Leech embryogenesis is a model for investigating cellular and molecular processes of development. Due to the unusually large size of embryonic stem cells (teloblasts; 50 - 300 μm) in the glossiphoniid leech, Theromyzon tessulatum, and the presence of identifiable stem cell precursors (proteloblasts), we previously isolated a group of genes up-regulated upon stem cell birth. In the current study...

Frequency-based analysis of body sway has been used to distinguish between healthy young, healthy elderly adults and elderly adults with Huntingtons disease. Our aim was to assess the reliability of spectral-based outcomes of the centre of pressure (CoP) kinematics in order to determine if these outcomes could be tested for their capability to distinguish between elderly fallers and non-fallers...

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) were first established as an in vitro culture system (Thomson et al., 1998). hESCs are pluripotent cells that are able to self-renew and can differentiate into the three primary germ layers: endoderm, ectoderm and mesoderm. Specifically, hESCs can be used to generate gut epithelium, cartilage, bone, muscle, neuroepithelium, and embryonic ganglia (Zhang et al.,...

huntington disease (hd) is a genetically dominant condition caused by expanded cag repeats which code for glutamine in the hd gene product, huntingtin. huntingtin is expressed in almost all tissues, so abnormalities outside the brain can also be expected. involvement of nuclei and mitochondria in hd pathophysiology has been suggested. in fact, mitochondrial dysfunction is reported in brains of ...

The creation of high-quality medical imaging reference atlas datasets with consistent dense anatomical region labels is a challenging task. Reference atlases have many uses in medical image applications and are essential components of atlas-based segmentation tools commonly used for producing personalized anatomical measurements for individual subjects. The process of manual identification of a...

Huntington's disease (HD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder caused by a polyglutamine-repeat expansion in the huntingtin protein. Activation of the kynurenine pathway of tryptophan degradation is implicated in the pathogenesis of HD. Indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) catalyzes the oxidation of tryptophan to kynurenine, the first step in this pathway. The prevalent, neuroinvasive proto...

two iranian families with autosomal dominant dementia-plus were observed. one family includes 3 affected members and the other includes 4. the two families showed a dominantly inherited complex neurological syndrome with onset in childhood to adulthood. one patient showed prominent anticipation of the onset age. onset was with cerebellar signs followed by dementia, seizures, and extrapyramidal ...