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“Several sensory-motor integration regions have been identified in parietal cortex, which appear to be organized around motor-effectors (e.g., eyes, hands). We investigated whether a sensory-motor integration area might exist for the human vocal tract. Speech requires extensive sensory-motor integration,

as does other abilities such as vocal musical skills. Recent work found that a posterior superior temporal-parietal region, area Spt, has both sensory (auditory) selleck inhibitor and motor response properties (for both speech and tonal stimuli). Brain activity of skilled pianists was measured with fMRI while they listened to a novel melody and either covertly hummed the melody (vocal tract effectors) or covertly played the melody on a piano (manual effectors). Activity in area Spt was significantly higher for the covert MLN2238 clinical trial hum versus covert play condition. A region in the anterior IPS (aIPS) showed the reverse pattern, suggesting its involvement in sensory-manual transformations. This finding suggests that area Spt is a sensory-motor integration area for vocal tract gestures. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Dengue fever is an important tropical illness for which there is currently no virus-specific

treatment. To shed light on mechanisms involved in the cellular response to dengue virus (DV), we assessed gene expression changes, using Affymetrix GeneChips (HG-U133A), of infected primary human cells and identified changes common to all cells. The

common response genes included a set of 23 genes significantly induced upon DV infection of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), dendritic cells (DCs), monocytes, and B cells (analysis of variance, P < 0.05). Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), one of the common response genes, was identified as a key link between type I and type 11 interferon response genes. We found that DV induces TRAIL expression in immune cells and HUVECs at the Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mRNA and protein levels. The induction of TRAIL expression by DV was found to be dependent on an intact type I interferon signaling pathway. A significant increase in DV RNA accumulation was observed in anti-TRAIL antibody-treated monocytes, B cells, and HUVECs, and, conversely, a decrease in DV RNA was seen in recombinant TRAIL-treated monocytes. Furthermore, recombinant TRAIL inhibited DV titers in DV-infected DCs by an apoptosis-independent mechanism. These data suggest that TRAIL plays an important role in the antiviral response to DV infection and is a candidate for antiviral interventions against DV.”
“Patients with Huntington’s disease (HD) exhibit motor impairments as well as cognitive and emotional deficits.