laura

Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder with a world-wide prevalence of 1%. The pathophysiology of the illness is not understood, but is thought to have a strong genetic component with some environmental influences on aetiology. To gain further insight into disease mechanism, we used microarray technology to determine the expression of over 30 000 mRNA transcripts in post-mortem tissue from a brain region associated with the pathophysiology of the disease (Brodmann area 10: anterior prefrontal cortex) in 28 schizophrenic and 23 control patients. We then compared our study (Charing Cross Hospital prospective collection) with that of an independent prefrontal cortex dataset from the Harvard Brain Bank. We report the first direct comparison between two independent studies. A total of 51 gene expression changes have been identified that are common between the schizophrenia cohorts, and 49 show the same direction... - laura

http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi... - laura from Bookmarklet

gets better every time... - laura

ditto - Christopher Harris

moo? - Christopher Harris

Dieting to control body weight involves cycles of deprivation from palatable food that can promote compulsive eating. The present study shows that rats withdrawn from intermittent access to palatable food exhibit overeating of palatable food upon renewed access and an affective withdrawal-like state characterized by corticotropin-releasing factor-1 (CRF1) receptor antagonist-reversible behaviors, including hypophagia, motivational deficits to obtain less palatable food, and anxiogenic-like behavior. - laura from Bookmarklet

"This is a problem: what to do after psychoanalysis, and before Dennett’s mystery-banishing total explanation of consciousness has arrived?" - laura from Bookmarklet

hmmm... bit conflicted about this text, so ominous. I don't think 'neuronovels' have to be about mental illnesses only, and I don't think such novels necessarily point to shrinking importance of the novel in general. more like people are slowly accepting that the mind is (more or less) the brain and those who are writers explore that realization in fiction. there's probably more to it but i'm not sure this essay addresses that, whatever it is. - Christopher Harris

Current protocols in molecular biology / edited by Frederick M. Ausubel ... [et al.], Vol. Chapter 19 (October 2009) Electronic data resources can enable molecular biologists to query and display many useful features that make benchwork more efficient and drive new discoveries. The UCSC Genome Browser provides a wealth of data and tools that advance one's understanding of genomic context for many species, enable detailed understanding of data, and provide the ability to interrogate regions of interest. Researchers can also supplement the standard display with their own data to query and share with others. Effective use of these resources has become crucial to biological research today, and this unit describes some practical applications of the UCSC Genome Browser. Mary Mangan, Jennifer Williams, Robert Kuhn, Warren Lathe - laura

Neurogenetics (21 May 2009) GBA and LRRK2 mutations increase susceptibility to Parkinson disease (PD), which is characterized by various disabling symptoms. An extended cohort of 600 Ashkenazi PD patients was screened for the LRRK2 G2019S and for eight GBA mutations. Reported initial symptoms were compared between three genotypic groups of patients: carriers of GBA mutations, carriers of LRRK2 G2019S mutation, and non-carriers. More LRRK2 G2019S carriers reported muscle stiffness (rigidity, p = 0.007) and balance disturbances (p = 0.008), while more GBA mutation carriers reported slowness (bradykinesia, p = 0.021). These results suggest distinct effects of LRRK2 or GBA mutations on the initial symptoms of PD. Z Gan-Or, A Bar-Shira, A Mirelman, T Gurevich, M Kedmi, N Giladi, A Orr-Urtreger - laura

Neuropsychopharmacology, Vol. aop, No. current. (14 October 2009) The Stanley Neuropathology Consortium Integrative Database: a Novel, Web-Based Tool for Exploring Neuropathological Markers in Psychiatric Disorders and the Biological Processes Associated with Abnormalities of Those Markers Neuropsychopharmacology advance online publication, October 14, 2009. doi:10.1038/npp.2009.151 Authors: Sanghyeon Kim & Maree J Webster Keywords: database, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, expression profile, molecular mechanisms Sanghyeon Kim, Maree Webster - laura

European Journal of Human Genetics, Vol. aop, No. current. (14 October 2009) Gain-of-function variant in GLUD2 glutamate dehydrogenase modifies Parkinson's disease onset European Journal of Human Genetics advance online publication, October 14, 2009. doi:10.1038/ejhg.2009.179 Authors: Andreas Plaitakis, Helen Latsoudis, Konstantinos Kanavouras, Beate Ritz, Jeff M Bronstein, Irene Skoula, Vasileios Mastorodemos, Spyridon Papapetropoulos, Nikolas Borompokas, Ioannis Zaganas, Georgia Xiromerisiou, George M Hadjigeorgiou & Cleanthe Spanaki Andreas Plaitakis, Helen Latsoudis, Konstantinos Kanavouras, Beate Ritz, Jeff Bronstein, Irene Skoula, Vasileios Mastorodemos, Spyridon Papapetropoulos, Nikolas Borompokas, Ioannis Zaganas, Georgia Xiromerisiou, George Hadjigeorgiou, Cleanthe Spanaki - laura

European Journal of Human Genetics, Vol. aop, No. current. (14 October 2009) Sporadic cases are the norm for complex disease European Journal of Human Genetics advance online publication, October 14, 2009. doi:10.1038/ejhg.2009.177 Authors: Jian Yang, Peter M Visscher & Naomi R Wray Jian Yang, Peter Visscher, Naomi Wray - laura