Semantic Interoperability, E-Health and Australian Health Statistics.

E-health implementation in Australia will depend upon interoperable computer systems to share information and data across the health sector. Semantic interoperability, which preserves the meaning of information and data when it is shared or re-purposed, is critical for safe clinical care, and also for any re-use of the information or data for other purposes. One such re-use is for national health statistics.

Glycogen synthase kinase 3beta links neuroprotection by 17beta-estradiol to key Alzheimer processes.

Estrogen exerts many of its receptor-mediated neuroprotective functions through the activation of various intracellular signal transduction pathways including the mitogen activating protein kinase (MAPK), phospho inositol-3 kinase and protein kinase C pathways. Here we have used a hippocampal slice culture model of kainic acid-induced neurotoxic cell death to show that estrogen can protect against oxidative cell death. We have previously shown that MAPK and glycogen synthase kinase-3beta (GSK-3beta) are involved in the cell death/cell survival induced by kainic acid.

Inactivation of glycogen synthase kinase-3beta protects against kainic acid-induced neurotoxicity in vivo.

Many neurodegenerative diseases involve oxidative stress and excitotoxic cell death. In an attempt to further elucidate the signal transduction pathways involved in the cell death/cell survival associated with excitotoxicity, we have used an in vivo model of excitotoxicity employing kainic acid (KA)-induced neurotoxicity. Here, we show that extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK) 2, but not ERK 1, is phosphorylated and thereby activated in the hippocampus and cerebellum of kainic acid-treated mice.

Estrogen receptor (ER)-mediated transcriptional regulation of the human corticotropin-releasing hormone-binding protein promoter: differential effects of ERalpha and ERbeta.

CRH-binding protein (CRH-BP) regulates activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis by binding and inhibiting CRH. We investigated for the first time transcriptional regulation of the human CRH-BP promoter using transient transfections. Estrogen receptors (ERs) contributed to ligand-independent constitutive activation of the promoter, whereas in the presence of estradiol ERalpha induced and ERbeta repressed promoter activity in a dose-dependent manner.

Inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta is involved in the resistance to oxidative stress in neuronal HT22 cells.

Oxidative stress is involved in several neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and ischemic reperfusion injury (stroke). We have established clones of the murine hippocampal neuronal cell line HT22, which are resistant to the oxidative stress-causing agents glutamate and hydrogen peroxide, respectively. These cell clones show a mutual cross-resistance to other oxidative stressors, but not to essentially non-oxidative neurotoxins.