Frequency specific changes in regional cerebral blood flow and motor system connectivity following rTMS to the primary motor cortex.

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to the human primary motor cortex (M1) causes bidirectional changes in corticospinal excitability depending on the stimulation frequency used. We used functional brain imaging to compare the effects of 5 Hz and 1 Hz-rTMS on local and inter-regional connectivity within the motor system. Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured as a marker of synaptic activity at rest and during freely selected finger movements.

Airway responses to aerosolized brevetoxins in an animal model of asthma.

Florida red tide brevetoxins are sodium channel neurotoxins produced by the dinoflagellate Karenia brevis. When aerosolized, the toxin causes airway symptoms in normal individuals and patients with airway disease, but systematic exposures to define the pulmonary consequences and putative mechanisms are lacking. Here we report the effects of airway challenges with lysed cultures of Karenia brevis (crude brevetoxin), pure brevetoxin-2, brevetoxin-3, and brevetoxin-tbm (brevetoxin-2 minus the side chain) on pulmonary resistance and tracheal mucus velocity, a marker of mucociliary clearance, in allergic and nonallergic sheep.

What's in a name? A systematic review of the nomenclature of Chinese medical formulae.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been modified to some extent in other Far Eastern countries such as Korea and Japan. Researchers of each of the three countries seem to use different English names for the same Chinese medicinal formulae. Lack of knowledge of the Chinese characters is destined to increase this confusion.

Protein phosphatase 2A catalytic subunit is methyl-esterified at its carboxyl terminus by a novel methyltransferase.

In eukaryotic cells a number of different proteins with important regulatory functions are reversibly methyl-esterified at carboxyl-terminal prenylcysteine residues. These proteins include the low molecular weight GTP-binding proteins, the gamma-subunit of the heterotrimeric G-proteins, and the nuclear lamins. The methylating enzymes that catalyze this type of carboxyl methylation reaction are integral membrane proteins, and the methylated protein products tend to be membrane-associated.