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Volume 13 Issue 7, July 2012

Research Highlight

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In Brief

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Research Highlight

  • Diabetic patients often experience chronic pain as a complication of their condition. In this study, a metabolite produced under hyperglycaemic conditions is shown to influence the function of voltage-gated sodium channels expressed in nociceptive neurons resulting in neuropathic pain.

    • Sian Lewis
    Research Highlight
  • ARC targets less active synapses for weakening through an interaction with inactive CaMKIIβ.

    • Katherine Whalley
    Research Highlight
  • A cytoskeleton in the distal part of the axon forms a boundary that spatially restricts AnkG clustering and thereby AIS assembly.

    • Leonie Welberg
    Research Highlight
  • A single exposure to a shock wave associated with a 'typical' explosive device is sufficient to induce sustained brain pathology and memory impairments as early as 2 weeks after exposure in mice.

    • Leonie Welberg
    Research Highlight
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In Brief

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Research Highlight

  • Two studies show that a population of amacrine cells may have a key role in mammalian blue–green colour vision.

    • Darran Yates
    Research Highlight
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Review Article

  • Recent improvements in the technology available for the analysis of genetic variability have revolutionized the study of many diseases. Hardy and colleagues illustrate how genome-wide strategies, including whole-genome and whole-exome sequencing, have been used to improve our understanding of the pathobiological mechanisms of neurological diseases

    • Jose Bras
    • Rita Guerreiro
    • John Hardy

    Collection:

    Review Article
  • Tryptophan metabolism along the kynurenine pathway generates several neuroactive metabolites. Schwarcz and colleagues discuss the regulation of this pathway in the normal brain and in neurological and psychiatric disorders, and consider the potential therapeutic opportunities of targeting this pathway.

    • Robert Schwarcz
    • John P. Bruno
    • Hui-Qiu Wu
    Review Article
  • Behavioural learning is accompanied by loss and gain of synapses, which is thought to be the mechanism by which circuits are altered and 'memory traces' established. Recent research, reviewed here, suggests that learning and memory events involve the rearrangement of ensembles of adjacent synapses on short stretches of dendrites.

    • Pico Caroni
    • Flavio Donato
    • Dominique Muller
    Review Article
  • Functional MRI studies have revealed useful information about the ageing brain. In this Review, Cheryl Grady explains how correlating cognitive decline to changes in brain structure and function is hampered by the complexity of the ageing process.

    • Cheryl Grady
    Review Article
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Opinion

  • Multiple sclerosis (MS) is generally considered to be an autoimmune, inflammatory disease. In this provocative Perspective, Stys and colleagues propose that non-inflammatory, primary progressive MS is the 'real' MS, and that inflammatory forms of the disorder reflect an aberrant immune reaction to ongoing cytodegeneration.

    • Peter K. Stys
    • Gerald W. Zamponi
    • Jeroen J. G. Geurts
    Opinion
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Correspondence

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