Linking mind wandering tendency to risky driving in young male drivers.

Risky driving is a significant contributor to road traffic crashes, especially in young drivers. Transient mind wandering states, an internal form of distraction, are associated with faster driving, reduced headway distance, slower response times, reduced driver vigilance, and increased crash risk. It is unclear whether a trait tendency to mind wander predicts risky driving, however.

Thyroid hormone response element half-site organization and its effect on thyroid hormone mediated transcription.

Thyroid hormone (TH) exerts its effects by binding to the thyroid hormone receptor (TR), which binds to TH response elements (TREs) to regulate target gene expression. We investigated the relative ability of liganded homodimers TR and retinoid X receptor (RXR), and the heterodimer TR/RXR, to regulate gene expression for the TRE half-site organizations: direct repeat 4 (DR4), inverted repeat 0 (IR0) and everted repeat 6 (ER6). Luciferase reporter assays using a DR4 TRE suggest that both the TR homodimer and TR/RXR heterodimer regulate luciferase expression in the presence of their respective ligands.

Relationships between frequency of driving under the influence of cannabis, self-reported reckless driving and risk-taking behavior observed in a driving simulator.

Introduction: The role of cannabis consumption in traffic crashes is unclear and the causal link between cannabis and collisions is still to be demonstrated. While cannabis use is very likely to impair driving ability, there is as yet no overwhelming evidence that cannabis use in isolation contributes more to collisions than other characteristics inherent to cannabis users. As noted in a growing body of literature, individuals driving under the influence of cannabis (DUIC) seem to exhibit a general reckless driving style putting them at higher risk to be involved in traffic crashes.

Thyroid hormone-regulated gene expression in juvenile mouse liver: identification of thyroid response elements using microarray profiling and in silico analyses.

Background: Disruption of thyroid hormone signalling can alter growth, development and energy metabolism. Thyroid hormones exert their effects through interactions with thyroid receptors that directly bind thyroid response elements and can alter transcriptional activity of target genes. The effects of short-term thyroid hormone perturbation on hepatic mRNA transcription in juvenile mice were evaluated, with the goal of identifying genes containing active thyroid response elements.

Thyroid hormone may regulate mRNA abundance in liver by acting on microRNAs.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are extensively involved in diverse biological processes. However, very little is known about the role of miRNAs in mediating the action of thyroid hormones (TH). Appropriate TH levels are known to be critically important for development, differentiation and maintenance of metabolic balance in mammals.