Rett syndrome (RTT) is an autistic spectrum developmental disorder associated with mutations in the X-linked Mecp2 gene, and severe behavioural and neuropathological deficits. In a mouse model of RTT (Mecp2(1lox)), we examined whether environmental enrichment (EE) alters behavioural performance and regional brain volume. At weaning, Mecp2(1lox) and control mice were assigned to enriched or standard housing. From postnatal day 29 to 43, mice were subjected to behavioural tasks measuring motor and cognitive performance. At postnatal day 44, volumes of whole brain, cerebellum, ventricles, and motor cortex were measured using magnetic resonance imaging. EE provided subtle improvements to locomotor activity and contextual fear conditioning in Mecp2(1lox) mice. Additionally, EE reduced ventricular volumes, which correlated with improved locomotor activity, suggesting that neuroanatomical changes contribute to improved behaviour. Our results suggest that post-weaning EE may provide a non-invasive palliative treatment for RTT.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2008.07.008 | DOI Listing |
Environ Monit Assess
January 2025
Municipal Budgetary Educational Institution "Lyceum of the City of Yurga", St. Kirova, 7, Yurga, Kemerovo Region, 652055, Russia.
In Kemerovo Region (Kuzbass, Southwest Siberia), there is the largest coal basin in Russia and one of the largest in the world. Active moss biomonitoring was applied to assess the impact of potentially toxic elements on air pollution in five urban areas of the region. In each of the chosen urban regions, the moss bags were exposed in November and December of 2022 at locations with varying degrees of anthropogenic pressure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Appl Anim Welf Sci
January 2025
Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias, Unesp Campus de Jaboticabal, São Paulo, Brasil.
Environmental enrichment designed in accordance with the cats' individuality and household characteristics is one of the most effective and widely used tools to enhance feline welfare. This study aimed to evaluate the types of environmental enrichments provided by cat guardians and their associations with housing features and cat personality. An online questionnaire was developed including questions about types of enrichment provided, housing features (indoor .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCells
December 2024
Infectious Diseases Department, Clinica Universitaria Colombia, Clínica Colsanitas S.A., Bogotá 111321, Colombia.
Inflammation can positively and negatively affect tumorigenesis based on the duration, scope, and sequence of related events through the regulation of signaling pathways. A transcriptomic analysis of five pulmonary arterial hypertension, twelve Crohn's disease, and twelve ulcerative colitis high throughput sequencing datasets using R language specialized libraries and gene enrichment analyses identified a regulatory network in each inflammatory disease. IRF9 and LINC01089 in pulmonary arterial hypertension are related to the regulation of signaling pathways like MAPK, NOTCH, human papillomavirus, and hepatitis c infection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMater Horiz
January 2025
Natural Sciences and Science Education, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637616, Singapore.
The availability of clean water is fundamental for maintaining sustainable environments and human ecosystems. Capacitive deionization offers a cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and energy-efficient solution to meet the rising demand for clean water. Electrode materials based on pseudocapacitive adsorption have attracted significant attention in capacitive deionization due to their relatively high desalination capacity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFYi Chuan
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430078, China.
It has been more than 40 years since the beginning of exploring the genetic composition of ancient organisms from the perspective of ancient DNA. In the recent 20 years, with the development and application of high-throughput sequencing technology platforms and the improved efficiency of retrieving highly fragmented DNA molecules, ancient DNA research moved forward to a brand-new era of deep-time paleogenomics. It not only solved many controversial phylogenetic problems, enriched the migration and evolution details of various organisms including humans, but also launched exploration of the molecular responses to climate changes in terms of "whole genomic-big data-multi-species" level.
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