An agent-based model of the Notch signaling pathway elucidates three levels of complexity in the determination of developmental patterning.

Background: The Notch signaling pathway is involved in cell fate decision and developmental patterning in diverse organisms. A receptor molecule, Notch (N), and a ligand molecule (in this case Delta or Dl) are the central molecules in this pathway. In early Drosophila embryos, these molecules determine neural vs.

Shortened Lifespan and Other Age-Related Defects in Bang Sensitive Mutants of .

Mitochondrial diseases are complex disorders that exhibit their primary effects in energetically active tissues. Damage generated by mitochondria is also thought to be a key component of aging and age-related disease. An important model for mitochondrial dysfunction is the bang sensitive (bs) mutants in Although these mutants all show a striking seizure phenotype, several bs mutants have gene products that are involved with mitochondrial function, while others affect excitability another way.

NMDA receptor dysregulation in chronic state: a possible mechanism underlying depression with BDNF downregulation.

Several lines of evidence indicate that chronic stress and downregulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BNDF) are the key components of depression pathology. Evidence from animal models of depression demonstrates that chronic stress impairs hippocampal BDNF expression and that antidepressant drug effects correlate with increased BDNF synthesis and activity in the hippocampus. Studies with human carriers of BDNF Met-allele polymorphism link stress vulnerability and risk for depression.

Creating Cross-disciplinary Courses.

Because of its focus on the biological underpinnings of action and behavior, neuroscience intersects with many fields of human endeavor. Some of these cross-disciplinary intersections have been long standing, while others, such as neurotheology or neuroeconomics, are more recently formed fields. Many undergraduate institutions have sought to include cross-disciplinary courses in their curriculum because this style of pedagogy is often seen as applicable to real world problems.

A new measure based on degree distribution that links information theory and network graph analysis.

Background: Detailed connection maps of human and nonhuman brains are being generated with new technologies, and graph metrics have been instrumental in understanding the general organizational features of these structures. Neural networks appear to have small world properties: they have clustered regions, while maintaining integrative features such as short average pathlengths.

Results: We captured the structural characteristics of clustered networks with short average pathlengths through our own variable, System Difference (SD), which is computationally simple and calculable for larger graph systems.

Adherence to antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected pediatric patients improves with home-based intensive nursing intervention.

Adherence to combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been shown to be a determining factor in controlling viral replication, maintaining immunologic function and long-term survival in HIV-positive individuals. Little information is available on strategies to improve adherence in pediatric HIV-infected patients. We conducted a randomized, nonblinded, pilot study to determine if a home-based nursing intervention would improve medication adherence.

Treatment with the antiepileptic drugs phenytoin and gabapentin ameliorates seizure and paralysis of Drosophila bang-sensitive mutants.

Drosophila bang-sensitive (bs) mutants exhibit a stereotypic seizure and paralysis following exposure to mechanical shock. In a physiological preparation, seizures and failures corresponding to the defective behavior are observed in response to high frequency stimulation. The amplitude of the stimulus necessary to produce bs behavior, or seizure threshold, varies with bs mutant and its gene dosage.

The Drosophila slamdance gene: a mutation in an aminopeptidase can cause seizure, paralysis and neuronal failure.

We report here the characterization of slamdance (sda), a Drosophila melanogaster "bang-sensitive" (BS) paralytic mutant. This mutant exhibits hyperactive behavior and paralysis following a mechanical "bang" or electrical shock. Electrophysiological analyses have shown that this mutant is much more prone to seizure episodes than normal flies because it has a drastically lowered seizure threshold.