Behavioral studies have demonstrated that both medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and cerebellum play critical roles in trace eyeblink conditioning. However, little is known regarding the mechanism by which the two brain regions interact. By use of electrical stimulation of the caudal mPFC as a conditioned stimulus, we show evidence that persistent outputs from the mPFC to cerebellum are necessary and sufficient for the acquisition and expression of a trace conditioned response (CR)-like response. Specifically, the persistent outputs of caudal mPFC are relayed to the cerebellum via the rostral part of lateral pontine nuclei. Moreover, interfering with persistent activity by blockade of the muscarinic Ach receptor in the caudal mPFC impairs the expression of learned trace CRs. These results suggest an important way for the caudal mPFC to interact with the cerebellum during associative motor learning.
Environmental Vibrio cholerae strains isolated from a coastal brackish pond (Oyster Pond, Woods Hole, MA) carried a novel filamentous phage, VCY, which can exist as a host genome integrative form (IF) and a plasmid-like replicative form (RF). Outside the cell, the phage displays a morphology typical of Inovirus, with filamentous particles ϳ1.8 m in length and 7 nm in width. Four independent RF isolates had identical genomes, except for 8 single nucleotide polymorphisms clustered in two regions. The overall genome size is 7,103 bp with 11 putative open reading frames organized into three functional modules (replication, structure and assembly, and regulation). VCY shares sequence similarity with other filamentous phages (including cholera disease-associated CTX) in a highly mosaic manner, indicating evolution by horizontal gene transfer and recombination. VCY integrates in the vicinity of the putative translation initiation factor Sui1 in chromosome II of V. cholerae. A screen of 531 closely related host isolates showed that ϳ40% harbored phages, with 27% and 13% carrying the IF and RF, respectively. The relative frequencies of the RF and IF differed among strains isolated from the pond or lagoon of Oyster Pond, suggesting that the host habitat influences intracellular phage biology. The overall high prevalence within the host population shows that filamentous phages can be an important component of the environmental biology of V. cholerae. Filamentous phages of the genus Inovirus are unusual among bacterial viruses in that they do not lyse host cells when new phage particles are produced. Instead, new virions are packaged on the cell surface and extruded (24). These virions contain singlestranded DNA (ssDNA) that typically enters new hosts via a variety of pili positioned on the cell surface (26). Inside the host, inoviruses can persist as a circular, double-stranded replicative form (RF); alternatively, they can integrate into the host chromosome by a variety of mechanisms, including phage-encoded transposases (19) and host-encoded XerC/D (11, 13), which normally resolve chromosome dimers. Production of new phage ssDNA can proceed via rolling-circle replication from the RF. The genomes of inoviruses are composed of modules that encode genome replication, virion structure and assembly, and regulation (3); additionally, like many other phages, inoviruses can undergo extensive recombination, often picking up new genes in the process so that they may act as important mechanisms of gene transfer among hosts (7,9).Vibrio cholerae, an environmental bacterium containing strains capable of eliciting the diarrheal disease cholera, has become somewhat of a model for studying Inovirus biology and diversity. This is because an important pathogenicity factor, the cholera toxin (CT), is encoded and transferred by the filamentous phage CTX (21). Infection is mediated by the recognition of a type IV pilus (toxin-coregulated pilus), and the phage genome can irreversibly integrate into the host chromosome at one of two dif sites ...
Demyelination occurs widely in neurodegenerative diseases. Progesterone has neuroprotective effects, is known to reduce the clinical scores and the inflammatory response. Progesterone also promotes remyelination in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and cuprizone-induced demyelinating brain. However, it still remains unclear whether progesterone can alleviate neural behavioral deficits and demyelination with degeneration of oligodendroglial cells in cuprizone-induced mice. In this study, mice were fed with 0.2% cuprizone to induce demyelination, and treated with progesterone to test its potential protective effect on neural behavioral deficits, demyelination and degeneration of oligodendroglial cells. Our results showed noticeable alleviation of neural behavioral deficits following progesterone treatment as assessed by changes in average body weight, and activity during the open field and Rota-rod tests when compared with the vehicle treated cuprizone group. Progesterone treatment alleviated demyelination as shown by Luxol fast blue staining, MBP immunohistochemical staining, and electron microscopy. There was an obvious decrease in TUNEL and Caspase-3-positive apoptotic cells, and an increase in the number of oligodendroglial cells staining positive for PDGFRα, Olig2, Sox10 and CC-1 antibody in the brains of cuprizone-induced mice after progesterone administration. These results indicate that progesterone can alleviate neural behavioral deficits and demyelination against oligodendroglial cell degeneration in cuprizone-induced mice.
C-WSF is a reliable and valid version of the Workstyle measures for use in Chinese population.
BackgroundThe impact of strabismus on visual function, self-image, self-esteem, and social interactions decrease health-related quality of life (HRQoL).The purpose of this study was to evaluate and refine the adult strabismus quality of life questionnaire (AS-20) by using Rasch analysis among Chinese adult patients with strabismus.MethodsWe evaluated the fitness of the AS-20 with Rasch model in Chinese population by assessing unidimensionality, infit and outfit, person and item separation index and reliability, response ordering, targeting and differential item functioning (DIF).ResultsThe overall AS-20 did not demonstrate unidimensional; however, it was achieved separately in the two Rasch-revised subscales: the psychosocial subscale (11 items) and the function subscale (9 items). The features of good targeting, optimal item infit and outfit, and no notable local dependence were found for each of the subscales. The rating scale was appropriate for the psychosocial subscale but a reduction to four response categories was required for the function subscale. No significant DIF were revealed for any demographic and clinical factors (e.g., age, gender, and strabismus types).ConclusionThe AS-20 was demonstrated by Rasch analysis to be a rigorous instrument for measuring health-related quality of life in Chinese strabismus patents if some revisions were made regarding the subscale construct and response options.
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