on this blog as I bring to your attention some rather intriguing findings reported by Hugo Penny and colleagues [1] on how PoTS and gluten-related disorders might not be unstrange diagnostic bedfellows.PoTS by the way, describes symptoms where standing upright / sitting down induces dizziness, fainting and other symptoms. As well as being quite prevalent in a c........ Read more »
Penny, H., Aziz, I., Ferrar, M., Atkinson, J., Hoggard, N., Hadjivassiliou, M., West, J., & Sanders, D. (2016) Is there a relationship between gluten sensitivity and postural tachycardia syndrome?. European Journal of Gastroenterology , 1. DOI: 10.1097/MEG.0000000000000740
- September 27, 2016
- 05:50 PM
- 229 views
The unintended consequences of almond milk on California
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
A new study using aerial imagery across the state of California has found that converting land to grow almonds between 2007 and 2014 has led to a 27% annual increase in irrigation demands—despite the state's historic drought. The expansion of almonds has also consumed 16,000 acres of wetlands and will likely put additional pressure on already stressed honeybee populations.
... Read more »
WATKINS, Larissa, WATSON, Kelly, & HUFFMAN, F. Tyler. (2016) MONITORING CHANGE IN AGRICULTURAL LAND AND WATER USAGE IN CALIFORNIA’S CENTRAL VALLEY USING GEOSPATIAL TECHNIQUES. Geological Society of America. info:/10.1130/abs/2016AM-285205
- September 27, 2016
- 05:25 PM
- 180 views
‘Overpronation’ and achilles tendon blood flow
by Craig Payne in Running Research Junkie
‘Overpronation’ and achilles tendon blood flow... Read more »
Karzis, K., Kalogeris, M., Mandalidis, D., Geladas, N., Karteroliotis, K., & Athanasopoulos, S. (2016) The effect of foot overpronation on Achilles tendon blood supply in healthy male subjects. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine . DOI: 10.1111/sms.12722
- September 27, 2016
- 03:09 PM
- 203 views
Sex changes in nature
by Emily Makowski in Sextraordinary!
We might think of animal mating being as simple as 1 male and 1 female, like on Noah's Ark. But many types of fish undergo sex changes throughout their lives. My goal is to open people's eyes to the diversity among sex in animals.... Read more »
Tsuboi, M., & Sakai, Y. (2016) Polygamous mating system and protogynous sex change in the gobiid fish Fusigobius neophytus. Journal of Ethology, 34(3), 263-275. DOI: 10.1007/s10164-016-0472-x
- September 27, 2016
- 09:01 AM
- 95 views
Diagnostics of the acceleration modulation process based on quasi-periodic variations of flare emission by Kupriyanova et al.*
by CESRA in Solar Radio Science
Quasi-periodic pulsations (QPPs) with the characteristic time scales from a few seconds up to tens of minutes are frequently seen in the time profiles of solar and stellar flare emission (Nakariakov et al., 2016 ). Among all the possibilities of QPPs explanation, two reasons are discussed more actively: magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) [...]... Read more »
Kupriyanova et al. (2016) Diagnostics of the acceleration modulation process based on quasi-periodic variations of flare emission. Solar Physics. info:/
- September 27, 2016
- 08:32 AM
- 225 views
Do you really see plants? Humans and their plant blindness
by Alice Breda in la-Plumeria
What do you see in the picture? An elephant, right?
Some will say that they see an African elephant, or perhaps an elephant in the savannah protecting from the sun in the shade of a tree. But who sees an elephant and a majestic flowering baobab surrounded by savannah shrubs in a dry grass meadow?
If your answer is the latter, congratulations, you are a quite unique case. If in the picture you just see “an elephant” then you are just like most of the people around you.
This pheno........ Read more »
Wandersee, J., & Schussler, E. (1999) Preventing Plant Blindness. The American Biology Teacher, 61(2), 82-86. DOI: 10.2307/4450624
- September 27, 2016
- 02:55 AM
- 202 views
Neurotensin, intestinal inflammation and autism?
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
"Elevated peripheral pro-NT [neurotensin] levels reflect more severe forms of active celiac disease, indicating a potential role of NT in intestinal inflammation."The suggestion, from Caroline Montén and colleagues [1], that the neuropeptide called neurotensin might play a role in paediatric coeliac disease is an interesting one that caught my eye recently. Interesting not only because of the potential implications for the archetypal 'gluten-causing' autoimmune condition cal........ Read more »
Montén C, Torinsson Naluai Å, & Agardh D. (2016) Role of pro-neurotensin as marker of paediatric celiac disease. Clinical and experimental immunology. PMID: 27612962
- September 26, 2016
- 07:04 PM
- 195 views
What is behavior? Baby don’t ask me, don’t ask me, no more
by Piter Boll in Earthling Nature
by Piter Kehoma Boll One of the most difficult concepts to explain in biology is certainly life itself. But I am not here today to talk about the definition of life, but rather of another puzzling concept: behavior. Behavior is the … Continue reading →... Read more »
Bergner, R. (2011) What is behavior? And so what?. New Ideas in Psychology, 29(2), 147-155. DOI: 10.1016/j.newideapsych.2010.08.001
Bergner, R. (2016) What is behavior? And why is it not reducible to biological states of affairs?. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 36(1), 41-55. DOI: 10.1037/teo0000026
Levitis, D., Lidicker, W., & Freund, G. (2009) Behavioural biologists do not agree on what constitutes behaviour. Animal Behaviour, 78(1), 103-110. DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.03.018
- September 26, 2016
- 01:35 PM
- 226 views
Why do more men than women commit suicide?
