The results also point to the importance of using a disease model and not healthy animals for testing effects of potential treatments for human depression and suggest other cellular mechanisms of action than

those that had previously been proposed for escitalopram. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“alpha-Synuclein is an abundant presynaptic protein implicated in neuronal plasticity and neurodegeneration disorders. Understanding alpha-synuclein function in dopaminergic cells could add to our knowledge of this key protein which is implicated in Parkinson’s disease. Chronic or intermittent amphetamine (AMPH) abuse may create temporary or permanent disturbances in the dopaminergic system of PI3K inhibitor the brain that may predispose individuals to Parkinsonism. Our previous studies showed that neurotoxicity induced by

AMPH was mediated by enhanced oxidative stress and these effects were abolished Sonidegib ic50 by melatonin, a main secretory product of pineal gland. The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of AMPH on alpha-synuclein in regulating tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), a rate limiting enzyme for dopamine synthesis, in cultured human dopaminergic SK-N-SH cells. Of these, phosphorylation of Ser40 (pSer40) contributes significantly to TH activation and dopamine synthesis. Our data indicated that AMPH significantly increased the level of alpha-synuclein to 183% of the control Selleck Navitoclax value while reducing the levels of phosphorylated TH (TH-pSer40) enzyme and mitochondrial complex 1 to 78 and 52.9% of the control values, respectively and these effects were attenuated by melatonin. Further studies are needed to explore the mechanism by which alpha-synuclein contributes to TH-pSer40 dephosphorylation and the mechanism by which melatonin contributes to this interaction. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Background The Countdown to 2015 for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Survival initiative monitors coverage of priority interventions to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) for reduction

of maternal and child mortality. We aimed to report on 68 countries which have 97% of maternal and child deaths worldwide, and on 22 interventions that have been proven to improve maternal, newborn, and child survival.

Methods We selected countries with high rates of maternal and child deaths, and interventions with the most potential to avert such deaths. We analysed country-specific data for maternal and child mortality and coverage of selected interventions. We also tracked cause-of-death profiles; indicators of nutritional status; the presence of supportive policies; financial flows to maternal, newborn, and child health; and equity in coverage of interventions.

Findings Of the 68 priority countries, 16 were on track to meet MDG 4.