Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Recent advancements in surgical correction of coronal suture craniosynostosis involve the overcorrection of a frontal bone segment to allow unrestricted growth of the developing brain. However, problems with segment stability and collapse have been reported. Such problems may be alleviated with microplate fixation of the segments. The present experimental study tests this hypothesis in a growing rabbit frontal bone advancement model. Sixteen 6-week-old rabbits were divided into three groups, consisting of animals with short bone segments advanced with two bone struts and fixed with Vicryl, long bone segments advanced with one bone strut and fixed with Vicryl, or long bone segments advanced with one bone strut and fixed with microplates. Frontal bone advancement collapse was assessed from lateral x-rays through 12 weeks postoperatively. Animals with microplate fixation exhibited significantly (p less than 0.01) less collapse (about 1% height reduction) compared to animals with short segments (about 30%) and long segments (about 45%). These results support, with experimental evidence, the utility of rigid three-dimensional fixation afforded by the microplate system in overcoming the effects of cranial growth and scalp and epicranial musculature closing tensions.
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PMID:Frontal bone advancement stability with or without microplate fixation: an experimental study in rabbits. 180 11

Recent data from research cruises and explorator fishing in the Antarctic Polar Frontal Zone (APFZ) of the Scotia Sea, together with data from dietary studies of Antarctic vertebrate predators, have revealed a large, previously overlooked trophic system in the Southern Ocean (Fig. 1). The upper trophic levels of this open-ocean epipelagic community are exceptional in that they contain no fish species. Fishes are replaced by cephalopods, including the ommastrephid squid, Martialia hyadesi. This squid preys on mesopelagic m.yctophids (lanternfish), which feed largely on copepods. We identify here a geographically distinct, Antarctic, open-ocean food chain which is of importance to air breathing predator species but where Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba, is absent. This system is probably prevalent in areas of higher primary productivity, especially the Scotia Sea and near the peri-Antarctic islands. Squid stocks in the APFZ may have potential for commercial exploitation, but they, and the predators they support, are likely to be sensitive to overfishing. Squid have a short, semelparous lifecycle, so overfishing in a single year can cause a stock to collapse.
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PMID:Cephalopods Occupy the Ecological Niche of Epipelagic Fish in the Antarctic Polar Frontal Zone. 2776

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by the loss of synaptic contacts caused in part by cytoskeleton disruption. Adrenomedullin (AM) is involved in physiological functions such as vasodilation, hormone secretion, antimicrobial activity, cellular growth, and angiogenesis. In neurons, AM and related peptides are associated with some structural and functional cytoskeletal proteins, causing microtubule destabilization. Here, we describe the relationships between AM and other signs of AD in clinical specimens. Frontal cortex from AD patients and controls were studied for AM, acetylated tubulin, NCAM, Ox-42, and neurotransmitters. AM was increased in AD compared with controls, while levels of acetylated tubulin, NCAM, and neurotransmitters were decreased. Interestingly, increases in AM statistically correlated with the decrease in these markers. Furthermore, Ox42 overexpression in AD correlated with levels of AM. It is proposed that AD patients may have neural cytoskeleton failure associated with increase of AM levels, resulting in axon transport collapse and synaptic loss. These observations suggest that reducing AM expression may constitute a new avenue to prevent/treat AD.
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PMID:Increased Levels of Brain Adrenomedullin in the Neuropathology of Alzheimer's Disease. 2886 32