From Infancy to Childhood: A Comprehensive Review of Event- and Task-Related Brain Oscillations.

Brain development from infancy through childhood involves complex structural and functional changes influenced by both internal and external factors. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of event and task-related brain oscillations, focusing on developmental changes across different frequency bands, including delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma. Electroencephalography (EEG) studies highlight that these oscillations serve as functional building blocks for sensory and cognitive processes, with significant variations observed across different developmental stages. Delta oscillations, primarily associated with deep sleep and early cognitive demands, gradually diminish as children age. Theta rhythms, crucial for attention and memory, display a distinct pattern in early childhood, evolving with cognitive maturation. Alpha oscillations, reflecting thalamocortical interactions and cognitive performance, increase in complexity with age. Beta rhythms, linked to active thinking and problem-solving, show developmental differences in motor and cognitive tasks. Gamma oscillations, associated with higher cognitive functions, exhibit notable changes in response to sensory stimuli and cognitive tasks. This review underscores the importance of understanding oscillatory dynamics to elucidate brain development and its implications for sensory and cognitive processing in childhood. The findings provide a foundation for future research on developmental neuroscience and potential clinical applications.

Faslpr gene dosage tunes the extent of lymphoproliferation and T cell differentiation in lupus.

Sle1 and Faslpr are two lupus susceptibility loci that lead to manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus. To evaluate the dosage effects of Faslpr in determining cellular and serological phenotypes associated with lupus, we developed a new C57BL/6 (B6) congenic lupus strain, B6.Sle1/Sle1.Faslpr/+ (Sle1homo.lprhet) and compared it with B6.Faslpr/lpr (lprhomo), B6.Sle1/Sle1 (Sle1homo), and B6.Sle1/Sle1.Faslpr/lpr (Sle1homo.lprhomo) strains. Whereas Sle1homo.lprhomo mice exhibited profound lymphoproliferation and early mortality, Sle1homo.lprhet mice had a lifespan comparable to B6 mice, with no evidence of splenomegaly or lymphadenopathy. Compared to B6 monogenic lupus strains, Sle1homo.lprhet mice exhibited significantly elevated serum ANA antibodies and increased proteinuria. Additionally, Sle1homo.lprhet T cells had an increased propensity to differentiate into Th1 cells. Gene dose effects of Faslpr were noted in upregulating serum IL-1⍺, IL-2, and IL-27. Taken together, Sle1homo.lprhet strain is a new C57BL/6-based model of lupus, ideal for genetic studies, autoantibody repertoire investigation, and for exploring Th1 effector cell skewing without early-age lymphoproliferative autoimmunity.

Estrogen Inhibits Epithelial Progesterone Receptor-Dependent Progestin Therapy Efficacy in a Mouse Model of Cervical Cancer.

Although the uterine cervix responds to the female sex hormone change, the role of progesterone in cervical cancer is poorly understood. It has been shown that medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) regresses cervical cancer in the transgenic mouse model expressing human papillomavirus type 16 E6 and E7 oncogenes. As MPA interacts most strongly with progesterone receptor (PR), we reasoned that PR would contribute to MPA-induced regression of cervical cancer. We also hypothesized that estrogen influences the therapeutic activity of MPA because it promotes cervical cancer growth in the same mouse model. The present study showed that the deletion of Pgr in the cervical cancer cells ablated the MPA's therapeutic effect in the human papillomavirus transgenic mouse model. Additionally, estrogen attenuated cancer regression by MPA in the same model system. These observations indicate that MPA can effectively regress cervical cancer only when cancer cells express PR and estrogen levels are low. These results suggest that, if translatable, MPA should be administered when estrogen levels are low in patients with PR-positive cervical cancer.

A small molecule identified through an in silico screen inhibits Aurora B-INCENP interaction.

Aurora B is a serine/threonine kinase that has a central role in the regulation of mitosis. The observation of Aurora B overexpression in cancer makes it a promising target to develop antitumoral inhibitors. We describe a new potential inhibitor that exclusively targets the interaction site of Aurora B and its activator INCENP. We performed a structure-based virtual screening and determined five potential candidates of 200 000 compounds, which selectively bind to the Aurora B::INCENP interaction site, but not to the ATP-binding site (kinase pocket) of Aurora B or other related kinases. Further characterization in vivo validated the inhibitory role of one of these five compounds in Aurora B::INCENP complex formation and exhibited hallmarks of Aurora inhibition such as chromosome congression and segregation defects that interfere with the progression into cytokinesis and result in multinuclear cells. Our results provide an alternative approach on the way of exploring specific kinase inhibitors.