In the present study, locomotor activity in a novel environment

and dopamine turnover was significantly decreased in orexin-deficient mice compared to WT mice, which suggests that psychostimulants may be useful for maintaining wakefulness in orexin deficiency. We also examined the effects of orexin deficiency on psychostimulant-induced hyperlocomotion. The hyperlocomotion induced by methamphetamine and methylphenidate was lower, whereas that induced by MDMA was higher in orexin KO mice compared to WT mice. The sensitivities against psychostimulants MK-4827 in orexin/ataxin-3 mice differed from those in orexin KO mice. These results indicate that the effectiveness of each psychostimulant, which is closely related to its monoaminergic function, was influenced by orexin deficiency itself as well as by the different pathophysiological background in orexin deficiency. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd.”
“The logic of cellular decision-making is largely Anlotinib controlled by regulatory circuits defining molecular switches. Such switching elements allow to turn a graded input signal into an all-or-nothing output. Traditional studies have focused on this bistable picture of regulation, but higher-order scenarios involving tristable and tetrastable states are possible too. Are these multiswitches allowed in simple gene regulatory networks? Are they likely to be observed? If

not, why not? In this paper we present the examination of this question by means of a simple but powerful geometric approach. We examine the relation

between multistability, the degree of multimerization of the regulators and the role of autoloops within a deterministic setting, finding that N-stable circuits are possible, although their likelihood to occur rapidly decays with the order of the switch. Our work indicates that, despite two-component circuits are able to implement multistability, they are optimal for Boolean switches. The evolutionary Cell press implications are outlined. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a unique method for non-invasive brain imaging. The fundamental difference between TMS and other available non-invasive brain imaging techniques is that when a physiological response is evoked by stimulation of a cortical area, that specific cortical area is causally related to the response. With other imaging methods, it is only possible to detect and map a brain area that participates in a given task or reaction. TMS has been shown to be clinically accurate and effective in mapping cortical motor areas and applicable to the functional assessment of motor tracts following stroke, for example. Many hundreds of studies have been published indicating that repetitive TMS (rTMS) may also have multiple therapeutic applications.