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“Apolipoprotein (APOE) epsilon 4-related differences in memory performance have been detected before age 65. The hippocampus and the surrounding medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures are the first site affected by Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and the MTL is the

seat of episodic memory, including visuo-spatial memory. While reports of APOE epsilon 4-related differences in these brain structures are not consistent in either cross-sectional Daporinad order or longitudinal structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, there is increasing evidence that brain activity at baseline (defined as activity during fixation or rest) may differ in APOE epsilon 4 carriers compared to non-carriers. In this fMRI study, cognitively normal APOE

epsilon 4 carriers and non-carriers engaged in a perspective-dependent spatial learning task (Shelton & Gabrieli, 2002) previously shown to activate MTL structures in older participants (Borghesani et al., 2008). A low-level, visually engaging dot-control task was used for comparison, in addition to fixation. APOE epsilon 4 carriers showed less activation than non-carriers in the hippocampus proper during encoding. Specifically, when spatial encoding was JPH203 manufacturer contrasted against the dot-control task, encoding-related activation was significantly lower in carriers than non-carriers. By contrast, no epsilon 4-related differences in the hippocampus were found when spatial encoding was compared with fixation. Lower activation, however, was not global since encoding-related activation in early visual cortex (left lingual Silmitasertib concentration gyrus) was not different between APOE epsilon 4 carriers and non-carriers. The present data document APOE epsilon 4-related differences

in the hippocampus proper during encoding and underscore the role of low-level control contrasts for complex encoding tasks. These results have implications for fMRI studies that investigate the default-mode network (DMN) in middle-aged to older APOE epsilon 4 carriers to help evaluate AD risk in this otherwise cognitively normal population. Published by Elsevier Ltd.”
“T cells are known for their contribution to the inflammatory element of atherosclerosis. Recently, it has been demonstrated that the Th17 derived cytokine IL-17 is involved in the pro-inflammatory response of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC). The aim of the present study was to examine whether reactive oxygen species (ROS) might be involved in this context. The effect of IL-17A on ROS generation was examined using the fluorescent dye 2’7′-dichlorodihydrofluorescein (H(2)DCF) in primary murine VSMC. IL-17A induced an increase in H(2)DCF fluorescence in VSMC, and this effect was blocked by the NAD(P) H-oxidase inhibitor apocynin and siRNA targeting Nox2.