Analysis Suggests Common Appearance of scaRNAs in Type II Systems and Their Association With Bacterial Virulence.

In addition to its well-established defense function, CRISPR/Cas can also exhibit crucial non-canonical activity through endogenous gene expression regulation, which was found to mainly affect bacterial virulence. These non-canonical functions depend on scaRNA, which is a small RNA encoded outside of CRISPR array, that is typically flanked by a transcription start site (TSS) and a terminator, and is in part complementary to another small CRISPR/Cas-associated RNA (tracrRNAs). Identification of scaRNAs is however largely complicated by the scarcity of RNA-Seq data across different bacteria, so that they were identified only in a relatively rare CRISPR/Cas subtype (IIB), and the possibility of finding them in other Type II systems is currently unclear.

Attaining in vivo selectivity of positive modulation of α3βγ2 GABA receptors in rats: A hard task!

It is unclear whether GABA receptors (GABARs) that contain the α3-subunit are substantially involved in the anxiolytic effects of benzodiazepines (BDZs). In the present study, we tested YT-III-31, a newer BDZ ligand with functional preference for α3βγ2 GABARs, in two paradigms of unconditioned anxiety, the open field and elevated plus maze in rats. The effective dose of YT-III-31 (2 mg/kg) displayed a clear anxiolytic-like profile, unhampered by sedative action, in both tests.

Quality of life in patients with MuSK positive myasthenia gravis.

It is believed that myasthenia gravis (MG) with antibodies to muscle-specific tyrosine kinase (MuSK) is the most severe form of the disease, especially in the first years of the disease. The aim of our study was to investigate quality of life (QoL) in a population of patients with MuSK MG compared to those with MG who have antibodies to acetylcholine receptor (AChR) in their sera. The study group consisted of 35 MuSK MG patients (28 females and 7 males), while the control group included 38 AChR MG patients matched for gender, age, and duration of the disease.

Contribution of bacterial promoter elements to transcription start site detection accuracy.

Accurately detecting transcription start sites (TSS) is a starting point for understanding gene transcription, and an important ingredient in a number of applications necessary for functional gene annotation, such as gene and operon predictions. Available methods for TSS detection in bacteria use very different description of the bacterial promoter structure and all of them show low accuracy. It is therefore unclear which promoter features should be included in TSS recognition, and how their accuracy impacts the search detection.

Lipopolysaccharide exposure during late embryogenesis results in diminished locomotor activity and amphetamine response in females and spatial cognition impairment in males in adult, but not adolescent rat offspring.

Numerous basic and epidemiological studies have connected prenatal maternal immune activation with the occurrence of schizophrenia and/or autism. Depending on subtle differences in protocols of the used animal model, a variety of behavioral abnormalities has been reported. This study investigated behavioral differences in Wistar rat offspring of both genders, exposed to the 100 μg/kg per day dose of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in late embryogenesis (embryonic days 15 and 16), while tested at their adolescent and young adult age (postnatal days 40 and 60, respectively).

Negative modulation of α₅ GABAA receptors in rats may partially prevent memory impairment induced by MK-801, but not amphetamine- or MK-801-elicited hyperlocomotion.

Reportedly, negative modulation of α5 GABAA receptors may improve cognition in normal and pharmacologically-impaired animals, and such modulation has been proposed as an avenue for treatment of cognitive symptoms in schizophrenia. This study assessed the actions of PWZ-029, administered at doses (2, 5, and 10 mg/kg) at which it reached micromolar concentrations in brain tissue with estimated free concentrations adequate for selective modulation of α5 GABAA receptors, in three cognitive tasks in male Wistar rats acutely treated with the noncompetitive N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonist, MK-801 (0.1 mg/kg), as well in tests of locomotor activity potentiated by MK-801 (0.