Regulator of oligodendrocyte maturation, miR-219, a potential biomarker for MS.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating and degenerative disease of the central nervous system. Normally, demyelination is followed by remyelination, which requires repopulation of a demyelinated area by oligodendrocyte precursor cells. Although large numbers of precursor cells are present in MS lesions, remyelination often fails, in part by the inability of precursor cells to differentiate into mature myelin-forming cells.

DHEA and DHEA-S levels in posttraumatic stress disorder: A meta-analytic review.

Differences in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) functioning between patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and controls are among the most consistent neurobiological findings in PTSD. HPA-axis activation results in the output of various steroid hormones including dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), which is then converted into dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), with anti-glucocorticoid actions among its pleiotropic effects. To investigate whether there is evidence for consistent differences in basal DHEA and DHEA-s levels between individuals with and without PTSD, we performed random-effect meta-analyses aggregating findings of previously published studies.