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
Why do more men die when they attempt suicide than women? The answer could lie in four traits, finds scientists. There are over 6,000 British lives lost to suicide each year, and nearly 75 per cent of those are male. However, research has found women are more likely to suffer from depression, and to attempt to take their own life.
... Read more »
Deshpande, G., Baxi, M., Witte, T., & Robinson, J. (2016) A Neural Basis for the Acquired Capability for Suicide. Frontiers in Psychiatry. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2016.00125
- September 26, 2016
- 04:30 AM
- 281 views
Exergaming Brings Postural Control Rehabilitation Up to a Whole New Level
by Jane McDevitt in Sports Medicine Research (SMR): In the Lab & In the Field
Exergaming using the XBOX Kinect system has the potential to enhance postural control compared to standard gym-based exercise.... Read more »
Barry, G., van Schaik, P., MacSween, A., Dixon, J., & Martin, D. (2016) Exergaming (XBOX Kinect™) versus traditional gym-based exercise for postural control, flow and technology acceptance in healthy adults: a randomised controlled trial. BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation, 8(1). DOI: 10.1186/s13102-016-0050-0
- September 26, 2016
- 02:48 AM
- 221 views
On HERV-H, autism, ADHD and methylphenidate?
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
Today's post is a bit of a mash-up including two paper: the first from Emanuela Balestrieri and colleagues [1] (open-access available here) talking about "increased HERV-H [Human Endogenous Retroviruses - H] transcriptional activity in all autistic patients" included in their cohort (author's words not mine) and the second from D'Agati and colleagues [2] (open-access available here) describing "the reduction of HERV-H expression and the significant improvement of ADHD&n........; Read more »
Balestrieri E, Cipriani C, Matteucci C, Capodicasa N, Pilika A, Korca I, Sorrentino R, Argaw-Denboba A, Bucci I, Miele MT.... (2016) Transcriptional activity of human endogenous retrovirus in Albanian children with autism spectrum disorders. The new microbiologica, 39(3), 228-31. PMID: 27602423
D'Agati E, Pitzianti M, Balestrieri E, Matteucci C, Sinibaldi Vallebona P, & Pasini A. (2016) First evidence of HERV-H transcriptional activity reduction after methylphenidate treatment in a young boy with ADHD. The new microbiologica, 39(3), 237-9. PMID: 27602426
- September 25, 2016
- 09:29 PM
- 202 views
Big news in iPS cell transplants
by adam phillips in It Ain't Magic
iPS cell-derived retinal cells have been successfully transplanted from one money to another without need of immunosuppressant drugs.... Read more »
Sugita S, Iwasaki Y, Makabe K, Kamao H, Mandai M, Shiina T, Ogasawara K, Hirami Y, Kurimoto Y, & Takahashi M. (2016) Successful Transplantation of Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells from MHC Homozygote iPSCs in MHC-Matched Models. Stem cell reports. PMID: 27641649
- September 25, 2016
- 02:57 PM
- 232 views
Linking perception to action
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
Researchers studying how the brain uses perception of the environment to guide action offer a new understanding of the neural circuits responsible for transforming sensation into movement.
... Read more »
Goard, M., Pho, G., Woodson, J., & Sur, M. (2016) Distinct roles of visual, parietal, and frontal motor cortices in memory-guided sensorimotor decisions. eLife. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.13764
- September 24, 2016
- 06:24 PM
- 225 views
Impacts and injury and the transition to minimalist running shoes
by Craig Payne in Running Research Junkie
Impacts and injury and the transition to minimalist running shoes... Read more »
Salzler, M., Kirwan, H., Scarborough, D., Walker, J., Guarino, A., & Berkson, E. (2016) Injuries observed in a prospective transition from traditional to minimalist footwear: correlation of high impact transient forces and lower injury severity. The Physician and Sportsmedicine. DOI: 10.1080/00913847.2016.1238282
- September 24, 2016
- 03:26 AM
- 238 views
Correcting ophthalmic problems in autism
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
'Does Correction of Strabismus Improve Quality of Life in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder?' went the title of the paper by Pinar Ozer and colleagues [1]. Yes, it may very well do was the answer (but with certain caveats and the requirement for a lot more research in this area).Strabismus, a condition where the eyes don't line up in the same direction, can sometime have some quite noticeable effects on a person's vision and indeed, has been linked to various other non-vision related sympto........ Read more »
Ozer PA, Kabatas EU, Bicer BK, Bodur S, & Kurtul BE. (2016) Does Correction of Strabismus Improve Quality of Life in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Results of a Parent Survey by Ophthalmologists. Seminars in ophthalmology, 1-6. PMID: 27599387
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