Summary The abundant synaptic protein, CaMKII, is necessary for long-term potentiation (LTP) and memory. However, whether CaMKII is required only during initial processes or whether it also mediates memory storage remains unclear. The most direct test of a storage role is the erasure test. In this test, a putative memory molecule is transiently inhibited after learning. The key prediction is that this should produce persistent memory erasure. We conducted this test using transient viral (HSV) expression of dominant-negative CaMKII-alpha (K42M) in the hippocampus. This produced persistent erasure of conditioned place avoidance. As an additional test, we found that expression of activated CaMKII (T286D/T305A/T306A) impaired place avoidance, a result not expected if a process other than CaMKII stores memory. Our behavioral results, taken together with prior experiments on LTP, strongly support a critical role of CaMKII in LTP maintenance and memory storage.

Department of Pharmacology, Efforts to discover and develop new antimalarial drugs have increased dramatically in recent Maulana Azad Medical College, years mainly because of resistance to existing antimalarial drugs. Selection of candidate drugs Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, for clinical trials in man and the design of clinical protocols are based upon consideration of Delhi-110002. data from a battery of preclinical test systems. All compounds are assessed initially in one or *Malaria Research Center, more primary screening models. A compound which is considered 'active' by well estab-No. 22, Sham Nath Marg lished criteria in primary screening test is considered for further evaluation in successively Delhi-110054. more clinical tests. At the end of each stage of testing, a decision is taken to advance the compound to the next stage or discontinue it. Primary screening tests should have optimal

We present the first study of mixed alkanethiolate SAMs on ultrasmooth gold surfaces. By eliminating surface roughness, it became possible, for the first time, to investigate wetting properties as a function of surface chemical composition. In three different surface compositions, it was found that contact-angle hysteresis apparently vanished. This suggests that surface chemical heterogeneity does not contribute to contact-angle hysteresis in mixed SAMs on ultrasmooth gold surfaces.

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Citation: Yehoshua Z, Gregori G, Sadda SR, et al. Comparison of drusen area detected by spectral domain optical coherence tomography and color fundus imaging. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2013;54;4:24294: -24344: . DOI:10.1167 PURPOSE. To compare the measurements of drusen area from manual segmentation of color fundus photographs with those generated by an automated algorithm designed to detect elevations of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) on spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) images. METHODS.Fifty eyes with drusen secondary to nonexudative age-related macular degeneration were enrolled. All eyes were imaged with a high-definition OCT instrument using a 200 3 200 A-scan raster pattern covering a 6 mm 3 6 mm area centered on the fovea. Digital color fundus images were taken on the same day. Drusen were traced manually on the fundus photos by graders at the Doheny Image Reading Center, whereas quantitative OCT measurements of drusen were obtained by using a fully automated algorithm. The color fundus images were registered to the OCT data set and measurements within corresponding 3-and 5-mm circles centered at the fovea were compared. . The mean differences between color images and the SD-OCT (color À SD-OCT) were 0.36 (60.93) (P ¼ 0.008) for the 3-mm circle and 1.26 (61.38) (P < 0.001) for the 5-mm circle measurements. Intraclass correlation coefficients of agreements for 3-and 5-mm measurements were 0.599 and 0.540, respectively. RESULTS. The mean areas (6SD [rangeCONCLUSIONS. There was only fair agreement between drusen area measurements obtained from SD-OCT images and color fundus photos. Drusen area measurements on color fundus images were larger than those with SD-OCT scans. This difference can be attributed to the fact that the OCT algorithm defines drusen in terms of RPE deformations above a certain threshold, and will not include small, flat drusen and subretinal drusenoid deposits. The two approaches provide complementary information about drusen.

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CD44 plays an important role in leukocyte extravasation, which is fortified in autoimmune diseases and delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reactions. There is additional evidence that distinct CD44 isoforms interfere with the extravasation of selective leukocyte subsets. We wanted to explore this question in alopecia areata (AA), a hair-follicle centric autoimmune disease, and in a chronic eczema. The question became of interest because AA is treated efficiently by topical application of a contact sensitizer, such that a mild DTH reaction is maintained persistently. Aiming to support the therapeutic efficacy of a chronic eczema in AA by anti-CD44 treatment, it became essential to control whether a blockade of migration, preferentially of AA effector cells, could be achieved by CD44 isoform-specific antibodies. Anti-panCD44 and anti-CD44 variant 10 isoform (CD44v10) inhibited in vitro migration of leukocytes from untreated and allergen-treated, control and AA mice. In vivo, both antibodies interfered with T cell and monocyte extravasation into the skin; only anti-panCD44 prevented T cell homing into lymph nodes. Contributing factors are disease-dependent alterations in chemokine/chemokine receptor expression and a blockade of CD44 on endothelial cells and leukocytes. It is important that CD44 can associate with several integrins and ICAM-1. Associations depend on CD44 activation and vary with CD44 isoforms and leukocyte subpopulations. CD44 standard isoform preferentially associates with CD49d in T cells and CD44v10 with CD11b in monocytes. Accordingly, anti-panCD44 and anti-CD49d inhibit T cell, anti-CD11b, and anti-CD44v10 macrophage migration most efficiently. Thus, allergen treatment of AA likely can be supported by targeting AA T cells selectively via a panCD44-CD49d-bispecific antibody.