7% to 4.2%, is manifested by motor and phonic tics and associated with a variety of behavioral abnormalities including impulsivity. Clinical,

neuroimaging and other studies support dysfunction of the dopamine and 5-hydroxytryptamine neurotransmitter systems in TS. To determine whether IS is associated with mutation in the 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor 2B gene (HTR2B), which has been also implicated in impulsivity, we screened 132 Caucasian and 128 Chinese Han patients with TS. Two novel (c.188T>G, Met63Arg; c.1346G>A, Arg449Gln) and three known (rs61731726, Gly51Gln; rs200541113, Lys324Asn; I-BET151 cost rs61731723, Asn438Asn) nucleotide variants were found. Further analysis of sex, age, and ethnically matched normal controls (138 Caucasians and 248 Chinese Han individuals), as well as an affected family member, indicated that these variants may not be pathogenically relevant, suggesting that variants in the HTR2B gene may play Selleckchem Erastin little or no role in the development of TS. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights

reserved.”
“Recently, it has been proved that methylprednisolone has inhibition effect on the proliferation of endogenous neural progenitor cells (NPCs) after spinal cord injury (SCI). Similar effect has also been found on NPCs cultured in vitro. However, the mechanism remains to be fully delineated. The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential molecular mechanism of this effect in NPCs cultured in vitro by gene expression profiling. Fetal mouse brain-derived NPCs were divided into 2 groups: NPCs incubated with methylprednisolone as a model of the methylprednisolone treatment after SCI, and without methylprednisolone as the control group. After the

cell quantitative analysis and CCK-8 assay, the microarray analysis was carried out. Genes differentially expressed between NPCs treated with and without methylprednisolone were extracted. It was observed that the expression of 143 genes, including many members of distinct families, such as hypoxia inducible factors and IPI-549 neurotransmitter receptors, were significantly changed in response to the methylprednisolone treatment. Our results provide global molecular insights into the mechanisms of methylprednisolone-induced proliferation inhibition effect and suggest that EdnrB may play an important role in this effect. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Schizophrenia is characterized by the impairment of several facets of social cognition. This has been demonstrated in numerous studies that focused on specific aspects of social cognition such as the attribution of intentions, emotions, or false beliefs to others. However, most of these studies relied on complex verbal descriptions or impoverished social stimuli.