Roles of brain protein

A protein called AKT, is ubiquitous in brain tissue and instrumental in enabling the brain to adapt to new experiences and lay down new memories. AKT comes in three distinct varieties residing in different kinds of brain cells and affecting brain health in very distinct ways. It is a central protein that has been implicated in a bevy of neurological diseases.

Discovered in the 1970s and known best as an "oncogene" (one that, when mutated, can promote cancer), AKT has more recently been identified as a key player in promoting "synaptic plasticity," the brain's ability to strengthen cellular connections in response to experience. AKT is one of the first proteins to come up after observing scary objects, it is a central switch that turns on the memory factory.

For the study, Hoeffer's team silenced the three different isoforms, or varieties, of AKT in mice and observed their brain activity. They made a number of key discoveries: AKT2 is found exclusively in astroglia, the supportive, star-shaped cells in the brain and spinal cord that are often impacted in brain cancer and brain injury.

 AKT1 is ubiquitous in neurons and appears to be the most important form in promoting the strengthening of synapses in response to experience-memory formation. (This finding is in line with previous research showing that mutations in AKT1 boost risk of schizophrenia and other brain disorders associated with a flaw in the way a patient perceives or remembers experiences.)
AKT3 appears to play a key role in brain growth, with mice whose AKT3 gene is silenced showing smaller brain size.
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Low carbohydrate intake increases the risk of birth defects

Women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant may want to avoid diets that reduce or eliminate carbohydrates, as they could increase the risk of having babies with neural tube birth defects, according to a new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Women with low carbohydrate intake are 30 percent more likely to have babies with neural tube defects, such as spina bifida-malformations of the spine and spinal cord and anencephaly-absence of major portions of the brain and skull, that can lead to lifelong disability and infant death, when compared with women who do not restrict their carbohydrate intake.

Folic acid is an essential nutrient that minimizes the risk of neural tube defects. Dietary intake of folic acid among women with restricted carbohydrate intake was less than half of other women. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all women who may become pregnant take a daily multivitamin with at least 400 micrograms of folic acid every day before and during pregnancy.

However, because some pregnancies are not planned, many women do not initiate folic acid supplementation until later in pregnancy, after a neural tube defect may have occurred. This makes fortified foods an important source of folic acid for women who may become pregnant.
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Outbreak of eye syphilis

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Ocular syphilis, which can cause blindness and blurry vision, develops out of a syphilis infection in the spinal cord, which spreads to the eye. Ocular syphilis can involve any part of the eye, but it typically causes inflammation of the middle layer of the eye. It can blur vision, leads to vision loss, and can even travel up into the brain.

A chronic bacterial disease, syphilis can be contracted by other means but is typically a sexually-transmitted disease.
In very rare cases, it can be spread through prolonged kissing, as well as the more common routes of transmission: vaginal, anal and oral sex.
It comes from the bacteria Treponema pallid umbrella. Syphilis is notoriously difficult to diagnose since its symptoms are similar to other conditions - a runny nose and soar throat.

In the early stages, patients can receive an injection of Benzathine penicillin G. This will not undo the internal damage but will eliminate the infection. For those with latent syphilis - and are not sure how long they had it - doctors recommend having three doses of the penicillin injection, seven days apart from each other.
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Using silk to repair spinal cord

Modified silk from Asian wild silkworms could be used in a strategy to repair damaged spinal cords, according to scientists. Cleaned, sterilised silk from the Antheraea pernyi (AP) silk spinner had properties well suited to spinal repair.

Presently there is no cure for serious spinal cord trauma because spinal nerves are unable to cross the scar tissue barrier and the cavity that forms in the cord after the injury. The modified silk would be a 'scaffold' that bridges the spinal injury cavity, supporting nerve growth across damaged region.

Modified silk from Asian wild silkworms could be used in a strategy to repair damaged spinal cords, according to scientists. Cleaned, sterilised silk from the Antheraea pernyi (AP) silk spinner had properties well suited to spinal repair.


Scientists discovered that the modified AP silk had important properties desirable in a scaffold suitable for spinal repair. It has the correct rigidity: if it is too rigid it can harm the surrounding spinal cord tissue but if it is too soft the nerves would fail to grow across it.

The AP silk has a repeated "RGD" chemical sequence on its surface that binds to receptors on the nerve cells, encouraging them to attach to the material and grow along it. The AP silk did not trigger a response by the immune system cells that would be present in the spinal cord, therefore minimising inflammation.

AP silk degrades gradually over time. So, after it has supported the early growth of nerves across the injury site the material dissolves gradually and these pioneer nerves take over the role as scaffold, supporting further nerve growth.

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Powerful potential pain reliever drug

Pain signals travel from the injured area to spinal cord and to the brain, chronic pain is different from typical pain. Chronic pain is an experience of continuous pain even after an injury heals and it may last for weeks. The pain may be sharp or dull, causing a burning or aching sensation in the affected areas. It may be steady or intermittent.

Chronic pain occurred when nerves in the central nervous system are damaged, it can occur in any part of the body. Some of the most common types of chronic pain are: headache, post-trauma pain, lower back pain, arthritis pain, neurogenic pain and psychogenic pain.

The synthetic compound, called UKH-1114, is effective at relieving neuropathic pain in injured mice as a drug widely used for pain relief called gabapentin, but it works at a much lower dose, with longer duration of action.

UKH1114 binds to a receptor on cells throughout the central nervous system called the sigma 2 receptor. Researchers tested UKH-1114 on mice with nerve damage and found that it alleviated pain at a much lower dose and was effective much longer.
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Molecules in zebrafish may heal spinal cord injury

Researchers have discovered mechanism in the damaged spines of zebrafish that helps nerve connections to regrow. Zebrafish have the remarkable ability to regain full movement within four weeks of injury to their spinal cord.

Damage to human spinal cord leads to paralysis. After injury to the spinal cord in zebrafish, wound-healing cells called 'fibroblasts' move into the site of damage.

The fibroblasts produce a molecule called collagen 12, which changes the structure of the support matrix that surrounds nerve fibres.

This enables the damaged fibres to grow back across the wound site and restore the lost connections.
Scientists found that fibroblasts are instructed to make collagen 12 by a chemical signal called 'wnt'.

Understanding these signals could hold clues for therapies to heal the spinal cord after injury. This connections between the brain and muscles of the body lost after spinal cord injury in humans can be used to provide better treatment
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Facts about glioblastoma

Glioblastoma GBM is the most aggressive tumor that can form in the brain. Glioblastomas are tumors that developed from astrocytes- supportive tissue of the brain.

Glioblastomas are found in the cerebral hemispheres of the brain, but can be found anywhere in the brain or spinal cord. It can cause brain bleeding, which may have been related to the clot.

These tumors are cancerous because the cells reproduce quickly and they are supported by a large network of blood vessels.

There two types of glioblastoma
Primary - The tumors are common and very aggressive.
Secondary - These tumors have slower growth rate and very aggressive.

Common symptoms are - headache, nausea, vomiting, and drowsiness. Depending on the location of the tumor, patients can develop different symptoms like weakness on one side of the body, memory and speech difficulties, and visual changes.

The exact cause of glioblastoma is not known. It can be difficult to treat because the tumors contain so many different types of cells. Some cells may respond very well to certain therapies, while others may not be improve.

However, because of the way it spreads, it is impossible to remove every microscopic growth from the brain. Therefore, it will continue to grow.

Radiation and chemotherapy may be used to slow the growth of tumors that cannot be removed with surgery.
Patients have a ten percent chance of surviving five years after their diagnosis.
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