Dysglycemia, gender, and cognitive performance in older persons living with mild cognitive impairment: findings from a cross-sectional, population-based study.

Objective: This study aims to examine the relationship between dysglycemia - also known as pre-diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance- and cognitive abilities in an older population living Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and stratified by gender.

Study Design: This is a retrospective study with data gathered from a large Italian clinical-based database.

Main Outcome Measures: The evaluation of cognitive performances by the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination Revised rating scale as tests of screening and a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation of several cognitive areas.

Sea urchin metallothionein sequence: key to an evolutionary diversity.

The metallothioneins (MTs) constitute a diverse family of proteins, which are enriched in cysteines and bind heavy metals. The amino acid sequence of sea urchin MT has been obtained from its mRNA sequence and compared with MT sequences of various sources. A largely conserved sequence of 10 amino acids, the "central segment," is located near the center of the MT molecules of Neurospora, yeast, and Drosophila and the center of putative domains in mammalian and sea urchin MTs.

Primary differentiation and ectoderm-specific gene expression in the animalized sea urchin embryo.

Primary differentiation in sea urchin embryos, animalized by zinc, has been gauged by the formation of characteristic endodermal and mesodermal tissue derivatives and by the accumulation of the ectoderm-specific Spec 1 mRNA. Increasing the dosage of zinc diminishes the differentiation of secondary mesenchyme, primary mesenchyme, endoderm, and ectoderm, in decreasing order. Treatment is effective only during the blastula stages, involving successive periods of sensitivity for these tissues.

Developmental regulation, induction, and embryonic tissue specificity of sea urchin metallothionein gene expression.

Metallothionein (MT) is shown to be present in sea urchin embryos on the basis of its characteristic properties as a small protein (6-7 Da) of extraordinarily high cysteine content, whose biosynthesis is readily induced by heavy metals. Induction by Zn2+ results in the accumulation of the cysteine-rich MT protein, a 0.8 kb MT mRNA and a 2.