Expression and functional analysis of Nr2e3, a photoreceptor-specific nuclear receptor, suggest common mechanisms in retinal development between avians and mammals

The photoreceptor-specific nuclear receptor (PNR; Nr2e3) is a transcription factor important for retinal development. We report here the identification and expression analysis of the avian Nr2e3. Nr2e3 mRNA is expressed in the photoreceptor layer of the neural retina during early stages of chick embryogenesis. Its temporal expression is distinct from that of a related nuclear receptor, Tlx. Chick Nr2e3 recognizes and binds to the same target DNA sequence as its vertebrate orthologs. Functional assays revealed that chick Nr2e3 acts as a transcriptional repressor. Our results suggest that Nr2e3 plays a common role in retinal development in vertebrates

A Measurement of the Interference Structure Function, R_LT, for the 12C(e,e'p) reaction in the Quasielastic Region

The coincidence cross-section and the interference structure function, R_LT, were measured for the 12C(e,e'p) 11B reaction at quasielastic kinematics and central momentum transfer of q=400 MeV/c. The measurement was at an opening angle of theta_pq=11 degrees, covering a range in missing energy of E_m = 0 to 65 MeV. The R_LT structure function is found to be consistent with zero for E_m > 50 MeV, confirming an earlier study which indicated that R_L vanishes in this region. The integrated strengths of the p- and s-shell are compared with a Distorted Wave Impulse Approximation calculation. The s-shell strength and shape are compared with a Hartree Fock-Random Phase Approximation calculation. The DWIA calculation overestimates the cross sections for p- and s-shell proton knockout as expected, but surprisingly agrees with the extracted R_LT value for both shells. The HF-RPA calculation describes the data more consistently, which may be due to the inclusion of 2-body currents in this calculation.Comment: 8 Pages LaTex, 5 postscript figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Self-reported smoking cessation activities among Swiss primary care physicians

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Individual counselling, pharmacotherapy, and group therapy are evidence-based interventions that help patients stop smoking. Acupuncture, hypnosis, and relaxation have no demonstrated efficacy on smoking cessation, whereas self-help material may only have a small benefit. The purpose of this study is to assess physicians' current clinical practice regarding smokers motivated to stop smoking. METHODS: The survey included 3385 Swiss primary care physicians. Self-reported use of nine smoking cessation interventions was scored. One point was given for each positive answer about practicing interventions with demonstrated efficacy, i.e. nicotine replacement therapy, bupropion, counselling, group therapy, and smoking cessation specialist. No points were given for the recommendation of acupuncture, hypnosis, relaxation, and self-help material. Multivariable logistic analysis was performed to identify factors associated with a good practice score, defined as >1. RESULTS: The response rate was 55%. Respondents were predominately over the age of 40 years (88%), male (79%), and resided in urban areas (74%). Seventeen percent reported being smokers. Most of the physicians prescribed nicotine replacement therapy (84%), bupropion (65%), or provided counselling (70%). A minority of physicians recommended acupuncture (26%), hypnosis (8%), relaxation (7%), or self-help material (24%). A good practice score was obtained by 85% of respondents. Having attended a smoking cessation training program was the only significant predictor of a good practice score (odds ratio: 6.24 , 95% CI 1.95-20.04). CONCLUSION: The majority of respondents practice recommended smoking cessation interventions. However, there is room for improvement and implementing an evidence-based smoking cessation-training program could provide additional benefit

Structure-Function Dissociations of Human Hippocampal Subfield Stiffness and Memory Performance

Aging and neurodegenerative diseases lead to decline in thinking and memory ability. The subfields of the hippocampus (HCsf) play important roles in memory formation and recall. Imaging techniques sensitive to the underlying HCsf tissue microstructure can reveal unique structure–function associations and their vulnerability in aging and disease. The goal of this study was to use magnetic resonance elastography (MRE), a noninvasive MR imaging-based technique that can quantitatively image the viscoelastic mechanical properties of tissue to determine the associations of HCsf stiffness with different cognitive domains across the lifespan. Eighty-eight adult participants completed the study (age 23–81 years, male/female 36/51), in which we aimed to determine which HCsf regions most strongly correlated with different memory performance outcomes and if viscoelasticity of specific HCsf regions mediated the relationship between age and performance. Our results revealed that both interference cost on a verbal memory task and relational memory task performance were significantly related to cornu ammonis 1–2 (CA1–CA2) stiffness (p= 0.018 andp= 0.011, respectively), with CA1–CA2 stiffness significantly mediating the relationship between age and interference cost performance (p= 0.031). There were also significant associations between delayed free verbal recall performance and stiffness of both the dentate gyrus–cornu ammonis 3 (DG–CA3;p= 0.016) and subiculum (SUB;p= 0.032) regions. This further exemplifies the functional specialization of HCsf in declarative memory and the potential use of MRE measures as clinical biomarkers in assessing brain health in aging and disease.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTHippocampal subfields are cytoarchitecturally unique structures involved in distinct aspects of memory processing. Magnetic resonance elastography is a technique that can noninvasively image tissue viscoelastic mechanical properties, potentially serving as sensitive biomarkers of aging and neurodegeneration related to functional outcomes. High-resolutionin vivoimaging has invigorated interest in determining subfield functional specialization and their differential vulnerability in aging and disease. Applying MRE to probe subfield-specific cognitive correlates will indicate that measures of subfield stiffness can determine the integrity of structures supporting specific domains of memory performance. These findings will further validate our high-resolution MRE method and support the potential use of subfield stiffness measures as clinical biomarkers in classifying aging and disease states