This work provides an important foundation for future research to identify modifiable factors and to design interventions to minimize cognitive declines and optimize cognitive health in adulthood.”
“Aberrant activity in brain regions underlying various aspects of executive cognition has been reported in patients with schizophrenia and in Temsirolimus their healthy relatives, suggesting an association with genetic liability. The aim

of this study was to investigate brain responses to selective aspects of cognitive control in unaffected siblings who are at increased genetic risk of schizophrenia. Altogether, 65 non-affected siblings, 70 patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and 235 normal controls participated in this study. Blood-oxygen-level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging was conducted while participants performed a cognitive control task (‘flanker task’) to identify brain activity and connectivity associated with response inhibition and conflict monitoring, and suppression. Behaviorally, similar to patients with schizophrenia, siblings were less accurate when inhibiting prepotent responses relative to normal controls. During response inhibition, again similar to patients

with schizophrenia, siblings showed decreased activity in the anterior cingulate (ACC), along with increased functional coupling with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) when compared to normal controls. Our findings show altered ACC activity and PFC connectivity in unaffected siblings and patients with AZD2014 price schizophrenia during response inhibition. These results suggest that such changes in the neural activity underlying aspects of cognitive

control may represent a potential intermediate phenotype for the investigation of the genetic basis of schizophrenia. Neuropsychopharmacology (2013) 38, 846-853; doi:10.1038/npp.2012.250; published online 9 January 2013″
“Musculoskeletal complaints are the second most frequent reason for medical treatments. Within these diseases rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and, especially, osteoarthritis (OA) are common. Although the causes of Selleck CP673451 arthritis are multifactorial and not fully understood, clinical trials have generally shown benefit from dietary n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. This has usually been attributed to their anti-inflammatory properties. Recently we have used in vitro model systems to study the molecular mechanism(s) by which n-3 PUFAs may act to alleviate the symptoms of arthritis. These experiments showed that n-3 PUFAs reduce expression of cartilage-degrading proteinases, cyclooxygenase-2 and inflammatory cytokines. Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) was more effective than docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) or alpha-linolenic acid. The data provide a scientific rationale for the consumption of n-3 fatty acids as part of a healthy diet and perhaps in treating arthritis. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.