Tau-aggregation inhibitor therapy for Alzheimer's disease

Article Accepted Date: 9 December 2013 Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Rationale for tau aggregation inhibitor therapy in Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathies

Preprin

Climatology of nocturnal rainfall for Northeast Kansas, 1950–2012

Nighttime rainfall has long been thought of as an important component to the central Great Plains hydroclimate during the wettest three-month period known as the “late spring - early summer precipitation maximum” from May–July (MJJ), though the climatological characteristics in Kansas are not very well documented in the literature. The nighttime rainfall characteristics are examined based on hourly precipitation data for Topeka, KS and other Kansas stations for a 63-year period from 1950–2012 for May–July. Nighttime rainfall is a major contributor to the overall moisture budget in the Great Plains, contributing over 50% of the overall rainfall total for the three-month period, with an increase in the percentage from May to July. Most nocturnal rainfall events initiate around the local midnight hour, with earlier start times in May compared to June and July. The greatest hourly precipitation tends to occur around the same time, with a gradual step down into the mid-morning hours. Geographically, areas in the eastern portion of the state receive more nighttime rainfall on average for all three months than areas to the west

Banning Commercial Foresting: What are the Costs?

The Philippines' forest cover has suffered from massive denudation through the years due to uncontrolled and indiscriminate commercial logging. Because of this, calls for a total logging ban had been raised in various fora, including in the legislature where bills that consider the possibility of a ban are being studied. However, the possible economic costs of such ban as espoused in some studies has delayed the passage of these bills. This Policy Notes provides some economic costing based on computations that may help in firming up decisions regarding the proposed ban.forestry sector, environmental issues, environmental management

Novel African trypanocidal agents: membrane rigidifying peptides

The bloodstream developmental forms of pathogenic African trypanosomes are uniquely susceptible to killing by small hydrophobic peptides. Trypanocidal activity is conferred by peptide hydrophobicity and charge distribution and results from increased rigidity of the plasma membrane. Structural analysis of lipid-associated peptide suggests a mechanism of phospholipid clamping in which an internal hydrophobic bulge anchors the peptide in the membrane and positively charged moieties at the termini coordinate phosphates of the polar lipid headgroups. This mechanism reveals a necessary phenotype in bloodstream form African trypanosomes, high membrane fluidity, and we suggest that targeting the plasma membrane lipid bilayer as a whole may be a novel strategy for the development of new pharmaceutical agents. Additionally, the peptides we have described may be valuable tools for probing the biosynthetic machinery responsible for the unique composition and characteristics of African trypanosome plasma membranes

Tau Aggregation Inhibitor Therapy : An Exploratory Phase 2 Study in Mild or Moderate Alzheimer's Disease

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank patients and their caregivers for their participation in the study and are indebted to all the investigators involved in the study, particularly Drs. Douglas Fowlie and Donald Mowat for their helpful contributions to the clinical execution of the study in Scotland. We thank Sharon Eastwood, Parexel, for assistance in preparing initial drafts of the manuscript. We acknowledge constructive comments provided by Professors G. Wilcock and S. Gauthier on drafts of the article. CMW, CRH, and JMDS are officers of, and hold beneficial interests in, TauRx Therapeutics. RTS, PB, KK, and DJW are paid consultants to TauRx Therapeutics. The study was financed entirely by TauRx TherapeuticsPeer reviewedPublisher PD