Behavioral and neural mechanisms of latent inhibition.

Fear is an adaptive emotion that serves to protect an organism against potential dangers. It is often studied using classical conditioning paradigms where a conditioned stimulus is paired with an aversive unconditioned stimulus to induce a threat response. Less commonly studied is a phenomenon that is related to this form of conditioning, known as latent inhibition.

Role of serum MMP-9 levels and vitamin D receptor polymorphisms in the susceptibility to coronary artery disease: An association study in Iranian population.

Background: Data concerning the association of serum levels of vitamin D and metalloproteinases and vitamin D receptor gene polymorphism with coronary artery disease (CAD) is not fully demonstrated. The present study aimed to evaluate the association of vitamin D receptor gene polymorphism, serum levels of 25(OH) vitamin D and metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) with CAD.

Methods: 104 patients with CAD and 69 Non-CAD subjects were included in current study.

Neural changes in extinction recall following prolonged exposure treatment for PTSD: A longitudinal fMRI study.

Background: Neurobiological models of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) implicate fear processing impairments in the maintenance of the disorder. Specific deficits in extinction recall, the retention of learned extinction, have been demonstrated. While deficient extinction recall, and the associated activation pattern of prefrontal and hippocampal regions, distinguishes individuals with PTSD from controls, research has not yet examined changes following treatment.

Meeting report: "Depression and Anxiety Spectrum disorders: from basic science to the clinic and back".

In March, 2012 we held the first Mideast conference on "Depression and Anxiety Spectrum disorders: from basic science to the clinic and back", at the University of Amman, Jordan. This event brought together both clinical and basic scientists with expertise in depression and anxiety spectrum disorders. The meeting took place in a large lecture hall at the University of Jordan Medical School.